Hi Rebel,
I was a silent, believing walkaway, not disfellowshipped. I was known by the majority of the Corporation's agents here.
In November of 1992 I had been out of town for the day on business and when I got back I went to the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation sponsored assembly on Sunday afternoon to pick up my wife and take her to dinner.
I got there early and sat through the last hour or so of their meeting. When the meeting ended, all 600 people there got up and made a line to file out the door. I stood there by the line to watch for my wife and all 600 people filed past me without looking at me or without saying one word to me. I knew over half of them. Many of them were my relatives.
Which one of those 600 would I not have contempt for?
I'm not critical of your acceptance of members or your ability to separate them from their group. Your experience with them was / is different than mine.
Every day on my way to town I drive by a grave on a hill. Every day I look at the picture on my wall of my 4 sons and am reminded that two of them shun me by order of the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation. Every day I am reminded in some way of my parents and their last comments to me. I still hear their door slamming behind me.
I view them like I view Hitler's SS. Were some of them decent, misled people? Maybe! Did they support a system that hurt people? Yes! Do I have contempt for them? Yes! If they leave the SS and make amends for their crimes and start to treat me, and people who are important to me, nice, will I view them different? Maybe. Will I ever really trust them? Possibly.
Some of my best friends and favorite people are former Witnesses. Some post on this list.
Do I have contempt for all believing practicing Witnesses supporting a system that has not been good to me? Yes! Do I want to be friends with them or live with them? No!
Thanks for your replies. I appreciate them.
Three Things Witnesses Will Admit
by metatron 21 Replies latest jw experiences
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garybuss
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Reborn2002
I view them like I view Hitler's SS. Were some of them decent, misled people? Maybe! Did they support a system that hurt people? Yes! Do I have contempt for them? Yes! If they leave the SS and make amends for their crimes and start to treat me, and people who are important to me, nice, will I view them different? Maybe. Will I ever really trust them? Possibly.
Amazing analogy garybuss. I know exactly how you feel and share the same sentiment.
I personally hate Jehovah's Witnesses.
Are some of them naive and misled? Perhaps.
Nevertheless, do they willfully support an organization which murders children by application of an ever-changing blood doctrine? Do they protect the image of the organization concerning the epidemic of pedophilia and subsequently utilize "theocratic warfare" in order to lie to the public about the problem? Do they lie to your face about contradictions in their own doctrine? Do they disrespect people's wishes to not be disturbed at their home? Do they advocate shunning and dividing families by virtue of a disfellowshipping practice? Do they attempt to shame people? The answer to all of the above is YES. People who encourage or participate in such behavior have earned my hatred. These practices are at the very center of JW doctrine.
Also consider that with all of the abundant information readily available to any person who seeks it out (books and internet), I have difficulty possessing sympathy for people who are willfully ignorant. If they devote so much time (hundreds, even thousands of hours a year) to field service and attending meetings, but do not devote the time to properly research the religion they are devoting their life to... I have no capacity to show compassion for someone who does not do something for themselves.
I have not spoken with my brother for over 2 years because of Jehovah's Witnesses and their doctrine. I never did anything to hurt him, but because I chose to not be a Jehovah's Witness he looked me in the face and said that it would be a shame when my grandfather was resurrected after Armaggedon and how the family would have to explain to him why I was not there because I was unfaithful. He also made it painfully clear that he would teach my infant nephew as he grows up that I am an evil person and I would never have any association with him. Is that showing love? You see Jehovah's Witnesses are made evil because of the practices they either personally commit or condone.
I hate Jehovah's Witnesses and all they stand for. I hate ALL Jehovah's Witnesses. PERIOD. It is a cult that has cost unimaginable heartache and death throughout decades. Consider that next time you wonder why people hold so much animosity towards a corporation hellbent on keeping naive slaves who peddle magazines.