Witness haters--are you happy now? :(

[Uber_the_Goober]

@NeonMadman

The OP and this follow-up post are just a shining example of the black-and-white thinking that permeates JW-think. If you are not a JW, you are part of the evil world, and there is NO difference. If you point out flaws and inconsistencies in our beliefs and practices, you are no different than a nutjob who tries to shoot us when we come to his door. If you aren’t a part of our “one true organization,” then you are in the bonds of Satan. Atheist, Baptist, Satanist - makes no difference in the JW mind.

I’m a JW, and I’ll say - it irritates me as well when reasonable lines aren’t drawn. Black+White don’t work too well. There’s people who take things too seriously everywhere, and the same goes for Witnesses. I actually had a sister (what we call women in the congregation) tell me that she believed that after Armageddon, the world would be instantly transformed into a giant Edenic garden. Only about 3 seconds of reasonable conversation trying to disabuse her of this incorrect notion was tolerated. Thereafter, she just kept to herself and wouldn’t talk anymore. People believe what they want to believe, facts or no.

@NeonMadman

The same thing applies to news reports and Internet material. Any information that is not glowingly positive toward the Witnesses is seen as an attack, and results in an often mindless, knee-jerk response. I’ve been defending an OP in a thread about the TV show *Community *that was less than glowing toward JWs for over two years now. The post consisted of a list of things that Troy (a character in the show who is ostensibly a JW) would not do if he were a real JW. I can’t tell you how many times JWs have just popped into the thread with a one-time, drive-by post saying something like “this list is all wrong.” When asked to specify which items on the list are wrong, they either respond disingenuously by claiming that things that are strongly discouraged among the Witnesses are actually “permitted” (and what they mean is that, though strongly discouraged and likely to result in sanctions, they can’t actually get disfellowshipped for these actions), or else they disappear completely and never respond. No intelligent discourse from the majority, no desire for the facts to be known. If it doesn’t look good for their organization, it’s a satanic attack.

This may be the feeling you get based on your interactions with Witnesses - but it’s certainly not a majority opinion in my neck of the woods. Not everything comes direct from Satan. It’s his world, he influences things, but he’s not directly reaching out and attacking people. I believe that anyone saying otherwise doesn’t have the critical thinking ability necessary to parse out the reality that the Witness theology is trying to teach. So they just go overboard with extreme fallacies unsupported by either facts or scripture.

@NeonMadman

We see the same attitude in the OP here. If you disagree with us, if you don’t care for us knocking on your door on Saturday mornings, there is no difference between you and a guy who actually tries to kill us. It’s all Satanic “persecution.” The possibility that the Witnesses could actually be wrong about some things, or that there might be hypocrisy in their organization, especially among the leadership, never enters their mind, because they have been trained to practice an Orwellian type of doublethink that allows no negative concepts to enter.

Again, true, but not exclusive to Witnesses. It’s just a close-minded human type of thing. You’ll get more of it with religious people, be it Witnesses or the people who go to the faith-healing mega seminars.