Feed them or preach to them?

by MegaDude 4 Replies latest jw friends

  • MegaDude
    MegaDude

    (A small exerpt from Barbara G. Harrison's book: Visions of Glory. One of the best ex-JW memoirs and you can read it online at

    http://www.exjws.net/vg.htm

    They [the JWs] are very very proud of producing "genuine Christians, . . . not’ rice' Christians, 'bought' with material things, as those are called who turn their children over to be raised by Christendom's missionary establishments in exchange for food. Those hearing the good news receive spiritual sustenance." [Aw, Nov. 8, 1974, p. 25J

    One day the Watchtower missionaries in India called on me just after I'd returned from a small village in Andhra Pradesh, where/I'd met a priest who'd spent the best part of twenty years curing infants of roundworms. (A most unglamorous job; but roundworms are killers.) "Do you try to convert these people?" I'd asked him. "I baptize them," he said, /'and I try to keep them alive, and I say Mass, and I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit on us all. . . . It's hard to love God on an empty stomach.” That day, the priest had another visitor - an Indian doctor (an atheist) who lived and worked in a nearby leprosarium. When they met, they embraced.

    I told the Watchtower missionaries this story, not knowing myself exactly what the point of telling them was; and they said, "But the priest isn't preaching the good news of the kingdom. . . . And Jehovah will cure lepers in his New World." Across the way from the veranda where we were sitting, a new luxury high-rise building was going up. Tribal people from Northern India had been brought in as construction workers. They lived - ate, cooked, drank, made love - on the girders of the building. The week before, a worker had fallen to his death before my horrified children's eyes. His widow had been given 25 rupees in compensation - just enough to cremate her husband. I told the missionaries that story too; and they said, "If we knew her language, we would tell her the wonderful hope of the resurrection." They had a cup of tea and talked about God's loving-kindness.

  • mrsjones5
    mrsjones5

    In my opinion preaching is easier to do instead of actually caring for your fellow man and feeding them or helping take care of a physical need. The watchtower likes to take the easy way out and call it love for fellow man.

  • Finally-Free
    Finally-Free

    It takes a lot of effort to make a real difference in someone's life, and it doesn't bring in any money. Peddling cheapass watchtower magazines is much easier. JWs like to take the path of least resistance.

    W

  • DannyHaszard
    DannyHaszard

    Rice Christians-that the phrase my elder JW granddad called them.

    What's the Bible say? "Look after widows and orphans in their tribulation for this is the form of worship that God accepts"James 1:27

    Jesus said-"as you have done to the least of these you have done unto me" Matthew 25:40

    Jesus said again before his ascension to Heaven'"feed my little lambs" John 21:18

    Hmmmm,doesn't say anything about selling Watchtower literature.

  • hemp lover
    hemp lover

    That's a powerful excerpt and so sadly true. Thanks for posting the link. It's now on my "to read" list.

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