Hello,
As the bodies fell like black confetti from the top of their tombs in yesterdays horrendous holocaust I watched with admiration the Red Cross galvanized into action within minutes of the first strike, the Catholic Bishop wandering stunned among the injured and dying, offering all he had to give, and the Salvation Army and other religious bodies holding the hands of their neighbors in solidarity, sharing their tears. The courage and ultimate sacrifice of the firefighters, police, paramedics and others filled me with a swelling pride for the dignity and grace that given a chance, flourishes within all human hearts. After all, ‘no greater love has any than he give his life for his Brother’.
Yesterday, I was contacted by many JW’s by telephone and e mail, with the usual ghoulish, morbid excitement that the WTS reactive conditioning inspires within them in moments of tragedy. Typical of comments were these:
‘This should shake a few of those weaker ones back into the Truth’
‘Everyone is safe in Bethel, that is the important thing’
‘We have been telling them this for years….’ etc. etc.
‘This should make people listed to our message, at least for the next few weeks’
‘Have you heard if any JW’s were killed’
I could not help but compare the less than involved attitude of the inhabitants in the ‘Big House’ a few hundred yards across the river, ensconced in their sterile little lives, looking on from their ‘box seats’, cameras in hand, with those who truly love their neighbors. The WTS after all are long term New Yorkers, they are part of the city. Where are they? Thousands upon thousands of square feet of empty warehousing exist within the Brooklyn complexes, they have doctors and nurses on site, emergency supplies, rooms to house those who wait in desperate grief for news of their families and friends, transport at their disposal, kitchens to feed the hungry. The best they seem to be able to offer was tea and a seat to a man, who in his shocked state was foolish enough to prime the pump of WTS PR by saying he felt safe in ‘Jehovah’s House’. I am awaiting news of two friends who it seems perished in the murderous attacks, good and decent people. Their wives wait with feeble voices in a tortured ecstasy of pain and anxiety, yet still seemed more concerned about my own feelings than theirs. If you are a JW and are lurking on this site, I would ask that you really think carefully about this scenario.
What was Jesus really trying to teach with his wonderful parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’. Who really is your neighbor? Can you see that by this important tenet of true Christianity, the WTS interpretation that our neighbor is merely the person that answers the door that we preach at, or those who sit in Kingdom Halls, is disgusting in the extreme. Everybody is our neighbor and according to Matthew 25 we will be judged on how we fed, clothed, gave sustenance and supported our neighbor, yes, especially in times of crisis.
If you think that I exagerate or have over-emotionalised the issue, then please, ask one of the elders in your congregation to pray publicly for the families of those grieving who are not JW's, ask if you can subscribe to the Red Cross, or try to write to those of other faiths to thank them for just being there when you wre not. The chances are that they will have to check with 'Bible based publications' over such issues of the heart.
I know that most of you JW’s that are looking in on this message are good and decent folk, I have no doubt that you feel as much pain as the rest of humanity over what has happened. What we are asking is that you really put the WTS to the Scriptural test over this issue. What is of the greatest importance to them, their neighbor, or their Temple, human life or 'organisational' life?
Best regards to all at this difficult time - HS