We had an overeager and inexperienced substitute CO (who was training with the real CO) who dropped a bomb on our hall when he said with oddly blunt confidence, "We may reason that Jehovah will look into people's hearts, see good, and allow them to survive with us through Armageddon. That is not the case, however! A vital preaching work is going on and everyone will have the opportunity to hear the truth. If they do not accept it, they will not survive! Aren't we even more determined to preach boldly this important, life saving message!?"
He was trying to fire people up for the ministry by threatening them with not only their own bloodguilt, but also the horrible idea of supposedly "good" people dying because they weren't JWs. Super messed up! But, official doctrine. It made quite a few audience members squirm in their seats. The next meeting, the real CO made reference to the young speaker's comment, trying to soften it a bit by noting that we aren't out to preach a message of gloom and destruction, rather a message of love and peace. BS! If someone actually believed that their nice non-JW friends, neighbors, and family were certainly going to get the divine hammer brought down on them if they don't convert, they would use the gloom and destruction message to motivate them to action. They wouldn't soft sell lifestyle benefits and modern day peace of mind. Armageddon is so close and those messages aren't powerful enough!
If someone's home were about to be swept away by raging floodwaters and you were entrusted with the task to warn them of the danger, you wouldn't tap on their door and say, "Can you picture yourself in a dryer place where no one has to worry about floods? Wouldn't a place like that be swell? Maybe I can stop back next week and give you one tiny detail about avoiding floods. Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm just a volunteer and any donations you can provide to further my work will be appreciated." NO! You would beat their door down and scream at them to get to safety! You would cut out all the BS and give them exactly what they need to know to get saved. Which makes me wonder, do most JWs actually believe what the Society teaches about Armageddon?
I think a lot of JWs get through the day thinking that God would never destroy their "worldly" family and friends since he can see their heart and know that they are good people. But that's not what the WT teaches. The only glimmer of hope would be that even if God killed them off, maybe, just maybe, they might be resurrected.
When JWs preach this, it makes me not want to worship their God.
