Oh the weirdness: Observations from a study

by howdidtihappen 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • howdidtihappen
    howdidtihappen

    Thanks so much everyone, i really appreciate all the advice on how my family will be treated, etc. It's just so scary now :( It's as if this religion is actually designed to tear families apart because it's a radical way of living and takes up so much of a person's time. I can't believe this is the cost of a friendship in JW world. what was i thinking! But Im relieved to know this stuff before i made any serious commitment but sheeeeesh.... i'm a little bit sad too because I'm shocked my 'friend' could be someone who thinks like that. I won't look at her the same now.

    Oh and i just want to clarify that I'm a 24yr old girl and studying with another 24 yr old girl. I think some people are under the impression I'm a guy. Maybe it was from my first point about the boy and girl sitting together. We were sitting behind the boy-girl couple, and the girl turned around and said "We're like brother and sister!" So, yeah.

    WOW Skeeter1 I don't even want to believe what you wrote! But I know I'd be an absolute moron not to. THANK YOU, and thank you for helping me to establish that if I do choose to carry on in this religion, I'm only in denial. And you're right that this will DO NOTHING GOOD for my already alive and well paranoia. I'm already freaked out about how much time i'd spend with the same people if i went further. It sounds like the objective of the organization's leaders is to make sure everyone is together all the time. Am i right about that? or would that be more paranoia on my part?


     sd7 - i didn't have one conversation about spiritual matters after the meeting or at the after meeting get together so i guess i'm in the bad books already. Not that JW's gossip or anything.


    What do i say to my study person (there has to be a term for that but i dont know it) who says "I know it's the truth because i've just been so blessed. I was down to my last dollar and pioneering and Jehovah blessed me with a part time job..." (yes we've already discussed that full time jobs are Satan appealing to our selfish interests) and all the other "Ways Jehovah blessed me" stories.

  • Black Sheep
    Black Sheep
    What do i say to my study person

    You could just carry on 'studying', but make her prove every bit of nonsense in the books, or that she says, in the hope that eventually she will realise that they don't have The Truth™ and will leave.

    One of our local athiests 'studied' with two JW boys until they left the church. It took two years.

  • Retrovirus
    Retrovirus

    Hi and welcome, Howdidithappen!

    I also "studied" and "failed to progress". Thank goodness!

    What do i say to my study person (there has to be a term for that but i dont know it) who says "I know it's the truth because i've just been so blessed. I was down to my last dollar and pioneering and Jehovah blessed me with a part time job..."

    Depends if you're trying to back out! My jw study conductor also had a fine repertoire of "Jehovah blessed me" stories and believed them implicitly.

    With hindsight I can see what bothered her was that I lost my job, travelled, gained new friends and then a fantastic new job while she and her husband struggled with work and health issues. With their strange, literal religious perspective, jws are not pleased when things go well for worldlies! The only help God "should" give them is to bring the jws to their door. . .

    Retro

  • InterestedOne
    InterestedOne
    What do i say to my study person (there has to be a term for that but i dont know it) who says "I know it's the truth because i've just been so blessed. I was down to my last dollar and pioneering and Jehovah blessed me with a part time job..."

    I would say that I don't understand her reasoning. She says she knows the religion is the truth because she's been blessed. One of her examples of being blessed is finding a part time job when she was down to her last dollar. Plenty of people who are down to their last dollar find part time jobs yet have nothing to do with Jehovah's Witnesses or any religion. How does finding a part time job show that Jehovah's Witnesses' doctrines are true? I don't follow the reasoning. Do you?

  • the-illuminator81
    the-illuminator81

    howdidithappen: Ask if her worldly part-time coworkers were also blessed by Jehovah.

    Here are some interesting quotes, from their own literature. Read them and you will be amazed.

    You can't be friends with non-JWs:

      "We must also be on guard against extended association with worldly people. Perhaps it is a neighbor, a school friend, a workmate, or a business associate. We may reason, 'He respects the Witnesses, he leads a clean life, and we do talk about the truth occasionally.' Yet, the experience of others proves that in time we may even find ourselves preferring such worldly company to that of a spiritual brother or sister. What are some of the dangers of such a friendship?" Watchtower 1994 Feb 15 p.24
      "While some contact with worldly people is unavoidable - at work, at school, and otherwise-we must be vigilant so as to keep from being sucked back into the death-dealing atmosphere of this world?. Let the world go along in its way, reaping its bad fruitage in the form of broken homes, illegitimate births, sexually transmitted diseases, such as AIDS, and countless other emotional and physical woes." Watchtower 1987 September 15 pp.12-14

    You can't disobey or question the organization, only total obedience is accepted:

      "The point is that Christians have implicit trust in their heavenly Father; they do not question what he tells them through his written Word and organization." Watchtower 1974 July 15 p.441

    If you know someone else sinned, and he doesn't confess, you have to tell the elders yourself or bring doom over the entire congregation:

      "If he does not do this within a reasonable period of time, concern for the cleanness of the congregation should move you to report the matter to the elders" Watchtower 1989 Oct 15 pp.14-15
      "A person who becomes a witness to a serious sin should encourage the wrongdoer to report the matter to the elders. He may encourage the wrongdoer to seek help from the elders and confess; and if the wrongdoer does not do so, the witness will then inform the elders." Pay Attention to Yourselves and all the Flock p.118

    You must do this even if you are a lawyer or a counselor:

      "Employers have a right to expect that their Christian employees will 'exhibit good fidelity to the full,' including observing rules on confidentiality?. There may be occasions when a faithful servant of God is motivated by his personal convictions, based on his knowledge of God's Word, to strain or even breach the requirements of confidentiality because of the superior demands of divine law. Courage and discretion would be needed. The objective would not be to spy on another's freedom but to help erring ones and to keep the Christian congregation clean." Watchtower 1987 Sep 1 p.15

    You are not allowed to have your own opinion:

      "First, since "oneness" is to be observed, a mature Christian must be in unity and full harmony with fellow believers as far as faith and knowledge are concerned. He does not advocate or insist on personal opinions or harbor private ideas when it comes to Bible understanding." Watchtower 2001 Aug 1 p.14
      "Beware of those who try to put forward their own contrary opinions." Watchtower 1986 March 15 p.17

    If you don't go door to door, you are one of Satan's minions and Jehovah will murder you at Armageddon.

      "If we stop actively supporting Jehovah’s work, then we start following Satan. There is no middle ground."Watchtower 2011 Jul 15 p.18
      "Still, if anyone hopes to be concealed in "the day of Jehovah's anger," he will need help to do more than be a regular reader of our publications." Kingdom Ministry March 2005 p.1

    There is no happiness outside the organization:

      "The world is filled with unhappiness, and people generally have a gloomy outlook on the future. However, we have a bright outlook, knowing that one day all sadness will be a thing of the past." Kingdom Ministry Feb 2002 p.1

    If you do not become one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Jehovah will murder you at Armageddon (AKA, Jesus with a gun):

      "Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the "great crowd," as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil." Watchtower 1989 Sep 1 p.19

    If you ever leave the congregation, you are to be hated. I was told by my own wife after she attended this years district convention that I was her enemy. Also, if you leave, Jehovah will murder you at Armageddon.

      "Disfellowshipping serves as a powerful warning example to those in the congregation, since they will be able to see the disastrous consequences of ignoring Jehovah's laws?. [Do] not converse with such one or show him recognition in any way ... Walk away from him. In this way he will feel the full import of his sin." Watchtower 1963 July 1 p.411,413
      "We must hate [the disfellowshipped person] in the truest sense, which is to regard with extreme active aversion, to consider [them] as loathsome, odious, filthy, to detest." Watchtower 1952 October 1 p.599
      "Yes, they were driven by envy. The same harmful emotion has turned apostates into vicious haters of their former brothers. (1 Timothy 6:3-5) No wonder that envious men are debarred from entry into God's Kingdom! Jehovah God has decreed that all who continue to be "full of envy" are "deserving of death." Watchtower 1995 September 15 p.7

    Only Jehovah's Witnesses serve God, other religions do not:

      "Who in our time demonstrate such obedience to God?s commandments on love? ... only Jehovah?s Witnesses." Watchtower 1989 May 1 p.28
      If you are one of those rare persons that wants to serve the Creator today, that wants to give him exclusive devotion, that wants to do work that is pleasing in his eyes, that wants to receive his approval and his gift of life, then let Jehovah, by means of his spirit, cultivate in you the good condition of heart that is a mark of his people."Watchtower 1966 June 1 p.341

    You are not allowed to think for yourself:

      "We also remember that one feature of 'the wisdom from above' is being 'ready to obey.'? Due to background and upbringing, some may be more given to independent thinking and self-will than others. Perhaps this is an area where we need to discipline ourselves and 'make our mind over' so that we can perceive more clearly what the 'will of God' is." Watchtower 1987 February 1 p.19
      "Avoid? questioning the counsel that is provided by God's visible organization?. some who point out that the organization has had to make some adjustments before, and so they argue: "This shows that we have to make up our own mind on what to believe." This is independent thinking. Why is it so dangerous?" Watchtower 1983 January 15 p.22
      "The point is that Christians have implicit trust in their heavenly Father; they do not question what he tells them through his written Word and organization." Watchtower 1974 July 15 p.441

    You are not allowed to read anything critical of the organization, and you may not visit this website. Read these quotes and tell me, who is bitter, the organization or the apostates?

      "In Jehovah's organization it is not necessary to spend a lot of time and energy in research, for there are brothers in the organization who are assigned to that very thing?"Watchtower 1967 Jun 1 p.338
      "False religious propaganda from any source should be avoided like poison! Really, since our Lord has used "the faithful and discreet slave" to convey to us "sayings of everlasting life," why should we ever want to look anywhere else?"Watchtower 1987 Nov 1 p.20
      "As loyal servants of Jehovah, why would we want to peek at the propaganda put out by rejecters of Jehovah's table..." Watchtower 1994 Jul 1 pp.12-13
      "It would be a mistake to think that you need to listen to apostates or to read their writings to refute their arguments. Their twisted, poisonous reasoning can cause spiritual harm and can contaminate your faith like rapidly spreading gangrene." Watchtower 2004 Feb 15 p.28
      Apostates “quietly” bring their ideas into the congregation, like criminals who secretly bring things into a country. ... The Bible says that apostates are mentally diseased and that they use their teachings to make others think like them. (1 Timothy 6:3, 4) Jehovah is like that good doctor. He clearly tells us to stay away from false teachers. We must always be determined to follow his warning. ... We do not speak to them or invite them into our houses. We also do not read their books, watch them on television, read what they write on the Internet, or add our own comments about what they write on the Internet.Watchtower 2011 Jul 15 p.11
      "Thus, the one who doubts to the point of becoming an apostate sets himself up as a judge. He thinks he knows better than his fellow Christians, better also than the 'faithful and discreet slave,' through whom he has learned the best part, if not all that he knows about Jehovah God and his purposes." Watchtower 1980 August 1 p.19

    Teenagers are told that going to college is wasteful and useless:

      "What though of higher education received in a college or university? This is widely viewed as vital to success, yet, many who pursue such education end up with their minds filled with harmful propaganda. Such education wastes valuable youthful years that could best be used in Jehovah's service. Perhaps it is not surprising that in lands where many have received such an education, belief in god is at an all time low. Rather than looking to the advanced educational systems of this world for security, a Christian trusts in Jehovah." Watchtower 2008 Apr 15 p.4

    I found these quotes on jwfacts.

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