by loosie 4 Replies latest social humour
Ok to go along with Rebel's and Mary's idea about concocting an email for jw's. Lets come up with something believeable that we can start circulating. I am still in with two friends that live 2000 miles away so they don't know that I am out.
Any ideas?
I drafted this a while back and never got around to sending it out. Thanks for the reminder. If anyone wants to, feel free to copy, paste and send it out:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Like many you may be finding our ministry is more challenging than ever. Whilst mainstream religions in general are losing members, some groups within Babylon the Great are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to prevent their followers examining their own beliefs. If we truly want to reach these ones we need to be aware of these methods; since we will have to overcome them to be effective ministers.
It can be useful to put yourself in the place of the householder. Did you know that many religious groups tell their members that THEY are God's sole representatives on earth?! If you believed that by leaving your affiliation with a religious group you would lose your personal relationship with God, how would you feel? Would you be likely to explore other avenues of worship?
Additionally some use other fears to prevent people objectively examining their beliefs. Consider the example of one such group, the Mennonites, from the Watchtower magazine 9/1/05, p25: “A few days later, the church elders came to the home of Johann’s family with an ultimatum for the interested ones: “We heard that Jehovah’s Witnesses visited you. You must forbid them to return, and unless you hand over their literature to be burned, you face expulsion. They had had just one Bible study with the Witnesses, so this presented a formidable test.” Can you imagine how intimidating that would be? The fear of losing contact with all their friends and loved ones would certainly be sufficient incentive to dissuade most people from pursuing a knowledge of truth! Apart from the threat of social isolation, other fears to be contended with include Satanic influence and death. Consider the experience of a former member of the Moonies (Unification Church): “I was taught that if I have a doubt about Moon or the group, that it was a result of evil spirits which were having give and take with my mind.”
It's easy to see why such people are hard to reach. We owe it to them to learn about the underhanded methods being used by high control groups so we are better equipped to help them; otherwise they could lose out on the opportunity of learning Bible TRUTH. Educate yourself about this issue and become a more effective teacher. To assess whether someone you meet in the ministry is under the influence of such a group, you may find this evaluation useful: http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/articles/BITE.htm
That's a great letter Mickey. I'd love to see that circulate as a Bethel talk experience or pioneer school lecture notes etc.
Thanks FreeWilly. I'm going to mail it out. It may just make a few think, if it doesn't set off their apostaradar!
MM.
I think we should start collecting all the duhbeeya e-mails.
Someone then could start a data base of them.
It would be fun to see them all and compare them.
