I am a Catholic who was recently visited by a Jehovah's Witness who had some things to say which I had never known about. This got me to thinking, and so I am now curious about the full teachings of the WTS in this regard. Basically I was informed that Witnesses cannot vote nor serve in the military, or even fly a flag. I was also told that the Jehovah's Witnesses were the only non-worldly Religion since they oppose any military action at all, and truly turn the other cheek. He even went so far as to explicitly say that even if hordes of armed men streamed over our borders from another country, burning and killing, (the colorful words were my own in question) it would never be acceptable to either serve in the military and fight this, or even so much as to support or encourage others to do it. Specifically he said there was no such thing as a just war, and under no circumstances could a believer take any kind of part at all in such a thing. I thought later, or I would have asked him then, but surely Jehovah's Witnesses cannot then work as police officers, or even file a report with them if burgled or robbed? I am guessing also that calling 911 in such an instance as being assaulted or attacked would be impossible, right? I figured that if it is wrong for armed men from the government to stop foreign armies from invading and killing us, then one surely could not call armed men from the government to stop local hoodlums from doing so? Am I wrong? If I am, then how can it be reconciled that it is wrong to stop murders and invasion by armies from other nations, but it would be okay to stop invasion of our homes or person by criminals from this nation? I really wish I had thought to ask this, simply to understand better what Jehovah's Witnesses believe, but I guess I was just surprised to hear some of what I was told. Thanks for any clarification on this, Patrick
Voting, military, etc?
by cothrige 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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restrangled
Hi Patrick, Look up Christadelphians to see where a lot of their "exclusive" ideas came from, look up Millerites to see where their inspiration to be spend their entire life going "look at me" came from.
r's hubby
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Balsam
Cothridge,
You have surmised right, except that JW's fully expect to be protected by the police, or military though they would never work in these fields. They would call the cop or look to the military to rescue them if they country was over run and taken over. But they themselves would not take up arms to protect themselves or their family. In later years they did suggest we could protect ourselves if our family was being attacked or molested but that was different.
Ruth
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David_Rupp
Hello
Yes, that is correct and the police / military stance was one of the reasons I left the Witnesses. It showed a hypocrisy there I could not reconcile in my mind. "Oh, no, they have guns and are bad" along with "there is someone breaking into my house - send the cops, quick!" - it made little sense even when explained to me and I tried to explain it to others.
Thanks for posting! (:
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BONEZZ
Hi Patrick,
They are rather hypocritical inasmuch as they certainly enjoy the freedoms provided by the government that they are trained to hate and will not lift a finger to protect a neighbor from a foreign enemy. They are told to Take from the government social services when they are hungry but they are not allowed to volunteer to work for those same services or charities that help them in their time of need. As an organization they do nothing in the way of helping anyone except their corporate publishing empire. They do not have any system set up to provide for their own people who they treat like beaten sheep.
Back to the point, some geographical areas are more lenient towards gun ownership for "hunting" purposes. Guns for protection are strongly discouraged but I don't think they have ever banned it. No right minded JW would ever 'fess up to owning a gun for "protection", but I've known several.
-BONEZZ
PS. They like to say..."if the world were nothing but JWs then there would be no more wars." I like to follow up with..."yeah and we'd all be saying Heil Hitler!"
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digderidoo
Hi Patrick, here in the UK JW's can become policemen but it is frowned upon by the rank and file JW's. I guess they are not allowed in the US because of bearing arms. Your right when you say that there is hypocrisy within the religion.
On this site many of us have left the JW's and certainly all of us have problems with the way we were taught. You would do well to put these questions to an active Jehovahs Witness when they next come knocking your door and see what they say.
Paul
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cothrige
I must say this is fascinating, and I really had no idea, even after having been visited by Jehovah's Witnesses often over the years. I suppose I can at least understand a general opposition to war, though not to all war under all circumstances, but what was discussed at this particular time was how "worldly" every other Church and religion was because they allowed voting at all, much less any military activity of any kind. I was told that this proved that all Churches were in league with Satan. It seemed obvious to me that this definition of "worldly" was widesweeping. Such an extreme position would seem possible only if one lived in a remote area and had no involvement in outside activity, i.e. the Amish. I just kept thinking that it seemed unlikely that a religion could actually hold such strong views and still live in the world as Jehovah's Witnesses obviously do. Surely compromise, such as the police problem, would be inevitable. Patrick
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Awakened at Gilead
Patrick,
Another example of this is that Witnesses are allowed to take blood fractions but aren't allowed to donate blood (which is where the fractions come from). Just like they want police protection, military protection, yet aren't willing to participate.
Very hypocritical religion if you ask me... and I was one for 24 years... Oh I was such a hypocrite...
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Who are you?
They have convinced themselves that they don't live in the world...which is indeed an entirely different kind of fantasy.