People 
| Recent Email With JW On July 2009 Awake |
| Written by besty |
| Saturday, 09 May 2009 12:07 |
I'm in the middle of an email discussion with a few JW's about the import of the following statement from the new July 2009 Awake! ""God allows each person the freedom to choose how he or she will respond. No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.""
Here is my most recent email: Depending on how far you can push it with D________ or others without compromising you or them ask them to compare and contrast this article: Sept 1 2005 (probably Awake!) entitled "Mennonites Search for Bible Truth" After describing some of the things that are controlled and forbidden by some Mennonite groups, the article states: "Many feel oppressed and live in dread of being expelled from the community - a terrible prospect for one who has never experienced life outside" It then gives the story of John, who saw a copy of the Watchtower magazine and obtained a subscription for it. After he died 10 members of his family met some JW missionaries and started a study. After the first study, this is what the article said happened: "A few days later, the church elders came to the home of John's family with an ultimatum for the interested ones. "We heard that Jehovah's Witnesses visited you. You must forbid them to return and unless you hand over their literature to be burned, you face expulsion"......."We cannot do as you ask" replied one of the family heads. How did the elders react? They expelled them for studying the Bible!. This was a cruel blow indeed." The article then goes on to describe the hardships faced by those that were expelled, such as being dismissed from their job and a wife taken away from her expelled husband. Sidepoint: I find the humour of the unstoppable object meeting the immovable wall pretty funny. Mennonite elders burning JW books and JW's being forbidden to read Mennonite literature all wrapped up in one big joint mutual shunning fest. Welcome to the 15th century. Contrast the language used if you happen to be God's theocracy on earth in "Keep Yourself In God's Love" 2008 Appendix Pg 207-209 says in part with reference to shunning your family: "...loyalty to Jehovah and his organization moves them to uphold the scriptural arrangement of disfellowshipping. Their loyal course has the best interests of the wrongdoer at heart and may help him to benefit from the discipline received." It then goes on to discuss that essential topic: when should a woman should wear a head covering? Shunning is done by an oppressive religion, you live in dread of being expelled, it's a hardship, a cruel blow and a terrible prospect if you are on the way in to JW-land and yet suddenly shunning is a scriptural arrangement in your best interests and an all round good thing if you are on the way out? Let the reader use discernment. Have you talked about cognitive dissonance with D_______? CD is the mental discomfort caused by holding two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time. The link is one of the most insightful pages you can read about why JWs think and behave the way they do - of course it doesn't mention JW's because they aren't a special case - shock horror - JWs the same as everybody else :-) In this case idea 1: Shunning is a cruel and inhumane way to treat another human being and would be unconscionable for me to behave like this toward my family. yet idea 2: Shunning is showing loyalty to God and his organization and is actually in the best interests of the one being shunned Thinking JW's have a shelf where they put these types of issues - that's how they deal with the inevitable CD. And as I said earlier when the shelf gets full they leave - or maybe as you do fully recognize the group for what it is and stay for your own reasons - that mental process you have gone through to rationalize the decision to stay is a CD reducing measure. This particular JW is fully awake (!) to the true nature of the Watchtower Society - lets hope he can make a few people think and that this and other information on this website will help many thousands of people realise exactly how iniquitous the Watchtower Society shunning policy really is. Hits: 945 Trackback(0)
Comments (3)
  written by Bjørn Terje , May 16, 2009 This was good; short enough to come trough and enlightening. report abuse
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 written by Stephanie , July 02, 2009 Keep yourself in God's Love and Love thyself report abuse
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