Im sorry but can someone point out an article or two about this. I never paid much attention to the details when we were in and these articles might be good to have ready for possible future confrontations discussions with family.
Thank You
Were You Offended?
by choosing life 21 Replies latest jw friends
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Plummet
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Scully
I was not offended at all. At the time, it all seemed very logical to me - if you have the Earthly Hope™ (by virtue of the accident of your arrival in the stream of time - pre 33 CE and after 1935 CE was the main criteria to having the Earthly Hope™) you needed Jesus' Ransom Sacrifice™ to qualify for God's Undeserved Kindness™ and a chance to survive Armageddon™ (if you were a JW and went to all the Meetings™ and got enough hours in Field Service™, of course). If you had the Heavenly Hope™, Jesus was your Mediator™ and the Bible was God's personal message to you. I was always taught that there was no way we could have the Heavenly Hope™, and I never questioned it.
Questioning things stirred up trouble for you - so you learned very quickly to not do it, and just accept or acquiesce to what you are being told. The social pressure to conform (at least outwardly) is very strong among JWs. If you wanted to fit in, you conformed.
Once I left the JWs, and realized the ramifications of their two-tiered plan of salvation, I was already well on my way to being atheist, so I didn't really care.