by jonathan dough 75 Replies latest jw friends
Dough,
It has been an illuminating discussion. It appears we will both have to disagree with each other on some of the particulars of this. Please know I don't dismiss your thoughts, just the feasability of what you suggest.
Wishing you the best in exposing JW's!
they have the legal right, long established, to do precisely as they do.
Maybe in the USA, but how about the other countries the JWs have a presence? Just because it is legal doesn't make it morally acceptable, either. And that legal status can always change. You also have to look at the whole package, and extrapolate where it could be heading.
Don't be such a JW apologist. You might end up with blood on your hands. To completely ignore this on the basis of one of your preferred "tactics" whatever they might be assumes that your tactics have worked to date. But have they really? What should we do, send them an email (Don't drink that!) when it's too late?
The Watchman doesn't just watch.
No matter the criticism, they will still interpret criticism as persecution.
Wishing you the best in exposing JW's!
You too.
You are out of your mind.
Judge Dread
Actually, some or many Witnesses are. I have had some of them tell me they would jump off a cliff in the GB told them to do so, and I have a recording of one telling me if they told him to move he would leave without taking his medicine he needs to stay alive, as that would be taken care of in the new system. If they got orders to take pills to get into the new system, there are Witnesses who would do that without questioning. THEY are the ones who are out of their minds, to accept what those men tell them without reasoning about it.
JONATHAN- Good thread. I've been carefully reading the back and forth and thought I might interject this thought in support of your points you are making. In Steve Hassan's books on cults " Combatting Cult Mind Control" & " Releasing the Bonds - Empowering People to Think For Themselves" he mentions that one common denominator that most ALL mind control cults have is they put their members under " information control". In other words: Members ARE NOT informed of important information which could either save their lives, help them make informed , intelligent decisions so as NOT to be taken advantage of. And cults use " fear " to keep members under control. For instance : If members of the Jonestown cult were led to believe that Jim Jones gave them ALL THE INFORMATION they needed - then they trusted him implicitly in a very gullible way. The same happened in David Koresh's cult. He had his followers believing he was Jesus Christ and would keep them in line by threatening " discipline " or " punishment " for doubting. In both of these cults important information was kept secret from members. Well : Consider Jehovah's Witnesses. Really the same methods are used in an even more subtle way . The WT society controls what it's members are to think. AND - They prohibit rank and file witnesses from knowing important rights they have. One I can think of is this : How many Jehovah's Witnesses know they have the right to take an eyewitness with them if they are charged with a sin to a judicial committee meeting ? Hardly any know this . Why ? Because the information is kept secretly away from publishers in an " elders only " manual so the controlling elders have the upper hand in JC meetings. Also : In Jehovah's Witnesses people are controlled through fear and told they are dissapproved if they marry out of the JW cult. They are shunned , spoken of abusively, and essentially cut off from any association with other witnesses outside the kingdom hall. I could go on and on with examples of the mind control tactics which Jehovah's Witnesses use that other cults use ( especially the Scientologists ) - however the bottom line is the behind the scenes control is so severe that the typical Jehovah's Witness DOESN'T REALIZE they are controlled ! As one poster said it is the " frog in the slowly boiling pot " ! Until it's too late when one day the WT society will coerce many Jehovah's Witnesses to go too far with their trust . They already are making them waste their ENTIRE lives on a freaking pipe dream called " Paradise " and keep them locked into it by fearing an alleged " Armageddon " which will never happen ! So- The WT society has them where they want them as putty in their hands being controlled at every turn. I wouldn't put anything past the leaders of this cult of what they are capable of
Sorry about the formatting. For some bizarre reason I put it in paragraphs like usual, but it just gave me one paragraph. My apologies
They already are making them waste their ENTIRE lives on a freaking pipe dream called " Paradise " and keep them locked into it by fearing an alleged " Armageddon " which will never happen !
I completely agree with all you said except the part about Paradise and Armagedon but that's beside the point right now. I was always amazed how they used THEIR information to tell their people what is going on in the outside world, be it other religions, politics, you name it. Saying this is what these people believe and on and on. Your right, the dissemination and control of information is textbook cult control, right out of Satan's toolbox.
And the sad thing, like a heroin addict's addiction, they don't see it. They scoff, and laugh and think we're the idiots because we have an education which is the mark of the devil. I actually feel sorry for some of them because some are genuinely nice people who were betrayed and deceived.
But Jonathan you are in the same type of dillusional boat with your own Cult and its beliefs and mythology.
I guess we should feel the same pity for you and the Fundamentalists here as we do for our former religious associates.
"How do we stop it before it's too late?"
Well... the first step is for folks to stop attending their durn meetings. I've been a member of this board for a few years now, and every year - folks who never attend meetings - talk about having attended the annual meeting - the memorial.
If you don't believe in it - quit going. Period.
Regards,
Jim TX
