In trying to make this comparison a major difference came to mind. An apples to mangos comparison IMO.
The man/woman who elects to join a military service does so with full intent on facing their potential death in war. It is plainly part and parcel of the program. Not all die. Not all go to a shooting-war. But some do, and in times of national attack or war, many will die.
With the Watchtower - though one that joins is aware of the blood policy, he is often somewhat sheilded from the reality of that possiblility at the first. He learned of it sitting in his living room, reading the Wt publications. He might be young, inexperienced, and sure that that situation will not ever come around in his lifetime. And the reality - that if one violates the policy 25 or 40 years later - long after his initial decision to join the cult, and having now had time to decide as a mature human what course to take, is that he will lose not only his relationship with God [which is basically what the Wts says will happen], but his relationship with Jw wife, children, parents, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters, and all Jw's he has known for those decades. No where, in the teaching publications of Jw's do they tell him that. They gloss it - they parade the doctrine, but hide the realistic consequences of accepting it.
When one joins the military he is aware of the real possiblities from the start. The likelihood that war will be engaged in at some point is always there. The policy of sending troops into war is always there. With the Jw's, those df'd for blood use today, may, let's say 15 years from now, see the blood policy completely changed. There will be no retrofitting of the policy for the individuals hurt by dfing. And those that died due to the policy will be forever gone for no reason. [I realise that some of this argument could be applied to national political policies also - but not the fact that death and military service always go together to some extent.]
Interesting topic, Richard.
Jeff
