a potentially interesting JW experiment

by poor places 5 Replies latest jw friends

  • poor places
    poor places

    So it would be pretty interesting if someone got df'd at an early age--20 or 30 or so--and kept attending meetings for the rest of his or her life without getting reinstated. Imagine JWs in the presence of a df'd person for sixty years, without acknowledging the person's existence. They'd watch the person grow older and more feeble, and all the while they'd believe that the person is going to die because of the d'fing. Or would the JWs in that person's congregation start to question the nature of d'fing, how silly it is, etc?

    I guess they wouldn't! But it would still be pretty interesting. Who wants to be the first to try?

  • StoneWall
    StoneWall

    I would have to say that would be an interesting experiment but who in their right mind would ever suffer through that?

    Poor places how old are you? You might be a good candidate for this experiment if you're young enough since you came

    up with it.

    And keep us updated on how things are going as the years go by.

  • serenitynow!
    serenitynow!

    Who would subject him/herself to that? And what really would be the purpose?

  • Scully
    Scully

    I don't think you'd need to be DFd in order to conduct such an experiment.

    In every congregation I ever attended, there were people on the fringes who were regarded with suspicion. No matter how hard they tried, no matter how great their meeting attendance was, no matter how well behaved the kids were, no matter how regular they were in Field Service™, some clique or ringleader in the congregation always managed to spread malicious gossip about them in order to keep them out of the inner circles. If you were part of the inner circle or clique group, you were expected to toe the line if you wanted to stay in the inner circle or clique group, which meant you had to participate in the subtle (and sometimes blatant) ostracism of the people on the fringes.

    Those poor sods on the fringes are kept at arm's length, always hoping for social invitations to be reciprocated, or to be included in social events within the congregation. They think if they keep trying, keep sucking up, keep their meeting attendance and field service hours regular, always try to comment at the WT study, keep volunteering for Privileges™, etc., that one day they will be rewarded with acceptance within the inner circle of the congregation. No matter how frustrated they get, the Elders™ and the WTS keep reminding them that they are a JW, not for the social rewards, but for the spiritual ones, that no matter how other JWs abuse you, you are there to worship Jehovah, and that should be the priority, not being chummy with people in the congregation.

    Some people go through decades of this kind of abuse. Maybe they're masochists or have a bit of a martyr complex. Maybe they don't really care about having social support from their congregation. I can tell you, though, from personal experience, that everyone has a breaking point where they decide they aren't going to tolerate that bull$h!t anymore. I came to my breaking point in March, 1994. I'll never go through that again.

  • Jim_TX
    Jim_TX

    On the flip side to what Scully was saying...

    I knew a fella whose wife - and kids - were all JWs - and he wasn't. He attended all of the meetings with his wife, but just never progressed. He never studied (that I am aware of), had no interest to do so, either (I think it was offered several times).

    He never went door-to-door, just attended meetings. Never commented at those meetings - was just there.

    I think it may have been a source of frustration to those in power... as nothing that they did ever made a dent in this fella's resolve to not be a JW. Or... maybe he felt he was a JW - because his wife was.

    Everyone talked to him - he wasn't blackballed - that I know of (of course - I was a kid at the time - so I wouldn't know of it if he was, I suppose).

    Regards,

    Jim TX

  • Strider Arekksu
    Strider Arekksu

    I guess I could try it, I have friends outside of this org though, and I'm already extremely introverted, which is why it doesn't really matter if I'm disfellowshipped, losing of the cong won't effect me much, however, hearing that they're sad to see me go may be a little depressing, but more like a "friend is moving away" sad. Problem is why would I waste my time in a meeting where I know the information is about 40% plain lie? I can honeslty make 20-30 page papers explaining why some of their doctrine is wrong, just by looking at EACH subject in their "Reasoning" Book, you don't need ANY of the crap they publish to understand the Bible.

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