Can You Make Sense Of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

by minimus 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  Dunedain

  I was a born in, and henceforth indoctrinated from infancy by the cult. My Father, once a dutiful elder and full blown Kool aid drinker, is a very educated and deeper than most thinker.

  I think thats what drew him to the "truth" back in the 70s. This was the Fred Franz "oracle" days. These were the days of congregations bursting at the seams, and splitting into 2 or even 3 halls. These were the days of quick builds, and expansion into hundreds of countries. The building of branches all around the world.

  The preaching work truly appeared to be the fulfillment of scripture. The reasoning book was chock full of information designed to shut down any heavy hitting born again, or even the very clergy of other religions. My father even went so far as to have a personally customized bible with the Reasoning book bound together as one.

  There truly was an "air" of deep thinking, and scholarly discussions. The religion not only appealed to those with half a brain, but even to those who were firing on all cylinders.

  Fast forward to today, and it is truly shadow of its former glory. Not only can the average JW not defend its "doctrine", but even the top elders will have a very hard time defending things. From the overlapping generation NONSENSE, to the screeching halt of the preaching work, expansion, growth, there is nothing to defend.

  It is a watered down, mockery of its former self. The GB putting on their JW.org shows, only adds to the fact that these men are MORONS without a full brain cell between the 7 of them. They cant teach, they cant defend it, they cant hold it together anymore. They are the CEOs of a sinking ship.

  Needless to say, my Father who was drawn to this religion BECAUSE of its "deepness", is still proving that he IS the smartest man in the room, as where the religion is NOW, has made him checkout. Most would have just continued going and not be true and honest to themselves. It takes a brave, and educated person to admit when things do not seem right anymore, and to not accept the lies any longer.

  My very smart Father refused to take it anymore, and has all but faded from the nonsense. Their deeper thinking brought him in, and their now lack of it, brought him out.
• 

  Vidiot

  Jehovah's Witnesses...

  ...making sense of the nonsensical since 1931.

  
  
• 

  Vidiot

  Dunedain - "Their deeper thinking brought him in, and their now lack of it, brought him out."

  To be fair, it was pretty much just Fred Franz's "deeper thinking", and in retrospect, that's a pretty generous statement, all things considered.

  (It did have the advantage of feeling like a fresh new spin on Apocalyptic Christianity at the time, though.)

  Problem is, ol' Freddo never left any kind of protege when he kicked, and the Org has done too good a job purging out intellectuals, creative types, and out-of-the-box thinkers, so they've had no real option left but to recycle his theology and reboot his eschatology every few years...

  ...and a lot of it is way past it's sell-by date by now (7000-year Creative Days, just as one example).
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  Finkelstein

  In making sense of the JWS religion one can see that you can exploit human ignorance from people seeking answers or help, from there creating power and control over those ones to serve your own means through acquired donations and labor $$$.

  The JWS is also an good example of the power of the spoken or printed word taken out from the assumed holy (spiritual) book the bible.

  The proliferation of the WTS's published goods was the key directive and there were many self expressed doctrines which were devised to support that core directive.

  The JWS religion was created by bullshiting mixed with a portion of fear, the ending result is a very rich organization valued into the billions $$$ globally .

  The bullshit still continues to this day with a few men in control over the entire organization (WTS), still exploiting people with its inherent corruption and fear mongering.
  
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  freddo

  Dunedain's post so chimes with me - not that I count myself as bright as Dunedain's father. But as a reader with a thirst for knowledge, the 1970's fitted the (now obviously wrong) predictions of Freddy so perfectly when I was a teenager.

  The late 1960's to 1975 was perfect - a 75 year old born in 1900 saw 1914 "with understanding" - the horrors of WW1/WW2 - the rise and fall of Hitler then Stalin and the nuclear age with fear of WW3 around the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

  "Signs in the stars" with the space race, Vietnam and the King of the North (Communist bloc) pushing into Eastern Europe and putting the King of the South (USA/UK) on the back foot.

  Even the jolt of '75 didn't stop the steam roller, because the generation could be stretched to the end of the 20th century - which it almost did.

  Now it has crumbled into theatrical scenery - very pretty on the outside but hollowed out and fragile.

  How anyone goes with "explane's" overlapping generations (104 years into "invisible kingdom rule") and predict paradise "soon" is beyond me and crazy.

  Good money after bad comes to mind; emotionally invested senseless fools pretending the emperor has any clothes at all - let alone new ones!
• 

  Vidiot

  freddo - "How anyone goes with 'explane's' overlapping generations (104 years into 'invisible kingdom rule') and predict paradise 'soon' is beyond me and crazy."

  I often catch myself wondering if some closeted Lucy fan at WTHQ deliberately - as a subtle joke - suggested Splane for the "overlapping generations" video...

  ...and it completely went over the GB's collective head and they ran with it.