WTBTS vs. Islam

by kairos 26 Replies latest jw friends

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  kairos

  When I was still a JW, no fellow JWs ever talked about Islam.
  It was some foreign-mystery religion that nobody knew about...Just that they are part of Babylon the Great.

  Islam, in my opinion, represents total evil.

  It's the 'King of the Cults'.

  If one does not support Sharia Law being spread earth wide and does not believe that Muhammad was the best example on how to live, he is not a Muslim. Plain and simple.

  ( they KILL apostates )

  If one does not support Jehovah's Kingdom being spread earth wide and does not believe that the Governing Body is the best example on how to live, he is not a JW. Plain and simple.

  ( they'd like to KILL apostates )

  JWs not a cult? Think again.
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  Village Idiot

  If there's anyone who's still in, do the Witnesses mention terrorism as part of the sign of the times along with earthquakes?
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  steve2

  In some countries where JWs are allowed to assemble, the law forbids Christian groups from attempting to proselytise Muslims (e.g., Malaysia and Indonesia).

  Severe penalties befall those defying the authorities.

  Beyond this, JWs clearly do not want to be targeted by extremists the way Rutherford baited Hitler and imperiled the lives of German Witnesses.

  Therefore, the JW literature is extremely sparse and non-inflammatory when it comes to commentary on Islam. Indeed, conspicuously few Christian groups have spoken out against Islam. It's safer to level your rhetoric against the Churches of Christendom, Catholics in particular. Secular law prevents the leaders of such churches from putting a death sentence on you .
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  Amelia Ashton

  When I lived in Spain most of the guys who work on the markets were Muslims and we even had the magazines available in Arabic. We went every Saturday to speak to them as they were all English speaking and our target audience. We were instructed to concentrate on finding agreement within their belief system and the JW's. I dont think anyone got further than Paradise and it's location.
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  SonoftheTrinity

  Kairos, the problem with Islam is that moderate Islam doesn't appeal to those suffering the effects of colonialism, Zionism and racism, and theocratic Sharia Islam does. Think about how zealous the Spanish were for Canon Law and the Inquisition after the Andalusian era. There aren't Sunnis or Shi'ites, or moderates and radicals. There are Batini or spiritual Muslims, and Sharia, or legalistic Muslims. Sufis and Agha Khanis are the non-legalistic ones and they are small minorities, while the Salafi legalists have money, numbers, and influence thanks to the wealth of the Gulf Arab states.
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  konceptual99

  Which all comes to the same conclusions as far as I can see:

  1 - there are only a small minority of Muslims prepared to actually take a stand against core dogma about things like violence and homosexuality that are exploited by extremists and

  2 - when push come to shove the majority choose to give at least some tacit support to religiously bound ideas on morality and even violent enforcement of Islam rather than be considered as apostates

  "Moderate" Christianity exists only because secularism has become the norm and people don't really care if others want to mix that up with a bit of ritualism on a Sunday. Day to day it makes no difference.

  "Moderate" Jehovah's Witnesses don't really exist because at the end of the day there is only one side of the fence to be on.

  For what I observe, the same applies to "moderate" Islam. The truly secular Muslim who is only doing it for a bit of traditional and meaningless cultural ritualism is seemingly a very rare beast.
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  LoveUniHateExams

  do the Witnesses mention terrorism as part of the sign of the times along with earthquakes? - good question, one that I've pondered before.

  I made a check of Watchtowers and Awakes (bound volumes, from Sept 2001 to c. 2006). There were no feature articles condemning terrorism as part of the signs of the times. I think they mentioned 9/11 as a terrorist act only once in that timeframe.

  Pathetic ...
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  OUTLAW

  JWs are taught to demonize all 'worldly' ( not JWs) organizations, individuals and religions as having no value only to be destroyed by God at 'Harm-you-gettin'-
  ( Armageddon ).

  Why do they not mention Islam?
  No scathing denouncements?

  .......I Can`t Wait to Meet You Tony!.......................................Ohhhhhhhhh shit.......
  

  .........................
• 

  steve2

  It would be a very foolish gesture on the part any of religious group to become known for rhetoric against terrorism.

  It is a vastly different world from the relative naiveté of the 1930s when Rutherford - from the comfort of middle-class white America - railed irresponsibly against Hitler.

  Given JWs are known for large public conventions, they'd make easy pickings for religious extremists intent on using terror to get their message across.

  Besides, JWs are in a no-win position: They are criticized for not speaking out against terrorism, but most certainly would draw huge criticism if they did speak out against it and attracted terrorist backlash.
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  LoveUniHateExams

  It would be a very foolish gesture on the part any of religious group to become known for rhetoric against terrorism

  We've reached a very sad state of affairs if a religious group (or anyone else), out of concerns for safety, shouldn't use freedom of speech to criticise terrorism.