Worksheet for JWs with doubts

by seattleniceguy 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  TD

  SNG, that's brilliant! I like the way you've tiered the questions
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  M.J.

  awesome, SNG. Great work.

  I'd like to add some related observations, taken from Hassan's Releasing the Bonds:

  Important ideas about reality:

  • Every individual has his own sense of reality and is connected to a shared reality with others
  • Our perception of reality is influenced by our inborn characteristics and abilities, psychological development, emotional states, and belief systems.
  • Our view of reality is influenced (positively and negatively) by memories, beliefs, needs, and social influence
  • We all filter and edit the information detected by our senses: we emphasize somethings and eliminate others. Otherwise, we would be overwhelmed by a flood of information. In fact, much of the brain’s function is to inhibit incoming information.
  • We can never be 100% certain that our picture of reality is objectively correct
  • We never fully know another person’s reality
  • We are not capable of fully communicating all the things that make up our sense of reality.
  • We can’t assume that what we believe is more than a “constructed” view of reality.
  • Our internal self-talk interprets, and sometimes distorts, our sense of reality
  • We can control some of our inner and outer reality. Total control is impossible, although through discipline (meditation or hypnosis), the mind can develop greater degrees of control.
  • We can’t control all of our reality all the time.
  • No matter how much we improve and work to enhance our sense of what is real, it is always incomplete, imperfect, out of focus, and distorted.
  • The more distorted our sense of reality, the more certain we will be that what we believe is accurate.
  • The more insistent a person is about the accuracy of his or her observations, the more likely it is that his or her sense of reality is distorted.
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  seattleniceguy

  btt for the day crew
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  YoursChelbie

  This is a "Must Read" pieces of Information that JW's could really benefit from. It's very good to be able to do some revealing soul searching and learn about yourself things that you didn't know exactly how to put into writing.

  Great Post!

  YC
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  Euphemism

  This is great, great stuff! I remember when I went through a sort of 'crisis of faith' in my mid teens, and I analyzed my beliefs in pretty much that same 'stacked' progression.

  At the time, however, I wasn't really aware of all the flaws in the Witnesses' use of the Bible. I felt that I was uncertain about the existence of God, the inspiration of the Bible, etc. but that if all those things were true, then the Witnesses must be the true religion.

  Ultimately, I think I just wasn't emotionally ready to face the truth at the time. But this way of dividing up the questions is really helpful in clarifying one's thoughts.