Please don't take offence at this ...

by Joe Grundy 74 Replies latest jw friends

  • Kero-kero
    Kero-kero

    looking_glass

    I just saw your post...you most have posted while I was typin...I was not copying your words

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos

    I think it depends on what kind of education too.

    The educated persons I have known among JWs and other fundamentalist groups were rather the "scientific" or "practical" (with degrees in commerce, marketing, computers, etc.) than the "humanistic" kind (linguistics, sociology, philosophy, literature etc.).

    But there are some exceptions. Shortly before I left I met a JW professor of classical Greek in Paris and had some interesting talk with her on the NT. At some point she told me, "yeah, without the Faithful and Discreet slave we would never have understood what those texts meant" -- duh.

  • Joe Grundy
    Joe Grundy

    "I think we oaught to be careful and not say things like JW's are stupid and uneducated." - from Kero-Kero

    I am definitely NOT saying this, and apologise if that was how my post came across.

    My point was really that higher/professional education tends to teach critical and independent thinking and research, and that while WT publications seem to me to exhibit a superficial scholarship some/ a lot/ most of it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, let alone independent peer review.

    My point about the tone of the publications may partly be accounted for by the differences between US/UK. What is it they say about 'two nations divided by a common language'?.

  • jstalin
    jstalin

    My friend who is a JW handed me some literature and I was shocked by the childishness of the language. I felt like I was reading something from second grade. I find it hard to understand how anyone with a higher education could be taken in by their stuff.

  • dido
    dido

    What you have to remember is that when people are contacted, they are usually `sighing and crying`, so they are hungry to find out truths, and thats why a lot get involved with the jw`s as they offer the answers to all the problems and a free home study, where they show all relevant scriptures. Thats how they get hooked, well speaking from experience, that`s what happened to me.

  • Lady Liberty
    Lady Liberty

    Hi Joe,

    Welcome to the board. It was my personal experience that we would witness to anyone who would listen regardless of their education. However, 99% of the time the well educated would not listen and if they did, they would be a challenge. It was those who were struggling through life for what ever reason ususally financially, that were more likely to listen. I think it was comforting to them to hear that a higher education was not needed or advised. That their struggle to make ends meet was a good thing, and a sacrafice for a education they could have persued, yet didn't for Jehovahs sake. It justified their situation before friends and family.

    SIncerely,

    Lady Liberty

  • looking_glass
    looking_glass

    Come on Kero-kero, I know you want to be me! Hey, maybe you are me, just my alter ego. OHHHH, frightening.

    Obviously, there are jws that exist out there that have higher education. Some people posting here are proof of that. I think it just depends.

  • fullofdoubtnow
    fullofdoubtnow

    I gained a degree in English before I became a jw, but I doubt I'd have gone for it after becoming one, and I've never really used it, though I am trying to do so now. I know some jws who stayed at school till they were 18, but I can't recall any going on to gain degrees.

  • Kero-kero
    Kero-kero

    LOL...looking_glass..Am I you?...Am I your alter ego...Maybe I need to take a long hard look at my self in the looking glass...erm!...sorry...Mirror.

    I think dido has hit the nail on the head...the JW religion appeals to thos that are down and drepessed maybe suffering from the death of a loved one...so the talk about a new system and and edn of a wicked system and the chance of see dead loved ones again put on an earth with no hate a paradise just sounds so wonderful, and also the first time you go to a meeting you will feel wanted and everyone seems so friendly and loving...It really does act like a trap. I am sure that a lot people that came into 'The Truth' and not born in to it came into it that way. It was one of the things that appealed to me at first.

  • Kero-kero
    Kero-kero

    Mind you...I am far from intelligent...

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