Now that there are no meetings to physically attend, I am in a position where I listen in to my wife's Zoom calls.
I thought some of the ideas in last week's CLAM were a bit strange, for instance they harped on about being 'friendly' to non-JWs but not to become 'friends' with them. The poignant question being put to the audience; 'What is the difference between being friendly to an unbeliever and being his friend?'
The same strange message cropped up again in this week's Living as Christians section. First, there was a children's animated cartoon featuring Sophia. In it a new girl from India, dark-skinned and therefore obviously different, joins the apparently all white school. All the kids in Sophia's class, none of who seem even to know where India is, give this new girl a hard, apart from, of course, Sophia who takes her under wing. The title of this section 'Become Jehovah's Friend – Love Your Neighbour'. The question being put to the audience 'How did Sophia show love to Priya (the Indian girl)?' Notice, not 'How did Sophia become friends with Priya?'
Next there was the whiteboard animation; 'What's a real friend?', after which the audience was asked 'Where can you find a good friend?', the answer obviously being only in the congregation with those who worship Jehovah.
So there you have it. Sophia herself may not be nasty to the new Indian girl but in the end they can never be friends. After all the new girl is probably a Hindu so certainly not a worshipper of Jehovah, besides which she is probably going to die at Armageddon so not really worth investing too much emotionally in.
