JWs have no power of reasoning

by Brummie 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Brummie
    Brummie

    One thing that amazes me all the time is how JWs have no power of reasoning! I think back at how I used to reason doubts through as a JW and I could kick myself.

    A while ago I talked to a JW lady from my old congregation and I showed her a lot of the errors, organ transplants/Bethsarim/dates/ etc, her reply was this: " Well I know 2 JW regular pioneer sisters who live in France and if this wasnt the truth they would have left, so therefore it must be the truth"....huh?

    Another thing is, if you talk to a JW about the UN, False prophecy, Child abuse etc they will say "We are just an imperfect organisation and we admit our mistakes and make corrections and we forgive etc" But if a fellow JW steals a magazine route off them they will hold a grudge and see how wrong it was for them to do that! ...? Like the child abuse UN stuff is not really an issue for them but a mag route is!

    Their powers of reasoning are none exsistant, no wonder the Society finds it easy to control the crowd.

    Have you heard any similar schtupid reasonings?

    Anyhows there is my ramble for the night, I'd better go do some work

    Brummie

  • Lady Lee
    Lady Lee

    shaking my head and scratching the cat behind the ears

    Really they can't reason because they aren't allowed to have "independant thinking"

    duh I know you knew that

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    I figure a JW's brain has to be running "hot" all the time, trying to reconcile their version of the "truth" with reality. That takes a lot of energy. No time for logic.

  • Maverick
    Maverick

    It's a locked loop mental gymnastics. As long as they want to believe, they will find a way to make it work! Maverick

  • Brummie
    Brummie

    sOoo true, makes me wonder how we got out of it! What snapped us back into thinking logically? Tis a miracle that we are not still there.

    Brummie

  • garybuss
    garybuss


    Hi Brum, Me thinks they can reason just as well as anyone. They choose to ignore the obvious and they choose their behaviors. They learn those conversation stoppers so the play can go on. They are getting something today from their association. They're getting some needs met . . . .social maybe . . . Some have a measure of control that secular society will not deliver to them. Others can defer finishing some business that they do not like, such as grieving or holding a regular job. I suspect many get their identity from their association and from the positions of privilege they have scrounged and earned by deferring to others less worthy. I believe they have to use their brains harder than we do in order for them to stay set in the mode and manner of the loyalist.

    They are more like citizens of a country than adherents of a religion or unpaid religious literature distributors. They are loyal to their book publishing corporation in a way that many people are loyal to the country of their birth. The corporation is more like a government than a book publishing business or a religious group. The corporation calls themselves a government, a theocracy, government by God, and their hierarchy resembles a government entity. They have a new citizenship initiation ritual, a law making body, law enforcement system and a court establishment complete with trials and punishments. They have a form of taxation (on members time) and they oppose all other governments. The individual members make it all work and they are using their brains and reasoning powers to advance the cause of their government.

    In my opinion they rank very high in maneuvering and manipulation and the use of strategy both in attracting new recruits as well as membership retention. They are experts at doing something while they are denying they are doing it. They can hold two conflicting ideas at the same time without it disrupting their agendas. Their friends and their enemies are indistinguishable from the outside and they move among them both with impunity. All this is not the product of the inability to think. It's a great topic. Thanks for bringing it up. gary


  • nowisee
    nowisee

    hi brummie,

    they talk to you?? well that's a start anyway.....

    i think a lot of people (not just jws) take a stand on something (for whatever reason -- family, tradition, country, religion, etc.) and then they do everything they can to prove that they are right.

    but i think that even more than wanting to be right they want to WIN the argument ( to maintain a sense of well-being, security, control, ego -- whatever) and they will go to any lengths to do that -- throwing out logic and reason in the process.

    to such ones i would echo dr. phil: "how's that working for you???"

    best wishes, nowisee <><

  • Brummie
    Brummie

    garybus, as usual, you made a very good excellent post! I hadnt thought a lot of those things through but you are bang on! It is like a government with loyalists more so than a religion! I'd recommend anyone read that post to get a better understanding of how the WT and its loyalists works!

    nowisee, no they dont speak, this one lady I spoke to is disfellowshipped and she thought that excused her from the rules. However she is very much a JW in her mindset and still believes it all, next time she saw me she turned her face away. I hope something I said went in, I also hope her 2 freinds in France leave the org at some point, imagine what affect that will have on her...lol

    thx

    Brummie

  • Ron1968
    Ron1968

    Brummie,

    As I was born into the jw's, I know as you do that blind acceptance was the rule. Noone could question anything and it has affected my personality to this day. I tend to believe things I hear without really questioning it. Part of it is my personality, but the jw's formed a lot of it. I look back and wonder how I could be so blind.

    Ron

  • Oxnard Hamster
    Oxnard Hamster

    Yeah, I notice they have trouble thinking in terms outside of their group. I asked the guy I was studying with if I should forgive a person if he/she makes the same mistakes over and over. He said yes, and to take it up with the congregation if it persists. Problem is, the person I was referring to isn't part of the congregation, so his answer didn't help much.

    And I think they do try to justify their beliefs. I caught myself doing that. I wondered how something that seems so right could be so wrong. They were so friendly to me. They always seemed to want to spend time with me, which had quite an impact considering I have low self esteem and always felt like I never fit in anywhere. For the first time in my life, I felt like I fit in someplace. But I was really bothered by how they seem so stuck on their identity of JWs. Seems like every time I turn around they have a WT article bragging about their accomplishments or this or that. And I don't agree that EVERY PERSON in every other religion is doomed. There are a lot people who put time and energy into being missionaries and do good things. And what really got me is when we went door to door one time, one guy we talked to said he talked to people about Jesus and the JW guy I was with said he was inspired by Satan. I'm like WHAT? So you can't talk about Jesus legitimately unless it's through your group? What a bunch of garbage.

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