Expert: Andrew - 1/3/2012

Question
QUESTION: Hi Andrew,
Do Witnesses believe what they preach...why I ask when I speak to them they always say to meditate on the word...PS: I'm studying with them & it's been a while because I believe the bible but not the org. interpretation of many scriptures...but all that to say is when I say, I do because you can't help anyone until you help yourself.  I always use the example of being on the plain & we are told to put on our oxygen mask first...so that's how I explain it to them, if you read the scriptures & run out & share it before you had a chance to digest it yourself.  When I say this to many of them, they put their heads down & quietly say..That's true....I think they are capable of healing if only they would take the time to get spiritually fed themselves.  The org. keeps them so busy, books on top of books, DVD's on top of DVD's, keeping up the hours so the Circuit overseers don't have to bring up the fact that, that particular hall hours are down...try to start a new bible study, maybe this weekend we can go on return visits & so on...Now for a single witnesses that's all good because it keeps you from thinking about not having someone or not be sexually active so all you can do is do all & go home & fall out...as for the married folks...or single parents, there are only 24 hrs a day..this is not a question just an observation...They are very nice folks but the light is out in their eyes, they smile but it never reaches the eyes..Am I wrong.

Thx,

Dany

ANSWER: Dear Dany,

Thanks for making your comment public so that others can benefit from your experience.

Yes, generally Witnesses believe what they preach. The act of preaching is part of the mechanism that makes them believe. Due to the psychological effect of cognitive dissonance, it is hard to say something repeatedly without coming to believe it (if for no other reason that one has said it repeatedly). Causing the rank and file to actually believe may be the ultimate reason for their preaching.

"Meditate on the word" is an expression I'm not familiar with, and I don't yet follow your logic about why you doubt that they believe.

If you're not interested in the Witness organization, why in the world would you consent to study with them? They do not teach just the bible, but rather their organization's spin on the bible. If you want to learn about the bible without their organization's spin, you should choose another source for your study support. Especially because you put yourself at grave risk by studying with them.

You are right that the Witnesses' organization keeps them too busy to think and digest spiritual nourishment. All cults carry that characteristic. If cult members actually had time to slow down and think about what they're doing and saying, they would likely to come to a different conclusion; this is why all cults share the common tactic of keeping their members too busy to think.

Very good observation: "They are very nice folks but the light is out in their eyes". What you're noticing may be an effect of what cult researcher Margaret T. Singer calls the "cult pseudo-personality". Where people put on a false personality as a result of their cult indoctrination, it invariably terminates the natural sparkle of the eye that sometimes exists in vigorous healthy human beings.

You are exactly on target with this observation; and because of your concern about their needs, I suspect you are a very kind and generous person. However, you may be underestimating the risk to you personally of continuing your association. Cult mind control tactics has destroyed countless lives due to mental enslavement and broken family ties. People from all socio-economic classes and all educational levels and all backgrounds are vulnerable to cult mind control tactics. None of them ever believed they were vulnerable, so confidence is not enough. None of them knew what to watch out for, and that's how they got ensnared.

If you wish to continue your outreach to help them, I would urge you to first innoculate yourself against cult mind control so you can clearly see the tactics and evade being ensnared. This is not easy to do, because people who have not yet been indoctrinated into a cult have a hard time understanding the tactics, and there are few educational opportunities to learn about the tactics, and a great deal of misinformation about them.

I would suggest that there are better ways to reach out to Witnesses that do not require putting yourself at risk; and better ways to study the bible that do not require learning it with their spin.

I hope this is helpful to you. Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific question about the Witnesses and their methods. Success to you.

Sincerely,
AndrewXJW

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Andrew,
Thx for replying...To answer your question about medidating on the word is meaning not just teach & preach but to read the Bible for oneself & meditate on it for ones own spiritualness...meaning don't go & read the bible & don't take it in yourself....I like your explanation of how the light of their eyes are out....Why I study with them...I just fell into it...I worked with 2 witnesses & one of them just started to talk to me & then it took off from there...I enjoy reading & learning...I enjoy them. I'm not saying that I could not get hooked into this way of worship but I am aware of their tactics...right now I see they are getting ready to change a piece of doctrine, why because lately all the literature points to if the org. changes something will we be obedient...which they call the light is getting brighter...what that means to me is that through out the years, so many studies & writers have challenged the org..& there comes a time that the org. has to give in because they can no longer hold on to the old truth...so they have to change...I see it coming..when I set at the meetings, & they explain something, I take it in & compare it to the bible...many times the org. interpretation does not line up with the bible...I know what I read & I know what I hear...the final word is the bilbe...not the org.  One of their tactics is fellowshipping....the sisters are so nice...they invite you, cook for you, etc...now if you are in the world & nobody reaches out to you, you would say...Hey those witnesses are very friendly, I have never experienced this before. But for me I have great friends no they are not perfect but have always been there for me..& they are nice decent folks..most of them have grown children & grands & are not about being in the streets or out going crazy.  I wasn't a stranger to friends or support of others...I know the world is crazy but it's always been..maybe now that we have TV we see what goes on from day to day...imagine if there were cameras back in Jesus's day...mankind has always been unkind..Again, I'm not saying that I'm immuned but I no the tactics...My mom told me to sit by the door at the meetings in case they start stirring up the kool-aide & I can get out of there before they lock the door & start to drink...& One of my stumbling block for me with them is...Jesus is Michael the archangel...I don't buy it...I have found many scriptures that may also prove he is not..just like they say the trinity is not in the bible because it's not mentioned...well the same can be said for the Michael the Archangel...if you want to stretch it, yes maybe so, but it's not in there...they don't stress that too much...Again, I like them & they are nice folks but so sad... I think they know it's not all the truth but they have built their world in the congregation so they have no place to go..they didn't have too many friends outside the hall & if they did, either they stopped the association or their friends stop associating with them...I think to really fight against the cult thing is to read the bible & always believe that God has the final word....what do you think..

Thx,

Dany

Answer
Dear Dany,

I don't doubt that some things have changed a little since I left 14 years ago. But my sources suggest that the changes are only superficial. Leopards don't really change their spots, I don't think. The Witness organization has always had the policy of progressive doctrine, what they call "the light getting brighter".

However, in my experience it was never as a result of socio-political pressure from members to change anything, because there is no such pressure. That pressure flows one way, from the organization to the members. Rank and file Witnesses are not in possession of their own minds enough to make any demands of the organization. They would consider challenging the organization tantamount to challenging God himself. They just can't bring themselves to do it while remaining in the organization. And those who can are disfellowshipped (so still not in a position to exert any pressure from inside). In fact, that's what virtually all cases of disfellowshipping ultimately come down to. All pressures on the Witness organization come from OUTSIDE.

When the Witness organization changes doctrine as "brighter light" it is a control ploy, or a response to mainstream culture, or a means by which to cover up their own past (or soon-to-be-revealed) errors such as unfulfilled prophecies, never as an accomodation to socio-political pressure from the rank and file. Cults just don't work that way. The motive behind changes of doctrine is always to preserve or enhance the power of the leadership. Notably, for the most part, it's not malicious and self-serving power, because even at the highest levels, most Witness leaders believe they are doing what's good for the rank and file. But it is still power and deception. If you believe a lie and force it upon another, it is still a lie, even if you believe it. The more desperate someone is to force an idea upon another, the more convoluted the control structures get, and the Witnesses are very desperate. They think they're saving lives.

Yes, they even "cook for you". "They are very friendly." This is an example of what cult researcher Margaret T. Singer calls "love bombing". It is a recruiting ploy used to manipulate people into adhering to the organization. The "love" is motivated by an agenda, not the heart, and therefore it isn't real love. At first it's very appealing, especially for lonely people who are more vulnerable to cults. Then after a period of years, one gradually discovers the conditionality behind it. And one begins to repress the disappointment, because by that time one has cut off outside relationships and has no where else to go.

I suggest that you already see SOME of the tactics. There are many more that you don't yet see. How could you recognize all their tactics without first becoming well read on the tactics of cult mind control? How many books have you read and fully understood about cult dynamics? It is very difficult for most people to understand the tactics after reading a book, because the tactics are so subtle and strange.

And if you read such books AFTER exposure to cult tactics, you risk allowing yourself to be prejudiced in FAVOR of such tactics, because you've allowed yourself to be conditioned by some of them. The process is GRADUAL. So on the one hand, I'm glad you retain the degree of critical thinking faculties that you do, as this is a protection for you. And on the other hand, you appear a little overconfident, like many people who went before you, repeating year after year "I'll never become a Witness", but eventually did.

It isn't just a "way of worship". It is more primarily a means of high control, social and psychological and spiritual enslavement. It replaces spirituality with intellectual process, real love with conditional love, and real social networks with informers-as-friends. It pretends to honor freedom of choice while practicing the most convoluted web of deception imaginable. It has taken me many years to remove from myself the dead tentacles that the Witness organization sent into my heart and mind. After fourteen years of active recovery, I am still pulling out the tentacles, slimy and disgusting. It pretends to honor community and family while breaking up families and cutting people off from their community. It pretends to honor God and the bible, while putting human policy ahead of divine qualities and scriptural principles again and again. You are dabbling in a very dark form of "magic" that has destroyed the lives of many people. Tens of thousands of members are expelled every year. Hundreds of thousands suffer broken relationships every year.

It's very important that you've noticed most Witnesses "have no place to go" because they've cut off ties with outside friends and family. Why do you suppose they all have that characteristic in common? It's because after the initial "honeymoon" which you're currently in, the organization begins to exert new pressures to cut off ties with outside friends and family, making members more dependent upon the organization. If you continue, you will experience that pressure too. It is not coincidence that they have all cut off outside ties.

Your adherence to the purity of your prior spiritual beliefs will not protect you from social and psychological manipulation. Even though God and prayer have power, can you go walking through a war zone (praying not to get shot) and expect not to get shot? Or rather will God not expect you to act in harmony with your prayer and get out of the war zone?

If you have already made up your mind, why stick around and extend your risk? There are lots of other places you can go to meet friendly people and even study the bible, where cult mind control tactics are not practiced. I believe you're playing with fire. I feel it's my responsibility to warn, but of course your choices are yours to make.

Best wishes,
AndrewXJW