# *Q for apostates

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Posted by Al; [Aldurant] on November 01, 1999 at 19:23:31 {2gTL9dbN6kmlvf6PLwvct74NX2uzuA}:

In Reply to: Q for apostates posted by B on October 31, 1999 at 18:09:04:

It is much like a romantic relationship. We tend to gloss over what is wrong with the person, even if it is serious. It has more to do with our emotional need rather than an objective assessment. We've heard the song "When A Man Loves A Woman" and what it expresses about, shall we say, his lack of objectivity when it comes to her "shortcomings". This is even more true when it is "on the rebound". The new "love" is more of an answer to what one lost than an actual independent relationship.

The WTS got a big boost in membership in the sixties and seventies, and it transfromed them from a piddly little sect to a religious organization with enough "critical mass" to force it's own growth with sales techniques and techniques very much like what WitnetObserver related in his rather scholarly post. This time period was unique for them because it was really the only time in history where there was a serious nuclear scare, and in the United States, the "credibility gap" was massive due to the Kennedy assassination and the ten year Vietnam War from 1965 to 1975. This atmosphere and the perhaps additional factors of disfunctional family backgrounds put many people looking for some good oversimplifications which rejected the current "establishment", yet retained certain conservative values.

The Watchtower Society had been ringing it's rather ordinary oddball organization bell for decades but never had such a response before. People were willing to overlook pretty much everything if they could only get a new "girlfriend". They told us that they prophesied World War I, the only event that gives 1914 any significance. They tell us that their unique doctrines are, "the Good News", that of course, since they are their unique doctrines, they are the only ones teaching them and therefore, they are the only ones teaching "the Good News". They tell us that science backs the Bible, that they are the only Religious organization with their teachings that practices neutrality. We are just saying yeah, yeah, tell us more. We overlook everything because we want it to be true. It never crosses our mind that they might misrepresent or distort information. We figure that they, of course would know that they would be exposed, so they would never do this.

But one thing we didn't know about. They don't care if they are caught in distortions. Their plan is just to completely discredit anyone who disagrees with them. We think that this sort of thing is reserved for the truly evil, like they tell us. But then, eventually, we see. Their mistakes, however horrible, are "imperfections". Our mistakes, or even our convictions, make us evil. Once a personally witnessed "imperfection", usually quite a few, shocks us into reality, all the other distortions become obvious, and we can't believe how blind we've been, just like a romantic relationship. Then we just feel silly.

Al

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