In the months that followed, the brothers in the New York area took the Bible's message of comfort and hope to those in the community... [quote from relief worker] 'Everyone brings us food, hot coffee, and dry clothes, but you are the first to read a scripture.'
And so it goes. Dependably making its crafty appearance, whether boldly trumpeted in the title or in the very fine print of a footnote. The ever-present justification JWs brandish in order to defend, indeed extol, their position that the provisions they offer to needy humankind ---"the good news of the kingdom"---is of real, lasting value and not of the perishable kind false religion and its agencies waste their time providing, as if they could possibly expect God's reward for doing so.
This quote, if uttered at all---I regret that, over the years, I have grown increasingly suspicious of this kind of always anonymous praise (as if a parched-throated, traumatized victim covered in soot and ashes and gore would crave a scripture first thing!)--- effectively reinforces the conviction in the mind of the individual JW that, as regards his fellow, he is accountable to God for nothing more than the businesslike attempt to convert him to the "truth." Such subtle conditioning is the means by which natural human instincts such as empathy and compassion for those who suffer are systematically dulled and, in time, uprooted in the average JW and replaced with a "Christian" robot spouting canned sermons and hawking magazines who would take the time to soberly ponder whether it would be appropriate to p!$$ on a "non-believer" who dashes past him in flames---especially if it meant "stopping his time."
Then again, on second thought, perhaps this is exactly what a victim stated in response to a JW sermon and exactly what he or she meant ---
'Everyone brings us food, hot coffee, and dry clothes, but you are the first to read a scripture.'
Without altering the quote in any way, it is possible to read it and get the exact opposite inference from the one the Society is pushing .
They react as if other non-Witnesses are nonentities, irrelevant lives and meaningless lives lost in a tragedy in which only Witness lives are important. A starkly selfish view, if ever there was one.
Yes, this may be how their statements read---and intentionally so--- to the flock, but their real dirty little secret is even worse than this: the lives of non-Witnesses are no less real, less relevant, less meaningful to the Society than the pitiable lives of those they call their spiritual brothers and sisters. The tragedy and carnage wreaked in the lives of their fellow believers by unscriptural, arbitrary policies are a billboard of ruthless, reckless disregard.
In truth, as respects how they are looked upon by the Society, non-JWs are held in no more contempt than "the faithful", contrary to the misleading impression those in its leadership would convey, and the impression held by sadly deluded JWs worldwide.
AMNESIAN
Edited by - AMNESIAN on 24 December 2002 21:45:57