I worry about the thousands that will be baptized in the third world this year. How many years before witnesses in these countries find out they have been sold a myth?
Well said, jgnat. BTW, who's the babe in the photo? Is that you?
Has The Internet REALLY Hurt Jehovah's Witnesses?
by minimus 96 Replies latest jw friends
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suzi_creamcheez
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Undecided
I had never heard of C of C until I looked up JWs on the net. I had been gone from the org. for many years because of burn out, but wasn't free from the propaganda until I ordered the book off the web. That did it for me and my brother. We both became free from the mental bondage we had been in since youth. Of course I frequented H2O and then JWD to help me cope with the loss of my faith intellectually until I was completely cured. I don't know how many others have done this, but I hope it opens the flood gates.
Ken P.
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Flowerpetal
onacrusie:
Anyway, that's what the Internet, and JWD very particularly, has done for me. I can't help but think that the hard-liners at Brooklyn are getting really nervous about the social dynamic that they're seeing, and over which they have no control. People will do what they can, when they know they can.
I agree with this--they are getting really nervous and that's what prompted some of the paranoid talks at the convention this year.
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ozziepost
Seems to me...........
that much could be said on this topic.......there's much to-ing and fro-ing already on this thread.
However (that borg term again!!!) .........what does the Borg itself believe on this question?
Clearly the Borg believes that the internet is very effective in alerting the R&F to the truth about "the Troof". If it wasn't, they wouldn't bother publishing KM articles against it. Nor would it be included in convention talk outlines. No, the Borg is running scared on the internet issue. The only logical conclusion is that the internet REALLY is hurting the JWs.
Cheers, Ozzie
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minimus
I think a number feel that THEY could JUST look at the net and not be affected, but when you see ALL the evidence, it blows you away. Some peek at the net, get nervous and then eat of the forbidden fruit one more time. But after the first peek----it's too late.
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blacksheep
It's terribly threatening to them. Any form of communication with others which they have no control over, which they cannot rely on a group of JW spies to report (as in, I saw Sister X talking to Apostate B at the store yesterday), ruins their MO. Just like the recent article warning against cell phone usage for young people. Wouldn't want these young people to actually TALK to their friends throughout the day outside of the wary eyes and ears of their controlling JW parents.
Perhaps nothing in a long time as underscored the JW's Orwellian attitude toward communication and information than the internet.
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willyloman
What jelly said:
Every witness currently has an entire apostate library at their finger tips. Where as before the society could decieve people with near imunity now every lie is cataloged and saved for future reference...
Room 215 is also correct, that the internet gets in the way of converting "newly interested ones" who decide to do some research before they commit.
Has the internet hurt JWs? If by "hurt" you mean impacted their growth and power, well, we're HERE, aren't we?
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Gamaliel
There is no way to tell if it truly changes their growth numbers yet. I suspect it has, but there are so many other factors in "Internet-literate" countries. What I'm sure it does tend to do is make them stupider. In countries or areas where the Internet is popular, more intelligent new converts will be the first to check out both sides on the Internet.
The standard JW line to new converts will be: "Satan is so interested in making sure that you don't become a JW that he has even used the Internet: that den of inquity, that pornographer's dream, that fill - in - the - blank etc. Opposition is now pervasive."
But as the more intelligent look at the Internet anyway, there will soon be no intelligent people left to convert. Also the ones who are already JWs who feel they are intelligent enough to be unaffected will be affected gradually, at least. Soon, there will be no one who even knows what the word pervasive means in that last paragraph.
The other thing that will happen is there will be many more chances for the PR-challenged Society to shoot themselves in the foot with some reaction to the Internet. They will begin making statements (magazines, assemblies, even in the press) that show how truly out of touch they are.
But there are still plenty of less intelligent people who will fall for their lines. The more intelligent JWs will find themselves staying for the power and recognition (promotion/responsibilities) that they feel their intelligence should afford them. But amongst more and more idiots, the intelligent will feel their talents and time are wasted. More and more people will not even recognize their intelligence and some will be driven out through their own lack of satisfaction at what religion has done for them.
JWs may get bigger and bigger but they will also get dumber and dumberer.
Gamaliel
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bebu
Besides the information to help someone out of the group, I think the internet has been very good for ex-JWs to meet, as onacruse said. And extending that, it has been very helpful to me (non-dub), because I would never have guessed how shattering it often is for a JW to come out of the troof.
I'm thankful that the internet has made possible sites like this. I'm glad Simon has done what it takes to make this site highly visible!
It will be interesting in the next year or two to see the growth rate of members of sites like this. I imagine it will be exponential.
Perhaps by then I will finally be a jedi...!
bebu
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Adam
Just as movable type and the printing press allowed the common populace to get out from under the Church ages ago, the internet allows easy dissemination of knowledge to potential and existing JW converts. Knowledge is the biggest enemy of the JW organization. That's why they don't want anyone digesting anything but WT sancioned material.