I've had this thought rolling around in my head for a couple days now . After reading a thread about the subject of hate and witnesses on another thread. So, what do you think ? Do the witnesses want to be the penultimate martyrs ? I remember when I used to go out in field service if someone came back to the car after getting scorned at a door , screamed at by a householder, or chewed out , some publishers would get off on it like it was a real rush to be " persecuted " for " righteousness" sake. They would act all giddy and excitable like having an adrenalin rush from drinking too many red bull energy drinks. And I, like maybe some of you used to see publishers stick their foot in someone's closing door, trying like hell to get in one last point to the householder. This kind of behavior always made me shake my head in disgust, even as a witness.
But the blame really falls on the Jehovah's Witness organization for making these people feel that to be approved by God, you have to be persecuted and go through trials like Jesus did. If you are not suffering enough, you must not be faithful enough or doing enough ! So they look at themselves as more holy and approved if they are undergoing hate, resentment towards them because of being witnesses.
Which brings me to the next problem with this twisted thinking. So in looking at the child molestation crisis, blood transfusion crisis, the witnesses dissing of higher college learning , when they hear any aggression towards them in their beliefs, immediately the radar goes up, and they look at it as having to endure persecution ! Somehow , in protecting what they feel are legitimate beliefs , they make themselves feel holier in God's sight by accusing anyone disagreeing with them as a persecutor of them. It's like a knee-jerk reaction, the kind you get when you go to the doctor, and he hits the little rubber mallet on your knee. The knee pops up, without even thinking about it. That is what cult mind control does to the Jehovah's Witnesses. So if we feel tempted to argue too much with them, thus giving them power and making them feel really hated, they have already kind of won, feeling they are better because we are persecuting them.
So, I'll tell you what. Sometimes what I do is I try to be respectful, nice to them , might bring a subject up, but I don't harp on it, or wear it out ! If we are kind to them, polite, it catches them off guard because they have been told that we on the outside are all from Satan and are hateful apostates. So, as an expression goes, kill em' with kindness ! My super elder brother got his home burglarized, and I called up to send my sympathy and compassion to him and his wife ! They sounded stunned that I'd call. They almost didn't know how to respond. Finally they said, " Thanks for being concerned. " But I mean it, they are not used to that ! Perhaps by our being loving apostates, we can rip the veneer off the witness martyrdom scam ! Look forward to hearing your comments on this too. Would like to hear what you think