I’ve viewed this site from time to time over the years and thought it was about time I made a contribution.
Last Monday morning, glorious day, I was on the phone when the doorbell rang. Two happy, smiling Jehovah’s Witness ladies. They agreed to call back in ten minutes. Time to prepare.
I hastily terminated the call and looked around the living room for signs of incriminating evidence. Crisis of Conscience was best removed from the bookcase I decided, could be a conversation stopper at this stage, but I positioned Steve Hassan’s “Combatting Cult Mind Control” prominently as a bookend near where the two ladies would be sitting.
I marshalled my thoughts as to the strategy to be adopted. Taking in all I had learned about mind control, from Don Cameron’s excellent “Captives of a Concept” and from the wisdom and experience exhibited on this forum.
So, I resolved, listen to what they had to say, establish rapport, establish my agenda not theirs, don’t attack JW beliefs directly but use a third party example, the Mormons would be excellent, don’t get Bible out and argue scripture but ask questions, questions, questions about JW history and development. Above all, be kind, gracious and love them to death.
I spent a couple of minutes on the doorstep listening to their presentation, and then invited them in, sat them down, introduced myself and got on first name terms, offered them a coffee, informed them I was new to the area, was a committed Christian and now attended a local evangelical church. I enquired as to each of their religious journeys, Ruth was born in, Rachel was a convert. ( In Watchtower tradition, names have been changed).
Maintaining the initiative I explained my interest in comparative religion, especially those that developed in nineteenth century America, and asked what they knew about the Mormons. Angel Moroni, book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, etc. It was fairly straightforward to get them to agree that Mormonism wasn’t the “one true faith,” that many Mormon claims were fraudulent so essentially it was a hoax.
So far, so good. I then asked why they thought the fraudulent claims were no obstacle to 8 million Mormons sincerely believing the hoax, which led nicely into a discussion on mind control. Picking up Hassan’s book I read a little section under each of the four essential elements of mind control - behaviour control, thought control, emotional control, information control. I fear I may have choked slightly when I quoted from page 61 under thought control “In totalistic cults, the ideology is internalised as the truth, the only map of reality”. Resolved not to overplay my hand.
I enquired as to the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and was informed Charles Taze Russell, but when I followed up with a question as to the identity of the leadership today neither Ruth nor Rachel was able to name a single member of the Governing Body. I gave an incredulous stare and mocked gently which they took in good humour.
To keep this short, suffice to say I asked various other questions about the history of the movement and was given the booklet Jehovah’s Witnesses, Who Are They, What Do They Believe. Page 6 is all about their modern development and growth. Assurances were given they would be back soon for my views.
Hopefully, to be continued.
Snapdragon4
Excellent resource on Mormonism “When Beliefs Collapse” by Monte Wolverton, Plain Truth Magazine
...OUTLAW