Posts by cothrige

8

Voting, military, etc?

by cothrige in

i am a catholic who was recently visited by a jehovah's witness who had some things to say which i had never known about.

this got me to thinking, and so i am now curious about the full teachings of the wts in this regard.

basically i was informed that witnesses cannot vote nor serve in the military, or even fly a flag.

I must say this is fascinating, and I really had no idea, even after having been visited by Jehovah's Witnesses often over the years. I suppose I can at least understand a general opposition to war, though not to all war under all circumstances, but what was discussed at this particular time was how "worldly" every other Church and religion was because they allowed voting at all, much less any military activity of any kind. I was told that this proved that all Churches were in league with Satan. It seemed obvious to me that this definition of "worldly" was widesweeping. Such an extreme position would seem possible only if one lived in a remote area and had no involvement in outside activity, i.e. the Amish. I just kept thinking that it seemed unlikely that a religion could actually hold such strong views and still live in the world as Jehovah's Witnesses obviously do. Surely compromise, such as the police problem, would be inevitable. Patrick

8

Voting, military, etc?

by cothrige in

i am a catholic who was recently visited by a jehovah's witness who had some things to say which i had never known about.

this got me to thinking, and so i am now curious about the full teachings of the wts in this regard.

basically i was informed that witnesses cannot vote nor serve in the military, or even fly a flag.

cothrige

I am a Catholic who was recently visited by a Jehovah's Witness who had some things to say which I had never known about. This got me to thinking, and so I am now curious about the full teachings of the WTS in this regard. Basically I was informed that Witnesses cannot vote nor serve in the military, or even fly a flag. I was also told that the Jehovah's Witnesses were the only non-worldly Religion since they oppose any military action at all, and truly turn the other cheek. He even went so far as to explicitly say that even if hordes of armed men streamed over our borders from another country, burning and killing, (the colorful words were my own in question) it would never be acceptable to either serve in the military and fight this, or even so much as to support or encourage others to do it. Specifically he said there was no such thing as a just war, and under no circumstances could a believer take any kind of part at all in such a thing. I thought later, or I would have asked him then, but surely Jehovah's Witnesses cannot then work as police officers, or even file a report with them if burgled or robbed? I am guessing also that calling 911 in such an instance as being assaulted or attacked would be impossible, right? I figured that if it is wrong for armed men from the government to stop foreign armies from invading and killing us, then one surely could not call armed men from the government to stop local hoodlums from doing so? Am I wrong? If I am, then how can it be reconciled that it is wrong to stop murders and invasion by armies from other nations, but it would be okay to stop invasion of our homes or person by criminals from this nation? I really wish I had thought to ask this, simply to understand better what Jehovah's Witnesses believe, but I guess I was just surprised to hear some of what I was told. Thanks for any clarification on this, Patrick