How can anyone who is truly spiritual-minded attend Bethel and not realize it's all a scam

by sosoconfused 29 Replies latest jw experiences

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  sosoconfused

  Not that I was any better(lol - but as I sat back and thought about the time I spent there, and the things I saw I feel disgusted.

  I could literally write a thousand stories about the discrimination, favortism and all out dishonest that took place but I doubt anyone would actually care. The one thing however that really sticks out in my mind is when I was in a nice room with my roommate that he kind of inherited after his previous roommate left. It actually had a bathroom and we both had space for real beds(Not those dang trundle beds like we had in Standish).

  Anyway after about 3 weeks we get a knock at the door being told to open up so that this punk and his wife could view our room. Our room was up for bid and since neither of us had the years to keep it we would be moving because apparently we did not deserve to have any space because we had not pioneered very long. This process made me sick to my stomach. They walked around and moved our things like we were animals in a zoo - and they never acknowledgedwe were even there.

  This happened with like two other couples as well. My room mate saw my anger and he laughed and said to me, "I cant wait till I am "HEAVY" like that and I can kick someone out of their room!" First off that term heavy makes me want to kick someone in the teeth. Anyone who has been to Bethel knows what I mean. Anyway, I thought how screwed up it must be that they foster this type of behavior like it is really o.k.

  Later on I come to find out that most of the GB have rooms that were either specifically designed as in they had walls knocked out of like 4 or 5 normal rooms or that they had entire floors. Not sure how true the "ENTIRE FLOOR" story is but I would not doubt it.

  Needless to say I have hundreds of stories I could talk about like this and worse to demonstrate that things at "GODS HOUSE" are worse than worldly standards... but typical JDUBS just think its OK.

  What a crock of crap to really figure this out so late in life...
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  Satanus

  A crock, for sure.

  'spiritually minded'

  Actually, the 2 are mutually exclusive, as they are commonly understood. To get into a state that might be construed as spiritual, it takes an alternate state of mind, not the normal state of mind. While that is still a part of the mind, its a part that is not taught, generally. Anyways, you are right, bethel life isn't condusive to the socalled spirit state.

  S
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  sosoconfused

  Agreed...

  I just cant believe my level of stupidity.
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  Satanus

  I was stupid too, for yrs. I worked at construction of the canadian bethel for almost a yr. Was 100% wt for 40 yrs.

  S
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  Ding

  I imagine a number of Bethelites buy into the WT's guilt trips and think that their dissatisfaction is THEIR fault, that they just can't cut it...
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  redvip2000

  It's like the army. Treated like shit, just to try to impress your family and friends.

  It's no wonder that if you walk around Brooklyn Heights on a friday or saturday night, like i did a few weeks ago, you see plenty of lil groups of young bethelites walking in their apartment buildings with plenty of liquor filled paper bags. Something has to give..
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  sabastious

  I was stupid too, for yrs. - Satanus

  I just cant believe my level of stupidity. - sosoconfused

  Hello JWN, being under the affects of mind control has very little, if anything, to do with level of intelligence. Here is a video of Steven Hassan, a leading cult expert, speaking about this very subject:

  There are a lot of people who read this site with low self confidence. I wrote a post a while back about how the Watchtower erodes your self confidence.

  I understand that we can often feel like we were stupid, but that's simply not the truth. The truth is that we were under the effects of mind control, a well documented science, and in varying degrees still are. Jehovah's Witnesses are not a bunch of stupid people.

  According to Pyongyang media Kim Jong Ill was the best golfer the world has ever seen. With a staggering streak of 11 consecutive hole in ones on his first try at the game. Now, would you say that the people who believe that as fact are stupid? Because the truth is that they're victims of a system that is beyond their control. Sound familar?

  Intelligence doesn't have anything to do with it. Just because a cult member is out of their cult doesn't mean they are any more intelligent than people who never get out. The reason for cult awakenings is a complex subject considered by the science of mind control. Briefly stated, what happens is that mind control can be misapplied and can even wear off leaving behind a partial application. A flawed subject from the perspective of the supersystem. That's why the systems require continual application and routine. For example when I was young in the meetings I would do everything I could do not to pay attention. I would write stories, read other parts of the Bible than what was being discussed, get many drinks of water and take many bathroom breaks. I watched the second hand on the clock for 30-60 minutes at a time if I had to. In my case the mind control was not applied correctly and now I'm on the outside looking in. If it WERE applied correctly I wouldn't be posting on an exjw site, i'd be clawing my way back into the "truth" because I would believe it was the only means of happiness. Emotional blackmail is their only mode of operation.

  Instead of an intelligence issue, the discussion should focus on the weaknesses in the nature of humanity that are obviously being exploited by these mind control groups. Instead of delusional idiots the Watchtower should be regarded as cunning manipulators. Then their adherents can be correctly charactized as the misled rather than the stupid or gullible.

  -Sab
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  Mum

  You are so rigfht, Sab. I knew many JW's with potential to do great things. We've all heard the stories about giving up scholarships to college and giving up great careers to pioneer.

  It takes a personal crisis for most of us to look at the lie we're living and admit we've been doing it all wrong and have the courage to do something about it.
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  sir82

  How can anyone who is truly spiritual-minded attend Bethel and not realize it's all a scam

  Well there's the key right there.

  Very few people who are "truly spiritual minded" end up at Bethel, and even fewer last more than a year or 2.

  Nothing makes better apostates than Bethel.
• 

  jw07

  sabastious I agree with you 110%, I think it is more an issue of the ease with which emotion trumps logic. For instance one of my friends is considered a genius by many due to her accomplishments and approach to solving problems in her field (I can’t give much detail for fear of being caught). She and I have a similar world view, and have lengthy discussions about the manipulation of the mind in advertising, politics, 'false religion' etc, and I was hoping she would wake up like I did. Yet, she gets very emotionally riled up at conventions, about ‘new light’ in the Watchtower etc, and is just a general WT pawn. She started sounding like she was going to wake up about 2 years back, but got over zealous and relapsed after her parents’ divorce (emotional trauma). She started reading WT literature on the subject like crazy and was able to find ‘comfort’, and hopes her family will be together again, if not now, then in ‘paradise’, so it’s up to her now to ensure that happens. It hurts to hear her parrot Watchtower catch phrases for solace when someone so mentally gifted should know better. It baffles me.

  Then again, both of us have experienced times of deep emotional pain in our lives. That was a part of what made me stop, think, and wake up, and it seems it made her a better Watchtower tool. No wonder they are so successful at indoctrinating after disasters, deaths, divorces, illness etc. People don't always think as clearly when feeling emotional pain and look for anything to sooth their minds.