Recently I had a very interesting conversation with a Christian who had some limited exposure to Jehovah’s Witnesses, they had the impression that they were a ‘mostly harmless Christian sect’ and they were impressed with their ‘sincerity and dedication’, and they were ‘also good at looking up scriptures in the Bible’.
Once upon a time I would have been almost pleased to have Witnesses described in this way, but no more. That impression is far from the truth. To get one thing out of the way – they are not Christians. Christians are followers of Christ Jesus. Jehovah’s Witnesses are followers of their Governing Body, so they are ‘GB-ites’. Christians would hold what God says above anything man says, a Jehovah’s Witness would want a voice out of the sky to be verified by the Governing Body first.
I explained the way I see the Witnesses now – they are a business which recruits members into their exclusive club (cult). Every Kingdom Hall I’ve ever been in was like an office, a boardroom. Extremely neat to the point of sterility and completely void of atmosphere. Everyone must look a certain way, and behave a certain way in order to present the business’s image, just the way sales reps have to do.
The Witnesses have worked extremely hard to portray and maintain a certain image and hubby and I discussed last night just how far they would go in order to maintain it. These two blog posts will explore what we discussed as it was a rather lengthy discussion!
First off those pesky dress and grooming talks. The brothers and sisters are constantly reminded of being smartly and modestly dressed. Some of the rules that have come out from this obsession with appearance is quite laughable but why are they are so obsessed with it? When someone is smartly dressed, hair just right etc, they give the impression of knowing what they are talking about it, having authority, being dependable, reliable, trustworthy, honest even – all these things are what Witnesses strive to appear as. This appearance is extremely important as it ‘sells the product’ just as much as what they say. Isn’t it true that some of us may have even listened to them simply because they looked so neat and were so polite?
Craig thoughts are in Italics:
“But does this image have any basis in reality? Does wearing certain clothes automatically make you a good person? Obviously not. Hence the pressure to be always ‘personable’, remember that word from the now defunct Theocratic Ministry School? Remember the bankers that caused the international financial crisis and the executives at Enron, and all of our politicians, they wear suits and ties and are very personable and are very good at talking, does that make them automatically good people?
No, its all about their image, some have entire departments devoted to ‘public relations’ which is all about the image of the person or the company.
“So perhaps the legal departments in their branch offices should actually be called the Public Relations departments, because that is what they actually do – they try to minimize fall out over something bad happening that would tarnish the almighty Witness reputation, and they would ‘spin’ any questions put to them.”
If you strip away the ‘spiritual aspect’ of the Witnesses all you have is a corporate pyramid scheme. As long as you don’t scratch the surface – ask too many questions, their product looks amazing, but under examination its full of holes, it doesn’t make sense, and like a virus its designed to take control of your thinking and tear you away from normal society, to hammer you into another drone to join the ranks of the other drones who have done the same.
“To completely subvert your will and your common sense”
Part 2 continues
We Chose Freedom 
This is exactly true. Has present a caring facade of ” loving our neighbor” but that only goes as long as the neighbor is listening to them & doing everything they say. Witnesses say ” well we don’t force people to throw away cherished angel figurines or crosses”. Yes, they do! It’s don’t through 2 or more coming to your home and using tactics of coercion and then praise. They are definitely a mind controlling cult!
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Yes! Being friendly to people to just get that hearing ear for their ‘preaching’. They coerce people in the worst possible way by convincing them they are wrong and should change their beliefs. I remember being taught from the platform to always be on the look out to preach to people, it was called ‘informal witnessing’. So even when we were ‘helping’ our neighbour it was all in the service of finding that ‘common ground’ and then being able to lay some ground work to have a ‘return visit’. It’s all so deceptive and dishonest.
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Crasizag, your comment sounds EXACTLY what I heard too!
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Many people thingies are simply misguided but basically decent citizens. But how can they be if their children are molested by elders and because of threats of disfellowshipping they refuse to warn other unsuspecting parents? And they bash the Catholic church? What a bunch of hypocrites!
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They are hypocrites. Their literature is very free with condemning other religions, and heaping praise on their own. They refuse to acknowledge their problem, and therefore they can never do better. It is very sad how many people are living this lie and actually believing they have ‘the best life ever’.
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