How the Internet Means 'The End' for Apostates and Opposers of the Society (page 3)

ocsrf

Their are plenty of people such as me that have no desire to be considered hard core apostate but at the same time because of the internet, we no longer attend all the meetings, stopped contributing, and go out in service less than once a month and when we do it is basically meaningless waste of time sipping coffee somewhere.

So has the internet hurt the Society, there is no question in my mind, it must be killing the contributions! They can measure your meeting attendance and field service but they have no way of knowing that I have not given more than $20 in the last 5 years.

OC

jgnat

Because of the internet, I was able to connect with a fader in our local congregation. We would never have met face-to-face. Who would share their private misgivings in a Kingdom hall, with dozens of eyes on you?

Within months of meeting online, both the fader and my husband left the congregation. Hubby says there are 90 publishers, but I count 70 people on a good day.

As a direct result of the internet, there was a 3% drop in attendance at a local congregation. How many JW's lurk? How many are like me, are online and married to the religion?

Slimboyfat, your posting record speaks for itself. I think you get a kick out of making outrageous statements and spreading misinformation. It's kinda cute, but confusing for newcomers.

sf

The internet will eventually bring the Watchtower down because we are like a guerilla force that cannot be defeated
and whose sanctuary cannot be seized. We are always here to fight them and can't be stopped or eliminated,
rather like jihadists crossing a border or VietCong infiltrating from Cambodia.
As a centralized opponent, the Watchtower faces doom.

I fully concur.

sKally

FlyingHighNow

This feels a little like those sort of plausible arguments people can put together to make something ludicrous seem irrefutably true.

Yes, yes, yes! A good example of this is Prez GW Bush's Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Darth Yhwh

Hi slimboyfat. I enjoyed your initial post and thought it was well written but as most of the responding posters feel, I disagree. Do you have any statistics to support your theory? If your going to make claims that seem contrary to the common knowledge of this forum then your going to have to offer facts that support your beliefs.

Thanks for the graph Kid-A.

AlmostAtheist

A good example of this is Prez GW Bush's Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Hey now! Those weapons are there! They're just hidden!

Did you know that Saddam personally signed off on 9/11? Oh wait... no he didn't.

Well, what about the uranium deal in Africa? Oh, yeah, that was a forgery...

Well, you can't deny that there's lots of accusations flying around, and that can only mean there's some weapons somewhere! (maybe)

Dave

TopHat

What three issue did you use Oldsoul...if I may ask...so I can use them.

Pole

Slimboy is doing the mental gymnastics again trying to prove that "Apostates" have got it all wrong. Even those apostates who think they are out thanks to the Internet are dead wrong. LOL...

It's interesting that especially young people have developed this "googling" instinct which gets activated when you're doubts about almost anything. The need to google is becoming one the basic human instincts these days.

Obviously it isn't the case in 'developing' countries yet, which is where the WTS have the biggest growth, but it's only a matter of time.

Of course we can't overestimate the role of the net. But it's obvious that the unrestrained flow of information is reshaping the modern world. Think of those countries which are trying to be totalitarian and developed at the same time (Iran, China, etc.). 25 years ago a special radio station (Free Europe) was necessary if you wanted to get across some propaganda-free news to countries like Poland. Of course the communist authorities tried to "jam" it. These days you either allow people to have access to Internet technology and learn to deal with the consequences or you're out of business.

Reminds me of the Iranian men my age I met in 2000 when I visited that country. We talked about their women not being allowed to uncover their hair in public and the free German porn they got on the net. Kind of similar to the current policy on information control the WTS is trying to maintain.

They have one pathetic website with strip comics feturing Je-Ho paradise and they're trying to compete with "apostate sites". Of course the only way they can do it is by exploring legal side-issues (c.f. quotes.ca).

Of course the brain-dead won't google "Jehovah's Witnesses UN" even when Google introduces brain-implanted search toolbars. But who cares about such morons? Most of the bright witnesses will happily find their way to apostate sites like JWD. ANd that's what counts.

Pole

Confession

I like a person willing to challenge conventional thinking. And kudos to you for that, Slimboyfat. Interesting points, but ultimately not at all convincing to me.

Before, access to dissidents was incredibly difficult for the average JW. Now? Laughably simple in the comfort of their own home. The knowledge that there is information against the WTS is possibly more tempting than pornography for the JW web-surfer. He or she will, like I did, click, glance and run, heart pounding. They will sneer a bit at the information. Then, later, something will happen to them personally that will cause them to return and read more.

Further, I would take the almost daily, ongoing relationships online over a once-per-year, large ex-JW convention any day.

zen nudist

I think it is possible that the internet will not cripple JWs as much as many of us would hope.....

my reasons--

the internet represent a collection of most unverifiable documents and hearsay and confusion, which to a mind that is

attracted to JWs is shear madness and would not be anything they would trust or lose faith over....

the best thing the internet offers is for those who have lost their faith and fallen out of the hypnotic trance, it can give them reasons

to steer into new directions away from the JWs and other high control groups.

When I was a JW, I recall several times being acutely disturbed by some information that SEEMED to contradict JW teachings, but because I only saw one disturbing thing at a time, my entrancement was strong enough to isolate them from each other and not let me see the big picture with all its cracks at once, which only happened when one very strong thing pushed me over the edge....and then I saw them all for the first time in a pile which reached up to the heavens.

How the Internet Means 'The End' for Apostates and Opposers of the Society

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