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Cult Numbers in Decline – Part 2

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Previously, I theorized that declining numbers in the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses were primarily due to increased access to information in the form of the internet.

There is however, a secondary reason that we should not ignore; that being a changing social attitude on how we approach our theistic beliefs…by asking questions and not hiding from our doubts.

In the old days making a convert was much like making Sea Monkeys.  A little water, a little light, throw in a Bible verse and PRESTO…instant cultist, happily swimming through whatever hoops the head organization puts in the water. All the while blissfully unaware of life outside the tank.

Well, those days are over. Done.  And they’re not coming back.  The old Sea Monkeys are dying off.

What happened?  Society it seems is no longer accepting the status-quo, and what happens outside the fish tank eventually affects what happens inside.  Information is like a narcotic, and once you get a little you want more.  Because of this, any faith that requires you to cease thinking is a faith grounded in a quagmire.  If you can’t state a reason why you believe in something that doesn’t go deeper than “because Person X told me so”, don’t go around expecting your argument to be worth a tinkers damn.  Today people are asking questions more than ever, and are sick and tired of simple pat answers.  This goes for politics, religion…even atheism.  Nobody is innocent of grasping onto a belief system out of convenience.

We’ve all heard the same tired line from somebody who says, “I know it is true because I feel it” Well, that might as well be the white flag of surrender.  It reminds me of the Black Knight in Monty Python’s “Holy Grail” who is unwilling to admit defeat even though all of his limbs are cut off.  All this kind of response has shown is that the person believes “thinking” is secondary to “feeling”.  That is not now nor has ever been something the Bible has condoned…quite the contrary.  Mormonism excels at this as the church has repeatedly told people to “pray” about the Book of Mormon.

And for the LDS Church, that is a smart move, because telling people to study history or archeology is a fast way to shoot themselves in the foot.  For a book that its founder claims is more true than the Bible ( which has endless archeological backup and is much older, compared to absolute zero for the BofM ), it would seem we only have Joseph Smith’s word to go on.

After the Part One posting, I actually got a few “testimonies” about how the person “knew” the LDS church to be true. All of them fell back on “feelings” and never dealt with legitimate and blatantly obvious hoaxes such as the Book of AbrahamKinderhook plates, or the reality their founder was a complete fraud.  Sorry people, not good enough.

To those people I say…you’re a thinking individual, not a Sea Monkey.  Climb out of your tank and take a look around.  Truth does not hide from scrutiny.

Beyond feelings, FEAR also can only hold onto a person so long in much the same way we all grow out of our childhood fear of the Boogeyman.  The Watchtower Organization has been promising that Armageddon has come or is coming…soon…any day now…get ready… Before you knew it, half the 144,000 “annointed” class required to be alive are already dead and the organization is quickly rewriting its own history so fast it makes you wonder if you’re reading George Orwell’s 1984.

Whenever I bring this up with a Jehovah’s Witness, they get mad.  Fuming mad.  At that point I simply must “sigh” because the personal insults come fast and furious.  Let’s see…I’ve been called apostate, damned…oh oh!!!…”whore of Babylon” is my favorite!  They must save that one for my door in particular. Man, it’s nice to know you’re appreciated!

So here’s the summary…you can fool some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.  God gave you feelings, but he also gave you a brain.

Don’t be afraid to use it. Life outside the tank awaits you.

John Paul Parrot ( aka. The Dysfunctional Parrot ) is a disgruntled Systems Analyst who wanders the Canadian wastelands saving small villages with the power of Kung Fu.  His chair is also a little too close to the twenty year old microwave.  As you can well imagine, this has had certain side effects.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. isaiah30v8

    May 30, 2009 at

    I think many households in predominantly Christian Nations do not openly welcome Jehovah’s Witnesses because their door to door ministry seems designed to mislead the housholder into beleiving the same lies that Satan told in the Garden of Eden.

    If you read the following newsletter you should see the parallels to the Edenic Sin:
    http://www.scribd.com/doc/11566728/Jehovahs-Witne

    They really are like Satan dressed in a nice suit and tie knocking on your door!

    No wonder so many Nations have banned them!

  2. isnrblog

    November 17, 2008 at

    A little adjustment here Parrot.

    The "1914 generation" belief is this, from the AWAKE Oct 8 1968, Pages 13-14:

    "Jesus was obviously speaking about those who were old enough to witness with understanding what took place when the 'last days' began. Jesus was saying that some of those persons who were alive at the appearance of the `sign of the last days' would still be alive when God brought this system to its end.. Even if we presume that youngsters 15 years of age would be perceptive enough to realize the import of what happened in 1914, it would still make the youngest of 'this generation' nearly 70 years old today. So the great majority of the generation to which Jesus was referring has already passed away in death. The remaining ones are approaching old age. And remember, Jesus said that the end of this wicked world would come before that generation passed away in death."

    As you mentioned, that is no longer true. Obviously those who were 15 in 1914 are 109 years old in 2008. They were running out of old codgers. they had to change it. I'm not sure what they changed it to, but it got them out of trouble.

    As a side point, I was also reading this at age 18, from the Awake, May 22, 1969 page 15:

    "Therefore as a young person you will never fulfill any career that this system offers."

    Well, I'm 57. a grandfather, I have had two careers and am thinking of retiring.

    Gald to be away from the Jo Ho's

  3. acriticalchristian19

    September 30, 2008 at

    oh good I copied this 1 too :-)

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