by minimus 96 Replies latest jw friends
Has The Internet REALLY Hurt Jehovah's Witnesses?
I hope so.
I think a number feel that THEY could JUST look at the net and not be affected, but when you see ALL the evidence, it blows you away.
If I hadn't been on the internet I wouldn't have known a thing about what was really going on in the organisation. If it hadn't of been for Simon and other starting sites like this I would never have known, I'd still be struggling along. Thanks budd, I owe you one.
As the internet grows larger and larger, it will damage the WTS more than anything ever has before.
I certainly hope so, too. I guess it depends on how one measures "really hurt," but I tend to agree that eventually, unless the cult changes to be a much more positive, joyful and supportive organization, it will be made up of people who have a high tolerance for misery and a low need to know anything. But I keep thinking of the Catholic Church. I agree that it was the availability of vernacular bibles that led to extensive changes--but it took centuries! So we'll see. And continue to hope.
kgfreeperson,
There is a scripture about religions doing things at the 'time of the end' to please people to get them to believe them. Shouldn't the peopple change instead of the belief? If the belief has been good enough for centuries, isn't it good enough now? The basics Jesus taught are still relevent. If you believe all scripture is inspired why change? Civilizations have advanced beyond all predictions lately but humans still have the same inborn needs.
suzi - that's not me! LOL. She is the representative immigrant sold on the North American Suburban lifestyle, compliments of SEARS. Doesn't she look like a good witness girl?
Sweet, sweet Sally. The WTS is not even 150 years old. A drop in the bucket, eternity-wise. You believe they carry the invoilate truth, the benchmark by which all spiritual people must bend? I don't think so. The WTS has gone through radical doctrinal shifts throughout their history. I trust Jesus. I do not trust the society. Do you believe that any doubt in the society is bad? Does not self-doubt help us to develop and grow, and an organization that refuses to examine itself is doomed to become stagnant?
How can ANYONE defend the Watchtower Society???
Sweet Sally has posted a statement in which not one single sentence is true! Let's look at it:
I say it has not and will not because only ones who are questioning their faith will even look on the net.
Young people, and increasingly many older people, live on the net. I'm here because a pioneer sister referred me to a thread on "that web site that all the friends are on." I didn't want to appear ignorant so I nodded agreement; later, I went looking for it; my search led me here.
Any who are called on and show interest will only have more questions to be answered because of the exposure this and other like sites give the witnesses.
Dreamer. Return visits who were in the meantime educated about JWs by their relatives or friends seldom come into the organization; the exceptions are the marginal personalities. That's based on decades of experience.
Normally they aren't affected either way but will be curious by reading here and will want more information from the JWs.
Yeah, right. See above. They will most certainly be affected by information they receive or view on the internet, because so much of it is damning.
After all, most here are disgruntled ex's with a grudge.
Many here are current JWs with doubts caused by bad behavior they've seen in the congregation, double talk they can can no longer accept, or the realization that Christ-like love in the organization is non-existent or highly conditional.
If I wanted answers, I'd go to the source.
Would you go to the Taliban for the "truth" about 9-11?
If I wanted answers, I'd go to the source.
Would you go to the Hutu to explain why they tried to wipe out an entire tribe; over a million people?
http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v5/v5i3a16.htm
By the way, Sweet Sally. Would you class yourself as a 99.9% doubter?
Another analogy. My church had a sign on a door that read, "Do not Open". I sat across from that door one afternoon, and watched five people take a peek in to the janitor's closet, and close the door again. Human nature. Tell them not to do it, and they can't resist a little peek. Remember Adam and Eve?
I know that through e-mail, I've managed to point inactive family members to information on the web and books that will help them stay away from the JWs.
I know that when I was looking for books like COC as a kid, I couldn't find it in bookstores. Now I can find the new editions on the net as well as other books by Carl Olaf Johnson that I would have never even known about, much less happened on by chance. Information from these books has helped me ask JWs who come to my door some questions that I can tell really get them thinking. Who knows what those thoughts will lead to?
You hear stories all the time here of people leaving the dubs or loyal dubs lurking here until they've read enough. Proof positive that this site hurts them.
So, yeah, all-around the net is hurting them.
It's so much better than sneaking into Christian Bookstores or libraries to read what we can here, in the privacy of our own homes.
