Aren't you a bit amazed that the WTS/JWS is still around ? (page 4)

Wasanelder Once

Its all about "new light" and "imperfect" perfection. You buy into that and its full speed ahead.

punkofnice

In some cases the JW cult is a family tradition and continues thusly.

There are always people willing to cling to something. I think there are some Russelites still about, well there was a few years ago when I stumbled on a pro-Russell website.

We humans a weird creatures.

when you consider there are those that believe that the UK Royals are lizards from the Babylonian brotherhood or something silly. It makes ya wonder!

stan livedeath

pale :

i can see a number of ones a few years younger than me that are just waiting for their parents to die so they can stop going to the meetings.

good point. my first (ex) wife is a born in.. both her fanatic parents are long dead...both my more liberal parents are gone too.

i sometimes wonder if my ex wife will die before me--we are about the same age. our daughter and husband have 4 girls of their own--so no elders there ! will they still stay in the cult when granma dies ?

my older son (41) is d/f and long gone from it. just my younger son (39)..who i think is a m/s--but no contact from him in 30 years now.

TD

Frankly yes.

steve2

If religion were based solely on reason and evidence, I certainly would be very surprised any long-established end-times religious belief system could survive beyond a few years. A religion's failed prophecy should spell its end.

Festinger's 1950s book, "When Prophecy Fails" speaks to the cognitive processes that preserve and even strengthen failed teachings. Look at the web of associated beliefs JW organization has attached to its 1914 doctrine. Who inside has the gumption to remove a bottom card? They are not that stupid.

Beyond that, religion caters to deep human needs for certainty, comfort and connection. Once people succumb to these needs, their counter-needs to check and criticise plummet.

So, for instance, JWs are able to simultaneously urge criticism of all other religious belief systems and stifle criticism of their own. Depending on your disposition, call this "being human", "stupidity", "hypocrisy" or all three. All humans are inclined to emotive reasoning, selective fact checking and overlooking contrary evidence. It's just that religious people have far, far greater incentives to prioritise these above hard-nosed fact-checking.

kpop

Yes and no. You must remember that human psychology plays a part along with stupidity. Why do people join cults like Jim Jones? Why is religion still around? Why do people pay to see WWE wrestling when they know it is fake?

blondie

No, but I think it is devolving; members aren't like the ones in my grandparents day, actually read and studied the bible before becoming members. The day will come when the only new members will be family members.

blondie

Really if you are looking for remnants of Russell's time, look under Bible Students, they never called themselves Russellites, there are quite a few different Bible Student groups with different percentages of Russell's original beliefs. I found some too pushy and others very kind and laid back.

The WTS has changed their teachings to fit their interpretation of the times. They will keep changing and the next generation will hardly recognize the 1950 WTS from the 2050 one.

Finkelstein

In view of the sociological cost this religoius cult is directly responsible for..... ie, the deaths of thousands for refusing medical care, the breaking up of families, the lives wasted for following an illusion perpetrated by a corrupt publishing house, makes one wonder if society is going to one day step in and say enough.

blondie

The Catholic Church is still here...........lots of hurdles and failures in their history.

Aren't you a bit amazed that the WTS/JWS is still around ?

Share this