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Jehovah's Witnesses like to claim they are doing the greatest good by "preaching the good news". Individual Jehovah's Witnesses might donate to causes, or volunteer their time in what most people would view as improving the community. But all the Watchtower ever does is ridicule any effort made by other groups do to well.
The Watchtower ALWAYS claims preaching and handing out magazines is the only way to do good. They completely reject the idea that you can serve God by other means, by caring for the less fortunate etc. This does not go towards "counting time"... Every JW will be different and have individual viewpoints on the matter, but the more devout Witnesses will give you the Watchtower's standpoint, and will be so wrapped up in attending all the meetings and getting in as much service hours as they can, when would they have time to take part in any other community improvements? To your first question, I am sorry for the length but there are many aspects of a cult...many psychologists etc have developed criteria for cults...this list of possible cult characteristics you might find, put together by Janja Lalich, Ph.D.
& Michael D. Langone, Ph.D. Is the most concise one I could find as of yet.
1) The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law. (Do I really have to elaborate on this one?) 2)? Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
(Warnings against Independent thought, reading things critical to the Watchtower, Disfellowshipping) 3) Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, or debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leaders. (Debilitating work routines would probably be the only onefit the JWs - just think of all the studying, the meeting attendence, etc etc) 4)? The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (Just look on the official Watchtower website or the publications themselves for an explanation of this one...The Watchtower has an opinion on almost every single possible decision making process you can think of... 5)?
The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (They are the "only true religion" the "true Christians" the governing body is "spirit led" the "faithful and discreet slave" "one true faith" etc etc) 6)? The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society. (I think this one is obvious as well: JWs are some of the most paranoid people Ive ever met, everyone is out to get them, persecute them...Everyone NOT a JW is from "Christendom" "Babylon the Great" they are "worldly" "bad associations" "wicked ones" the list goes on.) 9)?
The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt iin order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion. (Guilt is a HUGE part of keeping JWs in line, this is evidenced by opening any number of Watchtowers) 13)?
Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members. (Duh. Anyone who reads a Watchtower can notice that instantly.
Don't associate with those "nonbelievers) 14)? The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group.
(The Watchtowers are full of subtle statements like this, "Where could we go outside the organization? There is no where else!" I had to take out some of the list, YA would not let me post with the length... you can look into it and find more information I'm sure.
Despite what victims of the Watchtower will tell you, the focus is less on God and more on this earthly organization. You will probably get dozens of JWs answering "no cult here!" and I am ashamed to say I use to be one of them...objective viewing of the facts shows a thinking person other wise...
Every religion, even the ones answering your question like they can do no wrong (Rusti), Have had members and leaders that have had wrong expectations. We are just good enough to admit any mistakes we make and set matter right. Any Christian who thinks they have all knowledge and needs no further understanding is fooling themselves (Rusti).
Even Jesus told the disciples that he had many things yet to tell them, but at present, they were not able to bear it. It's a very powerful thing when longing to see the end of this world and our imperfections collide. Mistakes will be made.
We are human. This in no way reflects badly on Jehovah, for this is the doing of people who can be overzealous in the congregations. As far as whether we do any good in the community, just because we don't jump on the news or in the paper doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
The problem with some christian denominations is that they give during xmas and forget the rest of the year. How is that helping? I live in an area that is overrun with a predominate religion yet, the food pantries are always on the verge of being out.
As far as the ministry of those in prison (Rusti), we have a women's prison in our area that we visit every day and the classes are getting full. And when we speak of the things we do in disaster relief, it's written for our people so why would we toot the horn of other religions? Our magazines help build up our faithful.
If you don't want to hear about Jehovah or his witnesses, then don't read our literature. Uh oh! "Questions out of fear, Speaks and no ones listening" is here - automatic thumbs down for me!
To clarify, Our preaching work is far from the only good we do. There is so much more to us. Don't listen to the comments of a disgruntled exJW.
17 years believeing Jesus is the Son, Now believes Jesus is the Father. What a headache. She's obviously bias.
And a flip flopper. Who knows what religion she'll choose next. Like the waves of the sea, tossed about.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.