by minimus 47 Replies latest jw friends
As it can be seen with JWS you can be intelligent as well narcissistic with sociopath tendencies.
People who join the JWS usually are having some personal problems in the lives which they assume (believed) are going to be resolved by joining the religion and they will be happy as a result.
Religion in many respects has much to do with exploiting psychological emotions a long with human ignorance .
LongHairGirl:
The problem is that people did not think they were joining a cult when they got involved with the JWs...
I was young and made a wrong detour. I didn’t fit in because (thankfully in retrospect) I would not make the stupid concession that I quit a decent job to pioneer..I lingered a little longer than I should have but at least I got the hell Out.
True, a lot of us didn't know what we were in for when we joined. If the Witnesses were honest and upfront, even with their children, with born-ins, who would get baptized as one?
But the point of this thread is why do intelligent, thinking people choose to keep the faith of the Jehovah's Witnesses?
As the two articles I highlighted at the beginning point out (Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds & Why People Ignore Facts), people don't keep their belief system--especially under challenges--because they are logical ways of thinking. No, we keep our belief system because they make us feel safe. No.
Then why do they do this? Because they are all we have. Even when you leave the Witnesses, you develop a new belief system, even if you become agnostic or atheist. Your belief system is your new identity. If someone challenges your new belief system, you will act just the same way you did when you were a Jehovah's Witness: unreasonable, blind to facts, and leaning to confirmation bias. Why?
Because intelligence has nothing to do with the exercise of belief systems, per se. Intelligent people might have more critically designed belief systems, but how they are exercised comes under the realm of emotion, not intellect.
This is not a bad thing. In fact, it's an important thing. It's psychological survival. We are what our psyche believes we are. And what we are, what our psyche believes is based on what we believe about the universe.
So that stubborn response by Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse to believe facts is not always a sign that they lack intelligence. It is more often than not a normal survival response, self-psychological preservation. True, Witnesses believe in some pretty screwed-up doctrine. But a nominal Jew or intellectual atheist or average Protestant will act exactly the same when their belief system is threatened because we are what we believe.
It's emotion, not intelligence.
Carmichael, Do you think there’s more to why certain people will remain as elders for years and stay on the board over here? Just curious on your opinion.
CARMICHAEL:
Yes, I certainly believe it’s true if they laid all their cards on the table nobody would join.
I agree with you that it’s emotion and not intelligence as to why certain people stay JWs - long after others have fled because of bad treatment and/or disagreement over doctrines.
Some people will argue though that it was ‘facts’ (or facts as they see it) that made them join or stay..Whatever.. I also believe a good amount stay there because of family and they are ‘faking it’. Not a good way to be but they do it.
I can’t imagine anybody remaining an elder and faking it..at least not for long (step down at least).
And I don’t believe the excuse that somebody remains an elder faking it because they hope to ‘help or awaken others’. 🙄 Sorry, but I don’t buy this for one minute no matter what lies they tell themselves.
Minimus:
That's a good question. I don't know. As a woman, I never had the "privilege" of being an elder. I was a regular pioneer once and had many privileges and was looked up to in the congregation, but I still left when I suddenly woke up and realized that it wasn't the true religion it claimed to be.
As far as opinions go, I can only guess that some people might stay in it for the power and privilege, but from what I experienced, that isn't really worth it. Unless you are the top dog in that organization, there is always another dog taking a piss on you from above, and, as you know, it isn't pleasant. So no one truly enjoys the ride as elders in the Org.
How about the Governing Body? My guess is that they are really, truly duped. They have great power and wield great power, and in their instance that great power has them drunk believing that God must have given it to them--how else would they have become members of the Governing Body? Thus they believe in the fairy tale. (No dog to piss on them as they are all top dogs. So pleasant the feeling that the high makes them believe Jehovah must be in charge of their lives--blessing them especially.)
It is sort of how the kings and queens in the past believed in the divine right of kings. The Governing Body members believe the religion is true because their positions of authority have been "bestowed" upon them by Jehovah, or so they believe. This "legitimacy" is the root of their belief system, what they believe about themselves and how they see the universe. They have bought into it completely. They thus truly believe they are subject to no earthly authority (and thus can do things like protect child molesters in their ranks or avert from paying taxes, etc.). But challenge them and in those heels go into the dirt of denial....
People can be hypnotized by those who believe they are instruments of the gods. My secret hope is that the Armageddon or Return of Christ they preach does come to face them in some way and that during it they find out how wrong they were:
On the Judgment Day, many people will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name and expel demons in your name and do lots of miracles in your name?’ Then I’ll tell them, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you people who do wrong.’--Matthew 7:22-23, Common English Bible.
Because the Kool Aid taste so good going down.....
I'm not sure "believe" is really the right description.
Many I'm sure claim that they believe, but are there for other reasons: laziness, inertia, social acceptance - they like the association.
The number of people who genuinely believe the teachings are pretty small IMO. It's why people don't talk about them with much confidence - deep down, they know the words leaving their mouth make them sound like a nut.
Just like the people around easter claiming "he has risen" on Twitter do it as a form of virtue signalling to their group more than it being a real claim that they think Jesus is arriving on the next bus.
take the title question a stage further--
take the title question a stage further--
Why Do Intelligent People Still Believe In
The Jehovah’s Witness Religion?god ?
Because to not believe in God means this is the only life you get.
Quote; I refuse to believe that mankind is a random byproduct of molecular circumstances
Because to not believe in God means this is the only life you get.
great--thanks for that; as this is the only life we get--does that just further prove there is no god ?
