Why Can You See Through the Watchtower While Others Cannot?

by The wanderer 77 Replies latest jw friends

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  AK - Jeff

  For me it was 'time'.

  I changed jobs, my job made me miss meetings. I think I knew 'sub-consciencly' [sp] that I needed to 'evaluate' - we had endured the better part of 4 decades by then of Watchtower life. We had seen tremendous problems, that we passed off as 'local' - I took a year or better away from the constant 'indoctrination' for my mind to clear enough that I/we began to see the need to investigate more closely.

  I believe it is, at least for some, the submergence in the program so deeply, that makes it impossible to even look at the matter closely. I call it mind control - but perhaps it is closer to brain-washing in reality. Once we step away from it, gain perspective, we mostly cannot imagine why or how we ever did believe it. Can anyone say 'Patty Hearst'?

  Jeff
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  Undecided

  It seems to me all religions get some type of grip on the mind because there is no real answers to life and the universe. We just have to make up some story to keep us from losing hope of some future life. The JW religion is just too controlling of our present life to make it acceptable for us.

  Ken P.
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  jaguarbass

  Hello Wanderer. So far In my mind I have been able to see through all Christian religions that I have encountered. What i attribute it to is that I have honestly looked for the truth and the truth was not to be found by me. Or the truth was found and that is that the truth is not comprehendable to us mortals. Psychologist say we see and believe what we want to believe. They also say youll see it when you beilieve it. The bible says you can not believe without faith and faith comes from God. So I say according to the bible its Gods deal. He did not give me the faith. I doubt that the life giving force and universal wisdom that some call God wrote the bible. I think the bible is mens vain attempt to bottle God or try to explain him. God was created in the bible in mans immage.

  So the people of the watchtower society are in their comfort zone. And its a scary place for them to step outside of it. Different strokes for different folks. Thats what makes a horse race.

  Some people do not want to think or face reality. Half the people in the United states that vote voted for George Bush in the last election. Failure to think and comprehend reality goes far beyond the Jw's,
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  jgnat

  The WTBTS hold is NOT brainwashing. That suggests a process where the organization literally replaces the personality of the person. Instead, a subtle approach of coersion is used, where the victim himself keeps the trap shut. Any worrisome doubt is SATAN trying to get in to DESTROY him. Steve Hassan describes the process in detail in his books. www.freedomofmind.com

  One of the techniques used is to prime the person to respond to mild discomfort http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance To avoid the discomfort, the person digs himself in deeper. A successful use of cognitive dissonance involves offering small rewards for the wanted behavior. For instance, members of the society warmly congratulates a newcomer on their first talk. But the rewards are small, and far between. The person ends up giving more and more for diminishing reward.

  • My own government used this approach to soften an unpopular tax. They instituded a nominal refund for low-income Canadians. The hated GST was implemented with nary a whimper.
  • When segregation in schools was ended, one state implemented the unpopular legislation by offering to pay a small stipend to parents who did not want their children to attend the school in their district. Whereas there were riots in other states, this state implemented the new law relatively quietly.
  • Come to think of it, Las Vegas works on the same principle.

  Notice that many of the "behavior" questions in the WT literature are left ambiguous, to help the reader come up with creative ways to "adjust" his own thinking.

  Of course, once out of the trap, you can look back at the broken bonds and say, "How could I have been so blind?"
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  Mary

  Is it a case of Brainwashing or Denial? Does the Watchtower Society have such a hold on Jehovahs Witnesses that regardless of what evidence is presented starkly contrasting the Watchtowers teaching, individuals cannot grasp they are being duped?

  A few years ago, a sister in my old Hall, Betty, started having marital problems. Her husband, an elder, had always been a big flirt and half the sisters in the congregation had the hots for him. Betty and Mark were typical Witnesses: got married when they were both 18, pioneered, had 2 kids, kids became pioneers, etc. Betty had never worked outside the home, had never been on her own and was completely dependent upon her husband for everything. They had been married for 30 years when he started an affair with a pioneer sister young enough to be his daughter. Of course, he tried to hide it, but people started making comments that they had seen Mark over at Jessica's house, when her husband wasn't home, or someone else saw them holding hands in a Mall one day. Even the other elders began to suspect something was going on and tried talking to Betty about it, but she refused to believe it and was in total denial about it. You may ask: why would she refuse to believe her husband was having an affair when all the signs were there? The reason: because if she acknowledged that he was having an affair, then that meant her marriage was a farce, and the very foundation and security of her life would be ripped away. She couldn't handle facing that, so she simply continued to deny it. Of course, it all came crashing down on her one day and he left her for his girlfriend. Betty was in shock and has never really recovered from having her life turned upside down like that.

  When it comes to the religion, the same principle hold true: If someone's been a Dub their whole life, or even a good portion of their life, and they begin to suspect that it's not "the Truth", but instead is a farce, then the very foundation and security of their lives is in jepordy if they look at it too closely, and that is simply too much for many Witnesses to handle. The idea that all their sacrifices, the attending 5 meetings a week for years, going out in Service, Assemblies, all the friends they have in the congregation-----could possibly be built on sand is just too horrifying to contemplate. So they simply cut those thoughts out of their minds and continue on in Fantasyland. It might not be real or true, but to them, it's all they have.
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  Outaservice

  Well, just off the top of my head a few things come to mind about seeing the Watchtower for what it really is...

  1. Your own 'ox' gets gored, and you take a second look at how they are treating you.

  2. You have an 'epiphany' and your eyes become opened

  3. Holy Spirit teaches you something

  4. You start to research some Bible topics

  5. You become sick and have to miss a lot of meetings and then start to think on your own a little clearer

  All of the above happened to me over a period of time.

  Outaservice
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  Kaput

  Which Book?

  Doesn't matter...pick any one.
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  Lady Lee

  It is very much like the abused wife that just won't leave her abuser. She doesn't see it as abuse.

  He has relabeled what he does to her as love and concern. And she believes.

  He has told her that his behavior is the result of what she has done and therefore any problems are HER fault. And she believes.

  After an abusive incident he comes home with flowers and says he loves her and everything feels right again.

  And she works even harder to meet his expectations even though it is impossible.

  Why don't they see it?

  Because they can't. Any hint of a thought is crushed out by him and his redefinitions of words. She may have nothing else to compare it to so thinks this is the way it is supposed to be.

  He has told her no one "out there" will love you the way I do. No one "out ther" will put up with what he does.

  Cut off from family and friends she believes that no one will believe her or support her and that there is no where else to go.

  The metal process for JWs is exactly the same. Did you see the parallels? Abuse is abuse regardless of who or what is doing it.

  My perspective about brainwashing is that this is not what JWs experience. However, there is mind control going on. And the WTS' teachings about putting on the "new personality" is far more accurate and powerful than most people realize

  If you have ever tried to talk to a JW about non-JW things you may see a rather normal person. But challenge them on a WT belief andf the eyes glaze over and you know they are different somehow. While they are in that state of altered consciousness, that "new personality" the only thing they seem to be able to discuss is what they have read in WT litterature or heard in a talk. Ask most JWs the same question and you will most likely get the exact same answer, word for word, which is the really scary thing

  The new personality is very real. And it is incapable of independant thought.

  Since the "new personality" is based on the rather contorted thoughts of the WTS it is without emotional content. And I think that is a way into the person hidden within. If you get them to talk and connect with their emotions you have a better chance of helping them see the real truth
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  JH

  I put them through a simple test and they failed !!!

  They showed no love and compassion, like Jesus said the true religion should have.
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  moshe

  "All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." Galileo Most JW's after believing that this is the "Truth" stop looking anymore. The point they forget to think about is, if the JW version of the Truth is the only correct one, then why do only 1/10% of the world's population believe it? It is very hard for individuals to change the dogma of a Church and it's members Galileo discovered.