I so agree with you watson
Young JW's attitudes
by Phizzy 23 Replies latest jw experiences
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LisaRose
What the young people need to know is that yes, the religion provides a social structure that has its benefits, but that this group of people can turn on them at any time, for any reason that three elders agree upon, sometimes for just one mistake and even sometimes when they haven't done anything wrong at all. Any other group of human beings can provide the same social structure without the threat of losing everyone you know in the blink of an eye.
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scratchme1010
I think it is a matter of them learning their own way. The best to do is to have them always aware that they have other choices than what they have in the congregation. As soon as one of them gets "in trouble" and they see the consequences, and as soon as they realize that there is a lot more to life than the JW activities, they can use the outside support and awareness that some of us didn't have.
But it has to come from them. The same than with adults.
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steve2
This would make a riveting sociological study because it has been a commonly observed phenomenon in "Christian" religious groups that children of those who convert to a group are less zealous than their parents.
Of course, there are exceptions, but in general as the respective generations "settle" into life in a religious group, zeal and religious commitment decline. So, yes, even the organization recognizes that it is the social glue that keeps successive generations involved - even if it is lukewarm in calibre.
I have vivid memories from the early 1980s of going to a District Convention in Auckland, New Zealand and getting social invites in the evenings with other young ones. Even back then, I was struck by how (I'm trying to be non-judgemental) lacking in spirituality the young ones who were raised in the organization were - in sharp contrast to young ones who converted to the organization. Also, a good pioneer friend of mine back then who had attended an international convention in Europe (one of the Scandanavian countries, I think), lamented about the "worldliness" of the young Witnesses in that part of the world - all those years ago! I should imagine that with the passing of time, that "worldliness' would have only increased.