Voting

by Annanias 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Annanias

  DanTheMan just turned me onto the thread that was started last Jan over the borg's quantum shift in saying that it is now a matter of conscience as to whether a person can vote. I was really expecting them to say that the mechanism of voting is okay, but they went way, way beyond that. The subsequent posts on that thread were very insightful (as usual) but no one seemed to approach the concept of faith in this. See, the way that I understood the neutrality aspect was that by being neutral we were declaring that man was incapable of solving his problems and that only Jehovah could. Now, by voting, we are saying that this candidate can solve the problems better than the other guy. In other words, it is unnecessary to put our faith in Jehovah, that, in fact, it does belong to man who is walking to direct his own step.

  Follow this logically, what's next after this? Running for office. Hey, a JW would do a less corrupt job, right? And the next step? JW political activists? "Oh, by the way, as long as we're at your door, God would appreciate a vote for George W."

  Just a thought.
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  toreador

  The bottom line is you DA yourself if you vote. This is straight from the CO to me.
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  Preston

  My mom is a JW and she is voting this year. I think people that never took the time to consider how vital voting is, particularly the use of spending ones times to make the community a better place, can really appreciate it. I've heard CO's and PO's declare certain "unwritten principles" as gospel but it amazes me how ignorant the higher echelons of the congregation are. Most of these people have never had to pick up a paycheck, what do they know? If you dont want to vote for a person, you dont have to because every two years there's a list of propositions that you vote for that must somehow acknowledge issues that concern everyone. Besides, JW's do vote..well, behind closed doors anyway. I wonder if Jehovah feels guilty electing all of those elders who are technically bloodguilty for their actions?...Hmmmm...Oh well....
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  Annanias

  toreador - but that is NOT what the WT said. Unless someone was "editing " what I saw. If the CO says that they are going to refute what has been put in print then he's an idiot. The WT said that voting is to be considered "a matter of personal conscience". As one poster said, "I feel so sorry for all those people who were killed in Malawi because they wouldn't accept a political card". What in God's name are you going to say to the children in Malawi who had to grow up parentless? What's next? It's okay to smoke cigarettes, snort coke, screw your way thru as many bedrooms as you can manage because it's just a matter of conscience? "Oh, but if you do that you'll be automatically DAed." BFD! How many people could have avoided Buchenwald, Auswitch, and the other camps by just saying, "Okay, the Nazi's are alright"? They have just taken the Purple Triangle and turned it into toilet paper.

  This smells like somebody caved.
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  toreador

  The CO mentioned we are to remain separate from the world. If we were ordered to vote we could write Jesus CHrist on the ballot but we were not to vote for anyone running for office . I read the article you mention before I talked to CO and specifically asked him about the article and the above is what he told me.

  They speak from both sides of their mouth. I would have your mom ask an elder about and see what he says. I think the elders got some word of mouth communication about the article that is not in print for rank and file.
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  Annanias

  That sounds a lot like that foolishness they told the brothers in WWI, that it was okay to get into the military, go to war, but when it came to battle just shoot your guns into the air. There was supposedly a house cleaning then. Hmmmm.
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  toreador

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/64511/2.ashx

  I dont know if you seen the above thread that was started just a day or so ago. It has more on it.