I watched "KNOCKING" DVD
by garybuss 35 Replies latest jw friends
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Gayle
Thx Gary,
I just ordered one. $35 with shipping. I thought I better see it before I decide to write to universities, libraries & museums, showing it starting in April. Do you think people seeing the film will be more open to listen to JWs if they see it on TV? Could this cause an increase in JW Bible studies and increase to baptisms later? Should I be concerned? My gut is concerned. Please give us any critiquing along the way.
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veradico
I have not watched the DVD yet, but I just watched the clip on YouTube. It seems reasonably fair. Jehovah's Witnesses have their, shall we say, regretable aspects, but the religion has accomplished some good for humanity as a whole while pursuing its selfish interests. Rutherford's inability to tolerate the absolute claims of Nazism (since they conflicted with the absolute claims of his Theocracy), the Witnesses' court cases involving freedom of religion and speech (even though Witnesses really only want freedom for their religion and their words, certainly not those of heterodox or former members), and the Witnesses' willingness to be guinea pigs in bloodless surgery (due to concern for their righteous standing before Jehovah and the congregation, not due to an altruisitc desire to aid science and humanity) are all examples of this. I prefer Jehovah's Witnesses to the Evangelical Fundamentalists who would unite Church and State and who desire a Theocracy as much as Rutherford did but are willing to engage passionately in the political process to achieve their goals. Jehovah's Witnesses just aren't as emotional as the other fundamentalist groups. Watch Jesus Camp, and compare it to our experiences as Witnesses. We were indoctrinated by the hypnotic repetition of specious arguments; they are indoctrinated by emotional highs and lows. An acute sense of sin is replaced by the ecstasy of salvation--over and over agian. With this as the percussive background, the leaders elaborate their themes (i.e. the sins of abortion, homosexualtiy, evolution, even attempts to stop global warming, etc.). Both, in the final analysis, are irrational systems, but Witnesses at least pretend to be rational and only resort to the authority of the Faithful Slave when the questions get too hard.
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Gill
Gary - So they actually say on tape that they do not take blood in any form! Wow! So they lie, then.
Veradicio - I love the phrase, 'but Witnesses at least pretend to be rational!' Brilliant!
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zack
Gill:
I do not have the video, my wife and I watched it at another couple's home. They do not go into the blood components, blood fractions issue if I recall
correctly. A medical ethicist on the show (you would recognize him if you saw him) does not concede that it was JW's who FORCED the medical community to
explore and experiment with bloodless surgery and other blood therapy alternatives. He said the medical community realized that the safety of the blood supply
could be compromised; that capacity was many times lacking, and you had people who for religious reason did not want blood. Medicine has
addressed all these issue for all these years to try and provide ALL patients with the best therapies.
I had the distinct impression that everything said about blood, especially by the WTS officials, was carefully framed to make it appear more of a medical
issue than a religious issue. They were also very careful not to paint doctors who refused to treat without blood as an option as evil. In past JW publications
I have read of doctors who tried to tranfuse smaller children described as "vampires." Not on this show. The credits at the end acknowledged Don Adams and
James Pellechia. I was certain then of WTS approval for the show. Also, cameras were openly used in a meeting at a KH. It is a LONG video, though.
Thanks Gary for the thread. I have always enjoyed reading your posts.
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garybuss
Gayle, The film, if anything, reveals the Witnesses to be more whacky than people realized. People who will be attracted to the Witnesses because of watching this 50 minute video on TV are defectives.
If the film was trying to sell Ford cars, Ford sales would not go up because of this film.
The more the Witness leadership tries media attention in order to appear rational, the more irrational they appear. The insiders just don't realize how bad they are.
The other thing the film highlights, the larger thing, is how whacky religion and religious superstition can make a person.
The real danger of being a Witness and refusing blood medical treatment is half of this film. That's not a sales closer for an unbeliever.
Another core element of this film was the presentation of the evidence that the Jehovah's Witnesses were in the Nazi camps voluntarily due to their respect for the Nazis not due to their respect for a God.
That seems to bring the message that membership in this group requires an extremely high level of commitment by the members to the instructions from the group leaders. As I watched the film, I was struck how much forcing the Witness people to serve the Nazis and stay in the camps when they were otherwise free to go, was similar to the people being forced to drink the poison cool-aide at Jonestown. The film shows how the Witness people were victims of Watch Tower leadership rather than victims of the Nazis. That's not a good sales closer.