Watchtower Study and Phony Questions

by VM44 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  VM44

  This is from a page at the Freeminds website, sounds like the Watchtower and Book Studies(Groupthinks!), doesn't it? --VM44
  

  "Legalistic authoritarianism shows itself in the confusion of the Christian principle of unity with the human insistence on unanimity. Unity is a profound, even mystical quality. It takes great effort to achieve, yet mere effort will never produce it; it is a source of great security, yet demands great risk.

  "Unanimity, on the other hand is very tidy. It can be measured, monitored, and enforced. It is largely external, whereas unity is essentially internal. Its primarily goal is correct behavior, while unity's is a right spirit. Unanimity insists on many orthodoxies in addition to those of belief and behavior, including orthodoxy of experience and vocabulary. That is, believers are expected to come to God in similar ways, to have similar experiences with God and to use accepted phrases in describing those experiences....

  "Ultimately, unanimity is impossible. It is brittle where unity is flexible and therefore strong. A single dissenter destroys it (so the dissenter may have to be dealt with harshly for the good of the group). For this reason, real questions are generally discouraged. Phony questions, however, where the answer is known by all, are part of pleasurable ritual. They are asked and answered in a wonderful nonthreatening confirmation of 'group think.' "

  -Daniel Taylor's The Myth of Certainty

  http://www.freeminds.org/psych/boast.htm
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  VM44

  Another quote from the paragraph...
  
  

  Unanimity, on the other hand is very tidy. It can be measured, monitored, and enforced.

  The Watchtower wants, nay, DEMANDS, unanimity from its people, and calls it "Unity." It prides itself in the "United Worship" its people enjoy, of course, all directed by the central committee in Brooklyn.
  
  --VM44
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  VM44

  They are asked and answered in a wonderful nonthreatening confirmation of 'group think.'

  Yes, have any "real" questions ever been asked at the meetings? No! Real questions are neither desired or tolerated! They might disrupt the orderly, UNIFORM, proceedings!

  --VM44

  P.S. Is this thread in some sort of "limbo"? It is not appearing in the "Friends" forum, and it was started several hours ago!
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  Navigator

  This thread reminds me of the first time I ever attended a meeting with my "annointed" wife. The presenter asked a complex theological question and appeared to want genuine discussion. Dumb ol me answered. But my answer wasn't want the presenter wanted. However, a 10 year old kid sitting two rows up answered that complex question. Took me awhile to figure out that the only acceptable answer was printed at the bottom of the page. That was the last meeting I ever attended.
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  shamus

  And why study that crap when it's put out there over and over again, watchtower after watchtower, then pre-study it, then go over it again on sunday....

  People in kingdom halls always seemed baked. It's no wonder why.
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  Sirona

  Navigator

  Took me awhile to figure out that the only acceptable answer was printed at the bottom of the page. That was the last meeting I ever attended.

  Exactly. I remember we had a woman in the congregation who would occasionally answer with her own opinion on a matter. Nothing truly at odds with the mag, but her own opinion. When she did this, we'd all gasp at her answers and feel really wierd. I remember I used to get a wierd feeling at the pit of my stomach and think "shut up shut up THAT isn't the answer", the feeling was almost akin to embarressment.

  My memory of these feelings and thoughts confirm more than anything that this is a cult. It had us all so controlled that such things would make us feel physically ill.

  I once experienced it from the other side - I commented at a book study about "the finished mystery". It was pertinent to the paragraph, I mentioned I owned that book. At first I thought I'd answered wrongly because of the way the group squirmed and how the conductor quickly interrupted me. NOW I know it was something to do with that book and my "opinionated" answer.

  Good for you for recognising that and not attending again!

  Sirona
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  LittleToe

  Shamus:It's called "indoctrination" and it's very effective, as evidenced by Navigator's experience with the ten-year-old.
  I'm glad to be able to call it what it is, as for a long time I stumbled over that (I was "indoctrinated", too).

  Sirona:We had a "sister" who would do that. I used to whince when taking her answers at the Book or Watchtower study, because I just knew that she answered the question with no refernece to what was in the paragraph. She would write her own answers in the margin, before reading the paragraph. Her hand was up for most paragraphs, and oftentimes was the only hand, so she was called on fairly frequently.

  I caught her out once, as she had an older version of a publication which said something different (I think it was when studying "The Greatest Man"). Her answer was correct, to the old material, but not to the new. She didn't half look confused when I corrected her. I'm blushing deeply, as I confess the satisfaction it gave me at the time. In fact I feel sick to the pit of my stomach.
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  Sirona

  LittleToe

  In fact I feel sick to the pit of my stomach.

  That is it. You did what nearly all elders do, you put her back in line with the society's teachings. It isn't surprising that now you know the truth you feel sick about it, but you were indoctrinated to have that response, as we all were.

  JWs can talk all they want, they can use many "words" in an attempt to convince people that they're not a controlling cult, but when you strip all of the words away, you're left with a total lack of true spirituality coupled with cultish feelings whenever the group is challenged. IMO, these emotions (and the evidence of them) are the give away more than any words they say.

  Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe that is where we need to cut our relatives a little bit of slack. They're so indoctrinated that they don't know why they get that sick feeling when we point out the "truth about the truth" to them. They react to the feeling rather than reason and therefore shun us.

  Such a shame.

  Sirona
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  VM44

  Has anyone read Daniel Taylor's The Myth of Certainty?

  --VM44