Just another steaming pile of "spiritual food™".
It is nothing short of endorsing and encouraging parents to use emotional blackmail and social coercion to keep their children trapped in the Truth©. It's not a matter of convincing them that it's the right way to go, based on a clear understanding of all the issues involved. It's making them choose between their beliefs and their family, forcing them to worship in a way that they find unacceptable. Hmmm... Those words seem familiar. Where, oh where, have I seen something like that before?
Oh yeah. Awake!, July 2009 issue, pages 28-29 had an article entitled "Is It Wrong To Change Your Religion?" It contained this statement: "No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family."
This disgusting video makes a mockery of that article, and that statement in particular. It is nothing less than institutionalized hypocrisy.
The Society's website's public statements regarding shunning and family members are excellent examples of the doublespeak used to control the masses in the book 1984. The leaders themselves have been proven to be mealy-mouthed tap dancing liars, likely the envy of many a politician. Just look at Jackson's testimony before the Australian Royal Commission, if you want a prime example, and if you can stomach it.
Shunning, as a means of compelling someone to do something against their free will, is:
* Emotional blackmail
* Social coercion
* Psychological extortion
* An evil and disingenuous practice that is reason enough on its own to prove that the JW's are a false religion masquerading as Christian while making a mockery of his teachings.
As far as I'm concerned, the Society has many more parallels to the Mafia, Stalinist Russia, and North Korea than to what they pretend to be.
They have also shown that they are self-righteous, presumptuous, and arrogant in the extreme. They often use "Jehovah" and the "organization" interchangeably, basically equating the two. Why else would they consider leaving the organization the same as leaving Jehovah? In my book, that's tantamount to blasphemy.
And they're hypocritical in another way too. They want to speak with the authority of God's spokesmen, but accept none of the responsibility when they get it wrong. "Yeah, that's too bad. Sorry about that. We were just imperfect men trying to do our best. We never said we were infallible or inspired. But by God, we have it right now! And questioning us is the same as questioning God. Remember what happened to Korah!"
Forking bastids!