Cheers Teejay, so true. I was raised in it and it took an elder-acting-badly to wake me up. How any educated adult could trade real life for dub life is beyond me. - V Sky
Why did it take so long to work it out?
by sleepy 14 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
95stormfront
I think that the lack of access to information is the reason it takes so long to realize that this religion is not "the truth".
the need to be accepted by family and friends who are Dubs; lack of alternate ways of thinking; the demonization of every source of information that is critical of what's being presented to you, etc.
I would agree it was the lack of access to good information that refuted what they were teaching is what took me so long, although I wasn't in for about two and a half years. And even after the explosion of the internet, the demonization of every information source critical of them is what kept me believing as long as I did. It was only a few years ago that I was able to even bring myself to look for information critical of the witnesses on the internet, though I had long since stopped going to meetings and resolved that the religion was a farce.
After having lunch with my wife today, I'm quite sure these are reasons why she continues to believe. The acceptance of her family all of which are dubs. She takes most every written article as have some grain of truth except anything written negative about the WTS.
Maybe she doesn't want to dissappoint those old pioneer sisters she studied so long with?
Perhpas she still holds out hope that she'll be seeing her now dead staunch JW grandmother she loved so much in their new system?
MOstly I think it's the arrogance and refusal to come to the realization that the WT could be wrong about anything since she's invested so much time in it.
-
xjw_b12
sleepy. Is that why you picked your alias?
Not all here have taken a long time to wake up. I think of Dansk and his family, and their fugitivelike speedy getaway, but that is not the norm.
Complaceny, seems to be the overall factor I think. But as we racked up the miles in the WT treadmill, there would be ther those "bumps in the road" that you kinda accepted, but never put out of your mind altogether. Eventually those bumps lead to doubts, and you begin to question. Then you reasearch, then you question some more, to the point you reach down and turn the treadmill off, and go take a shower, and a well deserved rest.
-
funkyderek
The reason it takes so long to work out is that that's the way the religion is designed. Well, not designed exactly but it has developed that way and is successful for precisely the reason that it's very good at stopping thought processes that would lead its members to the conclusion that it's not true. The way the religion is referred to by JWs is the starkest example of this: it's not called the church or the brotherhood, it's simply called "The Truth". There's simply no way for a rational person to think "the truth is a lie". The sentence is unthinkable and therefore JWs will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid thinking it.
Most of the questions people ask in the early days of their association with JWs are easily answered. JWs are trained to answer these questions. They have books to answer them. To a new "study" it seems they have all the answers. If someone initially has questions that can't be answered, the chances are they'll never become a JW in the first place. This acts as a filtering process, ensuring that nobody who really knows much about religion ever becomes a JW.
Inevitably though, even some of those who do become JWs will come up with questions that can't be answered. Such people are "encouraged" to "wait on Jehovah" and if that fails, advised not to ask these questions, taught that even by asking them they're being like Korah, rebelling against "Jehovah's organization". Those who do not submit to these tactics are labelled apostates. Their example is then used to stop others from doing their own research. e.g. "Brother X read that book, and now he's an apostate." And of course "brother X" is no longer a "brother" and can't tell other JWs about what he's found. The more he does try to tell them, the more evident his apostasy.
If all else fails, the fear of losing friends and family can stop people leaving. Many remain JWs in body, long after they realise it's not the truth.
Essentially the religion is good at spreading and good at keeping members. It doesn't have to be true or beneficial to do this; it just has to be good at spreading and good at keeping members. Religions that don't have those qualities don't last very long.
-
A Paduan
How can a person do all the study required to get a degree and then end up being sucked into a cult? I'll never understand that.
What sort of degress are they usually though? Tangential sciences (engineering, math, even biomedicine), or those involved with critical thought (social sciences, psychology, nursing). Without researching it, I would guess the "in a world of their own" type study (physical science) doesn't preclude cult thought.