Thoughts on Leah Remini JW A&E special ...

by _Morpheus 138 Replies latest members private

• 

  Simon

  People make life decisions based on the control - or influence, if you prefer - that the leadership of the religion exerts on them.

  But people make life decisions based on a whole raft of influences - TV shows, celebrities, books, all manner of things. Do we blame them for people's choices or just acknowledge them as influences?

  And for those of us on the outside now, even though we don't accept their authority, their control over our family members influences us to a degree. We are shunned. We are mistreated. We suffer as a result of no longer accepting that influence/control.

  Their influence that leads our families to behave as they do can definitely cause us pain. But I disagree that it's control and I think we give our families an easy "out" if we hand them the "you're controlled" excuse because we want to blame the WTS. The WTS is a corporation, it can't shun us and even if it could, would that hurt us? The only people who can shun us are people we know and they make the choice to do it. We need to lay that choice at their door.

  Would a normal parent allow their child to die on an operating table when a simple blood transfusion can probably save their life? No. But a JW parent will. That's one example of extremism that is common in this cult religion.

  People believe all manner of nutty medicine and quackery - anti-vaccination as I've already mentioned which also causes deaths. There have been cases recently where parents were trying to treat a sick child with homeopathy and the child died. Are the parents responsible or should whoever wrote a quack science book or sold a bottle of BS be taken to court? Who made the choice? Who took the decision? Who is really to blame?

  It's not sensible and it's not wise but we can't legislate against stupid. But what I think we can do is educate people and hold people personally accountable for their actions.

  If your mother is shunning you, don't tell people that she's controlled by the WTS. Tell them the truth - she's a bad parent who choses to put a religious affiliation she hasn't bothered to research properly ahead of her relationship with her child.
• 

  _Morpheus

  My strategy which is "just stop going"? Why doesn't that work? What is your plan? Keep going?

  😂😂😂😂😂 that literally made me cry laughing
  

  Me thinks WT headquarter's elite this morning are scrambling around wondering if the organization should make some sort of official rebuttal to this A&E show

  And me thinks your a bit too personally involved. They dont care. Thats what cults do, not care.
  
  

  The other editing issue I had was the way that the quotes from WT publications were presented. They were silent and I often almost missed them if I got up to grab a coffee or something. Small printing and hard to read - not enough time to really digest what the quote said.

  Wow, i loved that! Let the org speak for itself. It was awesome to see those relevant quotes and see the clips from the broadcast. There is certainly room for us to disagree, but i liked that.
  
  
• 

  OrphanCrow

  Morpheus: Wow, i loved that! Let the org speak for itself. It was awesome to see those relevant quotes and see the clips from the broadcast. There is certainly room for us to disagree, but i liked that.

  Oh, I loved the quotes, too. I was just being critical on how they were presented - no vocal intro or anything. Just put up on the screen unexpectedly at times. I didn't have time to read the ones that i almost missed. An intro or vocal accompaniment to the words would have been effective.

  I think I was thinking of my almost blind mother...she would have missed the quotes if the show wasn't voice captioned for her. I am not sure if it was. Heck...I could have used voice captioning! The quotes were hard to see sometimes.
• 

  JW GoneBad

  My takeaway after watching the A&E special on Jehovah's Witnesses last night...

  🎶 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 🎶🤣🤣🤣
• 

  OrphanCrow

  Morpheus: ... and see the clips from the broadcast

  The broadcast clips were brilliant. Pure genius selections. Loved them.

  Geez...Lett sure looks like that Heaven's Gate nut, doesn't he?
• 

  JW GoneBad

  Simon: Exactly. They have no control over you and I'm just saying they have no real control over anyone, they just have influence because those people chose to grant them that influence.

  
  
• 

  _Morpheus

  That rubber faced buffoon could be his twin. The look is eerily similar
• 

  Simon

  Wow, i loved that! Let the org speak for itself. It was awesome to see those relevant quotes and see the clips from the broadcast. There is certainly room for us to disagree, but i liked that.

  Yes, they were powerful and damning as to their true views and the beliefs they espouse and people sadly chose to follow.

  Personal suffering. Families broken up. Suicides. Survivors of sexual abuse. On and on. What they were talking about is not nothing. And what else are the people who walk out and stop going to meetings left with? Fear. Loads and loads of fear. Fear of Armageddon. Fear of not being resurrected. Fear of final death. Fear of no Paradise.

  Yes, victims of actual crimes have real lasting consequences but there are laws to deal with those and that's not what we're typically talking about when we say people can leave. Or are you claiming that these victims should stay and not just stop going?

  Many of the others are personal choices - if people leave and fear armageddon, they have not done enough research and study to put their mind at ease. This is why some people, unbelievably, decide to go back. Again, it's a choice to just believe something you are told and not check how true it is - claiming you're controlled might be better than admitting your are lazy or stupid I guess.

  If parents have filled their child with thoughts of the end of the world or living forever they have done a poor job of parenting but many kids are brought up believing a fat man breaks into the house at Christmas and leaves presents but they get over it. The trick is to stop going along to listen to the fairy stories.

  The fact is, the WTS cannot and does not do anything to you if you stop going. The only influence they have over you is indirectly through the influence they have on others who choose to stay. Blame them. They are the ones choosing the easy path over doing what is right.
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  OrphanCrow

  Simon: If your mother is shunning you, don't tell people that she's controlled by the WTS. Tell them the truth - she's a bad parent who choses to put a religious affiliation she hasn't bothered to research properly ahead of her relationship with her child.

  That is ugly, Simon. Ugly.

  You are displaying "blame the victim" mentality.

  The world is not as black and white as you are presenting it.
• 

  Amelia Ashton

  Whatever criticisms there may be of this show hopefully now any-one currently studying with the JWs after seeing it will realise it is a manipulative cult that cannot offer eternal life and stop.