The purpose of conversion testimonies and stories

LeeT

A hunch has just struck me.

We get frequent accounts in the literature and videos of people whose dysfunctional lived have been turned around by studying with the JW's and coming to belief in the Org (sorry, Jehovah). Evangelical type Christian groups also use similar testimony stories.

Here's the hunch:
The purpose of these is quite different among JW's compared to other religions.
Other groups use these testimonies primarily to persuade non-believers.
The JW's use them to reinforce the beliefs of those already in the "Truth."

Any thoughts?

Simon

Personal stories are compelling. It's why politicians also invent them, you know the ones, "a 4 year old girl came up to me after a campaign rally, gave me her $6 savings and said 'please fund planned parenthood because choice is important for empowering women in todays world'".

We're meant to believe and relate to them, and not think "wow, do they really think we're so stupid that we believe that happened?!?"

LeeT

Yes, I get that the point is to reach straight for the heart and bypass the brain.
It's the target audience aspect I'm thinking of.

waton

The JW's use them to reinforce the beliefs of those already in the "Truth."

LT: yeah, a hippy will think twice being told he will end up in a business suit putting in 100 hours of unpaid compulsory volunteer time per month. -- if he joins up. wt writers want to hammer home again and again that the pinnacle of jw bliss is being a full time canvasser, with 5 kids, working 2 jobs and an opposing husband.

eyeuse2badub

The testimonies and stories are always entertaining but rarely factual. I always got a kick out of the "experiences" from some unnamed person is some middle eastern country that escaped all sorts of dangerous situations and persecutions and is now an elder with a full time pioneer wife and 5 kids! lol lol lol!

just saying!

joey jojo

All the multi level marketing companies do it too.

Of you've ever been to their sales pitch nights, it feels a lot like hearing experiences at a jw convention.

WTWizard

With me, things had better manifest in my life in reality as real positive events, and I do not care who you are. You go boasting about positive events, you had better prepare to make sure they actually manifest in the form you boast about. This means no "In a way, it did happen". "In a way, it did happen" means "It didn't happen, and it isn't going to happen at all. But you are expected to lie about this and act as if it did."

And especially with blessings in the form of someone else coming into the cancer through my "heroic" efforts". This is about as much a blessing to me as coronavirus was to the economy. I need more people working toward spiritual communism about as much as the average laid off person needs more hardship with unemployment plus a crackdown on mortgage and car payments. Or about as much as your 98 year old grandpa needs coronavirus. Which is none--at least these hardships do not affect the whole planet as much as communism will. Communism will be here fast enough without all these "blessings".

BluesBrother

The WTS Claim that every published experience is factual and checked out... some of them do seem pretty far fetched but..... I cannot say for sure.

The purpose is indeed to encourage the flock who are seeing no "fruitage" in their locality. They are supposed to feel that it does happen , just not here. In practice I have found many find them discouraging. They feel "why ar'nt I blest with such happenings? " If it happens "over there"... they don't want to know.

Many have told me they would rather hear of others enduring a lack of interest the same as them.

road to nowhere

Blues

Factual? Every experience I had personal knowledge of was massaged beyond recognition. Or an outright lie.

FedUpJW

Exactly as RTN above stated. I personally knew several who told their ~~lies~~ "experiences". The last one happened to be on the JW TV channel. I was 95% fabrication. Lies by a circuit oversneers wife.

The purpose of conversion testimonies and stories

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