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

by Finkelstein 48 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  shepherdless

  To some extent, I am surprised Christianity in general, is still around. If humans were purely logical, there would have been a dramatic fall-off in belief, once the theory of evolution was widely known, and the discovery of DNA should have been the death-knell.

  I think what happens is that the majority of people do not change their religious beliefs over their lifetime, and only a percentage of the next generation do. On another thread, SBF referred me to a book, where the author argued that the this generational drop-out percentage in the U.K. was about 50% since WW2.

  Why have many of the more fundamentalist Christians (eg JWs) held on better than the mainstream religions? Probably because their devotees are more sheltered from outside influences, reducing the generational drop-out percentage. Where I grew up, the mainstream Protestants have gone from being dominant to virtually disappearing. The Catholics have held on for a few more decades (but it is clear they are going the same way). I think the reason for the difference is that Catholics have their own schools to shelter their kids from outside ideas, and it slows the process.

  Similarly, I think it is impossible to shelter even Borg kids from the outside world in this day and age, and I think Watchtower and other fundamentalist groups will suffer the same generational drop-out, from now on. It is a shame it is such a slow process, and too late for many we know.
• 

  Vidiot

  Yes.

  And when I dwell on it, I get impatient.
• 

  Finkelstein

  It has to accepted that established religious beliefs are framed and structured in much of are social environments from birth through generation to generation, those set beliefs are various and their effects toward are social behavior varies as much as well.
  
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  steve2

  If religious beliefs were based on fact-checking, observable processes, testable hypotheses and observable evidence, scientists would be the greatest believers and proponents of religion on earth.

  The fact that religious beliefs require none of the above highlights the role of poor education in maintaining religious ignorance and the lamentable triumph of manipulative emotion over reason.
• 

  Finkelstein

  steve2
  
• 

  UnshackleTheChains

  At this weeks clam meeting. Much praise was given to the brother in explaining when the captivity from Babylon the great ended. To be honest, the brother was very clear and admire the way he explained the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses understanding of this topic.

  On the other hand, with all due respect to the brother (as not his fault), the understanding came across as farcicle nonsense!!!

  It's this kind of bats@#t crazy teaching that causes my jaw to drop. I can be damn sure others must be feeling the same way within our hall. Why do the GB persist in coming out with this stuff. It's like they just say ...hey let's get it out there...What the hell????
• 

  TD

  I don't think the logic or lack thereof has anything to do with religious beliefs. There is zero evidence that a civilization on par with ancient Greece or Rome at the height of their power ever existed here in America, and yet there are substantially more Mormons than JWs. Many of the former are educated people too.

  That's why I keep coming back to the example of fiction. In a fictional universe you define your own reality and your audience suspends belief in the real world for the sense of escape they derive from your story. The more consistent the story, the more viable this alternate reality will be.

  And the more viable this alternate reality, the easier it will be for your audience to suspend belief in the real world. Anyone who doubts this has only to sit down with a Mormon and have them explain to you about life in Precolumbian America. It's very real to them.

  Or, just for fun, you could watch this humorous review of Star Wars Episode I

  Star Wars Episode I

  Therefore it's important that an author not violate their own rules. If you're writing a story about vampires, for example and in your fictional universe, sunlight kills them, then obviously they can't be sunbathing by the pool later on in your book. The more inconsistencies and contradictions of this sort, the less believable the story.

  And this is what stuns me about JW's. The eschatology is lying in shambles and nobody seems to be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together. Worse, the "authors" are violating their own basic "rules" regularly and often.
  
• 

  Finkelstein

  Thanks TD
  

  One thing unique with the JWS is its strong pressing assertion of their organization being " The Truth " , in truth of the bible interpretation, in truth of the correct version of of preaching the Gospel and of course being selectively chosen and guided by god's holy spirit.
  

  The reality is this assertions were strategically created and designed to enhance the proliferation of the WTS own published works, the exploitation and manipulation can not be dismissed.

  People who avowed in servitude to the directions of the WTS were designated as true righteous preachers and therefore worthy of being saved from destruction through god's judgement.
  
• 

  dozy

  I think if the Society had continued in its 1970's form it would now be in severe decline in the West - 3 meetings a week , long , boring studies in the Mans Salvation book etc. But it has done just about enough ( dumbing down , deleting a meeting , belatedly embracing electronic means of publishing , cutting pioneer hours etc , allowing more blood products , OKing alternative service etc ) to arrest the decline.

  It has also made the barrier to leaving so high ( as all ex-JWs know ) that I think many are too scared to leave or consciously or sub consciously decide that they don't even want to start going down that road. I have a cousin who knows it isn't the truth ( he's in his early 60's ) and for years has been contemplating leaving but he admits that he just has too much invested & doesn't want to lose his family and friends so he keeps on going though the motions. He admits that he will probably die a JW. There must be tens of thousands like him.