Comparing the Watchtower to a government ... your thoughts

by The wanderer 7 Replies latest jw friends

  • The wanderer
    The wanderer
    Comparing the Watchtower to a government

    During the time in which I spent as one of Jehovah's Witnesses
    the Watchtower Society would often compare itself to a theocracy.
    However, over the course of time that was not my perception con-
    cerning the Watchtower.

    What kind of government would you compare it to?

    Does the Society represent a "theocracy" as they so often claim?
    What kind of government regime would you liken it to?

    Please give some additional thought to these questions and your
    reasons why?

    Respectfully,

    The Wanderer

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    The Watchtower Society is "Big Mother" (okay it was Big Brother)

  • garybuss
    garybuss
  • 144001
    144001

    Singapore.

  • under_believer
    under_believer

    They definitely qualify as a theocracy, inasmuch as people are willing to submit to their rule and on the subjects they see fit to govern. See the definition at this Wikipedia article. Comparing them to other theocracies, I have to agree that they behave much like them. Iran, for example, with its rulership of hardline clerics. Theocracies ARE dictatorships, effectively, is what I'm trying to get at.

  • Justice-One
    Justice-One

    Communist, all the way. Rule from the top. No room for debate, or other points of view. Authoritarian. General buttwipes.

  • fullofdoubtnow
    fullofdoubtnow

    Well, they rule their members with an iron hand, a reminder of how the Warsaw Pact nations of Eastern Europe used to be ruled, so I'd say if thet were a government, they would be a dictatorship, an an oppressive one at that.

  • under_believer
    under_believer

    Let's not get confused, here. All self-professed "theocracies" that currently exist in our modern world are also dictatorships. Necessarily dictatorships, I'd say. Remember a true theocracy would have to actually be governed by God, and I doubt anyone here is willing to claim that any nation currently existing qualifies. Therefore, fullofdoubtnow, saying "no Witnesses are not a theocracy, they're a dictatorship" is kind of like saying that Simba isn't a lion, he's a feline. Secondly, Justice-One, I'm hard-pressed to see how the Witnesses resemble communism--perhaps my definition of that word differs from the one you're using?

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