Can anyone explain this reasoning? (page 2)

Oubliette

Honesty: Does it have anything to do with control or is it related to something else?

YES to your first question and NO to the second!

Give that person a prize!

Marvin Shilmer

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“Can anyone explain this reasoning?”

Yes.

It’s properly termed doublethink.

It’s a form of reasoning whereby a person holds contradictory ideas without dissonance. It’s typically the result of some form of religious or political indoctrination. To a lesser degree it’s also found in other cultural spheres of influence. The phenomena is typically applied to the same concepts in relation to different milieus.

It’s an irrational process, but often indoctrination makes is nearly impossible to help a sufferer comprehend his or her irrationality.

Marvin Shilmer

EdenOne

Doublethink is a term taken straight out of Orwell's "1984" ...

Eden

Sammy Jenkis

Pioneering and even taking account of your field time makes me think about Martin Luther and the scandal he caused claiming you can't earn your freedom or eternity by good deeds. It still amuses me to think that you're classified a devote person who especially loves God dependent on the hours you preach.

The point and answer to your question is this:

They don't want you to say anything that would cause others to question their beliefs.

Say you brought up cases like Candace Conti and started sharing that with others, it obviously would be viewed negatively as the information you spread could "stumble" others. When all that really means is that you might actually convince someone else with cold hard facts.

lost

the more we learn about scripture and the Ethos, the more jehovists are de-bunked and stripped bare fo 'not measuring up, and standing firm in the true 'truth'

talesin

It's all about control and the victims (ie, JWS) are displaying cognitive dissonance.

RE: Fesinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory (1957)

Here's a couple of quoted paragraphs, the article is a good read. It's concise, and gives a starting point if you are interested in learning more about the theory.

url: http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html

Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Leon Festinger, arising out of a participant observation study of a cult which believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood, and what happened to its members — particularly the really committed ones who had given up their homes and jobs to work for the cult — when the flood did not happen. While fringe members were more inclined to recognize that they had made fools of themselves and to "put it down to experience", committed members were more likely to re-interpret the evidence to show that they were right all along (the earth was not destroyed because of the faithfulness of the cult members).
...
There has been a great deal of research into cognitive dissonance, providing some interesting and sometimes unexpected findings. It is a theory with very broad applications, showing that we aim for a consistency between attitudes and behaviors, and may not use very rational methods to achieve it.

tal

Honesty

Hey,

Thanks for all the great responses.

It's good to confirm that I'm not mentally diseased after all!!!

And neither are y'all.

Marvin Shilmer

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I don’t disagree with talsin that we have victims of Watchtower indoctrination who suffer from cognitive dissonance. These are the ones who realize they simultaneously hold disparate views and suffer mental conflict (dissonance) as a result. This suffering is a good thing. It is an internal mechanism that can help a person climb out of an untenable intellectual predicament, which predicament can inflict mental, emotional and physical harm if left uncorrected.

Then we have Watchtower victims whose indoctrination is so complete they hold disparate views but without mental conflict (dissonance). These have been taken to a very dark mental state of something known since 1949 as doublethink. Sadly, these victims are unable to grasp their predicament because the internal capacity of dissonance has either malfunctioned or been willfully disabled. Individuals who’ve willfully disabled this capacity I consider to be dangerous amoral personalities.

Both these conditions are brought about by Watchtower induced control in the form of indoctrination.

Marvin Shilmer

James Brown

When a JW goes from door to door on a daily basis, they are called pioneers and it is a good thing.

It is an act of love when they share their knowledge with householders.

However, if that pioneer learns more about the Watchtower Society's beliefs when compared with the bible and tries to share that knowledge with current members he is attacking his brothers and sisters and is mentally diseased.

When he shares his knowledge about the Watchtower Society's involvement with the UN and other political entities with the brothers and sisters it is called an act of hate.

In both instances, we have similar actions and motivations but the Watchtower Society comes to completely different conclusions.

Does it have anything to do with control or is it related to something else.

I think it is the nature of life. The result is all men will bow before God.

If you become a Christian and love the bible full tilt and study it religiously at some point you will

become disenchanted and see problems with your belief.

If you become an atheist and love atheism and study it religiously at some point you will become

disenchanted and see problems with your belief.

God says to put no idols before me. The only thing you can believe and worship religiously

and find happiness with is God.

How you do that falls under each person must work out their own salvation.

Can anyone explain this reasoning?

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