I just had two female JWs visit, one in their 30s and the other about 20.
They invited me to their convention to learn about Jesus, they said it is three days long but I don't need to attend every day and she highlighted one session at 11.15am where I could learn about Jesus.
I said to her that I wouldn't be interested in attending the convention because I believed what a man called Rutherford said about religion being a snare and a racket. They wanted to know who this Rutherford guy was and after explaining knew who I was talking about.
I asked them about the RC & JWs and asked if they were disappointed in how the organization had dealt with victims. They said they weren't disappointed at all to which I said I was shocked. They then went on about men being imperfect. I pointed out what some of the problems had been (young abused children being questioned by 3 elders and their stand in not reporting to police, not encouraging it and only not discouraging it). Also the fact that they have known for years that these problems have existed and done nothing about it and as the one an only channel with HS they demonstrate that they aren't able to correct their mistakes. I said that if the GB were really guided by HS they would be obvious by their 'fruits' and the child abuse cases had not made this evident.
I then talked to them about their teaching that Jesus is only their mediator in prayer and they are taught that he is not their mediator through which we gain forgiveness of sins and the New Covenant. They were happy to look at the scripture in 1 timothy 2:5 and said that they did not know this to be the case. They asked how old the teaching was so I explained that it is still currently taught and showed them how to look it up in their library. I then explained that this teaching has further ramifications in that they are not considered to be God's children in the truest sense or part of the body of Christ, that only the anointed were. They were also astounded that their teaching was that they could not consider God to be their father in the truest sense, again only the anointed were. I mentioned that there is a recent magazine that highlights this but they said they hadn't noticed.
They said that they were truly sincere in following the bible and would research these things. They said it was wonderful how I had done research and was refreshing as they hadn't met anyone at home this morning and the ones they did weren't interested in the bible. She mentioned coming back so if she was sincere in her comments she will return but its highly unlikely. I mentioned that it was important to do ones own research and not believe everything that the Governing Body taught and when they sat down to do their prestudy to read the context when scriptures were quoted to see if it was appropriate to quote a particular scripture to support a conclusion in the magazines.
She mentioned the anointed a number of times and something about HS and her admiration of them was obvious.
What I found interesting was a point she brought to my attention that I hadn't considered before. She talked about the hierarchy and that we need leaders. She said God was at the top, then Jesus, then the anointed and then the followers. This is when I realized that this structure no longer exists and pointed this out to her. There is the article that explains that the anointed are not special and do not have any special positions and neither is the HS that they receive greater than other spiritual men. Also, since 2013 only the GB is the FDS and the rest of the anointed (including the GB as individuals) are part of the domestics just like the other sheep. This meant that the structure was God, Jesus, the GB/FDS and the followers.
At this point I could see she was getting upset. She had made the point that the GB were anointed and God had appointed them because as anointed they were special. I said to her that these men professed to be anointed to which she said 'they are anointed'. I said to her that it we were not in a position to make judgement over these men and say definitively that they are, instead only God and Jesus had that authority to make that judgement. She was flabbergasted and asked the younger lady what she thought. It was so funny when the younger lady went totally off topic.
I didn't want to argue with these ladies but at the same time I did not want to be preached at, so I didn't labour on any one point. They were also in the mode of drop the invitation and move on so it was surprising that they stayed as long as they did.
What was really puzzling was the fact that they pointed out that I knew so much and they would love to see me at a meeting but not once did they ask me why or knew so much or if I had ever been a JW. I think this lady might have just been happy to talk, as long as it was about the bible.
There were a few older men walking past, no doubt elders and as soon as she mentions the discussion to them, all thought of doing any research will be wiped from her mind.
