Hi BLISS,
I was just reading an old post by Norm from an old forum. Wanted to make sure some new ones see it and refresh it for some oldtimers too. It is a great post (as, in my opinion, all of his contributions are) on the topic of Watchtower Love. Enjoy!!:
http://www.freeminds.org/h2o/300725.html
Posted by N.H. [Pravo] on November 29, 2000 at 02:26:50 {MqiH7S5EbUdhIjSXPymAX.sgIvMbfw}:
Jehovah's Witnesses and the concept of Love.
Jehovah's Witnesses like so many other ”Christians” talk a whole lot about ”love”.
The Watchtower magazine even claim that Jehovah's Witnesses are the ONLY ones who have the “RIGHT” kind of love, whatever that might be:
“JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES are unique in ever so many ways. They alone speak the “pure language.” (Zephaniah 3:9) Only they are united, having the distinguishing mark of love described by Jesus Christ.”
The Watchtower. January 15. 1992. Page 24 “Only in the spiritual paradise, among Jehovah’s Witnesses, can we find the self-sacrificing love Jesus said would identify his true disciples.”
The Watchtower. March 15. 1986. Page 20.
This can hardly be considered a modest claim by any standard. Anyone making such categorical statements must of course be held to an extremely high standard when we talk about love. Do Jehovah's Witnesses live up to such a standard? Let us find out.
What is this unique love that only Jesus and Jehovah's Witnesses possess? As we can see from the above quotes this love supposedly originates with Jesus, and we know that according to the Bible, Jesus was willing to die for the whole of mankind. Already here, we find the first serious flaw in the bold statements from Brooklyn. Because according to Watchtower doctrine, Jesus didn’t die for mankind, but only for 144.000 of said mankind. So if taking this quite unbiblical doctrine serious, Jesus love is already seriously limited.
When reading the Watchtower one quickly discovers that the love of Jehovah's Witnesses mostly extends only to their own fellow believers, anyone outside the Watchtower organization is only interesting as a possible convert, otherwise they are considered bad association. Is it a sign of love, to consider ordinary human beings that happen not to be Jehovah's Witnesses bad company? Or are such attitudes betraying other not quite so lofty ideals? The fact that this unique love really only includes the love of their fellow believers is made quite clear several times in the Watchtower.
“Who have unbreakable love for their spiritual brothers and sisters all over the earth and unity with them? Who really trust in Jehovah and invite others to do the same? The facts of our time show that the answer can only be: Jehovah’s Witnesses.” The Watchtower, April 15. 1988, page 19. “Furthermore, “this remarkable unity, to be observed only among Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the earth today,” declared the speaker, “is one of the rewarding benefits that they enjoy due to giving prior allegiance to God’s kingdom and following its law of love.”The Watchtower, October 15. 1977, page 611.
In this Jehovah's Witnesses faithfully imitate ancient Israel and the law, where only other Jews was considered to be their “fellow man”. Killing fellow Jews was bad but non Jewish people was fair game. The law regulated sexual behaviour towards Jewish women but non Jewish women was free game, etc.
The really sad thing is that not even this is love as we usually think about it. When you read the Watchtower you can see that this alleged unity seem to be regarded as the prime proof, the ultimate sign of this incredible “love” which is so unique for Jehovah's Witnesses. The “unity” which receives such prize here is, as we know, in reality conformity. This is demonstrated every time people are DF’d because they fail to conform to the Brooklyn doctrine. Real love would of course exist even where disagreement on certain issues was a fact. It is thus easy to see that this is at best a horribly conditional kind of love. Real love cannot be turned on and off, depending on the person’s religious views. If you really do love someone, you wouldn’t shun him/her on the order of some old men in Brooklyn whom you have never seen or even met? Yet we know that this is the case in thousands of instances, where people have treated their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and friends in this horrible manner based on such a flimsy reason. If anything, this alone is a roaring testimony to the complete lack of love and compassion of the Watchtower Society in particular and also on part of the individual Jehovah's Witness. In this sense the love of the Jehovah's Witnesses are indeed unique, it is a switch on/off “love”, and really only unique in it’s perversion of the very word.
Another quite remarkable thing about this is that the very observance of the Bible regarding such matters is Jesus own words that love among “each other” is no big deal, because even the “people of the nations” was capable of such basic feelings. The sad truth in the matter is as the facts show that Jehovah's Witnesses isn’t even capable of this basic feeling. Their association with and adherence to the completely perverted ideas of the Watchtower Society has even taken away their basic humanity. In Brooklyn they have disregarded Jesus words below in every possible way.
*** Rbi8 Matthew 5:43-48 ***
“YOU heard that it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ However, I say to YOU: Continue to love YOUR enemies and to pray for those persecuting YOU; that YOU may prove yourselves sons of YOUR Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous. For if YOU love those loving YOU, what reward do YOU have? Are not also the tax collectors doing the same thing? And if YOU greet YOUR brothers only, what extraordinary thing are YOU doing? Are not also the people of the nations doing the same thing? YOU must accordingly be perfect, as YOUR heavenly Father is perfect.
With this quote from the Bible in mind, let us see how this holds up when Brooklyn has been working on it for a while. Jehovah's Witnesses is extreme when it comes to pushing their religion on others. This of course makes them want to be treated politely and they would like so much to be met by people with “an open mind”. This is made abundantly clear in the next quote:
“The book then raises the logical question. “Is it reasonable to assume that the religion imposed at one’s birth is necessarily the whole truth?” Thus, every person is encouraged to examine other religions with an open mind. As is stated on page 10: “Understanding one another’s viewpoint can lead to more meaningful communication and conversation between people of different faiths.” It continues: “True, people may strongly disagree about their religious beliefs, but there is no basis for hating a person just because he or she holds a different viewpoint.”—Matthew 5:43, 44.” The Watchtower, April 1. 1991, page 17.
This is very true, wouldn’t we all like to be met in such a manner? I particularly like the part about “understanding” and “meaningful communication”. But this statement really is deserving of an upper case quote:
“TRUE, PEOPLE MAY STRONGLY DISAGREE ABOUT THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, BUT THERE IS NO BASIS FOR HATING A PERSON JUST BECAUSE HE OR SHE HOLDS A DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT.”
Well folks, we of course all understand that this is how Jehovah's Witnesses want to be met when they are out in the field service. We ourselves would of course like to be met like this by the Jehovah's Witness apologist’s right here on H2O. But it is quite incredible isn’t it? Here we have a cult, which actually teach in no uncertain manner that having a different viewpoint from the Watchtower doctrine is not only a cause for compulsory HATE, but also a legitimate reason to declare a death sentence over 99,9% of mankind!!! It boggles the imagination how anyone can read things like this without getting seriously nauseated. Is there no end to the hypocrisy and double standard in Brooklyn?
Lets have a fresh look at how Jehovah's Witnesses are supposed to view those who dare “hold a different viewpoint” from Brooklyn. Do they have a “basis of hating a person just because” of that? Lets see:
"Apostasy is, in reality, a rebellion against Jehovah. Some apostates profess to know and serve God, but they reject teachings or requirements set out in his Word. Others claim to believe the Bible, but they reject Jehovah’s organization and actively try to hinder its work. When they deliberately choose such badness after knowing what is right, when the bad becomes so ingrained that it is an inseparable part of, their makeup, then a Christian must hate (in the Biblical sense of the word) those who have inseparably attached themselves to the badness. True Christians share Jehovah’s feelings toward such apostates; they are not curious about apostate ideas. On the contrary, they ‘feel a loathing’ toward those who have made themselves God’s enemies,…" The Watchtower October 1, 1993 p.19.
Brooklyn is painting with their largest brush here and in a sweeping generalization just states as an established fact that everyone who dares disagree with Brooklyn, has badness, “ingrained as an inseparable part of, their makeup” and such persons should be HATED! Nowhere do we see any mention of “there is no basis for hating a person just because he or she holds a different viewpoint.” On the contrary, s/he should be hated!
Then in other Watchtower’s you find more totally contradictory “window dressing” statements like this:
"WILL HATRED EVER END"
"And even though it may be unreasonable, or ‘crazy,’ the hatred is
often directed against a whole group" Watchtower June 15, 1995 p.3.
Some times one wonders if nobody reads the Watchtower Magazine in the writing department in Brooklyn. As a monument of the kind of love the Watchtower Society have for their fellow man I will once again bring a blockbuster quote from the FDS in Brooklyn. Read it and feel how the Watchtower Society “LOVE” flows from every word:
“Shortly, the great tribulation will suddenly break out, moving quickly to a climax in “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 16:14, 16) It will reach a crescendo as Jehovah destroys this system of things and the figurative table at which the world’s nations have been feeding. Jehovah will also overthrow the entire invisible organization of Satan the Devil with its hordes of demons. Those who have continued to feed at Satan’s spiritual table, the table of demons, will be forced to attend a literal meal, no, not as partakers, but as the main course—to their destruction! — See Ezekiel 39:4; Revelation 19:17, 18.”
Watchtower July 1. 1994, page 13.
When you have finished reading about the love orgy Brooklyn style above, then read the next quote and see if you can make any sense of it:
"Yes, the international society of Jehovah’s Witnesses is living proof that hatred can be abolished." "It is a foreglimpse of a worldwide program to eliminate hatred and it’s causes." Watchtower, June 15, 1995, p.8.
Seem to me that if hatred is ever to be abolished one have a lot of very hard work to do, starting with some of the worst haters of them all, Jehovah's Witnesses!
Norm.
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sKally
