Beginning over a hundred years ago with the sincerely misguided (albeit egotistical) Pastor Russell on down to today’s corporate incarnation of “Jehovah’s Mouthpiece” otherwise known as the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, all of the leadership’s crimes can be traced to a single kernel of untruth that lies at the very heart of this ungodly organization. A typical expression of this single but immense seed of falsehood is clearly seen in the following quote, typical of thousands made in the Watchtower over the years:
- ... if we fall into the habit of ... ignoring counsel from Jehovah through
his faithful slave class, it will not be long before our hearts become callous,
hardened. Similarly, when the slave class offers counsel on the need to be
selective in our choice of music and entertainment, and so forth, do we
gratefully accept it and make adjustments where necessary?
If we do not respond positively to Jehovah’s “voice,” we will soon find
ourselves “drawing away from the living God.” Passive ignoring of counsel
can easily become an active belittling, criticizing, and resisting of it. If left
unchecked, the result is “a wicked heart lacking faith,” and recovery from
such a course is usually very difficult.
– Watchtower, 7/15 13-14 Beware of a Lack of Faith
Not much in this life can truly be described as wholly contemptible, but that kind of intolerant arrogance of the viewpoint and, by extension, the personhood of others certainly is. Such an attitude will never be held by one honestly seeking real truth, for truth, the bona fide variety, welcomes, accepts, begs for a challenge – a different viewpoint, no matter its origin. Under such brutal scrutiny, the truth can only be refined and strengthened.
As participants here, we are all, for the most part, ex-JWs. Having spent various lengths of time (some of us decades) under the mental and psychological oppression characterized by the Watchtower quote above, of all people we should abso-freaking-lutely ABHOR the attitude or idea that we or any other one of us knows “better” than anyone else.
We should embrace the idea that our thoughts, no matter how strongly held, could very well be dead wrong. After all, we’ve already experienced such a revelation, haven’t we? This essential truth about most of us should temper any desire on our part to be condescending or needlessly harsh in our judgments of others’ views, no matter how ridiculous they may seem to us personally.
We should have reached the point that we are more than willing to live and let live.
We should have learned that dissension, with its resulting diversity of viewpoint, is both admirable and necessary for truth to thrive and falsehood to be fully exposed for what it is.
We should have progressed far beyond needless and juvenile name-calling that denigrates others simply because their viewpoints differ from ours.
We’ve lived through that sort of hell already. Why keep it alive and perpetrate it on still others?
