Do you truly WANT the Watchtower to collapse? If so why?

by nicolaou 51 Replies latest jw friends

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  nicolaou

  There are the abuses of course, the diabloical 'two witness' rule applied to allegations of molestation, the reckless 'blood ban' in all it's tortuous complexities (which by Watchtowers own admission has resulted in many fatalaties) and the cruel punishment of shunning which has caused so much suffering and pain to many of us here.

  Is it for these reasons that you want to see the Watchtower fall or is it simply that you want to see them humiliated and broken for what they've done to you? Most of us aren't bitter or selfish enough to want personal revenge against the Watchtower but I'd be lying if I said I didn't sometimes think like that.

  The reason for my original question is that I sometimes feel a bit hypocritical. I try to accord respect to JW's and individuals of all faiths, (yes, even when I go off on one of my atheistic diatriabes) but whereas I allow myself to be hostile to the Watchtower I shrink from being so forthright against other 'christian' faiths whose corrosive nature may not be so easily apparent but is there nonetheless.

  I guess my question is; Why do we want the Watchtower to fall but do not wish all religion to fall?
• 

  Gill

  I think that it's their sheer arrogance that 'We are the ONLY true religion and only WE can interpret the Bible properly and Only WE will survive Armageddon when it comes......very soon', of course!

  The life of the average JW child is a misery. They expect NO future and feel no part of anything. They must not ask questions of their masters at Crooklyn.

  But in the end, it's still the arrogance.

  ONLY WE ARE RIGHT! Makes me personally VERY irritated. Can't wait to see them fall smack on their faces!
• 

  lovelylil

  I'm not really sure. The reason I say this is so many feel it is the only truth and have served the organization for decades. If it will hurt their emotional health even more, maybe even driving some to comit suicide - then no.

  But I am kind of split on it because somedays I say yes and others no. When I say yes it is usually for selfish reasons because I think to myself if there never was a WT organization I would not have been misled. But then again, I have myself to blame for not checking everything they claimed down to the last detail, right?

  Still, I can't help thinking that by the WT collapsing, many would hurt or kill themselves or have worse mental breaks. In the 1800's many men sold their farms to follow Russell and when they saw he was wrong, they killed themselves. I don't think anyone would want that to happen on a major scale. Lilly
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  itsallgoodnow

  I don't care really. But if it did collapse, it sure would be easier to show my family how wrong they are. But if it did, most of them would just join a spinoff religion someone within starts up, so I guess it wouldn't really solve that dilemma. I don't know. I'm just going to have to get used to the idea my family will never see it for what it truly is and I will never be able to reach them. You can't worry about it too much, I suppose.
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  kerj2leev

  The problem is that if it did fall most would reason it is Satan attacking God's organization. Just like when people try to show witness the truth now, they claim its all apostate lies. The FS have already programmed the RF to responed in this way, so I doubt it would really matter that much.
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  done4good

  While all religion can potentially exert problems on the world, the WT, (by it's own brand of extremeism), already does. I don't consider it anything personal, but the world would be a better place without any fundamentalist religions, WT included. Furthermore, despite my atheistic stance, I strongly believe that people's beliefs are personal and that a person needs to learn to think critically first, before they can let go of religion. There is no amount of reasoning that will work otherwise.

  j
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  Mary

  I would personally prefere to see them make big changes rather than fail altogether.....kind of like what the Worldwide Church of God did a few years ago. They had the balls to publically apologize for the horrific impact many of their doctrines had on their R&F and to change. Even though they lost a good portion of their members, they did the right thing and I respect them for that.

  If the WTS made big changes and publically apologized for the horrific impact their doctrines had had on the R&F, get rid of DF'ing those who simply might not agree with all the doctrines, change the 2 Eye Witness rule for pedophiles, the blood doctrine, and a thousand other problems, II would certainly have more respect for them.
• 

  AuldSoul

  I want all cults to fall. But I pragmatically realize I will not be equally effective in aiding the fall of cults I've never been involved with, so I direct my efforts where they will have greatest effect. Former members of other cults who know the cult would be better capable of taking those cults down.

  I know the Organization Behind the Name "Jehovah's Witnesses" and I know its strengths and weaknesses. I can have maximum impact on that organization, simply because I know it. The fact that it has damaged me (and continues to damage me through my family) in no way makes my efforts a matter of revenge.

  A corporation is not a person, it is a blind, unfeeling entity. It makes decisions in its own best interests. Like all entities, it only seeks to survive. But, this one is rabid. It dehydrates everyone it bites. It attacks them from within their own brains, turning them rabid as well. I would not think twice before putting down a rabid dog that threatened my community, especially not if it had already bitten my family members, but the killing of the dog would not be an act of revenge. Why would I balk at putting down an organization that has a similar impact on my community?

  I can't speak for anyone else but, in my case, it is not about revenge. It is about hitting the reset button on a failed religious experiment so that my family will be freed to choose again. They may make an equally bad choice, next time. But they may not, too.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
• 

  Scully

  you want to see them humiliated and broken for what they've done to you?

  It might sound strange, but lately I've accepted the fact that "what they've done to me" (shunning, etc) has as much to do with my choices and the consequences for those choices, as it is their "choice" to treat me that way.

  Having been raised a JW, I have always known the consequences of Leaving The Truth™ insofar as losing contact with my JW family members was concerned. The threat of those consequences being meted out on me held me hostage for years. However, it came to a point where I could no longer continue lying to myself that it was OK to live that way for the sake of keeping family relations intact. The more I researched the WTS, the more I felt like a hypocrite staying inside an organization that I could not conscientiously endorse. It became a matter of me being true to my personal values and ethics, and I chose that as my path, knowing full well that it would probably cost me dearly in terms of contact with my family. I don't like that this is the price I've had to pay for my freedom, but I am no longer held hostage. I am no longer a prisoner of WTS ideology. I am free and that was my choice.
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  dedpoet

  I really couldn't care less whether they collapse totally or not, but if they did take a fall, I certainly wouldn't shed any tears over it. In some ways, I'd rather see them take a real financial hammerring through all the lawsuits they are or may be facing, and have to explain the bad publicity away to their flock. I'd rather see them humiliated in public than destroyed.