&&& the only hope JWs have is coming back to earth with their magnificent selves...
Really a whole earth full of back bitters and gossipers and whatever else...
What's the difference?
Tor
JWs Like to Take Away Hope...
by JW_Rogue 18 Replies latest jw experiences
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Rainbow_Troll
Smiddy: Do they think all the infrastructure / utillities water ,electricity ,sewerage ,etc,etc, that are available now will still be operating when the worldly people who run these services now are all killed off in the big A?
I love this comment. It immediately brought to my mind an image of 'the great crowd' living in tents next to open latrines. The sisters are washing clothes and looking after their brats while the brothers go out to forage for canned food in the corpse-sprinkled post apocalyptic wasteland. Meanwhile, Jehovah's wrath has created all sorts of problems: nuclear meltdowns, escaped zoo animals, stray dogs and chemical spills. Maybe Jehovah even missed a few and there are now motorcycle gangs plundering and raping their way across the country. I'm glad I won't be around.
Tor: Every commenter hit all the nails on the head. Many are just jealous of the young ones who have their life ahead of them....and many wasted theirs...Most of the witnesses have had all the sex they are going to have in or out of the truth in or out of marriage....and now it's time for the young ones to have some fun....the ole ones are telling them...they are wasting their time...oh really...old folks had their fun. Now they are looking down the barrel of old age and death...
You hit it on the head. What especially disgusts me are the ones who left The Lie when they were young, had all their fun, come back and now tell the next generation what a terrible mistake they made. Bullshit! They're just burned out hedonists who would be partying hardy to this day if they still had it in them; but they don't and so now they want to ruin it for everyone else so they don't have to endure the sight of others enjoying what they no longer can.
I remember my mom once lecturing me about the dangers of dating and premarital sex: "We're all tempted. Don't you think I'd love to go out and have sex right now?" And I thought silently "Yeah, and if you weren't stuck in that 60 year old body I'm sure you would do just that." How the fuck did she meet my dad? Was it an arranged marriage? She dated like everyone else does when they are young! She actually rebelled against her own father, who couldn't stand my dad!
Tell a JW you want to go college and get a good career and they'll tell you that college is a waste of time, that you'll end up in debt or that the economy is so bad there are no jobs. Tell a JW about how scientists have discovered a new technology that could improve millions of lives and they'll tell you that scientists and technology have "ruined the earth" and cannot be trusted. Tell a JW about things that could be done to improve society, government, or human rights and they'll tell you there is nothing man can do. So they take away people's hope in anything that can realistically happen through man's effort and replace it with just waiting for God to make everything perfect. For JWs if it is not a perfect solution then there is no need to even care about it.
As grim as it is, I can't help but sympathize with this view. All the college graduates I know are in debt and work at terrible, MW jobs. What's worse is that a lot of these employers won't even hire someone whom they know is college educated (they'll tell you that you are 'over qualified'). Educated people have knowledge and options while most employers are looking for ignorant, desperate shmucks whom they can exploit without much fuss. The only reason I want to go to college is so I have something to do for the next 6+ years. If I'm lucky I might land a research position and never have to leave.
People vote and protest and blog to effect social change, but it never works. The politicians and corporate CEOs thought Occupy was a joke and they were right. What happened to the fire young people had back in the 60s? You don't change anything by drumming and holding up picket signs; you do it by making those who think they are in control tremble!
Technology is always improving, but only in the sense of more powerful cell phones and computers; not in reducing human suffering. When was the last time a major disease was eliminated? It was polio back in 1955. Dr. Jonas Salk gave away that vaccine even though he could have made millions off the patent! But now that all the research is undertaken by big corporations, do you see anything being cured? Curing disease isn't profitable, only treatments are.
Now all this isn't to say that the JWs offer anything better; they don't. But personally, I don't see much to hope for in the near future. Things are gonna have to get much worse before most people are motivated to do something effective.
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stuckinarut2
Great thread.
Yes, the GB successfully makes witnesses put off living their REAL LIFE, for some pretend utopian FALSE LIFE....
I like to casually remind all witnesses in conversation, that one fact alone is true: EVERY person who has ever lived has died....(therefore implying they will too.) So don't put off living NOW!
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ToesUp
Yes...we are watching family members waiting on their happiness to begin. The sad thing about it, is they are all old, depressed and broke.
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Giordano
In the late 1950's early 1960's I was reading Eric Hoffer's The True Believer while I was pioneering 'where the need was great.' It certainly changed my perspective about remaining a loyal JW.
He never mention the WTBTS or the JW's. His social philosophy was about mass movements and how they controlled their followers. Here's a sampling:
"The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the single handed defiance of the world."
"All active mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. ...by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. ...To rely on the evidence of senses and of reason is heresy and treason. It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. What we know as blind faith is sustained by innumerable unbelief's."
"Here, as elsewhere, the technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure."Just about everything he wrote could be applied directly to the Society. Looking back...... this was the first time I used my critical thinking skills. I read and thought about the organization, the beliefs, family and close friends..........and then my wife and I stepped down and away.
Hoffer spelled it out in simple terms. I knew there were things wrong with the WT but to understand how they were manipulating us helped us make the very best decision we ever made.
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Vidiot
smiddy - "...the actual paradise conditions they portray wont happen overnight, not even for a few hundred years at least."
Not to mention that eternal life under a planet-wide "Watchtower regime" wouldn't be all that paradisaic.
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WTWizard
I noticed that myself that, every time something could have given me at least a bit of fun now, they found some stupid excuse to throw it away. And not all of them would have saved the whole world, but at least led to a little less stagnation for your own soul.
To start, music. Most of us have heard that joke-hova hates Led Zeppelin. Reality is, listening to their music can be good for your soul. No, it will not totally heal it. But, it will do you some significant good. Today, one can get the whole discography for not much more than a month's worth of field circus expenses, download them onto a device and store them on a USB stick, and listen to it. For about the cost of a Grand Boasting Session attendance, you can download the whole David Bowie discography--all 25 of his main studio albums. For the cost of this stupid Israel mission they are pushing, you could get the whole David Bowie discography, all Led Zeppelin, all Depeche Mode, all New Order (yes, there is a British group with that name--and they have some good music), all Billy Idol, the whole Jacksons clan (both together and individual, Janet and all), the whole Whitney Houston discography, Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, and whoever else you might think of. Then load it onto a 64 GB USB stick.
So you try that--and what does Brother Hounder think? You have money for that music (which they bash), you have money to throw away. So, you get to listen to Kingdumb maladies. You might be "lucky" enough to be allowed to listen to such as Yanni, Barbra Streisand, and similar mushy "songs". Or, they might insist that all your money belongs to joke-hova, and you are stuck with Kingdumb maladies, which are even worse. Then, you are supposed to trust in joke-hova to do what one Israel mission's worth of money could have fixed.
Another issue is financial stability. They want you to move down into a studio apartment in a high crime area, in lousy condition. And they want you to quit your full time job, especially if you happen to have one that pays a decent wage and still allows you to make your boasting sessions and do a reasonable amount of field circus. There has to be "something" wrong with it, just to destabilize your financial situation. Of course, you are supposed to throw away your "surplus" funds. Expenses are legion. Field circus costs money, and there is that Israel trip they are supposed to be saving up for. Those who happen to have 20 toilet papers sitting around and decide to spend it on a silver Eagle are hounded mercilessly, Then, they lose that hope of having at least a little money. Anything that could have provided hope is taken away--for some stupid reason. Then they expect people to trust joke-hova.
Health anyone? They expect you to lose weight, then you have to eat all those poisonburgers that are making you fat in the first place. Worse, the stress, not getting any sleep, constant risk of stupid accidents because you are going out in field circus in dangerous conditions, vitamins you are not getting (as often as not, for no money), and eating poisonburgers and TV poison dinners (as often as not, from Nestle to boot) make you sick. Then you trust joke-hova to heal that sickness that it caused you in the first place?
While humans may not be able to solve all the problems as long as joke-hova keeps barging every time we are near a solution, quitting serving that monster could at least make you have fewer, less serious ones.
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ToesUp
It is what JW's do best. Well....next to judging and gossip.
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Landy
In the late 1950's early 1960's I was reading Eric Hoffer's The True Believer while I was pioneering 'where the need was great.' It certainly changed my perspective about remaining a loyal JW.
Thanks for the heads up on that book - I think I'll get a copy