A question regarding bringing reproach on God’s name

by crazycate 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  crazycate

  Regarding the tragedy in Gresham this last week, I have nothing but sadness for the loss of that young life, and nothing but sympathy for the family and friends that mourn her. I do, however, see the attempts being made to make sure everyone "knows" that the alleged killer was not a "real witness."

  I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and remember the conversations that surrounded any criminal action by a member of the congregation. Following the initial horror, invariably the comments were, "How horrible that this may bring reproach on God's name."

  But were we concerned about what people might say about God, or were we really afraid that we would be made ashamed of the organization to which we belonged? Upon reflection, I have to wonder if I was more concerned that Almighty God would be bothered by bad press, or that I would.

  I really don't know. Anyone else?
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  tenyearsafter

  I hadn't seen anything about the suspected killer being a JW...do you have details you can share or a link that talks about that?

  And yes, you raise a good question...I think I hated the bad press if I were lumped in to the same group.
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  Finkelstein

  " How horrible that this may bring reproach on God's name."

  This is an overly used expression by main stream JWS to openly express ones own personal spiritual strength and how

  those ones who acted in this manner didn't.

  Who's has spiritual strength and who doesn't ?, is always a big issue and shouldn't logically be unexpected because

  who presents the most spiritual strength are the ones who will survive Armageddon in JW theology.

  Hows your spiritual strength on a scale of 1 to 10 ?
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  lil.lady.03

  @ tenyearslater the guy Holt was an "irregular witness" in the same hall as Whitney and her husband. He and his wife aso lived in the

  same apartment complex as Whitney.

  The family made it a point to issue a statement saying the Holt was irregular.

  http://www.nwcn.com/news/175234091.html

  It's a sad story any way you slice it.
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  crazycate

  lil.lady.03 - Thank you for that link. And yes, it is sad and terrible and I don't want to diminish that. That's why I started a separate topic, because I don't want to derail any of the threads that are about how sad and terrible it is. It has just made me think about many things, one of which is my response in the past to any criminal behavior by members of the congregation.
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  Finkelstein

  "Jehovah’s Witness regard life as precious, a gift from God," the statement continued

  What mouth full of bullshit, JWS don't care really about human life, as an example they let themselves die when a necessary blood transfusion is needed

  or when they banished the use of organ transplants and vaccinations. Furthermore they preach a Gospel that states that the majority of the earth's

  population is going to be killed soon ..........life really is precious to JWs but only in a pretentious conditional way.
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  biometrics

  So many things done in God's name. Wonder how he feels about it. Everything from covering up peadophiles to murdering innocent people.
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  braincleaned

  I find much fault in the Organization, and I'm now an atheist (so I don't care about any reproach on god's name). However, the bias of an exJW could easily jump on this story and make it a JW/WTS issue.IT'S NOT.No religion has the monopoly of crime, and if anything, the JWs are not on top of that hill.
  
  So come on, people. I have a lot of justified bitterness towards my ex-religion - enough not to add the fantasy of this being some kind of 'proof' of how bad this cult is!I get really weary and skeptic of people who jump on this as if it made them happy to add this to their spite.
• 

  LongHairGal

  crazycate:

  That phrase is nothing more than a guilt trip or a thought stopper to keep you from opening your mouth and letting the "world" know the dirty laundry that goes on inside the religion.

  You are almost made to feel that you have to make excuses or cover up for them. It is embarrassing really because once you realize the religion just plain looks stupid/guilty or whatever, by extension you, as the believer, also look that way since you are going around knocking on doors telling people this is truth. And all this is before the real rude awakenings that make you actually want to leave. Witnesses really have to do a lot of lying to themselves in order to stay in this religion.

  The crux of the matter is that the religion paints itself as being better or more correct than other religions, so it has to fight to maintain this false image to the public and the unspoken rule is that you as the JW are required to keep up this facade.
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  Theocratic Sedition

  Exactly LHG.

  This week is interesting to me too because there's two parts that will focus attention on making it known to others that one is a JW. The last part in the School is about being proud to tell others about your beliefs whether at school or work. The whole 30 minutes or so of the Service Meeting is a discussion on the video, Young People Ask-How Can I Make Real Friends. The video has a section that encourages telling your classmates and teachers immediately that you're one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  So between a fear of bringing reproach upon God's name, and being pretty much forced or guilt tripped into letting everyone know you're a JW in school, it's like being between a rock and a hard place.