by unbeliever 18 Replies latest jw friends
10/1/05 WT page par 7, page 23
Those who know Jehovah realize that a last-minute display of zeal will not impress him. He sees what is in the heart.--1 Samuel 16:7
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w51 9/15 p. 557 What to Do in the Face of the End ***They should never presume upon God’s patience and think he is slow and they may linger a little longer with the world and enjoy more of it before making a last-minute break for safety under God’s organization.
When 9/11 hit 4 years ago today..... 4 years ago today....
I wondered myself if it was Armageddon beginnin. However, the last thing I was gonna do is run to the KH. As far as I'm concerned there would be no sanctuary there. But there would not be sanctuary anywhere else either.
I suspect that this pattern has played out many times over thousands of years:
Something scary happens in the weather, or water levels, or wildfires, or droughts, or whatever, and people run to their metaphysical savior of choice for protection.
After the enlightment, one would have thought that this would not happen. We now know that weather is a massively chaotic system, fed by huge amounts of power from the sun, and can occassionaly have extreme results -- like huricanes, which happen every year.
We now know that this planet is geologically unstable (due to magma core**) and as long as it is, earthquakes will happen.
We now know that New Orleans is below sea level, and continues to "sink" due to sediment build up surrounding it; and that it is on the possible path of hurricanes (which, as I already mentioned, happen every year).
And yet, when a hurricane hits New Orleans, causing a higher than normal amount of damage, your old friend throws up her hands and runs back to Watchtowerism, "just in case".
No offence to your friend, but I wonder what it must be like living in the 21st century, with a 1st century (or perhaps older) world view.
~Quotes, of the "Meteorologist" class
** Yet that same magma core is vitally necessary because it provides the protective geo-magnetic field which prevents the solar wind from removing the atmosphere; you have to take the bad with the good. IOW, to eliminate the earthquakes, you eliminate the atmosphere.
Ask if her if she thinks that was God's punishment. Wait for her reply. If she says yes, or that it might be....ask her why He would punish all the innocent people? Well, you probably can't do much about her decision, but hope that she'll turn away again someday, as many have ran back but ran right out again eventually.
peace
AuntieJane
There is safety in numbers. They have "The Truth". Its all about numbers. Hours, magazines, return visits, conventions you've attended, freinds, you can count them all. You can count on God and his appointees. You can count and count and count,
JUST COUNT ME OUT!
W.Once
I suspect she isn't the only one. In a fear-based religion such as the JWs they count on this type of thing. That armeggedon seed is planted deep in our psyche and even when we think its expunged it sometimes comes back in our nightmares as a "what if". Takes years of therapy for some!
The only way out is to find a belief set not based on fear, or at least for your brain to finally "get it" one day that its all a pile of dog excrement.
I too give your friend about a year. Going back simply for this reason is not going to cut it. The elders will be watching her.
Sherry
If going to Kingdom Hall somehow is a guarantee of safety, why would 23 Kingdom Halls have been damaged by storm waters and 8 completely destroyed in the New Orleans area alone? Safety, in this case, meant getting AWAY from the Kingdom Hall!
Old friend running back to the KH because of New Orleans tragedy
Just think about it... bad things have always happen and will continue to happen. If you setup an organization that "predicted" that bad things will happen in the future, the more gullible people will be amazed at how you "predicted" so much.
For the WTS it is a win-win situation. WTS: "I told you bad things will happen and they did, so please send me your money so I can tell more people that more bad things will happen."
Unfortunately lots of people are foolish in that way. I have seen so many go back after big events - September 11th took the biscuit. My wife came home from the service with such a look of shock on her face - she even suggested we take out all of our money in the bank (and I use the word money in the broadest possible term) because she said 'money isn't worth anything now'.
Ironically enough September 11th, as if I didnt need reminding anyway, was just another reason for me to discard what the WT taught, because deep down, I knew that it was rubbish. But here I am, still dragging myself down there to keep the wife happy. I keep slipping subliminal messages into my talks though, so fingers crossed.
Unfortunately brainwashing is deep rooted and these poor bastards will live out the rest of their lives on edge whenever there is a thunderstorm (ever noticed that?) and whenever there is speak of 'world peace'.Seeing as though this 'war on terror' is going to last for 'generations' according to the ugly Paul Wolfowitz, there is no chance of 'the generation' hearing the announcement of 'world peace'!. After all, we had a war on drugs...there is more drugs. We had a war on crime...there is more crime. We had a war on illiteracy....there is more illiteracy (as you can see with my post) we now have war on terror? Just going to lead to more terror folks.
I am afraid the Watchtower 'New System' is now further away than ever. Unless of course they are referring to a New World Order.
