JW angst again - same BS, different command hierarchy

[_Sethbag]

That's a tough call... shortly after I left my parents asked me if I would "fake" being a JW too. They said that all they wanted was for me to go through the motions so that they would not have to shun me.

I refused because I knew that I could not do it. I left the organization because I could not keep up with all of the requirements and I also did not believe what they were teaching. For me, going to the meetings and FS and doing all of the other JW stuff was like listening to grinding gears in a transmission... it was totally unbearable.

If you can fake it and endure the JW life style, then more power to you. At least you will get to enjoy the irony of it all... with the way they are always talking about things being appointed by holy spirit and Jehovah keeping the congregation clean. You will be living proof that it's all total BS.

Took this quote off an ex-JW board, sort of "Recovery from JWism". Deja Vu anyone? by the way, FS = field service, ie: JWs tracting and handing out Watchtowers. You gotta love that slam at the end, using JW jargon to describe what Mormons would call "the power of discernment" and how the JWs claim to have it, but this would be demonstrably false by the fact that this guy is totally faking it.

Never forget that it's not just a Mormon thing. People coming out of all sorts of false religions (any of them, really) experience an awful lot of the same kinds of things. Juliann would call them "atrocity tales", but really, how do disparage a JW's story of pulling their mind free of the shackles of JWism, when you have to admit (as a Mormon) that JWism is a crock of shyte?

The Mormon church isn't so special after all, people. It just happens to be the false religion that we, here, came out of.

[_Zoidberg]

You know, someone has got to do a study on the percentage of members that leave various religious groups and find out which one has the highest exit rate. Chances are, the LDS Church won't win this one. Then, when someone starts the old "All the antagonism against the Church and the angry exmos are proof that Satan is working extra hard to stop this work", we can let them know what the real "one true church" is.

[_Runtu]

Took this quote off an ex-JW board, sort of "Recovery from JWism". Deja Vu anyone? by the way, FS = field service, ie: JWs tracting and handing out Watchtowers. You gotta love that slam at the end, using JW jargon to describe what Mormons would call "the power of discernment" and how the JWs claim to have it, but this would be demonstrably false by the fact that this guy is totally faking it.

Never forget that it's not just a Mormon thing. People coming out of all sorts of false religions (any of them, really) experience an awful lot of the same kinds of things. Juliann would call them "atrocity tales", but really, how do disparage a JW's story of pulling their mind free of the shackles of JWism, when you have to admit (as a Mormon) that JWism is a crock of shyte?

The Mormon church isn't so special after all, people. It just happens to be the false religion that we, here, came out of.

That quote was eerily similar to what we hear. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to "fake it till you make it." What's the harm? they ask. It's a great way to live, so it doesn't really matter if it's true or not.

[_SatanWasSetUp]

This is a very effective way to get TBMs to consider the critics point of view. Step out of the usual Mormon/anti-mormon arguments and talk about another religion.

[_Sethbag]

This is a very effective way to get TBMs to consider the critics point of view. Step out of the usual Mormon/anti-mormon arguments and talk about another religion.

Exactly. It's one of the things that's made me really curious enough to actually go lurk on a JW board, and even introduce myself to them. So many of their posts sounded so eerily similar. And what does it prove? Well, it proves, for one thing, that the story isn't unique to people leaving Mormonism. All the Mormons that think that exmos talking trash about the church actually proves it's true by showing that Satan is raging at the Work of the Lord, have some explaining to do about why nearly identical stories come from people leaving churches that LDS "know" are obviously false.

Could it be that, just as the JWs are a "counterfeit" church designed to keep some of God's children from finding the real true church, the LDS church, exdubs rage with a counterfeit rage against the JWs in a bid to make exmos look like nothing special to the rest of the world, in order to keep them from recognizing that the LDS church really is something special? Could that be it? ;-)

My own belief is that the stories are so similar because the experiences themselves are similar from a bird's eye view. That is, we were all people whose minds were in the thrall of self-supporting and self-sustaining, powerful but false religious beliefs, and eventually, for whatever reason, some of us were able to see through the illusion and recognize it for what it was, and pull ourselves out of it. Just as we once thought the LDS church was the One and Only true church, we might be tempted to think that experience of apostatizing from it was somehow unique, but it isn't. This world is chock full of churches that aren't true, and there are people who realize that and come out of every single one of them. We're not unique in this. We're not special in this. We really are just fellow human beings in this world, and Mormonism just happens to be the particular flavor of false religion that we happened to come out of.

[_asbestosman]

If the devil can sour you towards religion--even a false one--he has won a battle.

Still, I'm not so sure I'd go as far as to characterize teh JW's as false. I think they're wrong on some things, but they have the truth on many issues too.

If differences in exits were too apparent, then it might be too obvious which church is true and therefore deny us the opportunity to walk by faith instead of sight.

[_Runtu]

If the devil can sour you towards religion--even a false one--he has won a battle.

Still, I'm not so sure I'd go as far as to characterize the JW's as false. I think they're wrong on some things, but they have the truth on many issues too.

If differences in exits were too apparent, then it might be too obvious which church is true and therefore deny us the opportunity to walk by faith instead of sight.

So, God made Mormonism look like an abusive and false church so you could have more faith? Seriously, is that what you're saying?

[_Who Knows]

Still, I'm not so sure I'd go as far as to characterize the JW's as false. I think they're wrong on some things, but they have the truth on many issues too.

Can I assume, then, that you don't agree with this:

they (the various religious sects) were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.

[_asbestosman]

So, God made Mormonism look like an abusive and false church so you could have more faith? Seriously, is that what you're saying?

Uhhhh, no. Where does abusive come in for one? As to the differences between false and true, I think it's important to realize that most church's aren't exactly false so much as missing important truths--truths that would help remove any falsehoods such as Trinitarianism.

[_Runtu]

So, God made Mormonism look like an abusive and false church so you could have more faith? Seriously, is that what you're saying?

Uhhhh, no. Where does abusive come in for one? As to the differences between false and true, I think it's important to realize that most church's aren't exactly false so much as missing important truths--truths that would help remove any falsehoods such as Trinitarianism.

Then I misunderstood. The similarities Seth noted had to do with control and abuse, from what I read.