They Gotta Know They are Running a Cult - a Rant

by OnTheWayOut 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  VIII

  My sister is dying and extremely ill. I don't know if she'll ever leave the hospital and make it home. My Mom's response? To my openly Atheist, JW loathing sister:

  "It's OK to die. You'll be resurrected and be perfect. You'll have a perfect body. Perfect face. Perfect hair. You'll be 35. Just think, you will be perfect and in the New System."

  I ripped into my mom and told her in no uncertain terms she was a fucking idiot and no one is going to be resurrected and that anyone who believes that shit is a total, complete tool.

  Her response? She was almost hysterical as she said it:

  "I believe it. It's true. It's true. She will be 35 and perfect. She'll have perfect hair. Perfect teeth. Perfect body." She went into a Jehovah loves us, etc. rant. We got into a verbal battle.

  So, first off, how did she come up with this age? Why 35. Why the focus on *Perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect body*.

  I know my mom has issues with this kind of stuff, however, this is overboard.

  I told her if she mentioned this kind of stuff with me in the hospital room I will wrestle her to the ground and physically assualt her.

  She has become a brain-dead drone for these fucking Wizards. If I saw them on the street I might run them over. The GB that is. I-Hate-Them.
• 

  LongHairGal

  ON THE WAY OUT:

  This is the sixty-four thousand dollar question. My opinion is that most of them at the top are 'sincere' (but in love with power and perks). But, I don't think we will ever find out which of them don't really believe it. Anybody like this would be ashamed to tell anybody and would take this secret to their grave.

  FLIPPER:

  I am in total agreement with you and feel they are there for the free ride and would not do anything to jeopardize it during their lifetime. I have always believed that many JWs (not just the guys at the top) even ones in local congregations do NOT want to function and get a job in the real world. They would much rather leisurely knock on doors and work on the fringes of the work force (taking charity whenever they can get it) and hoping that Armageddon comes to save them from their predicament. I have had some JWs admit as much to me so I know this and I have no tolerance for their mentality.
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  sabastious

  But, yes, some do come to "know." Especially those who get to peek behind the curtain. By then, however, they are thoroughly invested. Sort of like those Enron investors who held onto their worthless company stock. They reasoned, "We've only lost money if we sell it."

  Profound analogy!

  -Sab
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  OnTheWayOut

  Thanks all. As usual when I rant on this subject, the comments go both ways and in-between.

  If they actually knew for sure, I would think many more of them would not be able to maintain the lie. Once you know what's behind the curtain, it's very difficult to stay in line with the Mighty Org. There are so many upper members who are not on the GB, maybe more of them have left than we know about.

  I have to imagine it has changed since Ray Franz left the GB and I also see them resisting to put anyone new onboard while they pushed all the "new light" about 1935 and the generation, so I have to wonder if they figure they would have a hard time changing doctrine with newbies. That indicates politics instead of spiritual guidance. I mean, I know it is truly politics but that seems to indicate that they do too.

  The best compromise I ever reached, and it still seems to be the case. They know things are wrong, they lie and scheme for the good of the coroporation survival. It's all for a good cause and they feel so special and so ahead of the wave of information from Jehovah. They know Satan's world corrupts all the brothers below them, so they fight fire with fire. They even don't truly believe all that, but they just are afraid that everyone else does, so each one of them goes along fearing the others will find out they don't see any clothes on the Emperor.

  It would weigh so heavily on them if they truly thought about it, so they learn to stop thinking about it and enjoy the ride.
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  pontoon

  Do they know they are running.......... Good question, I wonder about that. I knew Lett when he was our CO, and goofy as he was I liked him, felt he was sincere and that's the way I remember him. Hard to believe he would not fully believe what they dish out to us. At the same time I think about the overlapping........ thing and I wonder 'How the hell can Lett believe that shit?' So I don't know. The delusion thing sounds plausable, especially the way some of them are so impressed with themselves, some of them any sign of humility is just for show, but the fact as mentioned earlier about them being in it so deep I would have to agree with. No way out so they just to continue to go with it.
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  MrFreeze

  Here's my thought on this.

  At what point do GB members figure out it's all a lie? Do they figure it out before they become members? Were any of them ever genuine or were they just trying to rise in the ranks the whole time? At what point did they figure out it was all a lie? How many have worked towards that and gave up because they found out it was a lie?
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  OnTheWayOut

  ...and if they did know all along, could you see the Governing Body members soliciting a majority?

  Brother Fred Franz approaches two other GB members and says, "Can I count on your vote that oral sex is against God's Law?"

  Brother 1: "That's easy for you to say, you don't have a wife. Or are you secretly gay? Well, even then, you gotta hide it. My wife still goes down. I'm going to vote NO."

  Brother 2: "My wife stopped giving it right after the honeymoon. She still wants me to do it to her, though. I will vote YES. That'll show her."
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  Knowsnothing

  I think cognitive dissonance, which has always been included in these types of discussions, is the answer. Like you've all said, so much of their lives are invested in it, their old age(they have no where else to go at this point), that they simply can't accept the truth. The lie they know must become truth. At all costs. And that's where the magic lies.

  Doesn't matter how many times they have been wrong, what they have been wrong about, and the fact that there is no such thing as Divine Revelation (least not for them), the organisation, the religion, the belief is true.

  The thing of it for me is, how do they deal with knowing they don't have Divine Revelation nor Direction, yet believing so. There is no, nada, zip, zilch confirmation or tangible fact to prove so. Thus, cognitive dissonance.

  Do I believe they know this is fake? Maybe a couple. Unfortunatley, the with the way life works, perhaps some of them haven't had any extremely bad, or eye-opening experiences within the org or themselves to shake their worldview. And then too, senility sits in for some, and at that point, why the overhaul in belief? Perhaps some really did try to live good, decent lives, and never saw anything that disturbed them. You have to remember too, that the GB aren't the sole ones responsible for things happening or getting done. Nor do they directly deal with all the crap either, such as letters asking questions and such, thereby having some isolation from the world and reality. They live in their own world. The only problem is their little world very much affects millions of lives.

  That's my view on it.
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  Gayle

  I think they mostly believe it. They may acknowledge some problems or weak spots, but still think it is mostly true and better than any other religion. It has worked for them to some degree at whatever level they are at. If it didn't work for others, they will still not defend the victims, the doubters, the angry or the "brazen." They will only be like Job's 'friends' and accuse that it is mostly their own fault mostly.