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Original poster

To just go to a jehovahs witness meeting?

796 replies

blobtobetter · 07/04/2012 21:05

One of the older women at work is a Jehovah's Witness. I don't really know what they are but they don't like blood or birthdays. I thought they were just another type of Christian but apparently not.

She keeps asking me to go to a meeting and I keep putting her off. Thinking now that I should just go once and then never again!?

It sounds really shallow but I wouldn't want to give up Christmas!!

Part of me wonders what it would be like. Would they be over friendly? Would they be distant as I am a heathen type? Can't imagine it really.

OP posts:
stressedHEmum · 11/04/2012 13:41

They are, imo, very cultic, Narky. For these reasons,

The GB have complete authority. if they say something is the truth then that is not to be questioned.
They say that they alone have the truth and only JWs will be saved.
There is a lot of end of the world pressure, only by obeying the dictats of the GB will you survive Armageddon, which is imminent. These rules and regs govern every aspect of your life. All the rest of us will die horribly.
Everyone but them is either deliberately or inadvertently worshipping Satan.
They control who you can associate with
They shun people who leave
They mislead people who are studying with them about what actually goes on within the organisation (Milk before meat and the fact that Jws own literature says that it is ok to lie or be evasive to people who do not have the right to know the truth to protect Jehovah's organisation)
They use their own special language (faithful and discrete slave, other sheep, the truth etc.)
They don't allow members to read things written by "apostates" or other religions or anything like that
They frown upon reading the bible without reference to their own publications because independent bible reading leads to falling back into darkness
They dictate the kind of books you can read/movies etc. you can watch/music you can listen to, that sort of thing
They dictate how you can dress/look
There is much pressure to devote more and more time to the preaching work and congregational stuff
People within the congregations will grass you up to the elders for infarctions at the drop of a hat, even if you have told them stuff in confidence. This is always for your benefit, supposedly, and to keep Jehovah's people clean.
You are expected to put the organisation before everything, family, friends, work...
You are expected to arrange your holidays around all the conventions that they have every year, so that you don't ever really get any time off.

there is more, but I'm sure that you get the idea.

hiddenhome · 11/04/2012 13:48

blob you're being sucked in, can't you see that? This woman doesn't give two hoots about you, you're just another sucker number she can put down on her record sheet so that she doesn't receive a bollocking from the elders for not meeting her recruitment targets.

Please don't do this. There must be dozens of churches in your area you can visit. I go to a church three miles away, it's no big deal.

Listen to all the people here who have been trapped and badly affected by this cult. This isn't going to end well, I can feel it. You need to wake up.

hiddenhome · 11/04/2012 13:50

They have all the hallmarks of a cult Sad

Nobody deserves to wind up in an organisation like that. Something inside you must be telling you that this is wrong. Listen to that voice blob

Original poster
blobtobetter · 11/04/2012 13:57

I find different religions so interesting especially the Amish. Fascinating that people don't question changes like the date of the end of the world. I am someone that questions everything!

I would like to see what a meeting is like though.

OP posts:
hiddenhome · 11/04/2012 14:01

Seeing what a meeting is like isn't going to change what they are. You may just see it as a harmless visit, but they won't. They will use everything they have to ensure you return and keep returning Sad Perhaps this will just have to be another one of those ill fated learning experiences that we all have to go through from time to time Sad

LadyMontdore · 11/04/2012 14:14

Hmm OP are you actually deaf to everything people are saying or do you actually, secretly, want to be in a cult?

PLEASE ANSWER!!

hiddenhome · 11/04/2012 14:18

Don't be too hard on her. I think some of the JWs have been sending her personal messages telling her to ignore us as we're being influenced by Satan Hmm We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. The brainwashing recruitment process is probably well under way and she's already made her mind up.

MmeBucket · 11/04/2012 14:20

StressedHEmum, they retooled their generation meaning in 2008, and then straight from the April 15, 2010 Watchtower, here's their new definition of the word generation, which is the official belief now:

What does this explanation mean to us? Although
we cannot measure the exact length of ?this
generation,? we do well to keep in mind several
things about the word ?generation?: It usually refers
to people of varying ages whose lives overlap during
a particular time period; it is not excessively long;
and it has an end. (Ex. 1:6) How, then, are we to
understand Jesus? words about ?this generation??
He evidently meant that the lives of the anointed
who were on hand when the sign began to become
evident in 1914 would overlap with the lives of other
anointed ones who would see the start of the great
tribulation.

Don't you love how when something doesn't come true, it doesn't bother the governing body in least to just redefine a word to suit their purposes?

hiddenhome · 11/04/2012 14:20

I blame the Church Of England. If they made themselves less snobby more attractive to the general population, people wouldn't feel the need to join these things Sad They need to examine their strategies and see how they're going wrong.

Original poster
blobtobetter · 11/04/2012 14:21

Of course I don't want to be in a cult.

I just want to stay open minded about how other people live. As many people seem to be really against it there also seem to be many who love the lifestyle.

The lady at work said that a lot of people do bible studies with them over years and years but never join.

OP posts:
hiddenhome · 11/04/2012 14:23

That's what she's telling you, but how do you know it's true blob. These people will say anything.

BonfireOfKleenex · 11/04/2012 14:29

blobtobetter - tbh if you go to a meeting now, knowing what you know, you will only have yourself to blame if you get into a situation you find difficult and upsetting or (at the very least) embarrassing and annoying to get out of.

You have already said that the idea of getting into something you can't get out of is scary. After what you have read, do you really believe that going to this meeting will get this woman off your back, which was your original reasoning?

Original poster
blobtobetter · 11/04/2012 14:35

She said I can meet some of those that aren't JWs but do the studies so they must exist.

I'm not so vulnerable that I would get tricked into joining.

I have been getting PMs from both sides! It is certainly to hear personal experiences rather than general stuff.

OP posts:
stressedHEmum · 11/04/2012 14:38

Mme, this must be the 4th or 5th time that they've changed the teaching on "this generation". It amazes me that JWs just seem to swallow it whole. The GB takes words and just twists them to suit themselves and then everyone just accepts it as gospel truth. Those men have a lot to answer for. The Generation teaching appears to meaningless now, even though it's a central belief.

The GB just goes blithely ahead and changes all sorts of things with impunity under the guise of "new light". But if God was actually communicating with his faithful and discreet slave, why would he tell them a bunch of nonsense and then later, reveal new truths that are different from the last? That's the other thing that always used to really grate on me, all this talk of faithful and discreet slave class, other sheep class and the like. They take one verse and interpret a whole host of other verses through it, and everything good prefigures the GB and Jehovah s organisation whereas everything bad prefigures Christendom. I actually can't believe now that I was sucked in to it all.

Hidden, it's more than likely that Blob is receiving those kind of messages because any and all opposition is put own to Satan influencing you and yours to try and keep you away from true worship. You are told to expect opposition and for it to get much worse as you make progress in the truth because Satan will be stepping up his campaign. I, personally. am the very voice of Satan because I am an apostate.

stressedHEmum · 11/04/2012 14:43

Plenty people do studies with JWs and, tbh, it has helped a lot of people turn their lives around, which is a good thing. BUT, they do tend to target "soft touches", people who are vulnerable for whatever reason - marriage break up, bereavement, illness, unemployment - or just people who seem to be looking for something.

One of the interesting things is that they have a very high turnover of people, many people are disfellowshipped or leave every year because they realise that instead of having God's only, hidden truth, thay are actually being controlled through cult like practices and fear.

BonfireOfKleenex · 11/04/2012 14:44

blobtobetter - interesting that you have been getting PMs from both sides. I suppose you can only consider the agendas of the people who are PMing you.

Well, just so you know, the last time I checked, I wasn't the voice of Satan. My agenda, if you like, is to question organisations of all sorts which bully people and use guilt to control them. The JWs seem to be a particularly extreme example of this. However nice the individual members are (and I'm sure many really are nice) - the way the organisation as a whole treats people is NOT nice.

stressedHEmum · 11/04/2012 15:13

Don't be daft, Bonfire, of course you are the voice of Satan, you just don't realise it. Any voice of opposition or caution is the Devil working through either apostates or unbelievers.

BonfireOfKleenex · 11/04/2012 15:20

Oh bugger Sad I guess my ticket to heaven's out of the question then?

Original poster
blobtobetter · 11/04/2012 15:25

The PMs haven't mentioned about the devil or anything like that. More about how things work and meetings and such. Just what it is like I think trying to give a more positive side to the thread.

OP posts:
BonfireOfKleenex · 11/04/2012 15:29

I doubt they would be mentioning Satan at this stage though blobtobetter, it's probably too early in the process.

BonfireOfKleenex · 11/04/2012 15:31

I mean if someone came up to you in the street and said 'you must do as we say, or Satan will get you' you'd probably laugh at them. Well I hope you would, anyway.

Original poster
blobtobetter · 11/04/2012 15:46

I didn't think they believed in the devil ....... maybe it was hell they don't believe in.

She has just been for her break and brought me back a book called what the bible really teaches. Will have a read and see if it is crazy!

OP posts:
stressedHEmum · 11/04/2012 15:48

No, they won't mention the devil yet, you have to further along in a study before that happens, but it is still the case that a JW sees opposition/criticism as the work of Satan and is told to expect such things as they progress along the road. The fiercer the opposition, the closer you are to the truth.

stressedHEmum · 11/04/2012 15:51

JWs definitely believe in The Devil. He is the ruler of this system of things and is behind any and all religions that aren't them. His entire mission is to keep people away from learning the truth about Jehovah and His organisation.

They don't believe in Hell as such. They believe that when people die, they die and that there is nothing else. They also believe that at the end of Christ's Millennial Reign, people who choose to reject him will be eternally cut off (same thing.)

Jambuttyyummy · 11/04/2012 16:22

It's a good book blob - give it a read - question it ALL YOU LIKE!

And jw's have to preach the good news - not "get recruits". Its not a numbers game its spreading the message of the hope for everlasting life on a paradise earth.