We once experienced, the "You'll die at armegeddon," fear instilled into us as Jw's.
Was that worse or better than the fear of eternal torment instilled by more conventional religions?
What's it all about anyway?
John Spong gives his view
Control - Whose worse, the JWs or the traditional churches?
by fulltimestudent 30 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
talesin
I think the key difference is in the Bishop's words .... the Church wants to keep people like children (born again), and CHILDREN are made afraid by horror stories like Hell. He says we are meant to grow up and take responsibility for our world - our NOW, not our "afterlife".
The difference with the JWS, is that with no education, no outside contact or friends, they remain (or at least did, before the internet *grins*) naive about reality - they have "arrested development", and don't progress to adulthood. There is no decision-making, no exploration/learning in the Real World, and they become perpetually dependent on "Mother".How interesting that he feels the Church is only there to 'point him in the right direction'. In the past,. the priest's word was LAW. I have one friend who told his mother that the priest molested him, and he got a back hand across the face ---- for LYING.. Father So-and-So would NEVER do that! You just don't want to be a choir boy (or whatever they called it). The RCC is losing its tight grip of control through guilt, and softening a lot of its views.
haha, just thinking of all the "recovering Catholics" I have met in the past 35 years. Glad that beast is losing its control over the Billion people who are members. xx tal
-
OrphanCrow
You just don't want to be a choir boy (or whatever they called it)
Altar boy.
haha, just thinking of all the "recovering Catholics" I have met in the past 35 years
Me too. My friend calls herself a "lapsed Catholic". She is an accomplished and published author and a few years back she published a book of poetry. Some really incredible poems in it that explore the Catholic experience.
-
cofty
John Shelby Spong is an honest and intelligent man. -
OneEyedJoe
Asserting control over the afterlife (or lack thereof) is one thing. JWs control the now via the shunning policies, their strict control on information flow and strong phobia indoctrination. You'll hear catholics joke about going to hell because of something they habitually do (like premarital sex) that would get a JW shunned by everyone they know. You never hear of a JW joke about something like that.
So regardless of what the doctrine is, it's how its applied and how people are indoctrinated that is the measure of the control that a cult has.
-
Beth Sarim
Good Question, this thread is.
Have to agree. It depends on how brainwashed the church or cult member is. Probably up to each individual and how they are gripped by fear and doctrinal influence.
-
talesin
John Shelby Spong is an honest and intelligent man.
You know him, Cofty? Is that why you think he is intelligent, in spite of his belief in GOD and an afterlife?
WOW! You often write as if all on this DB who believe have zero reasoning skills, and/or are intellectually dishonest. so he must be quite the man, to have earned such respect from you, of all people, for his intelligence. -
Clambake
Wow
Trying to compare a soul sucking 24 7 cult to a Joel Osteen type 45 min pep talk once a week.
And you can't figure out which one is worse?
What a stupid thread.
-
JW_Rogue
Asserting control over the afterlife (or lack thereof) is one thing. JWs control the now via the shunning policies, their strict control on information flow and strong phobia indoctrination.
Exactly, Armageddon is not really that scary when you think about it. Most non-religious people believe that we will all die eventually anyway. So whether you die at Armageddon or not makes very little difference. JWs have been ingrained with the idea that they are special but only because of the organization. They fear that if they leave they will lose this special status and become like other "worldlies". They will also lose their JW family and friends. These JWs will reinforce the idea that they have lost something special and are now worthless until they return to the org.
-
Wonderment
They both suck!