Did You Find Many JWs As Being Not Very Intelligent? (page 2)

Seeker4

You make a good point Pionsp... JWs are only a foot off the ground and think they are on a mountaintop.

Let me illustrate this another way. The JWs think they have this great body of Truth and Knowledge. It's vast, covering the whole earth, as it were. Why? Well, in their minds they have an answer to everything. EVERYTHING. The KNOW how all problems will be solved, what the future for humanity and the Earth is, etc.

BUT, in actuality, their huge Ocean of Truth is only an inch deep. Sure they've got an "answer" to everything, but it's the shallowest of responses.

Their body of truth is broad as it were, yet it's incredibly shallow. IT'S ALL SURFACE AND NO DEPTH!!

Their "ocean of knowledge" turns out to just be a big puddle. Once you step back from the JW-mindset, you can see that very plainly.

daniel-p

Intelligent, no. I think there are just as many smart people as JWs as are elsewhere, but I do think most of them are relatively uneducated. And this is verified by the new PEW survey which shows that JWs have the worst higher education rates of all major US religions.

shadow

Yeah.

Isn't it great to be us?

Don't even get me started on the Jews, the blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, white trash.

"I'm not prejudiced, I hate everybody!"

PS - Most apostates are immoral atheists.

Awakened07

What I wanted to say have been said, and more eloquently than I could, so... I agree with Seeker4.

-It's not like I have a higher IQ now that I'm an ex-JW, but I'm allowed to do more research, there are no longer any static, everlasting Truths, and so I can at least gather more knowledge than they are allowed to. And since faith without proof is a virtue to them, they tend to be rather gullible in other areas as well. But stupid, no, not necessarily at least.

Meeting Junkie No More

Seeker 4 - brilliant analogy!

I feel so much stupider and yet wiser at the same time, since leaving the cocksuredness of the JW mindset. Stupider, in that I THOUGHT I had all the answers to all the questions, when in fact I had never personally asked a lot of the questions that needed answering.

I don't necessarily think it's intelligence most JWs lack, it's using what intelligence they have. They just want reinforcement, nothing to ever challenge the way their mind is wired. With challenge, comes progress. Without it, there is stagnation, as WT Wizard said.

jaguarbass

Were most Witnesses very intelligent, in your honest opinion?

Who knows and who can judge. If we were JW's and we didnt apply ourselve in grade school or go to college, who knows. Is intelligence rebelling against your parents and their mentors? The jails are full of rebels. Back in the 60's and 70's I would think the witnesses were more intelligent than today. I would think they sort of represented the demographic of the area they lived in. They were an assortment of folks. The world was on the edge of dissaster with the cuban crissis and then the vietnam war came along and people were responding to the witnesses message of peace and security. They even gave us a date 1975 and after that we would be in paradise. Since they did Armegeddon back in 75 and it was a failure, I have no idea what message or motivation any one has responded to who joined the borg since the late 70's. Myself, my mother made me go to the meetings. She and they used bullshxt scare tactics. I heard that crap all my life. Finally when 75 came I had observed enough data to conclude that the organization was wacky. I kind of think unless someone has brain damage or some kind of biological malfunction that people have the capacity to be as intelligent as they want to be. So it comes down to drive and motivation. The wactower steals peoples thunder, it steals their drive and motivation by using guilt and fear and scare tactics. Many people have a spiritual component in their make up. Once you go down that hole and explore your spiritual side assisted by the bible and the wac tower and perhaps any number of religions you can go on a very long dark journey. .

yesidid

From what I have noticed, beliefs have little to do with intelligence.

Some very intelligent people including JW's believe some very stupid things.

I'll give you an example. A poll showed over 60% of Japanese believe the whaling done

under their flag is for "scientific purposes" and that they should be allowed to continue

killing whales in Australian waters specifically designated as a "No Whaling Zone".

That is not an indication of a lack of brain power. It is what they want to believe. Most of us believe what we want to believe.

It's emotion not logic that guides most thinking.

PS I have found JW's have similar intelligence to the surrounding comunity.

yesidid

brunnhilde

To me it's not about intelligence as much as being able to reason and be willing to question, to not accept things at face value. No matter how intelligent you are, if you choose to believe that the earth is flat, no one will be able to convince you otherwise. Others have said it as well, deliberate blind ignorance. They've set up their boundaries for the world and whether there are things going on outside the boundaries doesn't matter. To their minds, those things don't exist.

That being said, I think there are personalities that are more inclined to choose that pattern of thinking and processing than others. Some people WANT to be told what to do, how to think, who to be. It's just more comfortable and less threatening for them. *shrug* Most fundamentalist religions are brimful of those kinds of personalities.

brunn

titania

They are no more or less intelligent than the rest of the population. All levels of intelligence there. Being a 'sheep' is encouraged and therefore questioning isn't something that is encouraged. Perhaps that is what may make one look a little dumb - putting your trust in every word coming out of the mouth of the 'Society". I guess I was always a little 'goat-like'. I remember driving home from an assembly and we were discussing a talk that was given. It was mentioned in the talk that Jesus must have felt excruciating pain when he was nailed to the stake - given that being a perfect man, his sense of pain would have been heightened. Not doubting that Jesus did experience excruciating pain, I questioned the idea that being perfect would mean heightened pain sensation. After all, in a perfect human state, could we not have a measure of control over the pain control chemicals released by our bodies. And what about Eve - if she had not fallen from perfection, then how would she have been able to endure childbirth if her sense of pain would have been heightened? And didn't Jehovah increase her birth pains after 'the fall'? The discomfort of those in the car was quite obvious. Those in the car replied "But this thought came from the platform- it must be true-this is Jehovah's organization." I tended to make others rather uncomfortable at times because I was vocal about my thoughts. Part of me enjoyed seeing their reactions. They probably stop thinking outside of what the 'society' tells them and it frightens them to do so because they would then be disobedient and loose favor with the rest. A child may be very intelligent and still believe in Santa Clause. There was a witch hunt and they finally got rid of me. I told them that I agreed that I should be removed and went happily on my way. I have nothing against the religion or its adherents. I knew some beautiful people in that religion. And I know some complete idiots outside of it. There are all kinds everywhere. As for me, I'm just a happy camper enjoy life.

Gopher

Welcome to the JWD board, Titania. That was a well-thought-out post! I especially enjoyed the point you made about Eve and Jesus and pain. I'd never thought of that before.

Did You Find Many JWs As Being Not Very Intelligent?

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