A doozy in today's study article brought me to post here for the first time in a while. Once again, Watchtower leadership is doing its level best to make their adherents as fearful of inconvenient facts as they, themselves, are.
"Like Timothy, we must also discern the danger of false information spread by apostates. (1 Tim. 4:1, 7; 2 Tim. 2:16) For example, they might try to spread false stories about our brothers or raise doubts about Jehovah’s organization. Such misinformation could undermine our faith. We must avoid being fooled by this propaganda. Why? Because these types of stories are spread “by men who are corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth.” Their goal is to start “arguments and debates.” (1 Tim. 6:4, 5) They want us to believe their slander and develop wicked suspicions about our brothers."
If the needle-in-a-haystack Jehovah's Witness religion really was the truth, then it should follow that those who believe in it are especially adept, maybe even the best in the world, at determining what is false versus what is true. If the Watchtower needs to steer the best and brightest truth-seekers away from listening to those who do not agree with them via emotional manipulation (appeal to group loyalty, guilt tripping, the threat of the punishments of ostracism and eventual destruction), then what does that say about how confident Watchtower is in the evidentiary foundation of its doctrine? Or the morality and honesty of its organization? What else can we possibly conclude here other than that Watchtower knows that lovers of truth would have their faith shaken, if not completely destroyed, the very moment that they allow themselves to hear a second opinion? The foundation of the faith is weak, but they gaslight members into believing that it is their own personal faith that is weak if they question the truth of what they are being told by the organization. Thus completes one of WT's favorite conflations- claiming that "faith" is not credulity, and is arrived at by looking at the facts, but also claiming that faith is a virtue that must be sustained by avoiding, at all costs, the facts that they don't want you to know.
"In the same way, we can rehearse beforehand which “exit” we will take if we suddenly encounter an immoral scene, graphic violence, or apostate material while using the Internet or while watching a movie or TV program. If we prepare for what might happen, we can act quickly to escape spiritual harm and remain clean in Jehovah’s eyes"
I've never once known a geologist to say "Don't even listen to the dangerous flat-earthers, or you might start to believe them!!!". Nor have I ever known an atheist to say "Don't read the Bible! It might turn you into a Christian!"
What's more dangerous- to listen to what opposers have to say, or to be a part of an organization that coerces you into NOT listening to what opposers say?