by cedars 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Good points Blondie...
The average jw, as well as a good number of elders (like myself at one time) didn't really want to be tied down to s Bible Study. Unless the study was held on a weekend morning, it was one more night of getting dressed and going out. Few Witnesses want to make that effort, and with good reason. Pioneers on the other hand are usually looking for studies, so the expedient thing to do is simply hand them over, hoping a pioneer will accept the offer.
@Londo... ROFL!!
@Cedars... thought provoking!
Fernando,
That's best left to more capable hands. Where's Weird Al when you need him?
In later years of my being a Witness, the Armageddon doctrine that descended from Rutherford bothered me more and more. India and China represent two billion people…and I've worked with a number from these countries over the years and I knew they were really good people and didn't deserve everlasting destruction. I carried around a sinking feeling over this in my stomach. I would pray: "Why? Why? Why?"
And it's especially ludicrous that their salvation depended on their response to my 30 to 60 second spiel at the doorstep. If their life was at stake like this there needed to be signs and miracles--say a Governing Body member walking through a nursing home or hospital and healing everyone in sight. I realized nothing less would get people to join the Witnesses.
I know I'm not the only Witness who struggled with this doctrine and had severe angst about the destruction of seven billion people, and reconciling that to a God of love. My mother wrestles with this as well and asks the same questions. Alas, she is too far under mind control to find answers.
It is a relief to know that is not what the Bible teaches.
Interesting article and well written too!
A few thoughts:
Regarding the percentage of JWs to the total earth population, you know that current JWs are already indoctrinated to dismiss that as irrelevant, after all God destroyed and entire world and only saved 8 souls in the ark. Also at Sodom and Gomorrah only 3 escaped Jehovah's divine wrath. So as compelling at your argumentation and logic are to a REASONABLE person, it is meaningly to a well-indoctrinated JW.
I think your arguments under the "Conversion Matches Gestation" section much more compelling and lucid. However, they are also sophisticated for the average JW to grasp.
Have you considered how the alleged JW growth compared to:
That being said, I especially appreciated the way you concluded the article and I applaud your efforts to reach those "being brave enough to give it careful thought"!
00DAD
Hi 00DAD
Thanks for those tips, I particularly like the following points:
Overall population growth - is it greater than, the same or less?
Other religions growth rates - JWs like to cite their "growth" as "proof" of divine backing, yet from my brief perusal of the subject it seems that other groups are growing faster, (Islam, for example). Does that "prove" they have divine approval?
I can research all that, and I may amend the article accordingly to address those concerns.
As you've hinted, there's really only so far you can go with this. For example, some JWs may be perfectly comfortable with 99.9% of the world's population being slaughtered, whereas others might have seen for themselves that there are genuinely good people out there, and find that concept hard to grasp. I'm very much appealing to people's humanity, really. It depends to a large extent on the mental make-up of the JW, but hopefully the very fact that they're perusing the website will already be an indicator that they are a reasonable/thinking person.
Cedars
Sorry about that crazy formatting! It really irritates me how "inventive" the 'post a reply' box can be sometimes with the stuff it spits out. I want to try and use the html input a bit more. It may take longer, but at least you have more control over the end result...
Cedars
