Do you think some people are better off with the borg?

by new light 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Satanus

  The human psyche goes through stages of development, like kids go through grade school. Looking to an authority figure to dictate everything, protect and guide, being totally dependent and idolising that figure is a stage some go through very young, and some never graduate from. Graduation, beginning to make ones own decisions, taking ones own responsibilities for the first time can be terrifying, can lead to failures etc, for the first while. Traumatic, though it was/still is sometimes for me, i'm not sorry that i took the step.

  SS
• 

  Frantic

  absolutely.......some ppl just arent wired to think for themselves. In my opinion, the weaker, more vulnerable, sick and ppl without direction/purpose are more inclined to cling onto 'hope" of a better life. Feeling and being a part of something is better than being a part of nothing. I wouldnt dare inform many wts of what goes on "behind the scenes", this would disrupt the order of their natural lives. I mean its what you know right???? Some nuts are better left untouched.
  .
  Frantically Insane Andy.
• 

  Golf

  "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."

  Guest 77
• 

  Special K

  Very interesting response Bulldog.. about some not wanting to be unplugged from the borg.

  "the pain of change .. I guess"..

  I think, that if they threw out the disfellowshipping, blood issues, child abuse issues and a few other top screwed up unfounded rules.... then they would fall into the main stream with other religions.

  I'm not sure if other religions have such a violent outcome to those who don't want to be of their relligion. J.W.'s and their thoughts of mass, horrible destruction of all mankind except them.. is certainly way out to lunch.

  ....

  Should I take a Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant etc.. away from their religion as well.

  The belief in God, or heaven,.. or reincarnation.. isn't really a problem to me...

  It's the unbalance of ultimate power and cultishness of the J.W.'s that is the problem to me..The way that they really hurt people with their beliefs..

  just thinking out loud

  Special K
• 

  Fe2O3Girl

  Phantom Stranger said (on a different thread):

  I'll again suggest that the best way to limit the growth of the WTS and of groups like it is to dedicate yourself to making the world and our society a better place. The WTS doesn't exist because of the logic of its arguments or the factualness of its statements - it exists because of the emotional appeal of its thematic message to people in emotional pain and need. As long as people feel a need for such emotional support from any source, there will be a WTS, and groups like it.

  And this absolutely hits the nail on the head. Anyone currently a JW would be better off as a rounded, mature, self-determined individual. But most do not have the skills to get there, indeed, don't want to get there. If the WTBTS did moderate its teachings on a raft of subjects, some JWs (the JW-lites, the social JWs and the family JWs) would be quietly relieved, but at least some would be devastated. They would look for another psychological strait-jacket, possibly in a breakaway "Real JW" movement, or within other fundamentalist high control groups.

  They like it that way.
• 

  Sirona

  I honestly think that some people stay within the JWs because it makes them feel special.

  I know that was a factor in my JWism and although I'm working on it I still do have a tendency to do "novel" things to help myself feel distinctive and special. Its one of those things I recognise about myself, but fortunately despite this tendency I had the sense to leave JWs once I realised the "truth".

  I'd hope that more JWs realise that being there for that reason is nothing more than fooling themselves.

  Sirona
• 

  Descender

  I think it depends on a number of factors. What if this person is totally reliant on this religion and everyone he knows is in the religion? What if before he was a witness, he was in a constant state of depression? What if when he found out the truth about the "truth", he falls back into a deep depression, starts to get heavily into alcohol and drugs, maybe even kills himself? These are factors to consider. Wouldn't being delusional in a messed up religion, but still having a relatively happy life believing the lies be better than a few years of torturous depression and a bullet to the brain because you can't handle reality?
• 

  SixofNine

  I find these comments really odd, and perhaps a bit self-serving as well. How nice that all of us do so well w/o the borg, but those other people... those other people, they really need the borg to even live a tolerable life.

  Poppycock. A very small number, a freakish few, perhaps. But in the big picture, the JW religion is just plain wrong on virtually every level, so you'll be hard pressed to find people who actually need it.

  No, what seems to be missing is options. Some have listed this person or that person who would be lost w/o the organization. Unfortunately, there seems to be a leap in logic that says that person would never, away from the borgs influence, find their way. It's as if you only allow for two options; life as a WT drone, or a miserable existance culminating in suicide.

  I'm just not buying it, their options are as many as ours were and are. Attitude is everything, and attitude is largely a choice.
• 

  DIM

  I think this is a loaded question, which is why we have so many various answers...so I'll attempt to respond anyway.

  My mom is better off being a JW (in the borg sounds like a cult term in itself, the cult of xjw's) because her life previously she has only known emotional abuse, alchoholism, drug abuse and a really rough childhood. While I agree, she CAN find happiness outside of JW's, she initially found happiness within, almost 25 years ago. To leave now, would basically kill my mom. and despite everything, i love my mom, and i'm glad she's found something that makes her happy.