JW Christians Are Supposed to be Good, BUT.....

OnTheWayOut

So, serving "the one true God" and being "in the truth" are supposed to make JW's better people.
They are bringing their "truth" to people and that probably makes them feel that they are good to "worldly" people.

But they do it to "get their time in." They do it no longer in any life-saving mentality. They knock on doors when nobody answers and they stand near a cart that nobody walks up to.

They are supposed to support and encourage each other, but it seems that anything they do that they deem "good" becomes a competition among them. "My son is a Bethelite." "My vacations are spent building at Headquarters." "My husband is an elder." "I pioneer instead of seeking more money." YADDA YADDA YADDA!!!

JW's get a smug, superior attitude about themselves when comparing their worship to the "world." "THEY CELEBRATE PAGAN HOLIDAYS.....AND GET CAUGHT IN PATRIOTISM!!! THEY WANT TO HAVE FUN SO THEY LET CHILDREN HAVE CANDY ON A SATANIC HOLIDAY!!!" And it goes on and on and on. Instead of really wanting to help their own children understand stuff, they demonize it. Instead of really wanting to help their fellow man to understand stuff, they condemn them and talk about their imminent destruction.

I have been reading BEYOND BELIEF about Jenna Miscavige growing up as the niece of the leader of Scientology, and later leaving. Scientology has a deeper problem with turning other members in for breaking the rules, but it is definitely present among JW's. The fear that a member will be guilty of something for NOT turning someone in for something is prevalent, and that snitch/tattletale thing is way more important than actually helping someone. In Watchtower, the person turning someone in assumes the elders will help that person, but all the elders seem to be first about is getting a confession or proving guilt and punishing. Help is so secondary.

They say they want Witnesses to be able to think for themselves, but all they do is teach them to parrot the Watchtower and try to know what it says as the answer to any particular question. Instead of saying why THEY shun someone or THEY refuse to take blood or whatever, they answer that "I have learned that Jehovah God feels [the way Watchtower tells me] about the matter."

days of future passed

They also find going out in service or standing by a cart, more important than taking care of elderly parents. We experienced that recently when we had to clean out our parents house. The righteous ones knew that the house was a health threat and wouldn't set foot inside - but they didn't seem to care that their JW mother lived in it. So while they were devoting their time to Jehovah, we were battling rats, rat poop and pee and mold and piles of clothing and old food.

Only after we cleaned out the most of the house and pulled out rugs did they appear.

Yeah for their spiritual goals.

carla

I always think of jw's when reading Luke 18:11

"New International Version

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector."

sir82

the person turning someone in assumes the elders will help that person

Sometimes that is the case.

I'd say at least as often, the motivation is "If I don't turn this guy/gal in, and it later comes out that I knew about it but didn't tell, I'll get in trouble and/or lose my privileges."

The Fall Guy

I wonder how many ex-JW's on this forum have knowledge of elderly, faithful JW's who were basically dumped into nursing/retirement homes and were effectively abandoned and forgotten by 95% of their "brothers & sisters?"

So much for the hallmark of Christians - "By this all will know that you are my disciples." I've seen rodents demonstrate more care and affection for ones in their commune.

Finkelstein

One the biggest faults to the JWS as identifying themselves as Christian is that they dont really have a unrestrained amount of compassion or empathy to people outside of their own organization and very little toward their own membership.

Vidiot

They've made it almost ridiculously easy to be a loyalist...

...whilst alienating the fakers, faders, and fence-sitters even more.

OnTheWayOut

Beautiful replies

days of future passed- Yes, they had a word for that kind of thing: corban.

carla- Exactly. They have become the Pharisees.

sir82- pretty much still the main point. Instead of wanting to help someone, they want to stay out of trouble.

The Fall Guy- good point. Being JW is about what they are doing for the organization NOW. The elderly are pretty much done, so the organization and its members are pretty much done with them.

Finkelstein- Such truth. I saw that in disaster relief. Take advantage of whatever is offered to everyone, but only help the members. .....and then only when they are members who help the congregation.

Vidiot- we will have to watch out for loyalists as the organization further falls apart.

EverApostate

When the 2004 Tsunami struck and Killed 150K people in Far east, I wanted to contribute for the relief efforts through a major Volunteer Org and asked the elders if I can do so.

They advised me to donate to the WT instead.

Throughout my Life as a Dub, several times I had heard from fellow dubs that contributing to WT is the only and best option, if at all we like to Help the needy

joe134cd

That's the thing that I can't get my head around. They will spend all this time and money in a system that has a 2/3 fail rate. I can't understand why they don't try to fix their internal problems first, of looking after its exisiting members than trying to find new ones. Remember hearing this quote at a sales event which said to the effect " it takes 10 times more money and time to find a new customer than what it takes to keep an exisiting one happy". A quote wt could very much learn from.

JW Christians Are Supposed to be Good, BUT.....

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