by SouthCentral 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
There has been a lot recent small changes that could be considered earth shattering for some… How are the longtime witnesses reacting?
The typical response has to be thankfulness that Jehovah is shedding light and refining them for the end of the world…
The witness, who’s a thinker has to be frustrated with wasting decades… Is the lightbulb coming on for more PIMI’s?
Good question; been wondering myself.
Take my relatives, for example. Other than some distant cousins that I don't even really know, I only have five relatives. Two (50ish) are dumb as bricks. The other three (two mid-60's, one upper 80's) have normal intelligence. One of them has a high IQ and is the smartest person I know; he's the only person that I can discuss some deep subject with (math, physics, deep grammatical concept, philosophy, etc.) and feel that he will understand.
All three used to be level-headed and reasonable and honest. All three would gripe about things in JW Land and admit issues. I once mentioned to the smart one the issue of who gets the insurance checks when the org does disaster relief. This was when I wasn't fully awake and first started smelling something funky and thinking about the issue myself. When I mentioned it to him, he looked at the ground and got a smile on his face. In other words, he instantly got my point, but had never thought about it. He told me he was going to think about it or look into it, but he never mentioned it again. But my point is that at least he understood the question and admitted it was a good one.
He also used to be really analytical. He would make notes in margins (Bible and JW pubs) of things that didn't make sense and/or seemed wrong, but he no longer does such as that and things have changed with all of them. They are no longer open to discussion. They no longer gripe. They are really defensive. It's as if they've buried their heads in the sand. I'm thinking they've got to know something's wrong, but they just can't bring themselves to visit the possibility that they've wasted their lives and made all those sacrifices and done all that JW work for nothing.
My sister is very prideful. Decades ago, I could tell she sort of felt inferior as her her high school classmates were moving on in life and doing bigger things. For example, she mentioned one classmate and something about this classmate's reading the Wall Street Journal and having a good job. She (my sister) said it in a way that indicated that it made her feel bad as if she was a nobody. However, her point was always "I'll show them; we're gonna see who's right soon!" That "soon" has turned into over four decades.
My sister has never had a job. She barely knows how to write a check. She knows nothing of world events or finance. She is childless. She was going to get her justice and revenge against all those who went on and had normal lives...... but now, she's mid-60's and the "new world" is nowhere in sight and I think she can't face the facts.
My mother will be 90 in the not-too-distant future. She loves life and just can't bring herself to consider the possibility that the living forever in paradise thing is not real.
Where I work there is a manufacturer's rep that comes by almost weekly. About six years ago, he fell for the Nigerian gold scam thing. They really hooked him. He flew to Africa, etc. and was shown "his" gold. He was told that there were hurdles and complications to getting it out of the country. He has since spent lots of money (given to the scammers) to get his gold. Many of us kindly tried to caution him. My point: I just talked with him in the last few weeks and he still (after six years) says he's going to get his gold. I feel that somewhere inside, he must know something's wrong, but he just won't admit it - to himself or others.
I think the above might be indicative of what's going on with a lot of the old-timers. They've been eagerly waiting for decades. They've invested so much... given so much... worked so hard... that it's got to be right. They just can't face the alternative.
And to me, it's not the changes like the beards policy, clinking glasses, etc.; it's bigger, more fundamental things. It's the fact that it's going on 2026 and the "new world" was supposed to be here decades ago. Two other big things are the dumbing down and the weak, almost non-existent preaching work. The religion that once urged JWs to "take in the deeper things of God" and to "take in meat, not just milk" now discourages such and serves milk and baby food. The once bold, seemingly scholarly religion is now weak and cowardly and dumbed down.
I've illustrated it like this: The inhabitants of a certain land were promised a glorious victory by their leaders, but their land is now in smoldering ruins (see in your mind old WW2 photos of smoldering ruins); they were conquered. The people are wandering around among the ruins dazed, confused and remembering the glory days.... "we were supposed to have conquered by now." However, they still trust their leaders... "This must just be a temporary setback... maybe a test. Victory has to be coming... doesn't it???"
Yeah, what’s the word on the street 🤷♂️
MAGNUM:
That is a good summation of your Witness relatives.
At least you got sort of an honest response about the insurance/disaster relief from the smart guy. Even though he knew, he wasn’t going to ‘go there’!! Many Witnesses have no idea about this.
As for your sister, please don’t take offense, but this sort of ignorance and sheltered behavior (in the modern world) in JWs used to drive me crazy.. But, I was not born-in.. Also, her feeling of hostility towards non-JWs I have seen. (This was directed at me, to a degree, because I worked full-time. A no-no in the Witness religion).. I actually had people there say something along the lines of ‘we will see who’s right soon’.. This was not a competition but they apparently thought so.. Witnesses were extremely envious and hostile to anybody in the religion who had a decent job or career.. What this told me was they were pressured-coerced to not get an education-career and are resentful about anybody else who did - so they ‘punish’ them with shunning.🙄
In general, I also believe the JWs are heavily invested and are stuck there. This is fine by me.. I’m just glad I got the hell out of there!
It seems that many always wait for "a word from the top" before saying anything. I'm certain that there are questions momentarily entertained mentally, then set aside.
In general JW social cuture instills a fear to express anything that is original, unexpected, or that departs from the party line. Even after a convention, there will be many generic comments on how wonderful it all was, but if you ask others what in particular they appreciated, or state your personal thoughts or viewpoint on a talk or part, you frequently are met with blank stares and "crickets" as they don't know what to say, or are afraid to say anything, because it has not yet been discussed in print or in a broadcast. As soon as it is, then it will be repeated, or followed as in the case of beards. As yet, in our congregation I've heard no talk on toasting.
Years ago a circuit overseer we had encouraged us to have "spiritual conversations" with one another. Any time I tried this, asking a question on my mind or sharing some scripture or study point I had found interesting the results were the same, blank confusion and no response, or skepticism, almost suspicion, and comments like "Well, I don't know about that...I'll have to look that up myself..." ( and apparently didn't)
Even the comments on the midweek meeting 'Searching for Spiritual Gems' part consist of 90% comments from past Watchtower articles, though a brave few do occasionally express personal reflections.
LHG
" I also believe the JWs are heavily invested and stuck there"
Sounds about right.
Consider for a minute. When you invest 5 or 6 decades,, in some cases more,,, of your life into the Borg. Chalk it up to the "" sunk cost fallacy "".
You cant just realize that one day your whole life was a "lie".
Indescribable.
LHG- As growing up in the cult in listening to those endless meetings of repeating the same old shit every meeting, every Con-vention. I look back to the days of my military experience. This is the same techniques we used to go into battle, it is much worse for the enemy for sure. Only strong minds can use it to their advantage. The average rank and file Jw is a very abused and used person. They need to wake up!
This.
Sometimes I suspect that no one else in history has sunk more cost into a fallacy that Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Spoke to an active JW a few days ago about all the changes and he said that it's hard to believe that things once forbidden are now ok.
When I raised the possibility of allowing birthdays he immediately said ' no way', even though we had just discussed how surprising all the other changes were.
The GB know their target market - a nice slow drip feed. One thing at a time to allow the brain to adjust.
With these bones tossed to the faithful, the ones in my circle seem pretty happy. It’s easier, they are used to a much more rigorous schedule. So Jah is the happy god and he wants them to be happy. Cheers! Best life ever!! This is what I’ve literally read them saying. I’m not making it up.
I’m sure there are times when the cognitive dissonance raises its head, but they have more time now for more fun now. No FS hours they have to “get in.” That on top of everything else was quite a burden for most. Now it’s pretty free and easy.
