Question...?

cptkirk

does anyone come into this religion who is doing well in life? not to say any one particular person never did well in life, but when they were studying and getting baptized, at that particular time in their life, were things going good for them?

i'm trying to figure out if anyone comes into this religion, while life is going good for them. you know, they just got a really good job, found their mate....just bought a new house etc. then someone knocks on the door to borg them, and they agree? does this ever happen?

i'm wondering if you can make a blanket statement such as: everyone in the religion came in while things were going bad in their life (in essence they needed this to bring them out of a hole), or they have been in the religion their entire life. one or the other. because i think if you can make that statement, you can build some pretty interesting broad psychological conclusions.

not trying to compare people who are either at rock bottom, or who are conquering the world. (no reference intended). there are plenty of people who ostensibly look like they are doing well, but inside they have a lot dragging them down. these people fitting into the category of "not doing well", when they accepted study/baptism.

so again, anyone? does anyone come into this religion that is doing well in life? i myself was never some big pioneer so i didn't see much of the process. and i was indoctrinated as a child.

talesin

I'm a born-in too, and thinking of the converts I had known over the years ... a young man who was a social outcast, no friends, geeky,, bad stutterer ... 2 best friends who were drug addicts and 'the Truth TM ' saved them ... a young pregnant woman, on her own, family had rejected her due to her teen pregnant status .... my friend got her worldly boyfriend into it (he was not in crisis, but a crisis of teen infatuation , does that count?) .... that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

It's definitely a trend,,, they prey on the weak and the needy, imho.

t

sizemik

Good evening Jim . . .

does anyone come into this religion who is doing well in life?

I believe so . . .

The man I studied with was only recently baptised himself. He was at that time the Regional Manager of a multinational Insurance Firm. He was extremely intelligent and an articulate teacher with a very agile mind . . . I did battle with it over many months. He was happily married with two growing children (10 & 12) and owned a plush two story home in an up-market area of town.

When I was finally baptised nearly three years later . . . he took myself, my wife and half a dozen others out to a very expensive restaurant and shouted us all a five course meal with copious amounts of fine wine. As we journeyed home that night he commented to me "It's good to be rich . . . solves a lot of problems"

A few years later I met him at a car exhibition where he was proudly showing his $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo. To the best of my knowledge he remains an active Witness . . . and he's still very rich.

Blanket statements are the same as generalisations . . . there's always exceptions.

cptkirk

explorer....

trying to remember what i wrote..

that is an interesting story size. i tried to be as specific as possible in the question. there are a lot of people who ostensibly look happy, but aren't. do you know how he got to that position? was it by conventional methods, or other? (such as family connections). i know a billionaire that was in "the truth", haven't seen him in over 10 years. in his circumstance i know he wasn't a witness until problems started for him. (not related to money). you say there are always exceptions, mostly yea. if you can find a consistent denominator though, it will set up an equation that can't be refuted. i think we could come damn near close with this one. just think, if science came up with a pill that eliminated all disease tomorrow, and also kept you in a state of constant euphoria, how many witnesses would there be the next day?

sizemik

If science eliminated every disease, threat, and human ailment . . . including death. And humankind found a system that ensured global harmony and quality of life for all . . . what would happen to religion?

I think my wealthy friend was probably filling some perceived need for sure . . . he had some wacky ideas about the supernatural.

A great many respond to a personal plight by entertaining the panaceaic promise the JW's preach. I believe there is also a significant number who are sensitive to the ills and injustices of the world and are simply young, naive and idealistic. I don't really blame them for wanting the world to be a better place . . . because it's the taking of advantage . . . the deception . . . that is at fault here . . . not the idealist. Idealists often bring good changes to the world . . . if their idealism is chanelled fruitfully. The WTS hijacks them.

cptkirk

idealists are almost always just naive weak people. realists will enact more beneficial change than any idealist ever will. idealists refuse to accept terms in the equation, therefore they remain lost forever. there was a time magazine cover that said something about 'is god dead?'...before i was born during vietnam era....they pulled out of nam, then the whole god thing started up again. wonder if there is a corrolary there. once this iraq/afgan thing ends, maybe the whole cycle will start again. then they can get their moral majority again, then goto war again, rinse repeat.

ScenicViewer

Myself, I came in during the 1975 boom, and was very young, 20 at baptism. I had no problems in life, and was in college, which I dropped out of, and really believed what I was learning. If there is a pattern of normal people coming it, I would think it happens particularly during an 'end-of-the-world' scare, and young people are always gullible.

cptkirk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_God_Dead%3F

cptkirk

so you did have a problem than? you had anxiety about armageddon and you wanted to assuage that anxiety?

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