Has anyone ever asked a Catholic if they hate us like we are told they do?

by life is to short 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  IsaacJ22

  I worked for a lady that was a Catholic when I was still a JW. We talked a little about religion once. She seemed completely oblivious to any hostility. I also had Catholic god parents before I was even a JW, and they never even used the term.

  I really doubt they give a darn, unless there should happen to be a lot Catholics and JWs in the same neighborhood. Otherwise, they WTS is like a bug to the Catholic church, isn't it?

  Of course, the Catholics were proselytizing and making converts of all the nations LONG before the WTS.

  I'm not a Catholic (atheist, actually) but I just had to get that in for those who tire of hearing JWs talk about how awesome they are.
• 

  LongHairGal

  I think the JWs are actually JEALOUS of the Catholic religion and wish they were as big as the church and to be SUPPORTED the way the clergy in the church is $upported.

  It was always my belief that the heads of the JW religion covet the respect and easy life that they perceive clergymen and the Pope have.

  I was raised Catholic and I never got the sense that Catholics had any animosity towards the Witnesses. If there is any hostility, it is completely one-sided and is coming from the Witnesses.
• 

  ziddina

  "Every since I was a little kid all I have heard is how the Catholics hate us, how they persecute us, even beat us in some third world countries. They incite their members to hate us and pelt us with rocks, tar and feather us, on and on. In fact rumor has it that in one small town [by us] they slit the tires of all the JWs' cars in the late '60's when they were holding a CA. Yet I know of an older Catholic couple who lives there and they say they never heard of the Catholics doing that, nor was it organized by the Catholics, that they know of. They do not doubt that it happened; just that it was not done by the Catholics. ..."

  I suspect that is an old story making the rounds, based upon the behavior of IRISH Catholics towards Jehovah's Witnesses, after being incited to do so by the local parish priest...

  But - the Irish tend to act like that, ANYway!!! (I'm "black" Irish, and LOVE a good brawl...)

  My dear, sweet Catholic neighbors two doors down (in Colorado, USA) are very nice to JWs - in fact, they are a bit naive about the underlying, unsavory behaviors of JWs. The Catholic husband used to employ JWs at his place of business, and the Catholic wife was DEFENDING them to me when I chanced to mention the WTBTS' behavior towards pedophiles, and other hypocrisies of the Watchtower Society...

  The stories you mentioned, seem to belong to Rutherford's era, when "Da Judge" wilfully and deliberately urged JWs to play recordings of his inflammatory speeches against "Christendom" and "Babylon the Great" upon peoples' doorsteps and on public streets...

  THAT behavior - demanded by "Da Judge" - got quite a few JWs in trouble - back in the 1930's and 1940's!!! But not anymore - that "JW myth" is SOOOO 'pre-World War II'... !

  Zid
• 

  Think About It

  Has anyone ever asked a Catholic if they hate us like we are told they do?

  Just got off the phone with the Pope and he said, "all JW's and X-JW's can go ____ themselves."

  Think About It
• 

  ziddina

  Think About It!!! You silly brat!! [slaps Think About It lightly and playfully upon the nose...]

  Funny!!! Zid
• 

  wiser

  Trust me, other denominations know next to nothing about Jws. Jws are the only ones that bash other faiths. They teach that they alone are the chosen of Jehova everyone else is false.
• 

  Gregor

  JWs would like to think someone even notices their little end-of-the-world dog & pony show. Everytime they are mentioned in the press/media they have an org(-anization-)asm. Pedo arrests are ignored.

  In the Rutherford days, they would hand out blatantly anti-Catholic pamphlets and drive sound cars through Catholic neighborhoods. Then when they got the crap beat out of them they were happy.

  If you ask a C. today what he thinks of JWs he will either shrug his shoulders, say "who?", or both.
• 

  flipper

  LIFE IS TOO SHORT- Good thread. Yes, it is just another lie we were taught, among many. The WT society & governing body constantly in articles demeaned and fomented hate speech and propaganda against the Catholics to control witnesses minds to HATE the alleged " false religion " . Not only did the WT society use this hate propaganda against Catholics, but Baptists , Presbyterians, and other types of religions. It was just a way to make Jehovah's Witnesses feel SUPERIOR " allegedly " in a false sense of the word - by putting other religions down.

  It's the same concept in psychology being around people who criticize and condemn others to make themselves feel right or better than other people. Only the WT society did this in an organizational sense influencing 7 million people to feel this way. Thus they have a lot to answer for
• 

  Finally-Free

  Typical JW methodology. Spend half a lifetime poking someone in the eye, and then cry foul if they have the audacity to finally strike back. They criticize governments too and later whine when their publications are banned. In my opinion, they actively seek persecution.

  That said, I was a Catholic for the first 25 years of my life, and I never heard them speak against the JWs.

  W
• 

  dgp

  I never actually asked them, but the ones I did know didn't think too highly of JWs. Hate might be too strong a word, though.

  I believe this is a good summary of the behavior of most Catholics.

  My experiences as a devout Catholic (a long time ago):

  First, most of us have no clue what the Watchtower really is about. I'm sure that will hardly surprise anyone. We don't usually want to change religion, happy as we are where we are, so the Jehovah's witnesses are those guys who don't take transfusions (odd, isn't it) and place Watchtowers and Awake!'s. You'd rather pretend you're not home if you don't want them to sell you a Watchtower which you won't read.

  And yes, they are crazy not to take transfusions, aren't they?

  Some other Catholics do not think "too highly" of JW's, for the simple reason that these Catholics don't know much about WT doctrines but they do know that the WT holds a terrible grudge against Catholics "per saecula saeculorum". If you ever lay your hands on a Watchtower, eventually you will hear that the Catholic Church is wrong in this, and that, and that... et cetera. The attacks never end. Don't the JW's call it "The Harlot"? I'm sure many people will understand that your dearly beloved church being called a harlot is not exactly a comment that is taken lightly. What would witnesses feel if someone came into a Kingdom Hall to say "you pedophile bastards who mistranslated the Bible"? I'm sure many a witness would say they are being persecuted. Many would claim they are not pedophiles, rightly so. Many others would say you have no right to do that. I'm sure I have made my point.

  I remember that I once gave a ride to an elder and his girlfriend. They were trying to get me to "study" and this elder (who was much younger than I am) would be teaching me. My mother had given me a small stick-on rosary to protect me from evil. Now, I don't think that would protect me, and I certainly don't believe in the church, but I hung it from my windshield so my mom would be happy. By the way, I did the same thing when my sister gave me a cute little plastic witch in her broom. I still remember how those two witnesses looked at the rosary and made a face of disgust. I am sure they would have asked me to remove it if they hadn't feared that would make me run away.

  Some Catholics are indeed rude and perhaps even aggressive, but those are the minority.

  The more evolved Catholics say you have to respect other religions and let people preach whatever it is they believe. Sounds like the Watchtower, right?