I'm curious. Are there sites which severely criticize other religions?

by berylblue 17 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  berylblue

  That is an interesting way to look at things; and it fits in perfect with the Witness programming that you are seemingly, still under.

  Yes, I am. I admit it. That's why I'm here. To figure things out. This is a process; I'm just beginning. This is the first time I've allowed myself to question what I was taught by the WTS.

  Since you don't go into detail about what you suffered in your Catholic upbringing, I can't really compare, but I would venture to say they did not have the same manner of "shunning" and destroying families the way dubs do.

  I will venture to agree with you. I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. It's not pleasant, to say the least, to be shunned when one is experiencing severe emotional upset. It was not the answer for me. It did not "help" me. It did not "shock me to my senses"; the only "sence" I got out of being disfellowshipped was a sense of being totally rejected by God. Being disfellowshipped exacerbated my feelings of worthlessness. In general, the "Tough Love" disfellowshipping policy does not cut it for persons who are in real pain.

  All the same, I do feel that ex-JWs are a little more vocal then, say, ex-Fundamentalists. One of the reasons why is that this organization places even more control and is more cult-like than other branches of Christendom (yes the JWs are a part of Christendom). Remember too that most all ex-JWs have to deal with the most severest of blows -- shunning by friends and family.

  This is certainly true. I appreciate all your thoughts, very much so. I am truly grateful for the assistance I have gotten here and on another board.

  Mr. Thomas, however, seems to understand where I am. I have many issues going here, not all of which were caused by my association with the WTS. I came into the religion feeling unloved, unlovable and unworthy of love. Being in the WTS did not help those problems. It was not the panacea for every problem known to man. While I never fully bought into it, apparently I bought into it enough to go to the elders for assistance with my emotional problems. I can see now how wrong that was, and how futile. The answers are within me, and not in the WTS, the Catholic Church, the casinos in Atlantic City, sex with the handsome guy in Apt. C, whatever...

  Beryl
• 

  berylblue

  That is an interesting way to look at things; and it fits in perfect with the Witness programming that you are seemingly, still under.

  Yes, I am. I admit it. That's why I'm here. To figure things out. This is a process; I'm just beginning. This is the first time I've allowed myself to question what I was taught by the WTS.

  Since you don't go into detail about what you suffered in your Catholic upbringing, I can't really compare, but I would venture to say they did not have the same manner of "shunning" and destroying families the way dubs do.

  I will venture to agree with you. I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. It's not pleasant, to say the least, to be shunned when one is experiencing severe emotional upset. It was not the answer for me. It did not "help" me. It did not "shock me to my senses"; the only "sence" I got out of being disfellowshipped was a sense of being totally rejected by God. Being disfellowshipped exacerbated my feelings of worthlessness. In general, the "Tough Love" disfellowshipping policy does not cut it for persons who are in real pain.

  All the same, I do feel that ex-JWs are a little more vocal then, say, ex-Fundamentalists. One of the reasons why is that this organization places even more control and is more cult-like than other branches of Christendom (yes the JWs are a part of Christendom). Remember too that most all ex-JWs have to deal with the most severest of blows -- shunning by friends and family.

  This is certainly true. I appreciate all your thoughts, very much so. I am truly grateful for the assistance I have gotten here and on another board.

  Mr. Thomas, however, seems to understand where I am. I have many issues going here, not all of which were caused by my association with the WTS. I came into the religion feeling unloved, unlovable and unworthy of love. Being in the WTS did not help those problems. It was not the panacea for every problem known to man. While I never fully bought into it, apparently I bought into it enough to go to the elders for assistance with my emotional problems. I can see now how wrong that was, and how futile. The answers are within me, and not in the WTS, the Catholic Church, the casinos in Atlantic City, sex with the handsome guy in Apt. C, whatever...

  Beryl
• 

  garybuss

  
  
  If opposition is proof of having the true religion, the Jehovah's Witnesses have long ago proven the Catholic Church has earned the title. Just read the Watch Tower publications from 1918 on through the 1940's.
  
  The Jehovah's Witnesses built their empire on hatred of the Catholic Church and contempt for the Catholic people. The Jehovah's Witnesses are a recognized hate club. Now their hate (read "fear") is focused on us former members instead of the Catholic Church, that's all.
  
  
• 

  jgnat

  The Jehovah's Witnesses may be unique in that they are so vehemently opposed to other religious groups. Perhaps they bring some of the animosity on themselves.

  Also, rarely does a religious group enforce shunning as completely and thoroughly as the WTS. (Disfellowshipping for smoking but not for wife-beating? Puhleeeeze.) This builds a ready-made group of disgruntled people with few expressive outlets. After all, who else besides a JW or an xJW can really understand the intricate weirdness of the JW lifestyle, or the anguish a former member undergoes?

  Other religious groups that receive extra attention (not nearly a comprehensive list):

  Yahoo Directory of Opposing Views site

  Baptist@, Bible@, Catholicism@, International Churches of Christ@, Jehovah's Witnesses@, Jerry Falwell@, Local Church@, Mormomism@, Promise Keepers@, Reconstructionism@, Seventh-day Adventists@, Two-by-Twos@, Unification Church@, University Bible Fellowship (UBF)@, Worldwide Church of God@

  Definition of a Cult, description of Cult Apologetics.

  Anti-Pat Robertson

  Anti-Semitism (Too many sites. I refuse to list them) If persecution bestows sainthood, the Jews would win hands down.
• 

  DanTheMan

  The Jehovah's Witnesses built their empire on hatred of the Catholic Church and contempt for the Catholic people. The Jehovah's Witnesses are a recognized hate club. Now their hate (read "fear") is focused on us former members instead of the Catholic Church, that's all.

  Excellent point Gary. I was in the WT during an interesting period, 1992-2002. When I first became associated, there were still quite a few references to 'Babylon the Great', 'Christendom', etc. My last 3-4 years in, that all but disappeared, replaced by an ever-increasing warning about the internet and apostates.

  But, to answer the thread question - one of the goofy rationalizations I used as a dub was the idea that we must be right because people hate us and misunderstand us so much (by this line of reasoning you would have to conclude that radical Islam is the true religion).

  Occasionally I visit other discussion forums, such as ones for ex-mormons and ex-fundies. It takes all of about 5 seconds of browsing to realize that at root it's all the same. A couple of weeks ago, there was a thread on an ex-mormon discussion board that talked about how the LDS Church would ban the internet if it was up to them, as they take at least as much heat on the internet as the WT does. I thought it was hilarious, Mormonism is a parallel universe to JWism.
• 

  garybuss

  "THE GODLY QUALITY OF HATE"

  (The Watchtower, July 15, 1974, p. 442)

  "You have seen the benefit of godly love, but do you know how to hate? … These very strong words are an expression of godly hate, (small "g" god theirs) and you too must have this quality to be pleasing to God. Hate causes a feeling of disgust to well up inside you. You loathe, abhor, despise the object of your hatred. Godly hatred never has as its object our Christian brothers, no matter how imperfect"

  (The Watchtower; July 15, 1974 p.442)

  "Apostasy is, in reality, a rebellion against Jehovah. Some apostates profess to know and serve God, but they reject teachings or requirements set out in his Word. Others claim to believe the Bible, but they reject Jehovah’s organization and actively try to hinder its work. When they deliberately choose such badness after knowing what is right, when the bad becomes so ingrained that it is an inseparable part of their makeup, then a Christian must hate (in the Biblical sense of the word) those who have inseparably attached themselves to the badness. True Christians share Jehovah’s feelings toward such apostates; they are not curious about apostate ideas. On the contrary, they ‘feel a loathing’ toward those who have made themselves God’s enemies,…"

  (The Watchtower October 1, 1993 p.19)

  "Jehovah’s Witnesses Make Hate A Religion" (Saturday Evening Post Sept. 14, 1940 p.18)

  "WILL HATRED EVER END" "And even though it may be unreasonable, or ‘crazy,’ the hatred is often directed against a whole group" (The Watchtower June 15, 1995 p.3)

  "The doctrines of the Roman Catholic ‘Hierarchy of Jurisdiction’ and the pratices in which that organization indulges show that she is the chief servant of the Devil and the arch enemy of God."…"From all the evidence the conclusion is irresistible that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy organization serves the Devil and is therefore the enemy of God, the enemy of man, and the very personification of unrighteousness." (Enemies WTB&TS 1937 J.F. Rutherford p.286)

  "CATHOLIC RELIGION DEMONISM" (Religion, WTB&TS 1940, J.F. Rutherford, p.55)

  "Martyred by martyrs, Dennis Ryan’s head was bashed by Witnesses’ canes in a riot at their (Witnesses’) anti-Catholic rally." (Caption under photo of battered Ryan with bandaged head)

  (Saturday Evening Post Sept. 14, 1940)

  "There is a difference, however between hating the wrong and hating the person who commits the wrong."

  (The Watchtower, June 15, 1995, p.7)

  "…in order to hate what is bad a Christian must hate the person with whom the badness is inseparably linked….Jesus did not mean for us to love the hardened enemies of Jehovah,"

  (The Watchtower July, 15, 1961, p.420)

  "We must hate in the truest sense, which is to regard with extreme and active aversion, to consider as lothsome, odious, filthy, to detest. Surely any haters of God are not fit to live on his beautiful earth."

  12 "What do you do with anything loathsome or repugnant that you detest and abhor? The answer is simple. You get away from it or remove it from your presence. You do not want to have anything at all to do with it. This must be exactly our attitude toward the haters of Jehovah."

  (The Watchtower October 1, 1952, p.599)

  "Yes, the international society of Jehovah’s Witnesses is living proof that hatred can be abolished." "It is a foreglimpse of a worldwide program to eliminate hatred and it’s causes."

  (The Watchtower, June 15, 1995, p.8)

  "More than that, we want to hate those who willfully show themselves haters of Jehovah, haters of what is good."

  (The Watchtower June 15, 1980, p.8)

  "Obviously God hates evil things, and his servants rightly hate them too."

  (Awake June 22, 1984, p.5)

  "15 Everyone who hates his brother is a manslayer, and you know that no manslayer has everlasting life remaining in him."

  (1 JOHN 3:15 The New World Translation by WTB&TS)
• 

  kat_newmas

  I never thought of critisizing my parents religion... only surviving it... now understanding it.
• 

  Bona Dea

  Berylblue,

  I am so glad that you brought this up. This was also a concern of mine, as this was brought to my attention by an elder as I was leaving the borg. He challenged me to type in any religion and promised me that I would not find anywhere near the amount of "anti" sites for any other religion as I would for the JWs. That this was an indication that they alone were truly being persecuted. So, I did it. And sure enough, if you just search for baptist, mormon, or whatever you will not find the kind of opposing sites like you will find on a JW search. But instead try searching for exmormons, exbaptists...etc, and you will.

  But I think Elsewhere did an excellent job explaining the reason you don't find many "pro" JW sites. Having personal sites developed to explain the JW belief system (jeez, just being on the Internet) is strongly discouraged by the WTS...so, naturally the rank and file are going to follow the "light" they are given on this issue (will find when you search for "Jehovah's Witnesses" is going to be watchtower.org.

  Wow, Elsewhere...I'm blown away by that because that never even occurred to me before (

  Sadie