So it is a matter of conscience but every JW knows how his conscience has to decide
OK for JWs to vote?
by davidsf 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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laurelin
That Question from Readers caused a lot of controversy in our family recently. I came to conclusion that it's not a conscience matter. You don't vote. If your faith is strong enough you won't won't. They do seem to have a letout clause for the less faithfull in that if you do vote then that's between you and God and in this I believe they are correct. After all, everything we do is between us and God eventually.
Like a lot of things; it all boils down to how strong your belief in God and the scriptures is. There are a lot of "grey" areas in the society that in all truth aren't grey areas at all. Strikes me it's pretty close to ear tickling.
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Corvin
Like a lot of things; it all boils down to how strong your belief in God and the scriptures is. There are a lot of "grey" areas in the society that in all truth aren't grey areas at all. Strikes me it's pretty close to ear tickling.
I remember when I was a kid and I heard that term, "it's a grey area", and now unsettled it made me inside.
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freedom96
By saying it is a concience matter, what they are really saying is that they don't want you to do it. I can't imagine someone being "in good standing" and going out and publicly voting.
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catchthis
I was telling a JW relative a couple of months ago that I will probably vote in this coming election. She immediately reminded me that it was a no-no so I asked her what the latest WT said about voting. She heehawed around by saying that only in countries where our lives would be threatened it would be ok to vote. But in the USA, it is not obligitory to do so. My response? I asked her if she still believes if Jehovah causes all governments and politicians to come into their places by his will? And if he does allow these governments to exist ultimately under his control, then what difference would it make if I were to vote? It very well may be Jehovah himself influencing me to vote a certain way. She didn't like that answer and said, "No No No. You've got it all wrong. You're not understanding what the WT is saying."
It went on like that for another 5 minutes or so and she would not budge on the part about Jehovah allowing all worldly governments to exist. And this is a doctrine that every witness knows is true. But I guess it didn't fit her defense strategy.
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davidsf
Well, I'm still confused. To simplify, let me ask, say a JW votes for John Kerry in the presidential elections. Then it becomes known to the elders that the JW voted. What happens to the JW? Is he rebuked? Disfellowshipped? "marked?" Nothing? If voting is truly a "conscience matter," then the elders would do nothing.
Is it the same as when a JW commits fornication? We all know what happens in that case, and it ain't nothing.
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confusedjw
Well, I'm still confused
No I'm confused.
Are there really any conscience matters in the KH?
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Gopher
So it's okay to vote if your life is threatened, i.e., if the Watchtower will lose one of its magazine distributors.
But if you're living in Malawi in 1970's and you're a JW and your life is threatened, you (as a JW) still cannot buy a 25-cent government-party-ID card if your life is threatened.
Some JW's are allowed to use their "conscience", and others are/were not.
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Gopher
let me ask, say a JW votes for John Kerry in the presidential elections. Then it becomes known to the elders that the JW voted. What happens to the JW?
Two elders will take him into the feared "conference" room at the back of the Kingdom Hall, and make him say for whom he voted.
If he voted for Bush, it's okay because he is upholding God's arrangement, which places existing governmental officials in their place.
If he voted for Kerry, he's in deep doo-doo, because he has voted against the incumbent, and has "taken a stand against the (existing) arrangement" and thus against Jehovah himself.