The totally BOGUS idea of CERTAINTY inside the Watchtower religion

by Terry 27 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  The Watchtower's only power over Jehovah's Witnesses is fear. If WT became less tyrannical and legalistic, and admitted they don't have all the answers and have been horribly wrong about many things, I believe most JWs would reconsider their affiliation with the Org. Other than a lifetime of hard work, what does a JW get back from the religion? Nothing. If the spiritual carrot is exposed as hopelessly flawed, then the captivating force is shattered.

  WT keeps people in the Org. by using emotional blackmail- disfellowshipping.

  WT maintains the illusion or correctness by holding to the exclusivity of being the only right religion.

  Admitting mistakes means undermining the claim of being guided by God and opens the door to critical-thinking and questioning among the rank-and-file. The governing body must retain absolute control in order to survive.

  The GB would rather have a religion that appears superficially cohesive, glued together only by fear, than be honest and humble and risk losing members.
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  Vidiot

  AndDontCallMeShirley - "The GB would rather have a religion that appears superficially cohesive, glued together only by fear, than be honest and humble and risk losing members."

  Yeah, one gets that impression, especially about keeping the membership...

  ...and yet there's other times that, based on their policy decisions, I would swear up and down that they want to pare the R&F down to a more manageble size.

  Makes me scratch my head.
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  frankiespeakin

  The reality tunnel of those who go by certainties with reguards to answers to life's most perplexing questions has to be very narrow indeed. People feel good when they think they got all the answers to life's most important questions, or they have access to those that do. The Governing Body feels it is the source of the answers and certainty figures themselves into being spokespersons for God Almighty. A very narrow reality tunnel is what these fellow operate with as they drowned themselve in the delusion and ignore/repress the reality from consciousness.
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  LongHairGal

  Terry and DontCallMeShirley:

  To me the religion operates on the assumption that people die off and nobody will remember or care about what they used to teach.

  They reinvent themselves as they go along much the way an amoeba changes shape with its false feet (pseudopods?). And the people there are caught up in playing a game of pretend like that famous fictional emperor, at least those of them who are conscious.

  I could be wrong but I really don't think the year 2014 will make all that much of a difference to the people who are still there. They have ignored far too much wrong already. Why let something like a little old century of crying wolf get to them? It will probably be business as usual.

  I am just glad I am out of there.
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  Terry

  I could be wrong but I really don't think the year 2014 will make all that much of a difference to the people who are still there. They have ignored far too much wrong already.

  Likely true.

  But, you better believe there is enormous psychological PRESSURE on the Watchtower authority to address the CENTURY of disproof.

  1.Russell made very very clear that 1914 was "not the beginning of the end" but the end. Then, he had to fudge and fudge and fudge.

  2.Rutherford jumped in to make an ass of himself (notice he took it personally with no sense of what he had done to people of faith!) by proclaiming MILLION NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE leading up to 1925.

  3.From 1925 to 1975 was a half century of dicking around with End Times scare tactics.

  4.The 1975 outbreak of isanity by Fred Franz unhinged any shred of credibility and by 1983 the crackdown on disfellowshipping identified JW's clearly as A CULT OF MIND CONTROL.

  5.Since 1983 the leadership has been spiraling downward into Fascist Mentality and demands for LOYALTY. That small core of nitwits and madmen have raised themselves above Jesus Christ as the ONLY MEDIATOR between god and man.

  6.2014 puts a spotlight on the failure of 1914. What has Jesus been doing for a hundred years besides jumping out from behind doors (dates) screaming "BOO!" and then laughing at everybody who expects that he'll man up and get something done.
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  FWFranz

  Hi Terry

  That was well said. The complete absence of humility on the part of virtually every phase of leadership in the WTS, from the days of Russell to the present day is truly mind blowing. It is incomprehensible that a God who demands humility from his servants would put up with the WTS for a week, let alone a 100 plus years. To my knowledge they have never published a heart felt apology about anything. Even when their errors have led to the death of fellow believers.

  FWFranz
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  ABibleStudent

  Terry - Would Jehovah's Witnesses be a better religion if they were more honest and relaxed about how CERTAIN they are about their teachings?

  Are the core issues that the WTBTS is dishonest, know-it-alls, and promote fear, or that the WTBTS is a dangerous cult and therefore exhibts distasteful characteristics of being dishonest, know-it-all, fear, etc.? My answer would be NO until the WTBTS stops using BITE control techniques to victimize JWs.

  IMHO the WTBTS is a printing and distribution of propaganda and real estate holding corporation that victimizes JWs with BITE control techniques to donate money so that the WTBTS can continue to exit. It is not a religion. It tries to decieve people to believing that it is a religion, but it is just men deceiving other people. Religious leaders should at least believe in some super natural being(s), encourage members to believe in the supernatural beings more than the religious leaders, and preferably promote beneficial societal mores and beliefs. Does the WTBTS promote that JWs believe in and follow Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, or blindly follow the GB, since JWs cannot see Jesus Christ nor the Holy Spirit?

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
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  Terry

  Religious leaders should at least believe in some super natural being(s), encourage members to believe in the supernatural beings more than the religious leaders, and preferably promote beneficial societal mores and beliefs.

  I think I understand where you are coming from on that.

  Taking the time to think carefully about what we are saying helps considerably to clarify our intentions.

  Belief is the glue that binds us to what is important in our life. Credulous belief disables warning flags that signal things aren't credible any more.

  I like to substitute the word "superstition" for supernatural because it helps focus on the idea that our imagination is working hard to supply our heart with positive input about what cannot be seen.

  Encouraging others to discount credible evidence is like asking people to not bother balancing their checkbook.

  We are neither moral nor immoral because of what we believe. We are moral or immoral because of what we do or fail to do to make this world an actually better place.

  Words don't get people fed and beliefs don't build shelters for the homeless.

  But, I do understand that those who hold belief in an invisible person do so without cynicism.

  I think Faith would be more reasonable if it left the door open for doubt when the evidence starts piling up one way or the other.
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  sd-7

  I like this thread. It's amazing how much certainty people have that Jesus is invisibly present. Under most normal circumstances, if someone tells you their buddy is invisibly present, and certainly if they tell you said buddy died 2,000 years ago...you'd think you would want more evidence that he's present than someone's forceful assertion.

  I mean, really. What makes this particular invisible presence more relevant than the last 2,000 years of invisible activities going on? Yeah, but, but this time it's different! I'm sure the Millerites felt the same way!

  Making me think of 'When Prophecy Fails'--it's a prime example of, even when what they thought was going to happen didn't happen, rather than actually, fully recognizing that, they just come up with something new to be 'certain' about and ignore the apparent conflicts with reality.

  --sd-7
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  Finkelstein

  How about the bogus certainty of religion itself, where stories are intensionally converted into fact and people react upon

  that established appealing conversion. The WTS. should be seen is a reseller of embellished ancient mythological stories.