How the Internet is Destroying Mormonism (page 4)

jookbeard

thanks OC, quite interesting, I've never heard it from that angle before

Where the internet was vital to me at the time I was reading books, was in opening lines of communication. I corresponded with several authors of the books I read, including Douglas Starr, the author of the book I first mentioned, asking questions. And I got good feedback.

I even managed to track down and correspond with a doctor that the JWs used in their early noblood propaganda. He was great.

That kind of information access and lines of communication are invaluable.

OrphanCrow

jookbeard: Choice? the sad thing is that choice is one thing that the R&F didn't have, suicide or a death bed JC, what a choice!

Oh, but...the JWs had already demonstrated that ability during WW2 - to die for Jehovah. Loyalty or death. They still flog that one to death.

It was that attribute that endeared them to Himmler. By the end of the war, the JWs who were selected to work for Himmler's SS network, were released on a handshake. Yeah...Himmler greatly admired the "loyalty or death" principle that the JWs demonstrated. In fact, he had plans to use them as a vanguard in conquered territory following German victory.

But...I digress.

Terry

The most interesting thing I learned when reading about cognitive dissonance is how you can expose

a True Believer to debunking information and a few days later their confidence has strengthened and

the damaging news has been expunged.

The will to believe is apparently much stronger than the need to know.

The emotional core of Latter Day Saints is their social support and the alienation Mormons feel

in regard to average 'normal' society. JW's do NOT support the personal needs of members at all while the Mormon church devotes considerable time, energy and funds to this.

Having said all that, the future of any religious group is in its youth. If youth are disaffected, they will leave. If they leave, the church becomes geriatric, reactionary, bitter, and dangerous. The JW's went down that road in the later 80's. Will either religion dissolve? I can't see it happening. I just can't.

Stupidity and indoctrination are insurmountable.

OrphanCrow

Terry: Stupidity and indoctrination are insurmountable.

Absolutely.

There will always be martyrs. It is a human complex. I think of my JW sister, so self righteously and pridefully saying, with a twinge in her pathetic voice "Oh....woe is me. The doctors here can't operate on me. They don't have bloodless surgery." Defiantly resisting any discussion on the matter. "The Watchtower says. And they have da Troof, you know. That is just the way it is."

Do or die. She thrives on it. It keeps her from taking responsibilty for making her own decisions.

FayeDunaway

1. Beth Sarim. That jw's could be taught all about JW history so selectively, and leave out this major story that was even published in LIFE magazine, with a picture of Rutherford in his mansion, which he was 'safekeeping' for the prophets who were supposedly going to be resurrected (in 1925?). 2. That the history of their 1914 doctrine is so twisted by themselves, hiding the very embarrassing details, including how Russel substantiated the evidence by counting the feet of the passages inside the Great Pyramid. 3.That people hurt by watchtower rules and doctrine were not only in my own congregation, but prevalently throughout the world, and much worse, and that families are being torn apart on a global scale, every day, resulting in one resounding unified cry of heartache as a result of associating with JW's. 4. That 607 wasnt when Babylon was destroyed, but the watchtower can't update their incorrect date because it undermines their whole schpeil. 5. That JW's are a cult. Cult cult culty cult C-U-L-T CULT!
And one for extra credit!6. Miracle wheat!

done4good

Terry- The will to believe is apparently much stronger than the need to know.

This is an unfortunate artifact of evolution. Survival is at the core of what belief is about. In the biological sense, belief is an extension of our psyche beyond our five senses and what can be directly observed by them, (as is intuition, however intuition is based on abstracted information by those senses, belief is not). Animals that are potential prey do not reason. They react to perceived danger. They choose to believe a certain danger exists, based on limited input, (such as the sound of the trees or plants around them moving = a predator that wants to eat them), as opposed to reason whether the danger is real or not. This allows them a better chance of survival, and preserves the species over time.

Humans have evolved a conscience and the ability to reason, however in the evolutionary sense, this is a recently developed ability. Our most primal instincts are to survive first. If we look at this from the perspective of Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, survival is the most basic, being a physiological need. This is followed by the needs for safety, love, esteem, and finally, self-actualization. Accepting facts is the centerpiece of what self-actualization is all about. Most humans never even get to this level, since rarely are all of the lower level human needs met sufficiently. To expect humans to care about facts at the risk of their survival is precisely why humans react to cognitive dissonance by digging in deeper, and even more resolved to ignore facts when we push them on this. The reality is, their belief, (however misguided and dangerous it might be), is regarded as a safety net to protect them. When facts are presented that cause them cognitive dissonance, they become fearful that their belief system, (their safety net), is at risk of failing. Their first instinct is to rebuild that net, at all costs. Even the most intelligent people are at risk of this self-delusion, because of its relationship with basic primal survival needs.

All ideologies, (religious, political, etc.), are very suspect to this type of logical fallacy.

d4g

Vidiot

slimboyfat - "What a would be your top 5 shocking things you found out about JWs on the Internet?"

Not so much "shocking" for me per se, but angering ("angrifying?").

1. academic dishonesty

2. using internal judicial processes to conceal criminal acts rather than expose them

3. favoring ideology over evidence

4. placing lives at risk unnecessarily (by various means, for various reasons)

5. abusing tax-exempt status for illicit gain

How the Internet is Destroying Mormonism

Share this