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Josh... I've been described as both clever and sly when all that I'm doing is firing off questions as they pop into my head. Oh well better than being called naive I guess.
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Jack Oskar LarmQuote
Dave McKayHe has very cleverly [b:856b392afb]coaxed[/b:856b392afb] the others into admitting that even if I were taken totally out of the picture, they would still continue to attack the rest of you because of what we BELIEVE.
SOURCE:[
welikejesus.com]
Josh, what do you think about Dave's comment?
The reason I ask is that you mentioned on a previous post that the JCs have always been good/nice/friendly towards you. It seems, in this instance, that your intentions are being manipulated.
I learned quite a while ago my life goes much better when I give everyone the benefit of the doubt. What I mean by that is if something is said to me that I could choose to either take offense at or to interpret as a misunderstanding I choose to interpret it as a misunderstanding. That does make me apear naive, but also gets me alot farther in my ability to get along with people.
I'd guess what happened is Dave must have wanted to get ex-members to say that they're problem is not just with him but with the JCs belief system. He probably didn't know how to do this so when he saw me asking a similar question and the people on this board answering it he assumed that I was clever. I choose to take it as a complement rather than get up set thinking that I was being manipulated by a person on the other side of the world who I have never met.
I was more interested in the statement by Dave that you are coaxing. Being clever, naive, sly and slithering - take it as you will - but to be labeled as someone who is coaxing (read: manipulating or persuading) can only be interpreted as trolling this forum. So, I ask again, what do you think of Dave's view that you are trying to manipulate or persuade the discussion here?
Oops, as you said, you'll just see it in a postive way and gain strength from any interpretation of your motives. Call me naive, but the way I see it is that Dave is like an very abusive individual and ex-members are survivors of his abuse. You're obviously not concerned about his abusive ways toward people, perhaps, because you've 'fallen in love' with him. Consider the parallels of any abusive relationship where a person choses to ignore a person's destructive history even when there are many victims with testimonies of his/her abuse. I know it's easy to blame the victim when we just can't see (or don't want to see) a person's faults and/or crimes.
It's fine to fire off questions as they pop into your head, but it seems that there is a very specific theme or motive for most of them.
I don't think life goes better if you always give the benefit of the doubt, especially when the evidence is so clear cut. Getting along with people is admirable. Many people in abusive relationships adhere to this notion hoping - praying - that things will eventually turn out for the best. I wonder how many of the 6 million Jews that were slaughtered by the Nazis thought this way. I suppose we'll never really know...
But what I do know is that my mother endured years of violent abuse at the hands of my father. Sadly, we often don't see our unhealthy thinking (and feelings) until we've had enough distance from this type of abusive relationship. Tragically, only then do we realise the true misunderstanding of our motives.