For the WTS does the 'Ends justify the Means'?

by onefootout 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  onefootout

  I really think they feel it does. They are soooo focused on 'spreading the good news' that ANYTHING they feel furthers that, whether it is true and accurate or not is totally justified. How do you argue with that? They obviously don't know when armageddon is coming, but they feel justified in saying it is VERY soon, just around the corner, you won't graduate High School ect. if it keeps people going to the meetings and out in service then they feel they have done the right thing.

  If you want to counter the org. you need to look at the underlying mentality and motivation. I think for the majority GB and higher ups they truly believe in the righteousness of their CAUSE and the blessing of their god in furthering the CAUSE to the exclusion of all else.

  I will illustrate. Come be my follower page 86 para 21.

  "We can make the Christian ministry the primary focus of our life. Even though we may have family and secular obligations, we can show that our ministry comes first by having a zealous, regular share in it, as Jesus did."

  Field service before everything, family, work, even the factual truth.
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  Hadit

  If you want to counter the org. you need to look at the underlying mentality and motivation. I think for the majority GB and higher ups they truly believe in the righteousness of their CAUSE and the blessing of their god in furthering the CAUSE to the exclusion of all else.

  There are individuals in the org who do truly believe they are doing God's work. However, for the majority of the GB and "higher ups" the mentality and motivation is simple: Power and control. They need new recruits for membership and money. Hence the urgency of spreading the "good news." They are deceptive. They have no interest in truth or the Bible. It is an illusion. It is a publishing company fleecing the sheep.
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  Inkie

  People often separate the ends and the means, claiming the means justify the ends if the ends are good. It’s one of the great debates throughout history. If one is seeking to develop a just society, the proverbial “they” say that the important thing is to get there, and the means aren’t really important. I disagree entirely. They say any means will do so long as you get there—they may be violent, they may be untruthful means; they may even be unjust means to a just end. People must realize that the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process, and ultimately you can’t reach good ends through evil means. The ends cannot be separated from the means. Those who assert that evil means can lead to good ends are deceiving themselves. I think the apostle Paul wrote that (Romans 3:7, 8). Again, p eople must recognize that the ends are not cut off from means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process. Means and ends must cohere because the end is pre-existent in the means. The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.

  Note a quotation from the Society:

  “This immoral slogan that puts expediency ahead of principle cannot work. Jesus said that it could not: ‘A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, neither can a rotten tree produce fine fruit.’ Bad means do not bring good ends. Good means, good end; evil means, evil end. To purchase expediency at the expense of principle is the snare of the shortsighted. Only by clinging to divine principle can permanent good come.—Matt. 7:18, NW.”—“Does the END justify the MEANS?” The Watchtower, January 15, 1957, pp. 35-36.

  --Inkie
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  PSacramento

  I have always believed that it is the means that lend credibility to the end.
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  onefootout

  I'm not arguing the morality of the ends justifying the means, but whether the axiom should be applied to the WTS/GB