The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society has a great way of maintaining its membership. I say this because membership attrition (members leaving) is reduced by scarring the hell out of people by making them believe that they are doomed unless they are Jehovah's Witness and that they strictly follow Watchtower doctrine. What a pathetic religion to guilt people into membership and to guilt them into maintaining attendence. This is not a religion, but a cult and one that should be made illegal. The Witnesses are anti-government and anti-self as having your own identity or thought processes is considered to be "unspiritual". Anything that is not in line with Watchtower doctrine is considered to be evil and "unspiritual".
The amount of control that the Watchtower exerts over the everyday lives of its members is ridiculous. They control how one has sex, what you can read, who you can be friends with and the list goes on. They hierarchy within this religion states that this is done to shield people from the world. The reason they do this is to keep their members from being exposed to people or material that can shed true light on the hypocracy of this so-called faith. If their members have contact with other "Worldly" people they have the opportunity to figure out what this religion is about and that is control. I can see how people who were born into this ridiculous cult go along with it as they know nothing else.
The JW's state that one should not be worldly or a part of this world. Well let's let them in on something. We all live in this world and if God did not want us to be worldly, I don't think we would have been put into this world. The JW's are so concerned about not being worldly and waiting for "This System of Things" to come to an end. How can you be unworldly when we all live in this world. It makes no sense. The sense it does make is for the JW's to swear eternal loyalty to the Watchtower and to have no other purpose in life besides serving it. That is the sense that The Watchtower sees in preaching to its people the sinful nature of being worldy.
My ultimate conclusion is that this religion or "Cult" as I like to call it is not a relgion, but a control system designed to serve itself. Members are persuaded not to have "independent thinking" as independent thinking leads to conflict within the organization. God gave people a free mind and the ability to make critical decisions and to think for oneself. The Watchtower has decided that the responsibility of critical thinking should not belong to individuals, but to it and they have the nerve to cite biblical references supporting this. This religion was designed with one thought in mind and that is loyalty to The Watchtower without regard for the people it affects. It makes me sick. I hope that this religion is eventually made illegal within the United States as it has destroyed family relationships, people's image of the world and their image of themselves.
Sincerely,
Nonjwalltheway
Edited by - nonjwalltheway on 1 November 2002 20:28:43