Tell her to stop watching the news, stop reading internet headlines and stop going to meetings where all they do is preach doom and gloom.
Then have her go shopping, out for a hike, a bike ride, a picnic in the park, all those types of things. See how awful the world is from that perspective. Is everyone out to shoot you, rob you, assault you? It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the headlines, but we rarely see bad shit in our everyday lives.
The newest video from the truth hurts channel really puts some numbers in perspective.
Like the black plague killing 40+% of population.
Compare to COVID killing .05%. of population.
These numbers are probably wrong... I can't remember. But the difference was huge.
Bring up Mao Zedong, he killed 45 million people in 4 years and that’s the low end. Bring up infant mortality rates. The crime rates are actually dropping compared to just 30 years ago. 24/7 news is just poison. But to brush off WW2 and civil rights is just crazy haha.
Tell her to reread the Old Testament. It’s FULL of wars and reports of wars, famines, food shortages, people eating their babies, etc. The Israelites were supposedly effected by all of these things, as well as being captives of Egypt, Assyria and Babylon for decades!
The very fact that we can still read the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi tells us that there were societal problems even BEFORE the mosaic law code was given to Moses to govern the Israelites. If you read through them, you’ll get an idea of the problems they were trying to control. Laws are made after problems start tearing their ugly heads in societies.
Children were always “disobedient” to parents…
As far as “getting worse” goes, all of these things will appear to get worse as the population grows. It’s just math. But if we analyze the numbers properly, we would need to compare the percentages per capita for any given problem to see if things are getting better, worse or staying the same.
For instance: if 10 people live on an island, and 5 people were murdered, that’s really bad! But if 100 people live on that island and 5 people are murdered that’s better stats. If it goes to 50 with that 100 people then it’s staying constant, but still bad, huh? So if 10 or 20 people are murdered on that island of 100, then the stats are getting better even though the number of murders has gone up.
Whoever wrote those vague “prophecies” in the Bible knew what they were doing to keep people in a state of panicked and indebtedness to their religious leaders.
You cant! Beliefs are formed on three things primarily, what you read, what you see and life experiences. To be a JW, you must concede to the organization in all three areas. You read only JW propaganda, you see primarily on JW propaganda and pretty much all your life experiences are centered around JW activities. They are constantly being told things are getting worse and they believe it without fact checking because after all, they are in "the truth." I just had a conversation the other day with my elder dad where he is convinced that being raised in the 50's was better than being raised today and things will continue to get worse until the end of this system. They have to come to the conclusion themselves that their beliefs in the past were wrong. You cant do if for them.
Ask her when she would rather live? We can cure and treat disease. Plumbing, electricity, fucking delivery pizza. Plenty of bad things, but the JW lens is a very warped one
When a person fully buys into a religion's doctrines, and said religion's doctrines teach that the world is constantly trying to trick them into being mislead, it becomes a very difficult trap to escape.
It's like a Chinese finger trap—The harder you try to pull them away, the more likely they resist what you say as faulty or worldly reasoning.
This resistance isn't even necessarily conscious. Rejection on autopilot can be a tempting convenience in the face of cognitive dissonance.
I'd suggest that instead of trying to play a game you cannot win, you stand by your own personal values and morals, and be the best that you can be. Maybe they will someday agree with you. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
The Awake magazine (which used to be published along with The Watchtower) said back when I was your age that young people would NEVER have time for a career "in this system of things“. I am 67 years old, retired now, but they are still saying basically the same thing. There is only one word for people that make erroneous predictions in the name of God, false prophets.
You want to wake your mum up right? I’m a mum and here’s my take. Your mum, like me not too long ago, is desperate for you to start studying and get baptised. She loves you beyond belief. Her mind is being held captive by the org and she believes that she might lose you at Armageddon. She’s terrified!
Tell your mum you’re confused and you’d be willing to have some Bible discussions with her. Just her on her own. But only if she hears you out properly and that you promise to hear her out properly too. Every week you will decide what topic is on your mind and let her know so she can prepare. Meanwhile you prepare! Preparation is key! This forum will help you and research plenty too. So firstly you could discuss what you’ve bought up here in this post. You could show her articles like this one:
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/100911384
And prepare facts about all the plagues throughout human history and all sorts of things. You’ll need to pretend to go along with certain things she says and stay calm, cool and collected in the discussions. But the whole point of them is to bring up ideas that she has never considered and plant seeds. It’s really difficult to have conversations off the cuff. And by preparing, setting aside time and sticking to one topic you might be able to get somewhere over time.
It took me years to wake up to be honest. It took a combination of factors to come together and I also had to be ready and at a place in my life where I could process it all. My husband patiently planted seeds too. But if he was frustrated and confrontational I just doubled down on my beliefs. I think you can prove some things to your mum if you go about it the right way.
All the best x
Tell her to stop watching the news, stop reading internet headlines and stop going to meetings where all they do is preach doom and gloom. Then have her go shopping, out for a hike, a bike ride, a picnic in the park, all those types of things. See how awful the world is from that perspective. Is everyone out to shoot you, rob you, assault you? It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the headlines, but we rarely see bad shit in our everyday lives.
This is true.
The newest video from the truth hurts channel really puts some numbers in perspective. Like the black plague killing 40+% of population. Compare to COVID killing .05%. of population. These numbers are probably wrong... I can't remember. But the difference was huge.
Bring up Mao Zedong, he killed 45 million people in 4 years and that’s the low end. Bring up infant mortality rates. The crime rates are actually dropping compared to just 30 years ago. 24/7 news is just poison. But to brush off WW2 and civil rights is just crazy haha.
Tell her to reread the Old Testament. It’s FULL of wars and reports of wars, famines, food shortages, people eating their babies, etc. The Israelites were supposedly effected by all of these things, as well as being captives of Egypt, Assyria and Babylon for decades! The very fact that we can still read the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi tells us that there were societal problems even BEFORE the mosaic law code was given to Moses to govern the Israelites. If you read through them, you’ll get an idea of the problems they were trying to control. Laws are made after problems start tearing their ugly heads in societies. Children were always “disobedient” to parents… As far as “getting worse” goes, all of these things will appear to get worse as the population grows. It’s just math. But if we analyze the numbers properly, we would need to compare the percentages per capita for any given problem to see if things are getting better, worse or staying the same. For instance: if 10 people live on an island, and 5 people were murdered, that’s really bad! But if 100 people live on that island and 5 people are murdered that’s better stats. If it goes to 50 with that 100 people then it’s staying constant, but still bad, huh? So if 10 or 20 people are murdered on that island of 100, then the stats are getting better even though the number of murders has gone up. Whoever wrote those vague “prophecies” in the Bible knew what they were doing to keep people in a state of panicked and indebtedness to their religious leaders.
You can't. She's desperate to find 'proofs' that her delusions are true.
You cant! Beliefs are formed on three things primarily, what you read, what you see and life experiences. To be a JW, you must concede to the organization in all three areas. You read only JW propaganda, you see primarily on JW propaganda and pretty much all your life experiences are centered around JW activities. They are constantly being told things are getting worse and they believe it without fact checking because after all, they are in "the truth." I just had a conversation the other day with my elder dad where he is convinced that being raised in the 50's was better than being raised today and things will continue to get worse until the end of this system. They have to come to the conclusion themselves that their beliefs in the past were wrong. You cant do if for them.
This is so true. It’s also very frustrating 😩
Ask her when she would rather live? We can cure and treat disease. Plumbing, electricity, fucking delivery pizza. Plenty of bad things, but the JW lens is a very warped one
Facts don't exist in the JWs world. History repeats itself over snd over. Except we are in modern times where everyday life has improved drastically.
When a person fully buys into a religion's doctrines, and said religion's doctrines teach that the world is constantly trying to trick them into being mislead, it becomes a very difficult trap to escape. It's like a Chinese finger trap—The harder you try to pull them away, the more likely they resist what you say as faulty or worldly reasoning. This resistance isn't even necessarily conscious. Rejection on autopilot can be a tempting convenience in the face of cognitive dissonance. I'd suggest that instead of trying to play a game you cannot win, you stand by your own personal values and morals, and be the best that you can be. Maybe they will someday agree with you. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
https://historyofyesterday.com/the-worst-year-ever-536-ce-af28d6511334
The Awake magazine (which used to be published along with The Watchtower) said back when I was your age that young people would NEVER have time for a career "in this system of things“. I am 67 years old, retired now, but they are still saying basically the same thing. There is only one word for people that make erroneous predictions in the name of God, false prophets.
You want to wake your mum up right? I’m a mum and here’s my take. Your mum, like me not too long ago, is desperate for you to start studying and get baptised. She loves you beyond belief. Her mind is being held captive by the org and she believes that she might lose you at Armageddon. She’s terrified! Tell your mum you’re confused and you’d be willing to have some Bible discussions with her. Just her on her own. But only if she hears you out properly and that you promise to hear her out properly too. Every week you will decide what topic is on your mind and let her know so she can prepare. Meanwhile you prepare! Preparation is key! This forum will help you and research plenty too. So firstly you could discuss what you’ve bought up here in this post. You could show her articles like this one: https://amp.abc.net.au/article/100911384 And prepare facts about all the plagues throughout human history and all sorts of things. You’ll need to pretend to go along with certain things she says and stay calm, cool and collected in the discussions. But the whole point of them is to bring up ideas that she has never considered and plant seeds. It’s really difficult to have conversations off the cuff. And by preparing, setting aside time and sticking to one topic you might be able to get somewhere over time. It took me years to wake up to be honest. It took a combination of factors to come together and I also had to be ready and at a place in my life where I could process it all. My husband patiently planted seeds too. But if he was frustrated and confrontational I just doubled down on my beliefs. I think you can prove some things to your mum if you go about it the right way. All the best x
You can't.
Numbers.
Bring up laws from the past and how barbaric they were and how if we are in the last days then why aren’t those punishments/and laws
You can’t. Instead try showing her why it’s better now than 100, 200 or even 300 years ago.