I remember visiting Brooklyn Bethel in 1990. There were blocks of protestors…I remember one irate man with a sign frothing at a cop, telling him to arrest Fred Franz and the cop giving him a You-Idiot-Lunatic look. They seemed crazy, angry, creepy--everything the Society said they would be. The protests affirmed my belief that the Society had the "Truth". And the Bethelites thought so too--they were irritants, especially to the ones who slept during the day. In the following days, the one lone protestor I saw, Mr. Coffee, seemed cut from the same cloth.
Protesting the Memorial is counterproductive on so many levels. First, even if you could get the Governing Body's attention, would they care? They don't listen to sincere petitions from the loyal rank-and-file, why would they listen to protestors? Second, one would mainly be protesting the rank-and-file, who for the most part, are the victims. Suppose a School Superintendent promulgates abusive school policies, would you protest on the school playground during recess? Third, for the most part, these rank and file are going to the Memorial in an effort to honor God's Son and his sacrifice and view it as the holiest day of the year. Protestors getting in the way of that could seem like protesting the very reason for the Memorial itself, therefore anti-Christ.
These are the tactics of Rutherford…they did not win hearts and minds. They only alienated people and got his radio show kicked off many stations. Why bear the image of the Judge?
It was said about Jesus:"He will not wrangle, nor cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the broad ways. No bruised reed will he crush, and no smoldering flaxenwick will he extinguish."
This is how Jesus won people over.
