If you were to address a group of honors students...

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite 13 Replies latest jw friends

  • Billy the Ex-Bethelite
    Billy the Ex-Bethelite

    Oh, thank god, more comments. I was afraid I'd been dfd!

    sir82 - Agreed. I'm not looking for a pity party or making myself come across as bitter... and old. Particularly reinforcing the importance of critical thinking and the consequences of not examining things. If that means finally thinking when you're in your 40s, so be it. Pull up your big boy pants and get a new start.

    talesin - It will be starting with my personal story, but the forum/class is much more about discussing controversies. The instructor is interested about my JW history. Scientology had come up before, but imagine no JWs or anything about JWs in the 15+ year history of the class.

    The college vibe is to be tolerant of everyone. However, I'd like to bring to their attention that not everyone is tolerant. While JWs demand tolerance and religious freedom, inside the organization it is rather a tyranny. They demand freedom for the organization, they deny freedom to their members. Is that a valid point that kids will get?

    I think I'll go with the jwfacts pdf for my external reference. I'll also go through the recent ragazines to point out their hypocracy on shunning and education. Like I said, I'm going first, so I really don't know what to expect, but god knows I can talk for 45 minutes if none of them ask a question.

  • Billy the Ex-Bethelite
    Billy the Ex-Bethelite

    Zid,

    Thanks, good idea. There are so many groups that hand out stuff here on campus. I think I can reason with them as to the value of THINKING, not just believing whatever you read.

  • ziddina
    ziddina

    Hi, Billy!

    Here's a website that you're probably familiar with - but I like it so much that I decided to link it, anyway!!!

    http://www.howcultswork.com/

    That site has the clearest descriptions of the various tricks that cults use...

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    People understand fundamentalists. Very few people can comprehend being denied a college education or completing public school with warnings about how bad even secondary education can be. I've been trying to keep things simple and hope to be reinvited.

    Maybe reference some things you don't have time to address but that are important - so they know there is a wider range.

    I attended college and law school with some classmates in their 60s or older. Everyone was fascinated by their histories. I took a computer course at a community college last semester. The contrast between the older and younger students was amazing.

    I would not throw stones at the Witnesses.

    You will be awesome. Where do the other students go? Purgatory. If there were an honors students event on my campuses, the buildings would have been seized. They were but for other reasons.

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