BigT: Do you know if the guy who tithed his money away for himself just kept it at home (as in a mattress “bank”) or if he banked it (Parable of the Talents)?
Many posters here have labeled the Jehovah’s Witnesses a cult. All religions are cults goddamnit! That some cults have more adherents than others makes them no less of a cult.
All you Christian/Islamic/Jewish/Hindu/Buddhist cultists, please keep this in mind.
Some cults are more of a cult then others. When anyone says they believe to the world’s only true religion, think cult.
Twice I’ve had serious run-ins with the JW’s and you couldn’t pay me enough to join them. They claim I allowed my sister to be sentenced to hell (which in their belief is eternity in the grave) because I let her have the blood transfusions that saved her life. You know, my sister the radical feminist lesbian. And a co-worker who was a JW was beaten so badly by her husband he put her in the hospital. The cult told her not to press charges, as they would take care of it, and it was her fault for being a “bad wife.”
I told her to press charges and leave the husband and the cult. She did.
When I read the OP, I assumed that JWs were targeting those who suffered recent losses because they were vulnerable and being reminded of mortality may open them up to religious influences. Then this quote seemed to confirm my assumption:
To hell with them. My brother, who has struggled with mental illness, crime, and drug addiction, was sucked into their fold for a time. They are vultures.
Political parties as well.
But they don’t know jack about that fellow human being, whether the doorbell they’re ringing is the home of a Father/Imam/Preacher/Rabbi/Reverend who leads a congregation, or someone who attends regularly; all they know is that that house doesn’t have one of them therefore the occupants aren’t ‘right’. If I express interest, then come talk to me, but to interrupt me & try to ‘sell’ me your shit; well, the OP is right - fuck 'em.
Your post gave me heresy! 
Yes. He kept it as a wad of cash. While it never came up, it wouldn’t surprise me if he believed that getting interest was wrong.
That said, I wouldn’t apply that parable as he wasn’t squirreling it away. He actively used it in his ministry, with most of it spent by the end of the year. And he didn’t give to churches only because he had not found one that he didn’t think was not actually preaching the proper gospel. When he told me about it, he actually said he regretted that, but that he couldn’t see how it was any different than a pastor tithing to his own church.
I don’t really think any legalistic approach was appropriate for him, as that was his underlying problem. He had been clinically depressed and his scrupulosity is how he brought himself out of it. We did catch up a few years later, and he seemed to have mellowed out a lot, after having found a community where he fit in.
I’ve never had a problem with them. Maybe once a year (or two years) they knock on my door and ask if I’m busy. I say, “As a matter of fact, I am,” and they offer to leave a pamphlet.
I say, “No thanks, I belong to a different church. But you have a good weekend.”
They thank me and tell me to have a good weekend as well and off they go.
I do not agree. That’s not how the term is used, and usage defines meaning. A cult will attempt to isolate you from non-believers, and teaches you not to question your beliefs. Simply being part of a group of people with common beliefs who meet together does not a cult make.
If it did, then rationalism, secular humanism, political parties, hobby groups, etc. would all be cults.
There is also an alternate definition of cult used in some Christian circles, which is just a synonym for a heretical group. I do not like that definition, as it is just a term of derision. Similarly, when an atheist uses it for all religions, I feel they are doing the same thing.
Mormonism I’m on the fence about. I might argue it used to be more like a cult than it is today. But Jehovah’s Witness, with the tactics I’ve seen firsthand, are definitely cult-like. I’ll also throw in the isolationist subset of Fundamentalists and Pentecostals who try to pull their kids out of schools and such.
But Christianity or religion in general? No. Calling all that “cult” removes the meaning behind the term. If religion and cult mean the same thing, then there is no reason for both terms to exist. I don’t want it watered down to “cult is just a negative term for religion.”
This is yet another example of how people interpret the Bible to suit their own agenda. Their behavior centers on witnessing their faith, which they interpret as hard line recruiting and incessant harassment. The original intent of the mandate as we interpret it is to witness one’s faith through Christian behavior, through being an example of what you believe.
A fine example of how Jehovah’s Witnesses are not allowed to question the cult’s beliefs:
They said Jesus would return in 1975.
Jesus did not return in 1975.
They deny saying this.
I was born in 1975.
Just sayin’.
But that takes effort and self sacrifice. Holy shit.
Far easier to judge and fuck with everyone else’s lives. Does it surprise you that some of the most heinous disgusting scandals usually involve “holier than thou” tighty righty “evangelical” dominionist types?
They want to control YOU, not THEMSELVES.
I’ve never had a problem with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They come to the door, I tell them; “Sorry, I’m happy with my current savior, but leave a card and if my needs in a Messiah should change I’ll give you a call.” They say “Thank you” and leave. The whole interaction takes less than a minute.
Those that aggressively proselytize have a special place in hell, or at least belong on the Katy Freeway at the height of rush hour.
We bought our house from Mormons, so they never come - I think there is lamb’s blood on the doorpost or something. Nice people with lots of kids and presumably great parents. Except for the time the SWAT team came for their son while we were living here.
My daughter had lots of Mormon friends until they got all culty and withdrew in their last years of high school, preparing to go to one BYU or another.
Several days ago, I was at a gas station putting up a flyer for my library’s upcoming book sale, and saw a JW brochure, which I took with me and put in the recycling bin.
When I find those tracts in our City’s little free lending library box, I immediately take them out and put them i the garbage.
My mentally-ill uncle was sucked into the JWs in the 1980s. When my grandma passed away, mum was shocked to discover that uncle had coerced her into leaving her tiny estate to the JWs too.