Why Japanese become JWs (page 2)

JWD

Fredhall,

Thanks for reading my thread. By the way, what is that picture along
with your signiture?

JWD

Dear JWD, I find your post most interesting. I've lived in Hong Kong on and off since 1985 and it's my observation that the Witnesses don't fair too well there or in China. (I'm in Australia at the moment). Even though we have ancestor worship - the family unit is too tight to allow shunning for example. When I started reading your post I knew in advance some of the reasons you would give and I wasn't disappointed. It seems to me that traditionally, the Japanese have a high level or stucture in their lives and the WTS would appeal in that way. The *truth* must play havoc with some of the traditional customs of the Japanese? Also one get's the feeling that there's a healthy smattering of obsessive compulsive disorder amongst the Japanese - and well need I say more?

Marilyn

JWD

Japan is a nation which traditionally is made up of villages.The
culture of the village is one where trust relationships are built
slowly, but once they`re in place there is a strong tendancy towards
blind loyalty.This same dynamic applies to ALL areas of life,from
buying a car to religion.When people make a decision, it tends to
be based more on trust towards the person recommending the step
rather than concrete,objective analysis of the merit of their
choice. For the Japanese JWs, that means strong loyalty ties to
those in their congregation, but not necessarily a great amount of
knowledge of the WT teaching.I never cease to be amazed at how
little `doctrine` many Witnesses have a handle on despite having been in the organization for a relatively long time. I`ve met sisters who`ve been JWs for over ten years and even pioneered much of the time and still don`t have a very good handle on the WT teaching!! Makes you wonder what they are telling people in FS. Actually the answer is that they are parroting pat phrases which have been drilled into them and using the `friendship` dynamics to actually get people in the org. The upshot of all that is a fairly ignorant JW population
which shows blind loyalty to the org. mainly based on a strong
commitment to the JWs around them in their congregation.Also there
is a strong tendancy for them to become inactive after moving to
a new area and joining a new congregations where they don`t have
those personal ties and are viewed as an outsider. JWD

D wiltshire

humble,

Just a thought,
Why is it alright for the Society to make a mistakes, and will still say it's God's org.
But then we turn around and point to the mistakes of other christian religions and say that's proof they're not God's organization.
Shouldn't we measure them all by the same standards.
Just a thought humble.

tattoogrl333

Funny my mother is half Japanese lived there for a significant part of her life and practiced Buddhism, yet when I told her I was studying with a JW she freaked out. I should show her this and see what she has to say about it. Very intereseting post thank you for sharing it.

JWD

Tattogirl,

Most Japanese `freak-out` when they find out that one of their
family members is studying with the JWs. There are many reasons for
this. For one, the JW religion is viewed as being quite anti-social.
In other words, JWs will make decisions regardless of what friends
and family think. That means they cut across the grain and cause
friction. Certainly there are times when going against the flow and
doing what is right is necessary and good. However, in the JWs case
they carry it to an extreme. i.e.no birthdays, no holidays, no blood,
no voting, very little involvement in community life, leaving work
early to attend meetings, taking off work days to go to conventions
regardless of how busy their company might be, very negative stance
towards higher education,etc. They also have a high divorce rate in
Japan and are considered to be `anti-family`.

Here`s a common scenario. A housewife starts to study at home without
her husband knowing about it. He comes home late from work anyway.
Then one day when he comes home he finds that his wife has left a
note saying, ` she`s gone to a meeting and will be back about 9 p.m.
It says his lunch is in the frig. `. This takes him completely by
surprise so when she comes home he asks where she was. When she says
she was at a Kingdom Hall, he is shocked and tells her to stop going.
She was warned that there would be opposition and feels his attitude
is a `fulfillment of the WT prophecy`. She had felt a little guilty
about hiding the fact that she was studying with the JWs, but when she
meets opposition she feels hurt and justified in studying. From then
on they fight every Tuesday , Friday and Sunday when there are meetings. The husband calls her parents and the family gets together
to try to make her quit. By this time, the sister studying with her
has loaded her up with verses about persecution so she is thoroughly
convinced that she is suffering for the `Truth`. It no longer matters
what the WT teaches and she begins to forget her own original doubts.
Now it`s merely a matter of `survival`. After several years of this
domestic tension, the husband begins to give up. He purposely stays
late after work on the nights there are meetings. He feels very resent
-full towards his wife for not listening to him. He may even begin an
affair as a way of `getting back at her`. As their children get older
another round of strife begins. This time it`s the issue of college.
The father wants to send his son to college, the mother wants him to
skip college and become a full time pioneer. The battle rages on and
if the son has been faithful at meetings he sides with his mother and
skips college. The father is devastated and gives up. He seeks a
divorce.

Various versions of the above have been repeated countless times all
over Japan. One of the nation-wide newspapers ran an article which
told about how high the divorce rate is for JWs. And so it goes.

Perhaps that will help you understand why your mother reacted as she
did.
JWD

JWD

One more addition to the above. It sometimes almost seems that some
wives get involved with the WT to find some excuse to create distance
between themselves and their husband. Doing things for the sake of
being faithful to Jehovah God gives them a feeling of self-righteous-
ness when in reality they want to go against their husband`s wishes.
There are many more JW women who are coming out of unhappy marriages
than those from happy marriages in Japan.

JWD

Bringing this back to the top.
JWD

Francois

And all this time I've been thinking that the reason so many Japanese bought into the JWs was because the Dubs over there go door-to-door dressed up in rubber Godzilla suits and threaten to burn their houses down with their flame-thrower breath of they don't take the Watchtower and its companion magazine, the Awake!

Or something like that.

Francois

Billygoat

LOL@Francois! Thanks for that nice mental image. Can't you just see the front cover of the next Japanese Awake? Hahaha!

Being half-Japanese myself, I understand the importance of organization to that culture. I also understand the concept of NO personal freedom and NO individual thinking. Growing up in my household was stifling!

Andi

Why Japanese become JWs

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