Endure or Enjoy??

by stuckinarut2 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • tiki
    tiki

    Yep....it's all about misery.....

  • Giordano
    Giordano

    Back in 1950 Social Philosopher Eric Hoffer understood this approach when he said in The True Believer:

    Here, as elsewhere, the technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure. (p. 54)

    Not only does a mass movement depict the present as mean and miserable - it deliberately makes it so. It fashions a pattern of individual existence that is dour, hard, repressive and dull. It decries pleasures and comforts and extols the rigorous life. It views ordinary enjoyment as trivial or even discreditable, and represents the pursuit of personal happiness as immoral.
  • OUTLAW
    OUTLAW

    Endure or Enjoy??

    Life is not promoted as something to be ENJOYED now, but rather just to be put up with, until "the real life" occurs in the "paradise".

    JW`s enjoy enduring a miserable life..

    ..............

    You`re Going To Love..

    THE WBT$ NEW SYSTEM..

    http://thebeast.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/contrarian-masochist.jpg

  • Half banana
    Half banana

    You make a very good distinction Stuck.

    The thrust of Jw-ism is that the world is terrible, to which the GB’s indoctrination makes a mechanical rejoinder; “In these last days”. This repeated catch phrase reinforces the delusion of the time of the end so that the JW doesn’t even think about what is really going on; that in fact the JW org is constantly brainwashing them into believing that it's Satan's world but they will win the jackpot in the end.

    Sorry chaps! Instead you get the Watchtower double whammy booby prize; misery today and nothing later on since paradise is forever postponed.

    Message for JWs reading this: Please escape now while you still have your sanity!

  • nowwhat?
    nowwhat?

    Incidently I was just telling my older brother how he has spent his life with a cloud over his head waiting for the other shoe to drop. Never looking to find joy in life. I guess being miserable gives these people purpose in life.

  • contramundum
    contramundum

    As a JW, my life was on hold - no university education, no real career, enduring an unhappy marriage, putting up with unpleasant situations - all in the belief that the present life is temporary.

    Dubstepped's comments are so true. Now I have left the restrictive mindset of the religion, I see joy in every day. I take responsibility for my own life and realise that I no longer have to endure because I have the power to change what I don't like.

  • Spoletta
    Spoletta

    When all the JWs are forced to endure equally, I might go along with it. It sickens me to see the hypocrisy of the GB and more well off Witnesses.

  • anointed1
    anointed1

    It is in effect happiness postponed. For such ones, same situation would continue even when they are in paradise. Adam and Eve were in paradise, yet they thought they would be happy only if they do something else.

  • carla
    carla

    How do jw's see John 10:10? (italics mine)

    NIV-The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

    New Living Translation-
    The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

    English Standard Version-
    The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

    Berean Study Bible-
    The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.

    King James-
    The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

  • dubstepped
    dubstepped

    @carla - JWs would likely see that as pointing to their future paradise where life would be had more abundantly (forever) and it would be had to the full (in perfection as god originally intended). They see it through that narrative, not as though speaking to life today. I would assume that other religions see it as pointing to heavenly life.

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