by carla 27 Replies latest jw friends
Greetings Dedpoet!
Many thanx for that clear-cut portrayal of our former ministry. And I feel, now that you mention it, that perhaps we did lay it on with a trowel for those especially pathetic cases. I can admit to extolling to the heights what at one time appeared so very real. I am grateful for your reply.
CoCo
CoCo
I did not mean that you or anyone else consciously took advantage of lowly or vulnerable ones. I too thought I was helping them on to the road of life. I brought many into this organization.
What I was saying is that the tactics are built into the methods that the society has set up to recruit people. Who actually knows that this is the case? I really couldn't say. But someone had to build these into their recruitment methods. And in Franz's books, he brings out that some are company men and some are just captives of a concept. I guess it is when a person sees the problems in the organization and chooses to ignore them indefinately that guilt could be found.
I certainly am not the judge of such things nor would want to be. I have been reading Combating Cult Mind Control and the tactics the society uses are all in there. That cannot be a coincidence. We certainly served out of love and conviction, but somewhere there has to be some who know what the true story is and are in it for the wrong reasons.
I enjoy your posts and hope I did not offend you. Sincerely, Choosing Life
ANYTHING TO BOOST THE NUMBERS! Numbers are all that the Society is about.
Yeah ! Just like the Mormons except they do it by having more children. I was a Mormon when I was 14 and I can remember many families that had 8 or more children. All little Mormons.
Dear Choosing Life,
Thank you for the response. No offense whatsoever taken! Your post - and it could have been anyone's - simply made me aware of a disconnect, a gray area between guilt and innocence. That can be quite a gulf! Your current reply has beautifully bridged the chasm, explaining the little nuances of JW methodology of which we are NOW aware. I feel someone at the top knows what's going on; I did read somewhere of FWF's possessing motivational tapes. I'm certainly glad I asked you this question, as I can use your words in the process of understanding and healing.
Gratefully,
CoCo
guaranteed those who write the books the way they do in the quantities that they do, for the purpose of what they are used for.... guaranteed they know exactly what they are doing.
When they misquote someone on important issues, when they lie by ommission again and again, when they change their own history, when they substitue GOD/WT/ORG/ELDERS/JESUS/ANNOINTED any time they want so that they all end up being the same entity.... guaranteed they know.
When they set out rules that follow the 10 check points of a cult - its not by accident - you need these characteristics to control people.....
guaranteed they know.
Not only do they target the vulnerable (immigrants, poor, troubled), the encourage staying in a vulnerable state. By not encouraging education and by creating more and more foreign language congs. they effectively keep a large number of their people economically impoverished and uneduacted. Thus, these people will always look only to the Society for the answers to their problems because they know of no other source.
This is why I think that the jw should either be shut down or highly regulated. Mind-control is dangerous and while it doesn't just target those who are emotionally weak or in a bad position in their lives, it does take advantage of those two things and it doesn't offer much if anything in exchange.
Sure, as witnesses, we learned how to prepare and give convincing talks. If we were good little members, we learned about other cultures and such through articles in the awake magazine, but the cost of attaining these benefits isn't reported up front. On top of that, they offer you something that they never have to deliver on and never be brought to task over. Who can prove whether someone did or did not go to heaven? Who can prove whether someones name is or isn't in the invisible jehovah 9000 computer in the sky?
What needs to be regulated is offering things that only god can give. It ought to be accepted that nobody has the right to say they represent god unless god himself says they do. And some haphazardly written religious book, whether claiming to be from god or not, does not count as god's approval. If I were to buy a car from Honda and they offer a 100,000 drivetrain warranty, I can verify whether that's the case with an entity that I can sue if they fail to comply. jehovah's witnesses, and in fact all religions, offer things that they can't guarantee from a person that can't be sued, can't be held accountable, and who for whatever reason, doesn't feel the need to speak up either for or against those who are claiming to speak on his behalf. That ought to be illegal.
Do you remember this trinity of terms:
Humble
Honest
Hungry (another word for "vulnerable)
*** w98 1/15 p. 8 par. 3 "Walking by Faith, Not by Sight" ***
Those who truly walk by faith are fully convinced that the Bible is the Word of God. There is abundant evidence that the Holy Scriptures are, indeed, "inspired of God." (2 Timothy 3:16) How much of this evidence must be examined before a person is convinced? That may depend on his background. What fully satisfies one person may not persuade another. In some cases, even though a person is shown an abundance of irrefutable evidence, he may still resist the conclusion toward which it points. Why? Because of desires buried deep in his heart. (Jeremiah 17:9) Thus, although a person may profess interest in God’s purpose, his heart may crave approval by the world. He may not want to let go of a manner of life that conflicts with Bible standards. However, if anyone is truly hungry for truth, if he is honest with himself, and if he is humble, he will in time realize that the Bible is God’s Word.
*** w91 9/1 p. 29 par. 19 Communication in the Christian Ministry ***
The Bible Students (as Jehovah’s Witnesses were formerly called) used to say that in order to accept the truth, people need to have the three h’s. They need to be honest, humble, and hungry. We cannot expect insincere people, those not honest, to respond favorably to the truth; nor can we expect arrogant or proud individuals to listen to the good news. Further, even if an individual has a measure of honesty and humility, it is not likely that he will take to the truth if he is not spiritually hungry.
***
w815/15p.15TheHouse-to-HouseChallenge***Not
onlydothecircumstanceschange,butthepeoplethemselveschange....SincethelasttimeaWitnesscalledthismanmayhavehadasoul-harrowingexperienceorinsomeotherwaylearnedsomethingthatmadehimhumbleinsteadofproud,hungryandconsciousofhisspiritualneedinsteadofself-satisfied."
