I challenged my parents that I could take a "worldly" person who knew nothing about the bible and probably talk them in to not having a bible study. I asked them how they could possibly expect a "bible study" to argue my points if even they couldn't and they are supposed to have more knowledge then the bible student. They couldn't answer me. It's a one sided game that JW's will win 9 out of 10 times. Another point is that JW's will run away when a real debate comes.
How many times have you heard this...
by Amber Rose 18 Replies latest jw friends
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Wordly Andre
I like those crazy stories of like OH I was about to commite suicide then bro and sis came to my door and I found jemina, or this one guy was about to murder his wife and whole family then he got a knock on his door and now he's an Elder, and beats the shit out of his family for not putting enough hours out in service. ALL BULLSHIT
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neverendingjourney
The kind of people you describe are easy prey since they have no independent basis of knowledge to draw from. The JWs can simply fill up that void with their propaganda. It's getting a lot harder for the JWs to recruit this type of person now because information is available much more readily. In the 70s and 80s it took a trip to the library or a christian bookstore to get your hands on any material critical of the Witnesses, and there wasn't a whole lot of it. Now, it's abundant and available instantenously on the internet. These potential recruits can fill up that knowledge gap in a few hours simply with a computer and an internet connection. It's not surprising then that the JWs growth, to the extent that there is growth, is coming from less developed lands where the internet is not widely available.
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poppers
"I`ve researched alot of religions and Jehovah`s Witness`s were the ones with the Truth."
I just had a new member here tell me this very thing in a PM. He finally owned up that he isn't baptized yet, and has in fact only been studying with them for a month! He fancies himself a spiritual warrior who is here to do "research" on non-Christians and non-believers but he hasn't let the BOE even know that he comes here, but he says he is one of the few who are strong enough not to be swayed by non-believers. His posts invariably are filled with judgment and condemnation of everyone who disagrees with him. He's a real piece of work. I don't think it would be too hard for people to guess his identity, but since he stated these things to me via PM I don't feel I should publicly name him, although it is tempting to do so.
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BIG D
most experiences are about those who were gonna commit suicide before the truff, we never hear about those who want to after they join!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
big d
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Carmel
I'm always facinated by those who claim to "know that all religion is a snare and a racket" (a la Russell) because they "investigated" as JWS. There are many ways to study a belief system most of which are likely biased against and/or unsympathetic. For me an unbiased investigation into lets say Hinduism requires a considerable amount of research otherwise one is likely to come away of a superficial understanding. I know I spent several years attending various christian denominations once I left the JWs, but looking back on it, my investigation was based a great deal on blinders prescribed by growing up as a JW. Accepting that the JWs have the "truth" compared to other denominations or sects belies ones level of true scholarship. carmel dismounting his soap box
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WTWizard
I heard the suicide one before. The person was about to commit suicide when the Witlesses knocked on the door, and then things were supposedly much better. What they don't tell you is that, once such person is baptized, the Witless way of life totally dominates the person and the person becomes totally stagnant. I actually heard this story from another source, straight from someone that had this very experience straight through to the stagnation that results.
I also heard the "I was praying for the truth when they knocked" line before. The person has been searching various religions when they gave up on finding one that worked. Then the Witlesses come, and they think that it is the truth. After all, the Witlesses do bash all the other religions that this person had tried. What the Witlesses don't tell is that the whole Bible was already flawed from the start (Paul mistakenly took passages literally that were not meant to be taken that way, and the early Catholic church hand-picked books to fit its doctrine and discarded everything else--sorry, OBVES). Thus, when you have a bad foundation, any religion built on it is also going to have the fault.
There is also the person who was drifting aimlessly and then found the "truth". After that, the person found fulfillment. Usually, such person is now a special pioneer or missionary, or has spent years at Beth Hell. What they don't tell you is that the whole story about fulfillment is made up. True, the person might have not found true happiness in the world, because even though they were making good money, 99.9% of all people are not in the correct job for them and most jobs are designed to be stagnation traps. And, when the person became a Witless under the promise of escaping such stagnation trap, they were given a card with a script to repeat. Invariably, the report of having found happiness in the "truth" is as fake as many of their field circus reports.
My story was that I had little or no Bible experience. I also had no desire to learn the Bible, and looked at the Suffer Forever book with an open mind. That book closed my mind to any possibility that any other religions could have any answers. Of course, once I got baptized, they started taking me for granted and set me up to just meet other men whenever possible. Not to mention all the rules designed to take the life out of the field misery and that people in the organization were not very nice. They tried to get me to pioneer, even having me move in with one "brother" and under his landlordship. This would not have worked. And there were the problems with everyday life: this is the time of year when Christmas is becoming prevalent. I decided that they were not doing me any favors, and that being in their "new" order would create negative value both for myself and anyone else there. And, hence I decided that, since I couldn't do fornication, I would do apostasy (and do far more damage to the Watchtower Society in the process).
Good thing the Internet is around today. What once took a trip to the Christian bookstore that the Bible Teach book demonizes, now takes only a few clicks of the mouse button. I know more about the Bible as an antitheist now than I did as a Witless. I even know more about the organization now as an apostate than I did then as an active Witless. And to think they wanted me to be able to explain what the organization meant to worldly people that didn't know a thing about it.
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Lumptard
Never....All the stories of adult non-jw's being converted that I have heard involve the JW's putting a gun to someone's head....oh wait...
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BluesBrother
OK, so what do they mean by "researched "? Did they read all that they could from the library, did they consult other theologians for their opinion? or did they just read up all the Society's stuff and swallow it , hook line and sinker??
My mother accepted it as the first in our family, she said "it just made sense to me " I loved her dearly but she was not the most educated or smart of people. It often comes from character , and a wanting to believe .
Today, I do not see many newcomers except old ones, young ones and foreign students improving their English. I hope that the rest are able to see from the net that it is B/S.
BTW - I heard good news yesterday. The young man that I once studied with and "brought into the Truth"? I heard that he had left it all behind after I had moved away. Yippee!...I had been feeling bad about him..