how prevalent do you think this attitude is?

cptkirk

people in congregations around the country (world - i have no idea what goes on in other countries with the jws) staying in the borg for all kinds of backwards reasons? how prevalent %% wise do you think this is? for example people manifesting "fear of man", fear of being ridiculed by members for leaving, or family reasons, or just to much stock in the organization to take the loss connected with leaving....all of whom really no longer believe the faith the way it's presented? or believe even any of it.

Wasanelder Once

I think most who stay in beleive 89 % of it or more. They stay because of the axiom: "where else shall we go?". They buy into the teaching of: "The worst day as a witness is better than the best day being a worldly person." It's all part of the conditioning.

cptkirk

yea unfortunately that "where else you gonna go" kept me around probably a bit longer than i otherwise would have stayed. but i would force myself to reason things in a skewed manner, i wouldn't go back to service and secretly not believe what i was doing...."new light" and "wait on jehovah", can keep you trapped on the gerbil wheel indefinitely if you dont take control.

Glander

It is a bald hijacking of the exchange between Jesus and Peter when Jesus freaked out everyone when talking of the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. When asked why he didn't take offense and walk away with the others, Peter said, "Where else would I go Lord? Only you have the sayings of everlasting life".

For this to be used in a twisted reference to the JW cult is a ridiculous appropriation of Peter's words .

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slimboyfat

How do you know when other Witnesses no longer believe it? I suspect there are a few that I know who no longer believe it, but it's not exactly common for people to come out and say it for obvious reasons.

cptkirk

yea obviously cant know for sure, but if you've had a lot of exposure to them and their thoughts...you can basically do what the pollsters do. put your finger to the wind, get an idea, then use various math principles to figure out the rest...and hopefully come within something +/- 10%.

i really believe it's a high number. just consider the fact that the bulk of witnesses are what? about 50+ years of age? (im totally guessing)...so for arguments sake say 75% of the witnesses are 50+. the younger people arent as superstitious, or bound by tradition..and ofcourse have much less aversion to looking up facts for themselves. and ofcourse there are far fewer of them. once you're 50+ i'd imagine the notion of holding on for backwards reasons gets much higher also. and also the harder it is to leave and start over once your 50+. if we had solid numbers to go by, setting up an equation probably wouldn't be to hard. but with the afore mentioned data alone..i'd say it's high like 50%.

cantleave

When I was still in I often spoke to others who obviously had doubts, but used the "wait on Jerkhoover" philosophy. This is what kept me in despite the catalogue of concerns in the back of my head.

sizemik

I simply had a lazy brain . . . what I "believed" was something I never even considered for years after I bought into it.

Kind of like the way the City Council empties my wheelie bin every week . . . I don't actually "believe" it . . . it just happens.

I'm just being honest . . . I was a follow-the-crowd, weak-minded, lazy-assed, non-thinker.

wobble

I would say that only 1% are actually in to thinking about it deeply, and therfore are hanging in there, for whatever reason, with mainly un-belief as their burden.

Most have some things they "struggle with" as they say, but they don't struggle with them, they use Cognitive Dissonance techniques, to shelve the problems, and convince themselves the WT has "most of it right".

Most fit the description that Sizemik honestly gave of himself as a JW, they are "follow the crowd, weak minded, lazy assed non-thinkers".

Broken Promises

Peter said, "Where else would I go Lord? Only you have the sayings of everlasting life".

I don't have a Bible handy, but isn't it "to whom do I go"?

how prevalent do you think this attitude is?

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