Mmmm! Smell The Burning Martyr!

Englishman

I was talking with a minister of the United Reform Church recently. Inevitably, the talk got around to JW’s, the minister then commented that he admired their stance on blood and their diligence in spreading the gospel from door to door.

This got me to thinking, how does Joe Public regard JW’s?

Well, most people know that they don’t accept blood transfusions, don’t celebrate Christmas, don’t go to war and, and, as a result, seem to thrive on their persecution-for-righteousness-sake image. Some folk even think that they are extremely honest people, although I must admit that I’ve never actually heard anyone say that, it’s just something that I read in the Watchtower.

The trouble with all this is that this gives JW’s an air of Burning Martyr.

Burning martyrs are normally viewed as being slightly crazy, but they are also often regarded with something approaching admiration, just a few steps away from being saints, if somewhat misguided.

The only way to expose JW burning martyrs is to focus on their treatment of their fellow man. Since leaving the JW’s, I have made sure that people understand that there is nothing admirable about the way that JW’s conduct their lives. I tell anyone who will listen that JW’s do terrible things, that their behaviour in general is absolutely appalling!

Most people are unaware that JW’s:

a. Shun their ex- JW family members and friends.

b. Believe that every person who is not a JW will be slaughtered at Armageddon.

c. Choose to withhold information from the authorities about paedophiles in their midst.

Making people aware of JW bad behaviour is, too my mind, the most powerfully effective method of discouraging would-be JW converts. Revealing their bad behaviour to anyone who will listen will do much to dissolve the myth of the “burning martyr” that they hold so dear.

Englishman.

Scorpion

Well said. If everyone that realizes and has experienced the way the WT treats and thinks about others that disagree or has doubts about their ways does their part, a lot can be accomplished to spread the truth about the "truth".

patio34

Good point, Englishman.

But the folks I run into at work view the JWs as cultists, obnoxious in their beliefs and prosyletism, ignorant in the views on blood transfusions, superstitious about the 'end of the world,' and very cruel about their shunning practices. This is organizationally speaking. The nice ones are just naive and misled.

Of course, I picked up on this mostly after informing some I was no longer attending mtgs, etc. But there is no defense coming from me!

Patio

Francois2

I guess it depends on where in the world you are. In the mountains of East Tennessee, it was a long held belief that JWs worshipped a black flag with a red snake on it (search me, I don't have a clue where it came from).

But the worst epithet in the rurals was to call JWs "No Hellers" as in they don't believe in the reality of a burning hell. Seems the fundy types put a great store in the teaching of hellfire and brimstone. It's such a good motivator. There was a lot of contempt for JWs on that score, too.

The green bible didn't go over too well. And neither did the fact that nowhere in all their literature was the word "grace" to be found. You could tell these people that "undeserved kindness" was how we referred to grace, and that just got us in deeper. "What father would be kind to his children and then tell them that they didn't deserve it?" They wanted to know. That pretty much ended the conversation.

The fact that so many in the general public seem to have a sort of tolerant attitude toward the JWs is, in my opinion, testimony to the effectiveness of propaganda which, as we know, was invented and perfected by Joseph Goebbels in the service of another destructive and dangerous cult: the Hitler Cult - as opposed to the JW cult. But the JW cult has made effective use of this brain-child of their spiritual brothers - the German Nazi party.

Francoise

think41self

Excellent points Englishman!

I agree that martyrs can get way too much attention. I make sure I tell everyone I meet that while most JW's I've known are decent people who are being mislead, I point out the shunning of family and the protection of abusers. People I talk to are shocked that a person would choose their beliefs over family, and the protection of children. So we must keep "spreading the truth about the truth", eh?