Proof You're in a Cult - -----Self-Reference!

by metatron 6 Replies latest jw friends

  • metatron
    metatron

    While there are many definitions of what a cult is, one of the more disturbing features of a deceptive religion has

    got to be the habit of "proof" by self-reference.

    Go to any "Public Talk" and take note of how the speaker quotes from the Watchtower to "prove" a point!

    Worsening world conditions, growing crime and the 'worse and worse' fallacy can all be "proved" as long as you keep

    quoting Watchtower publications as your authority. They say so, so it must be true. I think this tendency

    has gotten worse, as they used to make more of an effort to offer real evidence in public talks, rather than just

    blindly assert whatever they wish to be true. I guess that's what you do when the facts are running in the other direction.

    Recently, I noted a Circuit Overseer's talk in which he decried materialism. He then proceeded to give a definition of

    materialism - as conveniently provided by the Watchtower.

    When did the gerontocrats in Brooklyn become lexicographers?

    This nonsense is not new in Watchtower-land. Some old-timers may yet recall that the Watchtower Society at one time

    claimed that were not a religion! This is why they could walk around with placards saying "Religion is a snare and a racket".

    They simply redefined the word "religion" and excluded themselves.

    The dumbest example of self-reference is the phrase "Faithful and Discreet Slave". Why is this the "truth"?

    Well, the 'faithful slave' says so! .......... and they are the 'faithful slave' because.....?????

    metatron

  • stillajwexelder
    stillajwexelder

    A bit like --The pope is infallible - -why -- because the pope said so and he is head of the church

    Circular reasoning etc at its worse

  • Sargon
    Sargon

    Actually stillajw...

    I'm not a catholic so it's odd me defending the infallibility argument. Plain and simply the Pope's infallibility isn't as far reaching as the WTS society taught us. The Pope is only said to be infallible on matters of theology, other than that he is a man.

  • r51785
    r51785

    The mantra of the self-appointed "faithful and discreet slave:"

    How do we know we have the truth?

    Because we're God's organization!

    How do we know we're God's organization?

    Because we have the truth!

    Keep repeating until your followers become mind-numbed cult zombies.

  • slenderdog
    slenderdog

    Quotes from the WT or other publications used to annoy me no end, even when I was a loyal JW. Of course to criticise a talk for shallow research would not be UPBUILDING.

  • TD
    TD

    All too true, Metatron.

    I think a classic example involves the way in which the terms, "The time of the end" and "God's visible organization" can be either premise or conclusion interchangeably.

    Depending upon what literature you read, both of the following statements are considered by JW's to be true:

    1. The fact that the good news is being preached worldwide by God's visible organization proves that we are living in the time of the end.

    2. The fact that the good news is being preached worldwide in the time of the end proves that Jehovah's Witnesses are God's visible organization.

  • metatron
    metatron

    an excellent example!

    round and round in circles, the Watchtower goes ( chasing its tail, perhaps)

    metatron

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