by DevonMcBride 21 Replies latest jw experiences
Next week I'm going to speak with a large group of people about the Jehovah's Witnesses and one or two of their teachings. I don't have time to discuss all of their bizarre beliefs so I'd like to ask your opinions on which subjects to use.
What would you consider to be the one most outrageous teachings of the Watchtower you would chose?
After the blood transfusion policy, what would you consider to be the next most dangerous teaching?
The one that gets me is the annointed class being the mediator for the great crowd, especially since the bible directly says Jesus is the mediator for all!!
Shutting out the vast majority of the JWs from the New Covenent by claiming that they can not be part of it. That leaves them nowhere if they are not in the New Covenent where do they belong and who represents them before God's throne? Isn't Jesus the master of all?
If you are talking about "dangerous" as in causing practical problems in people's day to lives, I would say that after the blood transfusion doctrine it would have to be all the ranting against education. Keeping people enslaved in the poverty of low paying jobs affects many aspects of a person's life, not only financial. Studies have shown that physical health, mental health, and parenting skills, are all negatively impacted. An uneducated mind is an impoverished mind and often JW's can see no way out of their negative situations because they have never been taught any useful skills or any other way of "being" in the world other that the JW way. IMHO, I believe that this is one of the reason's that there is so much despair and suicide attempts amoung JW's (not just the ones who have been df'd). They have been kept in the dark and do not know that there is anything else out there for them. This unbalanced, all or nothing thinking is so destructive to a person's spirit.
Cog
Shunning, the policy of bad association, marking and disfellowshipping, how it has destroyed families and pushed some to take their own lives and how it keeps witnesses attending for fear of being shunned. An easy one to cover and very illustrative about how controlled witnesses can become.
There's probably not a person on this board that hasn't been effected by this at one point or another
Matt
The Watchtower's Faithful Discreet Slave doctrine which is based solely on one little snippet of scripture pulled out of context in Matthew chapter 24.
Slugga
What was I thinking? You are right. The df'ing and shunning destroys more family's lives and causes more suicides than any other doctrine. I bet if the death toll were added up, many more witnesses have died because of shunning than because of the blood transfusion doctrine. I should have known this, because I was df'd for 3 years and was very severely depressed during that time and also for a few years after being reinstated. It is hard to get over.
Cog
Sorry to hear about the tough time you had being Df'd cog.
I think this site should have a "Disfellowshipped" section where the newly disfellowshiped could come, post, even if its just to say "hi" and find out that they are NOT going to be judged and shunned by the rest of us. I reckon it would do a lot of people a lot of good.
It would have to be the teaching that: "The Faithful Discreet Slave should be listened too and obeyed in everything as you would God Himself."
I think this is the most crippling teaching to emerge from the faith. It is a deliberate manipulation for control of the individual that is woven deeply into the thoughts and emotions of every member and carefully connected to every other teaching.
SHUNNING # 1 for starters, it destroys families
