The urge to convert people

by J. Hofer 41 Replies latest jw friends

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    I'll give an analogy. I had a bundle of friends who were very pro-life. They'd viewed the pictures of the aborted babies, wept buckets of tears for such as callous loss of life, and became...zealots.

    For them, the cause was literally life or death, and they could not bear to stand on the sidelines. Babies were dying every day and they were the only ones, apparently, that cared enough to stop it.

    I am happy to say they tempered their zeal, realizing that an anti-abortion message was negative on negative. They chose to positively support young parents instead, and opened a charity here in town where overwhelmed parents could drop off their children overnight, no questions asked. This charity garnered a lot of positive support in town.

    I suggest similarly, that an evangelist in the throes of zeal, sees every life as an emergency, on the brink of life or death. Just as a fireman does not waste time on pleasantries, hucking the gasping stranger over his shoulder and removing the person from danger post-haste, a misguided, zealous evangelist may forego niceties. In his worldview, there is very little time and a very great emergency.

    He may not realize that to the observer it is not of a rescue from imminent danger, but more like a slapstick routine. Very much like the well-meaning lug picking up the little old lady to cross the street, kicking and screaming, ignoring her outraged wails that she was waiting for a cab.

  • talesin
    talesin

    Lost, I like your point, and have thought about starting a thread re: 'right-fighting' and the JW mentality ....

    We've all been taught to argue the point, even when we are wrong, and I have found it's one of the biggest hurdles in life to overcome.

    t

  • cofty
    cofty

    I think that if somebody really takes christian doctrine seriously its understandable that it all looks like life and death to them. All sorts of behavior then becomes, not only permissible, but natural.

    Its the same blinkered view of the world that flies aeroplanes into buildings.

  • talesin
    talesin

    simulpost --- yes, jgnat, as usual,, you make a great point and I agree.

    t

  • unshackled
    unshackled

    unshackled, mixing rum is an absolute no-go!

    Hofer...haha, but you can see what I mean right there. Actually I was going to type "rye and coke" but rye is a fav and mixing with pop is a no-go! So picked rum, which I don't care about.

    "You like rum? Rye is way better."

  • Anony Mous
    Anony Mous

    Actually, I think very few have the urge to convert anyone. The only ones with the urge are those benefiting from it (most likely financially). If you're not benefitting you don't have that urge, that's why so many JW's loathe going "in service" because the only thing it does is make you look stupid.

    The reason they still do it is because if they're not they're not going to attain status and they have been scared that they will eventually lose their everlasting life although the last reason is still not enough for some (especially single women).

    Some in other religions like to talk and convince others they are right simply because deep down they know they are wrong. They are trying to justify their belief system just like they are going to try justifying other decisions they made wrong, there is actually a whole section of psychology devoted to just that.

  • J. Hofer
    J. Hofer

    unshackled, have a 25 year old zacapa "centenario" and you'll know you are wrong.. ;)

  • J. Hofer
    J. Hofer

    anony mous, i understand what you are saying, but i think i mean something differnt. it's not the door-to-door knocking i'm talking about, it's the "i am right, and i'll tell you until you believe it too" kind of thing. it's something i noticed years ago when i started let go of the JW religion. even though i went to vanilla christian to agnostic to atheist, i always struggled with some stuff i learned as a JW (and i make myself believe it's really not my fault, as i was born in...): what i think is the right way, if you don't think that way, you are wrong. and that's the hard part to get over with. because it's something way deeper than religion. that's a guess...

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    J. Hofer, the drive may be coming from the granfalloon effect, described here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granfalloon

  • VampireDCLXV
    VampireDCLXV

    I've always been of the mind that if I express my opnions on various things, people can take it or leave it, especially here on this website. It bugs me when folks take me (or others) way too seriously and think that I'm pushing my opinions on them, that I'm completely unwilling to bend or accuse me of being a misogynist, racist, fundie or what have you. I just have my own opinions; so wat? People here tend to take themselves a little too seriously at times...

    V665V665

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