Mrs. Fiorini

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Posts by Mrs. Fiorini

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  28

  Why exactly, DO the JWs continue to beat on doors? What is the POINT?

  by WuzLovesDubs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i mean...it accomplishes nothing save making them pests all over the planet.

  they dont get money from it, not enough to make any damn difference anyway...the magazines are limited to only two a month and they dont do subscriptions any more.

  how many people actually are brought in this way?

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  It is very hard for people to try to convince others of something they don't believe themselves. If you are constantly going out trying to sell your beliefs to others, it reinforces them in you. Whether they ever convert another person or not, JWs further commit themselves to the WT by going out in field service.
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  11

  WT Dept of Mind Control????

  by Luo bou to in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what i want to know is "how can such a sophisticated process of indoctrination exist, without experts in phsychological manipulation : men who know exactly what they are doing.

  ".

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  I'm not an expert in cults. I have, however, noticed an interesting common thread among many. Their beliefs are unsupportable.

  In the case of the WT it takes only a little effort to shoot down their doctrines. They have preached Armageddon is coming over and over again, each time failing in the prediction. They claim the date 1914 is biblically significant, only to be exposed as having miscalculated using historically incorrect dates for their starting point. They must constantly come up with "new light" when the old light fails to hold up. I could go on and on, and many have on this site over the years.

  IMO groups whose dogma is weak make up for it by trying to strong arm their followers into believing, hence the mind control. If their beliefs held any water, they wouldn't care who criticized them or who their followers talked to. The doctrines would stand on their own and followers would stay.

  Those who lead cults have a psychological need to maintain the fantasy. The insecurity they feel with their weak beliefs is lessened when others believe too. So they expend a lot of effort trying to get and keep members who reinforce the group views. They also feel very threatened by those who see through it. (No wonder they hate "apostates")

  A main motivator for many cult leaders, I believe, is fear of losing control. Lady Lee talked about abusers in family relationships. Nobody has to train them in specific techniques for them to know how to intimidate, abuse and control their victims. I don't think cult leaders need to be trained in mind control to know how to control their followers either. Charismatic leaders have the ability to attract followers, and when those followers start to see through the smooth talk, they resort to deception, manipulation and intimidation.

  A recent poster shared articles from the old newspaper The Brooklyn Eagle. It once printed an article about C T Russell that included a letter from a former follower in England. In it he said of Russell, "He has deluded thousands of followers into believing Christ returned to this earth in 1874, though in a spirit body and therefore invisible to the natural eye. Very many have gone so far as to sell up their homes over here, expecting to die before 1914 (at the latest), and many others have so arranged their affairs as to last till that date only. I myself was connected with his movement for twelve years, but my eyes, thank God, are now opened. When one leaves their society because of enlightenment, Mr. Russell at once advises his followers to shun such an one and counsels his followers never to read anything emanating from any other source but his own pen! I could write you for a week telling you of the bitterness and the sorrow that this man Russell has left in many a Christian home here in England." Sound familiar? Change 1874 to 1914, 1914 to 1975 and Mr. Russell to the Watchtower, and you have a letter that many on this board could have written.

  The same abusive and dysfunctional pattern has continued with Rutherford, Knorr, Franz, etc. until all those who run the organization today are as much victims as victimizers. It is much like abuse in families which gets passed on from one generation to the next. It has become a very sad situation that is bigger than any of the individuals involved.
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  8

  My Latest Freeminds Blog

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovahs witnesses (jw) are taught to never listen to a word, or read an article by those who have left their former faith.

  any critical information is viewed as poisonous to your faith.

  it will kill your faith.

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  Excellent! Such a good analogy from The Matrix too.
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  36

  I wish I was Stronger

  by apocryphal22 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  but im not.

  i have lost everything.. i am a third generation jw on both sides of my family.

  all of my family is in full time service, pioneers, elders, cos, international construction, anointed and gb.

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  aprocryphal22,

  I know it's hard now. And there will be more hard times in the future too. But you, out of all your family members, have been the first to "wake up." Cult expert Steven Hassan says that all cult members, deep down, want out. You have opened the door for yourself and also for your family. They may or may not walk through it eventually, but either way, you have. While it's difficult, you can celebrate the fact that you have done it. If you still have a belief in God, pray for them that they are able to follow your example and get out too. If any of them wish to, it will be easier for them because you paved the way.

  In the mean time, a whole new life awaits you outside the WT. It's yours to explore. Over time, you will make new friends, find new opportunities for growth, and build a new life for yourself. I don't know how far along in your journey you are, but I speak from experience when I say that it does get better over time.

  I have lost many members of my family too, since leaving, but I still don't regret doing it. It is one of the smartest things I have ever done. Congratulate yourself for having the courage to see your way out. Many never do and spend their entire lives in the darkness of that organization.

  Best wishes and good luck to you.

  PS - If you're still in your thirties, you're doing pretty good. You still have a large part of your life left and time to do something with it. What would you have done if none of your family had been JWs and you were raised in a normal life? Now you can do it! (I'm in my forties and I just graduated from college. Boy did that feel good!)
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  2

  church's use of power

  by mann377 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here is news article from jacksonville fl about what a local church did to find a member who was blogging about what he did not like about the preacher.

  could this have far reaching affects?

  http://www.jacksonville.com/news/columnists/mark_woods/2009-04-10/story/churchs_use_of_power_is_troubling.

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  Very disturbing indeed. It makes you wonder how much the WT can find out about sites like this.
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  22

  Any behavior you regret due to JW teaching

  by happpyexjw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone wish they could make amends for mistakes made as a jw?

  i tried very hard to follow the teachings very closely, right down to shunning some of my relatives who were df'd.

  i also think i was very judgemental and hard on others..

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  I regret reporting people to the elders when I found out they had "sinned." I thought I was being loyal to God and helping them, all while protecting the congregation. Now I realize I was unneccessarily butting into their personal life, and causing them problems for things that were nobody's business but their own.
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  13

  I just lost my job.

  by JeffT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was starting to hate working there, but it's still a drag.

  i'm hoping to do some sort of free-lance technical writing, in particular writing accounting procedures.

  if any of you have any advice, wisdom etc, i would love to hear it.

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  My sympathies to you. I was layed off my job a while ago. I also was ready for a change. It turned out to be a good thing for me. But even so, it was painful when it happened.

  I took the opportunity to go back to school. Very healing for me, since I was able to get the degree the WT discuraged me from getting when I was younger. Now I'm looking for a job in a whole new field! I highly recommend doing it if you can.
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  14

  Hi

  by First Last in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm new here and couldn't find a forum for introductions.

  so here it is... i'm tom.

  born in 73 to jw parents, left home when i was 17 because of the mind control.

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  Welcome. You will find many here trying to make sense of their JW experience and learning to live life free.
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  8

  Surrounded 24/7

  by Skip it in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was not associated with this "organization" until the age of about 19 when i was dating my current wife.

  she was df'ed for the 1st couple of a years that we were together and thats when my intense resentment started.

  i gave in to her bs after hearing the overwhelming fear from her about the generation that was about to end and how she had to get reinstated because she is just the happiest person when she's a witness.

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  An earlier poster mentioned Steven Hassan's books. I especially recommend Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves. He is a former member of the Moonies and has since become an expert on cults and how they operate.

  He has developed a strategy on how to help your loved ones out of a cult without alienating them. He tells the stories of several JW families, showing what worked and what didn't. It's an excellent resource. If you can't find it in a bookstore, you can order from the FreeMinds website.
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  10

  Question about number of memorial partakers

  by TweetieBird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a kid (a long, long time ago) it seems like the number of "remnant" was around 8,000. at the memorial tonight, the brother kept bringing up the fact that last year there were only about 9,000+ (can't remember the exact number but it seemed closer to 10,000).

  what is the society's explanation for the number going up instead of down?

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  Mrs. Fiorini

  I don't think the WT publicly admits this, but IMO the changes are the natural consequences of Armageddon not coming as expected. As the governing body members get old and die off, new ones have to be appointed to replace them. They must be of the annointed to qualify, but are obviously younger than the 1935 cut off, so there was a need for "new light" to accomodate them.

  Of course, opening it up to justify younger governing body members means opening it up for others too. Hence the increase.