This is the key marketing ploy of the WTBTS. Play on peoples' natural fears, then promise to make it all go away. For a small introductory price. As Blondie patiently, persistently reminds us, "Jehovah's sovereignty" takes a firm second place in the WT lexicon.
"Do you Long for a World Without Fear?" is the title of the back article of the November 15, 2004 Watchtower. This article rankled. It selectively quotes doctors also selectively quoted by Newsweek then blandly declares that the world is a more fearful place. Jesus Christ indicated that such emotions would intensify in the near future. (Note that they do not claim that our world is truly more dangerous). Covering their bases again, JW apologists can now insist that our world is getting worse because we feel that way, regardless of observable facts. My argument would have been stronger before the terrible tsunami, of course. But I still maintain we live in a safer, healthier, and happier world today. That the entire world can be inspired to compassion and action, shows that we do expect to see our children grow to adulthood, and that we will reach a healthy old age. World expectations for health, peace, and prosperity is rising, because we are now capable of meeting that goal. I believe the WT is fully aware that they are creating their own market by inciting fear, then peddling the paradise dream. I believe they also know that both the fear and the dream are fabrications. Shame on them.
The selective quote:
"We're living in a 'chronic heightened state of alertness and...helplessness.' prompted by a 'poorly defined...danger that could strike at any time in an form without warning.'"
The complete Newsweek article:
http://www.brandeis.edu/lemberg/Teacher_Development/our%20bodies,%20our%20fears.pdf
Another quote from that same article:
"Iraqi civilians are no doubt asking the same question. Israelis and Palestinians have asked itfor decades. And though America's current worries may seem unprecedented, the current situation has nothing on the 1918 flu pandemic or the Cuban missile crisis. Yet none of that makes living with fear any easier."
By the way, the doctors quoted, Sigal and Hassett, are studying various chronic diseases, and no doubt, the effect of chronic fear on our health. Here is one of their articles, which I cannot access online. Contributions of societal and geographical environments to "chronic Lyme disease": the psychopathogenesis and aporology of a new "medically unexplained symptoms" syndrome.
(WT quotes in red. Other sources in quotes boxes)