"We have a hope that a lot of people do not have..."
A lot of people have a better hope than JWs do. Billions of people believe that their dead loved ones are in heaven or nirvana. The JW "hope" still involves a thousand years of uncertainty.
Gut wrenching situation
by laverite 14 Replies latest jw friends
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AudeSapere
I agree with you, laverite. It is as if she callously flaunted her hope to a mother in despair. Of course, her intention was to win over the mother so that she, too, could have the same [false] hope. And that 'maybe' was quite odd. Or not so much. As someone else already said, there are likely many who no longer really believe that the end is coming any time now. Or that it will take the form that we had come to believe - oh! so long ago.
This thread reminded me of a strange conversation that I think may have been the beginning of my questionings...
In preparing for a talk that I had, I went to the home of a woman who was probably close to 60 at the time. Something had happened in our cong and I mentioned - as all good JWs did then - that soon the new system will be here and we won't have to worry about all these terrible things that happen to us now (or something to that effect). Her response to my canned JW comment was: "Oh, Aude! You don't really still believe that, do you?"
Stopped me dead in my thoughts. Jaw open. Speechless. LOL. Then, "Well, yeah. Of course I do."
We rehearsed the talk and I've thought about her comment many times. She and her sister and aunt were at nearly every meeting. But she did not believe. How could that be??
I don't remember ever talking to her about it again. Wonder where she is and what her thoughts and beliefs *really* were.
Strange feeling, that was.
-Aude.
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laverite
Simon: That is exactly what they are saying. There is an utter lack of realization about what non Dubs think of this kind of post/response.
Desirous: I wonder if that's true. Do the vast majority really not believe this key aspecdt of the religion any more -- that Armageddon is literally closer than your underwear? It seems mixed among my relatives (who are almost all still very much in the bOrg). Some seem to be doing some more long-term planning yet giving lip service to Armageddon being around the corner. Others believe fervently that it will be any second. I wish we had some real data on the broader beliefs among the wider JW community.
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laverite
Xanthippe: Thank you for your reply. You make a good point about the differences between those who do think about these issues and those who don't. The outlook between these two different groups is polar opposite! The questions you ask about the "maybe" qualifier in the FB post are the exact same ones I am wondering. It seems to be a new thing among some Dubs -- the thought that "maybe" Armageddon is coming? Wow!
Mr. Flipper: Thank you so much for your kind comments. Yes, the insensitivity is just terrible. :(
Billy: Of course, they don't see it that way. But when you put it that way, it does make things pretty clear. Too bad they can't see that.
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laverite
Aude: Such great observations about the Sister TM flaunting her hope to a mother who is in the process of losing her beloved child and the "maybe" qualifier! Thank you so much for sharing your VERY INTERESTING experience with the SisterTM you were working with on the talk. It's remarkable on so many different levels. When was that experience? Perhaps that sister at the age of 60 (and after believing for decades) came to realize she had been duped about how close Armageddon was, and that perhaps the Society TM was wrong about their scriptural interpretations. The Society TM had to get more and more creative with their explanations as things weren't panning out as previously thought over the years. It is now to the point that we have the Overlapping Generation explanation that strains all possible credibility to waaaaaaaay beyond the breaking point.
It's not too tough now to see the Society TM is grasping at straws in doctrinal desperation. There is still a lot of clean up that will need to happen to explain away the failings of Freddy Franz's fanciful imaginings.
Even with more people waking up, there are so many who, no matter what, do not doubt anything coming from the publishing corp's Brooklyn HQ. I have family who, if they were told in the literature via New Light TM that everything they've been taught is to currently be considered Old Light TM and what they now need to do is to give every penny to Brooklyn HQ and lie naked in the streets squeezing their nipples until they bleed, waiting for a personal chariot from Jehovah to carry them to a shiny new planet where the real paradise is, they would be falling over themselves to be the first one to get naked for Watchtower Corp TM .
Honestly, it wouldn't matter how ridiculous the New Light TM gets, they are believers in the Watchtower Corp TM , not the Bible.