One of the most important things I learned in university was critical reading... When you read something, look at who's writing it, are they credible, do they have a known bias? If they are quoting, is the quote taken in context? The WTS seem to be masters at trying to curtail critical thinking because then their bias, credibility and context would be shot.! A good example outside of Watchtower is movie promotions. For instance, in a promotion for "Hancock" you might see: "You won't be bored! - The New York Post", however if you look at the entire review, the story is a little different: "Leaving behind the laughs for schmaltz, Hancock chickens out at the last minute, lurching toward a cop-out happy ending that gives every indication of having been reshot at the behest of test audiences. Well, at least you won't be bored. - The New York Post". Does anyone have Watchtower examples of this? Also, for those of you who grew up in the JW's, what made you start to look at the Watchtower publications critically?
Critical Reading
by megs 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Lady Zombie
The WT panders to the lowest common denominator by preference. When you read a WT, you get a distinct feeling that you are preceived as an idiot or child. This is not an accident. When you treat a person like an incompetent moron enough, their behavior will follow suit and soon, they won't be able to think for themselves. This is right where the WTBTS wants you, unsure of your ability to think rationally. Once you stop trusting your own reason and judgement, you're all to happy to blindly accept what you're told.
This is also why they're petrified of college education because a person is taught how to think critically. This is why they're clamping down on it because 2 years at even a community college level is enough to turn a true believer into an apostate.
This is why every mundane behavior is scrutinized. If you control even the smallest behavior, the person ceases to be an individual and becomes an automaton. A proper JW will agonize over clothing selections, TV shows, leisure time activities and so on.
I was a born-in, and started doubting them when I was a teenager. Want to know what it was? Many things, but primarily it was reading Orwell's 1984. I remember thinking, 'Wow! This could be talking about the JWs!'
So that started me questioning why the WTBTS did what they did. When I started doing that, I was able to see the subtle, yet high control tactics.
-
Lady Zombie
And of all the things I value most, my college education is at the very top.
I go through the motions to make my devout JW parents happy, but the WTBTS will never again have my faith, my obedience, or my mind!
-
AuntBee
Speaking of critical reading, i just finished reading You Can LIve FOrever on Paradise Earth as a complete outsider. (the library had it...) Just for fun, I spent some time looking up the verses. It was so tedious and time-consuming, it made me wonder how many people actually look up all those verses to check out what is being said. It would take even more time to read not only the verse, but the chapter it's found in or at least the paragraph, with an awareness of the total context of that whole BOOK of Scripture. I found some verses that I thought just had to be type-o's, because i could not fathom any connection whatsoever. Some were obviously taken out of context, and some actually seemed to mean the exact opposite of what the book was trying o assert.
Does the WTBTS put out any books or articles on a more scholarly level? IF one is even remotely aware of church history, and the scholarly volumes on Biblical theology that have been written over the centuries by the likes of the early fathers, Augustine, the reformers, etc, the debunking of orthodoxy in a few pages just seems so superficial.
-
AuntBee
Speaking of critical reading, i just finished reading You Can LIve FOrever on Paradise Earth as a complete outsider. (the library had it...) Just for fun, I spent some time looking up the verses. It was so tedious and time-consuming, it made me wonder how many people actually look up all those verses to check out what is being said. It would take even more time to read not only the verse, but the chapter it's found in or at least the paragraph, with an awareness of the total context of that whole BOOK of Scripture. I found some verses that I thought just had to be type-o's, because i could not fathom any connection whatsoever. Some were obviously taken out of context, and some actually seemed to mean the exact opposite of what the book was trying o assert.
Does the WTBTS put out any books or articles on a more scholarly level? IF one is even remotely aware of church history, and the scholarly volumes on Biblical theology that have been written over the centuries by the likes of the early fathers, Augustine, the reformers, etc, the debunking of orthodoxy in a few pages just seems so superficial.
-
JWdaughter
These observations are true. The WT has been shown in several times to take authors completely out of context. They frequently 'quote' unnamed professionals (scientists, lawyers, doctors,ministers, teachers etc) to give their articles some faint credibility. You have seen them take SCRIPTURE completely out of context. Their fractured way of reasoning is what gets to me. When they mention some examples of bad priests or lax catholics or evil ministers and suddenly come up with ALL of christendom being under Satan. There's a setch! Oh, and the 'other sheep' theory? PULEEEEZ! They will never accept that 1+1=2, they always have to come up with another numbering system that proves rather, that 1+1=23, and condemn all those who would tell you otherwise. Grrr.
-
38 Years
what made you start to look at the Watchtower publications critically?
The 1975 experience and the denial from Brooklyn from any responsibility drained my trust completely. I still pushed myself to keep going, but it seemed like the literature was so basic and boring. They would use all kinds of twists and turns of Bible examples to prove the same points over and over again. I could never understand why Brooklyn couldn't see that the congregations were changing and didn't want to do anything about the problems and burn-out many were experiencing. They were just going to keep running everything the same for the rest of eternity. I was "weak" for many years but didn't care. Reading the magazines and literature was a big waste of time to me. It was always negative and it was the same message anyway, no matter how they sliced it. It took a couple more decades, but finally the information on the internet opened my eyes . I was happy to quit and be free.
-
XJW4EVR
The best book I ever read: How To Read a Book by Adler & Van Doren.
This book did more to open my eyes to the fact that though I am literate, I really did not know how to read, than all my years of schooling.
-
paranoid android
When I fist started volunteering in my community, my family who are witnesses were puzzled as why I would spend time doing that instead of "the most important work on earth". I simply told them that the bible says "help the poor". The society is good at diversions and relieving its memebers of any duty to help the poor or support those in need in their communitites. It didnt take long for me to find an example of this. In the book "come be my follower" page 6,7 it describes the young rich man who asked Jesus "what must I do to inherit everlasting life..." this is paragraph 5 word for word:
He perceived a spiritual problem in this ruler - a serious one. Hence, Jesus said: "One thing is missing about you."
What was that one thing? Jesus said "Go, sell what things you have and give to the poor." Did Jesus mean that a
person must be penniless in order to serve God? No.*
The footnote goes on to explain how christians get to keep all their wealth by not taking Jesus words here literally. In the next paragraph it goes on to focus entirely on the next words Jesus spoke which are "and come, be my follower". In all of this, there is absolutely no mention of the "and give to the poor" part, except of course in the footnote. The society here completely ignores what Jesus is saying about giving and in the next paragraph says:
"The 'one thing' missing, then, was wholehearted, self-sacrificing love for Jesus and Jehovah.
Never mind that Jesus said that God was not interested in our lame sacrifices but rather desired that we instead show mercy to one another.
That last sentence should instead read something like this:
"The 'one thing' missing, then, was wholehearted (trigger word), self-sacrificing love for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
-
White Dove
Great thread!
"Thinking ones will agree that..."
If I don't agree, does that mean that I don't think?
Do all thinking people agree or just some of them?
If all thinking people agree, then how did the WTS find them? How did they measure their level of thinking?
Hmmm..."I think therefore I am." If I am not a thinking person then I am NOT.
Hmmm...