I thought the same sort of thing about the UN example - maybe it wasn't that big of a deal and just really poor judgment. In an explanation the society gave, they said they didn't realize the implications of being a member and terminated their membership as soon as they did. HOWEVER, then I read somewhere how long they were actually a member - what I read was several years, maybe even a decade? That seemed like a longer time than necessary for it to be simply bad judgment. That's when I began to think it was hypocritical, too. Can anyone confirm the dates?
The argument about being God's chosen organization in 1914 is also compelling to me. The JWs of 1914 look a lot different than the ones today. Would Jesus have made that big of a mistake? I don't think so. If Christmas and birthdays and blood were wrong then, they were simply wrong.
The blood doctrine is also a biggie for me and I find it TOTALLY hypocritical - not a simple mistake - for several reasons. They say you can't have a blood transfusion PERIOD. But, you can have treatments that use blood fragments like to treat hemophilia. HOWEVER, in order to make those treatments, tons of blood has to be donated and stored. Now how the heck does that reconcile? Are you told to pour the blood on the ground if it's spilled?
How about criticizing the Catholic church for their pedophile problem, but paying off victims of sexual abuse within the JW organization AND not reporting the pedophiles.
Hmmmm, what else? Oh, the things they choose to condemn for pagan reasons. It's so obvious that they pick and choose. Like they wear wedding rings and shave, but both of those habits came from pagans. Then they say, well we do this because it's an accepted non-harmful custom (someone on here can point you to the WT that has these explanations), but you could say the same about all the other things they ban like clinking glasses, saying bless you, etc. etc.
Same thing with tattoos - it's not okay to get a tattoo, but it is okay to get a boob job. Heh? How does that make sense?
And I am like you, Paul, I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt, people are allowed to make mistakes. BUT, they tell you that you MUST be a JW or never ever have heard of them before to survive Armageddon. Any org that's putting that strong of strictures on its members can't really afford to make that big of mistakes. To be clearer on this point, you cannot base your religion on the principal that you are right and everyone else is wrong, then actually turn out to be wrong about your own practices which you sometimes have in common the other religions you're chastising.
