Pasted from a jw board! (page 3)

claudia

Ok if none of this womans children finished high school it may very

well be that its convenient for her to feel this way out of

guilt/shame??

Introspection

Watchtower 06/15/88 p32:
"Helpful as guides to daily living. That is what a woman from
Toronto, Canada, called the publications of the Watchtower Bible
and Tract Society. She added: "I am a university graduate,
and I must shockingly admit that I have learned much more through
your publications than through all my years of study."

Well, it may very well be that she didn't pay attention in school or just didn't get an education, it is possible to pass without really learning anything. I guess you might say the information is there in both cases, but not necessarily the understanding.

"It is not so much that you use your mind wrongly--you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease." -Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Had Enough

an offhand comment about high school, gradually grows into
a statement of precise fact regarding university. The WT, once
again, creates something out of nothing.

So one again folks...the WTS only has to say it, and the r&f jump all over it and say "yup, yup" that's right. I don't need an education.

I do attribute some of my writing ability (such as it is) to the training I received in searching out material and making up a talk. However, I attribute more of the ability to an extremely gifted teacher who nutured in me, a love for writing, and an interest in correct grammar, sentence structure and spelling.

The WTS also had me believe we had no need of an encyclopedia set (and I remember discussing this in great length with an encyclopedia salesman) since the WTS provided all the information of the world that we could possible need to know, in their magazines.

Now that my eyes are open, I am a sponge. And yes I too consider it a handicap at not having a University education but I am trying to make up for that by being open to all the avenues of information I can find, digest and filter through.

As for the woman who passed the high school equivalency with only a gr.9 ed....sorry WTS but that doesn't have anything to do with the mags...it has to do with aptitude. I also know of someone near and dear to me who passed the high school equiv. with only a few days spent in high school and went on to college without ever having read a WT or AW mag. so that example just doesn't cut it.

As for having a better vocabulary, I had a larger vocabulary that most of the elders in our cong. and we all read the same mags. Mine came from my education and love for reading novels, doing crossword puzzles...anything stimulating my mind. Of course, good little JW that I was, I didn't read anything scholarly or mentally challenging.

Yes I will agree though to some extent that the WTS helped those with a poor education to speak better but equivalent to a university education?...I don't think so!

The WTs will continue to grasp at straws to convince the r&f that they don't need an education and for the most part, they'll fall for it.

Had Enough

chipster

there are many Ph.D's in the organization..... P ost H ole
D iggers.LOL
i'm sure that i got my MBA equivalent for doing the congregation accounts for so many years...LOL
actually, i don't know where the quote originated about getting the eqivalent of a college degree by reading the WT and AW mags...but, i do have to say that the public speaking experience, along with the ability that i gained by talking to total strangers, uninvited at their doors, helped me immensely later on in life....
i don't really know if the degrees are worth a damn in thefinal analysis anyway...just a thought.

Pork Chop

I've heard this statement quite a few times. Generally from people that deep down inside wish they had a real education. It's just an excuse, I feel sorry for people that say things like that because they obviously have no clue.

r51785

One of the most important, perhaps the most important skill one derives from a university education is the ability to think critically. This is entirely absent from the residents of Planet Watchtower.

RedhorseWoman

Just the fact that someone is reading is better than sitting and watching TV. However, the "knowledge" one receives from reading only the WT and AWAKE! is so one-dimensional and narrow that it can hardly be considered equivalent to a college education.

I do agree that one can attain a well-rounded education without formally attending college, but that would be through much reading and research of various ideas and philosophies, and it would involve much critical thinking and reasoning--both of which are anathema to JWs.

It's just a way to keep themselves from feeling deprived.

claudia

And another happy poster in the same thread wrote:

"I did my first load of exams and the teachers wanted me to go on to do more Exams that would get me into university but that would have meant me being at school til I was 19-24 and I figured that would be pointless. Why get all the qualifications for a trade in a world that's soon going to dissapear? Matt 6:19 For me it was more important to get qualifications for the paradise i.e. helping people getting to know Jehovah and getting to love him.(there will be loads who never heard of Jehovah yet in the great ressurection)
Ofcourse everyone is different but Jehovah will look after you regardless of your qualifications as long as you keep close to his side Matt 6:33.
you need to be able to support yourself financially ofcourse and not be a burden on your parents or society but we also need to get our priorities in a straight line and sorted out.
------------------
be happy and keep smiling
psalm 34:8"

Introspection

Yikes Claudia, I hope you're not reading a lot of this.. After I read this second post the idea of "spiritual bulimia" came to mind. Poor kid, she probably would just spit out the same lines if anyone tried to explain things to her, all the while thinking she knows better.

"It is not so much that you use your mind wrongly--you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease." -Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Pasted from a jw board!

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