Pursuing higher education is comparable with having OCD - according to Gerrit Losch

by cedars 59 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Quendi

  I remember the story of the OCD sufferer because I watched the original interview in which his experience was told. First, the program was about OCD itself and its various manifestations. Some of them are more severe than others and in this particular case the afflicted person believed his life had become completely unmanageable. He had decided to kill himself to end his suffering because he saw no other way out.

  Accordingly, he put a loaded gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger hoping to end it all. But by pure chance, the bullet lodged into the very brain center that was the source of the OCD. The impact killed those brain cells and to everyone’s amazement, not only did the man survive, but his OCD had completely vanished.

  This man was very careful to say he did not recommend anyone doing this. He had survived by complete luck and nothing else. The point of his experience was that OCD had organic causes and that he hoped research would continue to find a real cure. Today there are drug therapies available that didn’t exist years ago to help some (though not all) OCD victims. Having lived with a person who had a bad case of it, I have seen how this disease is crippling not only to its victims but also to those who live with them.

  As is typical of WTS spokesmen and publications, a very complex situation is watered down and then misapplied to make a point. Gerrit Lösch’s talk is just one of a myriad of egregious examples of this tactic being used to manipulate and control ran-and-file Witnesses. While Lösch may very well have drawn up his own personal outline for his talk, others have their words rammed down their throats by the organization like the district overseer cited above. Then the question of personal integrity and responsibility arises. If you had any, why would you make this statement, or is it simply rank cowardice which is the reason for doing so?

  Quendi
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  Healthworker

  Most brohers were offended by his speach. We are an educated people. Women here work. We send our children to kindergarden. We go to college.

  We did not like what we heard. BUT, most brothers would drop this as a hot potato. They are trained to close their eyes and forget all sides that creates cognitive dissonance. Heck, they would rather go and get drunk before they dare to question the society! I spoke with an elder about this (one of many) and said I would do something about it. Make reform, that the GB needed help. He just got angry and said that I was way out and that the GB have the HOLY SPIRIT. What? It's their life insurance! Kill to live!

  Love Healthworker
• 

  Anti-Cult

  So learning is like a disorder. Wow how obviously messed up.

  Heres a question for a elder. Ask them to prove to you from the bible that the governing body members are annioted .
• 

  00DAD

  Ok, this is just ridiculous!

  The only way, and I mean THE ONLY WAY, the Gerrit can "link" this Bullet Operation story to JWs going to college or university is his use of the word "survive".

  It's a completely contrived connection that has crossed way over the border of Reason and Logic into the JW-land of the absurd. Kafka would be proud.

  Clearly, when he says some "survive" college he means that some JWs go to college and don't leave the religion. This is of course completely understandable when viewed through the biased lens of JW beliefs, "Armageddon's coming soon! Why waste time pursing selfish interests?"

  But wait a second! Is that really the reason the GB doesn't want JWs going to college? No, he gives away the real reason at 2:33" in his speech:

  "But we have lost really too many to the world already, so it is kind of a danger ..."

  So Gerrit's claim of being concerned for the life and welfare of those going to college is disingenuine. They're hemorrhaging young people and they know it. They know that when young ones, or anyone for that matter, go to college and learn how to think, most will wake-up and realize that the WTBTS is a scam.

  They are so desperate to try and stop it they'll do anything to try and solve the problem, well anything but admit that it's because the WT is a controlling, abusive organization that teaches false doctrines and destroys people's lifes.

  So they come up with stupid, illogical "arguments" like this one.

  But again, it's completely ridiculous!

  He acknowledges that most college students go to increase their earning potential. But he says it like it's a bad thing, "Some [go] for the fame, but most go for the money!" Duh.

  Then, in a completely bizarre way that defies anything remotely resembling reason, he makes a completely twisted comparison to a man that is so distraught over his OCD that the tries to kill himself, but fails.

  Um, Gerrit, what exactly do those two things have to do with each other? Answer: Nothing, abolutely nothing.

  Again, the ONLY way he can tie them together is by the use of the word "survive".

  It's just propaganda, and not very good propaganda at that. Nevertheless it will have it's desired affect on most JWs, but maybe not. In spite of such "encouraging talks" the WTBTS are losing their born-in children at the rate of 2/3rds, they are the biggest losers of any religion in the good ol' US of A!

  Let's review: It's a cult!
• 

  00DAD

  Pistoff: The study shows that MOST young adults say that college is not for everyone, and that they have had real life experiences of not advancing in their job, getting laid off or not getting the job FOR LACK OF A DEGREE.

  Thanks for providing the link and the context.

  I think we can agree that college is not for everyone.

  But the WTBTS says it's not for ANYONE, at least not any JWs.

  I know, he says that some go to college and pioneer while they're there and have good motives and "we shouldn't judge them, " blah, blah, blah.

  But that too is dishonest. The whole tone of the entire segment has a very clear, although never explicitly stated message: Don't go to college!

  00DAD
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  minimus

  Going to college is like playing Russian Roulette.
• 

  cedars

  00DAD

  But that too is dishonest. The whole tone of the entire segment has a very clear, although never explicitly stated message: Don't go to college!

  There is another version of the talk which I very nearly spliced into the video (but decided to leave out so as not to blur the message) where Gerrit Losch expands on his "good motives" by giving the example of young ones who attend college but still pioneer with the aim of getting a legal education so as to work on the Society's legal team. This is the ONLY positive example given.

  Gerrit could have had a heart attack following this talk and have his life saved by a doctor with a university degree, but saving lives would still not constitute a worthy motive for higher education.

  Cedars
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  00DAD

  Cedars: Gerrit Losch expands on his "good motives" by giving the example of young ones who attend college but still pioneer with the aim of getting a legal education so as to work on the Society's legal team.

  Well they need laywers. I have it on good authority that a shit-storm of lawsuits are coming their way!

  • JW Law 101 - How to defend pedophiles and the religious institutions that protect them
• 

  kepler

  WAIT A MINUTE, WAIT A MINUTE!!!....

  Which is more like obsessive compulsive disorder?

  Going to college or university and making decisions about a career or curriculum...

  Or

  - Spending every week for the rest of your life knocking on doors to distribute pamphlets generated by the organization that prides itself in turning more pulp into paper commentary on another book.

  - Going to the several meetings per week which are devoted to 99.99% affirmations and "Ja" votes.

  - Waiting perpetually for an Armageddon Event which has its goal posts perpetually moved to the elastic limits of "this generation"....?

  - Nodding your head in agreement to whatever a figure like Gerrit Loesch might have said.

  Can you think of some others?

  NOTE: As an outsider, I wasn't all that familiar with all the lore. The first time I saw a picture of the video guy I thought it was James Garner in one of his lesser known roles - Not Maverick or some private eye, but maybe as a huckster selling used cars or discount clothes. I had it all wrong. I guess...
• 

  Quendi

  When I returned to college in the late 1990s to get my diploma, nobody in the congregation dared criticize me for the decision. Two elders did call on me and expressed “concern”, but I quickly disabused them of that nonsense. As it was, they reported back to the presiding overseer telling him that I had given them much food for thought. In Colorado, I knew elders who held PhDs and others who had degrees in engineering and the like. Despite this, however, they also toed the party line and spoke out against anyone else who wanted a college education.

  Many of us can remember how the WTS pleaded for college-trained people to help build its Patterson complex years ago. I remember the letter being read in American congregations asking for assistance and then adding the contradiction that nobody should consider going to college to get the kind of training the Society now needed. Talk about cognitive dissonance!! As 00DAD so frequently reminds us: IT’S A CULT .

  Quendi