Lowell Community Responds To Kingdom Hall Criticism
by Bangalore 6 Replies latest jw friends
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Billzfan23
Sounds like a great outlet for some folks in the area to learn the truth about this group. ANY publicity about JW's is very good for family members who are out watching those who are in still suffer.
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blondie
By Jeff Skrzypek
EUGENE, Ore. -- As details emerge about what exactly happened the night of the homicide in Lowell, some opinions about the Jehovah's Witnesses' faith are starting to come to light -- views that many say are untrue of the religion.
After we posted the story online at kezi.com, viewers began leaving comments. Some were supportive of the church, but there were also many harsh things said -- including some blaming the Jevhovah's Witness religion for the shooting.
But many folks in Lowell who live close to the church say that's simply not true. For the folks who've called this area of Lowell 'home' for years, living by this Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall has been pretty normal.
"They just have their meetings and they clean up around their church," describes Traci Daugherty. "They take really good care of it and they're just really good people."
That's why those who live near the Congregation Center were shocked when they were awoken to the homicide scene late Wednesday night, just doors away from their homes.
"It's really a very nice community, and for something like this to happen it's just unbelievable," says Mary Smith.
But for some folks, the story wasn't unbelievable. Posted on kezi.com just hours after the story broke, one person wrote, "mind control and cultish behaviors are dangerous things." Another postulates, "the killer had probably been shunned by the cult.
"No they're not a cult, they're just like every other religion, you know most of it is family oriented," Smith added.
Still some disagree with the community's assesment, saying, "Actually, Jehovah's Witnesses are an oppressive, fundy sect that instills members to stuff their feelings."
"I don't agree with that, I just think that people shouldn't be able to say those things," explains Lacey Dooley. "I don't think that it's no wonder it happened. I mean, you can't really just say that."
"(I'm) sad because, you know, we're all people, every one of us, and it doesn't matter what religion you're in, they're still godly people." says Daugherty.
After numerous attempts to contact the neighboring Kingdom Hall to get their reaction, the Lowell Congregation released a statement saying, "we are deeply saddened by the tragic event" and "our Kingdom Hall has always been a place where people receive spiritual refreshment and it will continue to be so."
"I mean, I'm shocked that it happened at the Jehovah's Witness Hall, but, basically, something like this could happen anywhere," concluded Smith.
KEZI 9 News tried contacting the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Halls here in Eugene and in Springfield. They did not want to comment on the situation, but said it's unfortunate what happened and hope to be able to move forward.
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Mad Sweeney
What makes Kingdom Hall neighbor Mary Smith an expert on the Borg cult? She's just a freaking neighbor!
I swear, the whole world seems to be in denial about cults and the power and oppression they wield over their members.
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dinah
It seemed to me most of the supportive comments were written by Witnesses. Did you notice that "above reproach" buzzword?
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teel
Most of the non-witnesses are not actively supportive, so it's obvious it's JWs comments. The majority of the people are completely neutral, the most they say is "they're good people, they keep their church clean..." and that's that. They won't go to forums to defend them, because they don't know if the accusations are true or not, and they have no interrest to research.
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undercover
I try not to read too many reader comments after a story involving JWs breaks. It seems that any number of ex-JW/anti-JW internet guerillas will use that chance to try to slam the religion.
Usually, most of these comments end up making the JW haters look bad. Sour grapes, a chip on their shoulder or just plain off balance.
We know that the WTS/JWs is a cult but is the comment section after an article like this the place to try to force the issue? First off, we don't know all the details. And second, someone died...even if they are a JW, it was a horrible thing. JWs are victims of the cult, not perpetrators of the cult. To use these headlines as a means to try to educate people about the dangers of the cult will have opposite results among the JWs who read the comments, some of them venomous.
And even among the general public, they don't know anything about JWs. So many people are God-fearing Bible believing Christians, if in name only. But because they profess to be religious and God-fearing they'll defend other churches when something bad happens to them...even JWs or Mormons.
Personally, I think it's best to discuss the cult aspects of these news stores involving JWs on the forum boards and leave the comment sections to those who live in the area and want to express their sadness and sorrow or talk about what they actually do know about it.