Many JWs feel that either God is blessing them or ALLOWING them persecution or in fact causing discipline upon them. What did you think when something good or bad happened to you???
Did You Believe Either You Were Being "Blessed" or Being "Disciplined"?
by minimus 22 Replies latest jw friends
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Carmel
fecal factor
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Bubbamar
I couldn't decide if that's an example of Phobia implantation or Mystical Manipulation. Maybe a bit of both but mostly Mystical Manipulation, IMO. Below is Lifton's description of one of the 8 forms of mind control (from Watchman.org).
MYSTICAL MANIPULATION The claim of divine authority or spiritual advancement that allows the leader to reinterpret events as he or she wishes, or make prophecies or pronouncements at will, all for the purpose of controlling group members. "Ideological totalists. . . are impelled by a special kind of mystique which not only justifies such manipulations, but makes them mandatory... They are the agents 'chosen' (by history, by God, or by some other supernatural force) to carry out the 'mystical imperative,' the pursuit of which must supersede all considerations of decency or of immediate human welfare. Similarly, any thought or action which questions the higher purpose is considered to be stimulated by a lower purpose, to be backward, selfish, and petty in the face of the great overriding mission." "One is asked to accept these manipulations on a basis of trust (or faith). . . When trust gives way to mistrust. . . the higher purpose cannot serve as adequate emotional sustenance . . .feeling himself unable to escape from forces more powerful than himself, he subordinates everything to adapting himself to them. He becomes sensitive to all kinds of cues."
These days I agree with Carmel....Sh-t Happens....good and bad. That's life. A book that I read that helped me a lot with that is When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner. -
Fe2O3Girl
JWs are mistaken in believing that God is influencing their lives.
God is far too busy intervening in the affairs of affluent western Christians. He is always helping out in court cases, real estate deals, arranging for couples to get together, helping their wedding arrangements, or making sure flights are delayed or on time as suits the convenience of said affluent western Christians, to be affecting the lives of JWs. I can see how there is so much suffering in the world when God is so busy smoothing out the already pleasant lives of the affluent western Christians.
I know he is doing all this stuff for them, because they told me he is.
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minimus
Girl, you're funny AND sooo right!
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JH
I prayed often, like most JW, and I never felt blessed, not once.
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minimus
JH---that sucks. Not even once..,...
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Nosferatu
God hasn't paid any attention to earth since Extraterrestrial Jesus was on earth. Once Jesus' mission was over, he went back to his home planet, and so did God. God is either too busy back on his home planet, or he may even have died by now.
Good and Bad all have to do with the actions and reactions between humans. Neither God nor Satan has nothing to do with any of it.
How JW Persecution works:
Action: JWs knock on a door, place some tracts, start a bible study, baptism, child dies from lack of blood.Reaction: Russia bans JWs.
Now tell me, where is Satan or God in all this?
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minimus
I know most of you believe this belief is hogwash but did you accept these thoughts as JWs?
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toreador
I know most of you believe this belief is hogwash but did you accept these thoughts as JWs?
I had some doubts but for the most part I did accept it. I always felt something was phony about the whole deal. Why God picked a chooses so flippantly who he would help and how and then the fact that most if not all things he supposedly had a hand in could just be happenstance or just the goodness in people coming out and helping others, not because God himself had a hand in it.