Sagely advice of a CO

by Vidqun 32 Replies latest social humour

  • Vidqun
    Vidqun

    “A Circuit Overseer started out by saying that on this last round of the circuit, the one thing he noticed the most...is that everyone is physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually drained...and that cuts across all barriers and demographics within the truth.

    He then said that the one common thread that ran among nearly everyone was this: We feel GUILTY for feeling bad. He said because we are told to endure with joy, our minds can cause us to feel enormous guilt over feeling this way...and then, my dear brothers and sisters...he proceeded to blow our collective minds.

    He asked us to turn to Daniel 8:27…

    "As for me, Daniel, I felt exhausted and I was sick for some days. Then I got up and carried out the king’s work; but I was numbed by what I had seen, and no one could understand it."

    He asked if we knew what Daniel was referring to, but other than the fact that this was obviously a vision of Daniel's, we had no idea. He then asked one of us to go back to verse 19 and read that verse...and as soon as it was read... suddenly his point came straight into focus…it says:

    "Then he said: “Here I am causing you to know what will happen in the final part of the denunciation, because it is for the appointed time of the end."

    "Appointed time of the end!" As we all sat there, stunned and awestruck, he told us that here Jehovah had chosen to give Daniel a teeny tiny little sliver of a vision of what WE would have to endure in our day, in the last days...and then he said, "Did anyone notice in verse 27 how it made Daniel FEEL?" We re-read Daniel's words...EXHAUSTED...SICK FOR SOME DAYS...NUMBED...NO ONE COULD UNDERSTAND.

    He pointed out that, while it didn't stop Daniel from carrying out the King's work, if that's how that single little TASTE, (in a vision no less), of what we go through every single day was enough to make Daniel feel that way...is it any wonder we feel the way we do LIVING through it?

    Jehovah knows what we go through. He knows how hard we struggle.

    The loving Circuit Overseer then said that, while we definitely absolutely need joy to serve Jehovah faithfully...we also need balance...and that means acknowledging those negative feelings that we all experience and finding scriptural ways to cope with them.

    Jehovah's realistic view on our negative feelings is so encouraging.

    And another detail: even after everything Daniel went through, Jehovah, in effect, told him..."Let me give you just a little TASTE of what THEY will have to endure.”

    What a way, what a profound method for Jehovah to reach out across time and link his servants together."

    ***

    This encouraging CO talk reached me over WhatsApp, so not sure who gave it or where it's from. The narrator certainly had great admiration/veneration of his CO. Nevertheless, I find the connection between Daniel and the congregation is somewhat of a long shot. Daniel, by then, was very old and he was adversely affected by the visions and not the conditions surrounding him. And such is the depth of their understanding of the prophetic word, they had to compare Daniel's illness with the illness and depression of them "feeling guilty of feeling bad." And please take note, the vaxxes have absolutely nothing to do with the deteriorating health of the brothers. What a cop out!

  • Gorb
    Gorb

    Pseudo religion bla bla bla.

    One of the reasons we are so happy to be out of this sect.

    G.

  • FedUpJW
    FedUpJW

    A Circuit Overseer started out by saying that the one thing he noticed the most...is that everyone is physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually drained.

    Then no doubt "encouraged them to DO MORE, GIVE MORE, spend MORE TIME running the JW hamster wheel.

  • TxNVSue2023
    TxNVSue2023

    Thank you for this post! It was very encouraging!!

  • LongHairGal
    LongHairGal

    VIDQUN:

    Yes, all the Baby Boomers are drained and have had it. They reached an age they never expected to see ‘in this system’ and because of that they did not prepare financially, etc…. I believe they are hanging on to the religion because of the ‘sunk cost fallacy’.

    I’m so Glad I ‘Faded’ years ago.

  • Ding
    Ding

    The WT operates by guilt and fear which can only be overcome by an endless treadmill of works which are never good enough.

  • Foolednomore
    Foolednomore

    Watchtower drains them sheep mentally and physically and in their pocket book.

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    It is refreshing to hear of a c/o who injected a bit of balance into the teaching. He is right that JWs especially old ones feel stressed and tired and they are sick of being told that they should “always be rejoicing “.... Conscientious ones do feel guilty.

    They could do with more c/o’s like that .

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    One of the things that added to our Cognitive Dissonance, my wife and me, was that it went through our minds that something was wrong if we did not feel this constant "Joy", and also we never felt the "excitement" at the prospect of an upcoming Convention.

    Of course, being "in" we blamed ourselves, we didn't make the connection with the truth that it was not us at fault, but the so-called "truth", for about a decade.

    I think ultimately hearing this kind of Talk from a C.O. will make the JW's feel that he cares, that he wants to be helpful, which I hope is true of him, but such poppycock from the Bible will not alleviate those feelings that J.W's have, which ARE a form of depression, and can lead to that spiralling down in to dangerous Depression, as in my case, at the point I left, I was suicidally depressed, but did not identify it as such.

    The G.B, who provided the outline for that Talk, do not have a clue about Psychology, how to help the depressed, or how dangerous their Brand of Religion is.

  • PetrW
    PetrW

    @Phizzy

    Also, I think CO unwittingly(!) described endogenous depression in JWs. I know from past experience that many of those I knew suffered from depression and my wife, as a doctor, has several JWs who have a psychiatric diagnosis...

    And just like you, after a while, I stopped feeling the beginner's enthusiasm. Spiritual food turned into spiritual hunger

    Or else still: it was as if I were still in, say, the third grade of elementary school. Where you go over the same things over and over again. I'm not saying that JWs celebrate success anywhere - especially where they substitute for the school system - but for the average educated European or American, JW theology must be clear in, say, half a year of study. And if no further stimulus comes, it becomes boring. Complemented by being permanently kept in fear.

    JWs may have theologically gotten rid of the fear of hell, but they have replaced it with the fear of Armageddon - whether they will survive Armageddon.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit