Give me the boy until he is seven, I will give you the man etc etc....
Just brainwashed and indoctrinated from birth.
George
Have you ever wondered why as Jehovah's Witnesses you ignored the inconsistencies, lies and hypocricies of the Watchtower's Governing Body for so long?
by matt2414 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Raised in . . .
The awarness of questioning didn't arrive until my 20s, and thankfully was generously faciliated by the information superhighway and kind former JWs in the mid-90s.
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LongHairGal
matt2414:
Maybe if I had actually studied their damn literature I would have realized most of these inconsistencies and been out sooner!
The part about "no college but you could own a business" really got me. But, I figured it was because the religion figured some brother with a business could offer employment to other JWs. The religion doesn't have a problem with somebody's secular know-how as long as they can take advantage of it. Whereas if somebody goes to college and gets a profession he is only benefiting himself and they don't like that. This is what I suspect.
moshe:
You hit the nail on the head and called a spade a spade and I totally agree with what you said. Let's face it, most humans are motivated by self-preservation and I would be the first to admit it. But, there would be those on this board who would object to your opinion and would vehemently state that they did it all for self-sacrificing reasons .
I wasn't so very zealous, though, and you didn't see me in the door to door work very often. So, I was on the "shit list" in the eyes of many people there and was criticized because I work full time. I am sure they believe they all deserve to be in the "new system" because of the hours they got in and any personal sacrifices they made.
I like where you mentioned their smugness and how "carpet/window cleaners, etc." imagine they are more important than leaders, etc. just because they are peddling a message for a religious organization. I have seen and heard this type of arrogance from the stupidest of people there who don't even have two brain cells to rub together! They actually DO believe they don't need to think just so long as they keep up their preaching and literature distribution work.
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King Solomon
LHG said:
I wasn't so very zealous, though, and you didn't see me in the door to door work very often. So, I was on the "shit list" in the eyes of many people there and was criticized because I work full time. I am sure they believe they all deserve to be in the "new system" because of the hours they got in and any personal sacrifices they made.
Yeah, "piety as a competitive event" is an interesting behavior, esp in light of the fact that Jesus warned about not letting the right hand know what the left is doing (charity), the least is actually the greatest in his kingdom, the last is the first, and not to make a showy display of one's faith, etc. (Jesus loved speaking about clever, tasty paradoxes).
So what we have on display is a perverse inversion of normal rules, where everyone is THINKING about getting ahead of the rest, but they cannot ADMIT to others that it's their strategy! Even admitting to thinking about it to game the system is a sin, a violation of the unspoken code...
I like where you mentioned their smugness and how "carpet/window cleaners, etc." imagine they are more important than leaders, etc. just because they are peddling a message for a religious organization. I have seen and heard this type of arrogance from the stupidest of people there who don't even have two brain cells to rub together! They actually DO believe they don't need to think just so long as they keep up their preaching and literature distribution work.
It's funny, as JWs are soooo brainwashed into believing that the worst sin someone can commit is to be arrogant (a personality trait that is despised throughout the Bible, depicted as the hubris of men), that it really becomes almost an involuntary gut reaction, where they say they HATE arrogant people!
Of course, these are the same ones who don't realize that there ARE people on the Planet who actually DO accomplish something with their lives, and might actually DESERVE recognition for daring to rise above aspiring to work in janitorial services (and they must pay $$$ to avail themselves of their specialized skills/knowledge).
There's certainly no arrogance quite as repulsive as that of the ignorant and lazy who fill that they are entitled to drag everyone into the mud they wallow in, even displaying false humility when they actually feel superior to all the other ones who don't know the JW secrets and will be destroyed in Armageddon....
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blindnomore
I was a true koolaid drinker. Never once was I doubted on doctrines or anything the Watchtower Organization ever did.
Although I had many personal experiences of utter hyporcrisy of Jehovah's witnesses particularily of elders. But I took them as personal imperfection. Never had I realized they all come from top down. I truly believed it was God's true and only organization and wait on Jehovah for any personal wrongdoing. Only issue I had with the Watchtower was their view on higher education. But I gave them a benefit of the doubt that they meant well.
'Just because your co-worker got you upset, you don't come home ask your wife for divorce. What has she done anything wrong?'-I was bought into this propaganda all those years. I was well trained to overlook flaws in the Organization.
I was fooooorrrrrrrrcccccccceeeed to awake by their tireless ongoing several years of cruel persecution. I know what being dehumanized is like. I saw the lifeless eyes of the prisoners behind the Nazi concetration camps. I understood what's in their mind. You have no idea how evil the Watchtower really is until you cross their absolute authority.
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matt2414
Reading some of your comments reminded be of a few other gems that I used to hear:
8. At conventions, don't eat a heavy meal at lunchtime or all the blood rushes to your stomach and you'll fall asleep during the afternoon program. However, Awake! says if you have insomnia, don't eat a heavy meal before bedtime or you won't be able to sleep.
9. Circuit overseers used to say, people who put "No Jehovah's Witnesses" signs on their doors are not being taught by their churches to defend their beliefs. However, the Governing Body says "don't talk to apostates."
10. The Watchtower says that "true" Christians do not adhere to non-biblical superstitious practics such as avoiding black cats or walking under a ladder out of fear that something bad will befall them. However, Jehovah's Witnesses adhere to the non-biblical belief that celebrating birthdays will somehow lead to something bad befalling them.
11. The Watchtower says that Christians are not under the Law of Moses and blasts the Pharisees for taking portions of that law and twisting it, in an effort to get people to do their bidding. However, the Governing Body hierarchy is often stating that Christians must follow the "principals found in the Law of Moses," thus giving them license to make up laws just like the Pharisees.
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Band on the Run
I knew there was hypocrisy. Clearly but I had no experience with any other religion. My parents were reluctant to have any social dealings with worldly people. i was always warned that nonJWs were held at arm's length. With normal life experience it seems so crazy on its face. Not only crazy, but absolutely perverse. People thought early Christians were perverse and engaged in "crimes against humanity," so how do you ever know? Wtih big A in the balance, who would risk losing eternal life.
I don't understand how they recruit converts. MY gf was converted b/c he was Russian Orthodox and Bible knowledge was not stressed. Witnesses lug around Bibles, giving unchurched people this assumption that they can figure it all out. In my local Episcopalian parish, I cannot believe all the people with advanced degrees who just believe whatever a priest says. The Bible is suspened from normal thought processes. They feel completely inadequate to read and understand the text. I assume they are friendly and warm during times of stress.
My gf was grief-stricken after losing four children to steerage conditions on the way to america. He begged relatives who were Russian Orthodox priests why god allowed suffering. They said they could not understand it themselves. The Witnesses came to his door with a 26 bulleted complete and satisfactory answer so he could cope in life, despite his loss. He would be reuinted with his wife (who died giving birth to the 13th child) and his dead children. His family in Russia would no longer be geographically far from him. I understand it and I don't have a clue. He was a cantor so he was educated.
He one of the few literate minors. Neighbors told me how starved people were for Bible knowledge. When he became involved, he merely read the text of the Bible from his front porch. It was standing room only and people travelled from towns distant to hear the Bible. My problem is thinking everyone grows up in a sophisticated, literare society.
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Glander
You must realize that the majority of JWs don't know shit from shoe polish about the details of WT dogma. They are skimmers, floaters, go along to get along folks, sheep, drones. Only those who really dig into it have to stifle their own questions and doubts. I, a born-in, was made an elder in my early thirties and it was only then I started to pay attention to the inconsistencies. Then it was bye bye!
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JWOP
I was a born-in, so I was fed the doctrine from day one. But, I always privately questioned the "new light" (how could God give us untrue old light??), and questioned the patting-on-the-back the Watchtower gives itself, and a few other things. And, shame of all shames, I fell into the old "wait on Jehovah" mantra.
Oh I waited alright. And then He showed me the REAL truth, LOL! THANK GOD! Although I wish I could still associate with my family members who are still in, I have never regretted my decision to abandon the Watchtower teachings.