What causes most JW's to lose the ability to reason?

by XBEHERE 36 Replies latest jw friends

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  XBEHERE

  Take a look at this WT excerpt from another thread that I copied and pasted:

  *** g93 3/22 Why So Many False Alarms? ***

  Jehovah?s Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus? second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect. Because of this, some have called them false prophets. Never in these instances, however, did they presume to originate predictions ?in the name of Jehovah.? Never did they say, ?These are the words of Jehovah.? The Watchtower, the official journal of Jehovah?s Witnesses, has said: "We have not the gift of prophecy." (January 1883, page 425).....They are voicing expectations based on their own interpretation of some scripture text or physical event. They do not claim that their predictions are direct revelations from Jehovah and that in this sense they are prophesying in Jehovah?s name. Hence, in such cases, when their words do not come true, they should not be viewed as false prophets such as those warned against at Deuteronomy 18:20-22. In their human fallibility, they misinterpreted matters.

  If we fully apply what was said in that article then all JW's have good reason to view what the WT says as skeptical and possibly not true dont you think? They basically admit that in some cases "words do not come true" in the WT.

  I wonder if the guy in the writing dept. who wrote that was demoted to the book bindery for admiting this one.
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  stillajwexelder

  The reason they lose reason is because of brainwashing and instilling fear by threat of DFing
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  mtbatoon

  So it's Witnesses in their eagerness and not the WT (the official journal of Jehovah's Witnesses) that make these prophesies. Also they're not false because they put in small print somewhere that they're not direct revelations from god.

  So if for example I take my car into a garage to be serviced and the tea boy does all the work on it. When the engine explodes half a mile down the road it's not the garages fault. This is because it was the tea boy who did the work not the actual non-existent entity call ?the garage?, and the tea boy is not to blame either because he never claimed to be a mechanic event though I was never informed of this till after the event.

  And you say the WT has a legal department??
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  NeonMadman

  They do not claim that their predictions are direct revelations from Jehovah and that in this sense they are prophesying in Jehovah?s name. Hence, in such cases, when their words do not come true, they should not be viewed as false prophets such as those warned against at Deuteronomy 18:20-22. In their human fallibility, they misinterpreted matters.

  So are we to understand that when they referred to their teaching about the 1914 generation as "the Creator's promise" and "Jehovah's prophetic word through Christ Jesus," that they were only offering an interpretation? Isn't that really the essence of Deuteronomy 18:20-22, that one who offers his own interpretation as coming from God is a false prophet?

  Obviously, they are trying to talk out of both sides of their mouth. They want the authority of a prophet of God, but not the responsibility that goes with it.
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  jgnat

  I think JW's use a lot of mental energy running around these circuitous arguments. It takes a lot less energy to think clearly.
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  TheEdge

  This may sound harsh, but I don't think the majority have the ability to start with - hence they become / remain JW.
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  blondie

  I have to agree that many JWs never had the ability to reason but then I heard that same complaint from the professors about my fellow students. Reasoning is a lost skill in general. People look for people or organizations to do their thinking for them...to take the responsibility when things go wrong.

  Blondie
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  garybuss

  ?Questions From Readers?
  ?Do Jehovah?s Witnesses allow the use of autoreason thoughts (autotransthinking), such as having their own thoughts stored and later put back into them?
  Mental health personnel often distinguish between homoreason thoughts (coming from another person) and autoreason thoughts (the patient?s own thoughts). It is well known that Jehovah?s Witnesses do not accept thoughts from other humans. But what about using autoreason thinking, a term used regarding a number of thought procedures??
  ?Some of those critical thinking procedures are unacceptable to Witnesses because of being clearly in conflict with the policies of the governing body. Of course, at the time the guideline was written, clear and critical thinking and other responsible uses of the mind were yet unknown.? (Gary Busselman, Book Of Famous Quotes)
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  jeanniebeanz

  For a people taught to 'rely on Jehovah', and that 'the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God', the ability to trust their own judgement has clearly been lost. They will bury their doubts and questions because they have been trained not to trust them.

  Witnesses view doubts in general as dangerous and will seek out their causes and eliminate them from their lives, be they honest questions from loved ones (shun the loved one), or their own realization of a critical discrepancy (must have been a bad thought placed there by Satan).

  They are quite simply not reasoning any more, and refuse to allow it.

  Jean
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  G Money

  So I look at it as an admission that the WT is not the voice of God or inspired in everything (anything) it says. It would be foolish to allow them to "after the fact" pick and choose which items were inspired. Either you are inspired and directed or you aren't, plain and simple.