Ok I asked why people join the Jehovah's witness cult for and got you can't use cult it is offensive to the Jehovah's witness and we are the only faith that is true? We believe Jehovah's saves people from being worldly and following Jehovah

Yeah except Jehovah's witness shun anyone who leaves the Jehovah's witness, holidays are not allowed " voting , joining the military or anything with politics is not allowed, not reading anything that is not Jehovah's witness is not allowed

No blood transfusions, no looking up different religions and checking them out. Go to kingdom hall all the time, no worldly friends. Obey all rules from the watchtower. These are just some of the things Jehovah's witness can't do! They are dangerous!

They don't "go the Kingdom Hall all the time". One Sunday meeting, one mid-week, gathering on weekend maybe to go out with their magazines (although they don't seem to do that so much any more).

The "rules from the WatchTower" comprise their beliefs. No surprise that they follow them.

Why does any of this make them "dangerous"? They are known for sticking to themselves. Seems kind of harmless to me.

Well, many faith groups find it offensive to be called "cult". It has a derogatory connotation.

Likewise, many churches obviously feel they are the "true" faith. Even some Christian denominations think other Christians, outside their own group, are not the real deal.

I don't find those two realities too surprising.

Re JWs, I don't recall reading matter in general to be off limits. Maybe that's changed since I knew more about them or maybe your impression of that is not entirely accurate.

Why are you going to their site? To get info? To disagree? Of course they are going to defend their beliefs.

More of this why for speech. So curious, yea, even tortured.

They are dangerous because the Jehovah's witness are told to shun anyone who is not living the Jehovah's witness way. They break families apart , there is a lot of child abuse going on and many Jehovah's witness die from not getting blood transfusions

No I don't go on jw.org but look at videos of ex Jehovah's witness and they tell the the truth about the Jehovah's witness

Oh. Dangerous to their members. Yes. That happens, as you describe.

OK, so yea, who is your intended audience for this post? I doubt anyone here is looking into joining the JW's, therefore the warning probably isn't necessary.

I'm in Texas now and am surrounded by those churches we were told about growing up TBM.

A nice young lady invited me to church months ago, and I agreed. As we got closer and I realized we were going to a church in middle of nowhere I started picturing it.

We walk in, and the service starts shortly after. I am certain any second now a member is going to start flopping on the ground like a fish in a boat yelling gibberish pretending to be posessed by Angels. Somebody is going to have a speaking snake. Before this is over, a lady is going to pass out because she is overcome with the spirit. Any second now there is going to be a call to blessing where a stream of people in their 50s get touched by the Pastor and pass out.

Nah, it is just a Bible study church. What a relief.

@OP if you are going in with your fangs out nobody is going to have a serious conversation with you.

Everyone thinks any religion that isn't theirs is ridiculous.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2018 04:25PM by joecody.

joecody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Everyone thinks any religion that isn't theirs is
> ridiculous.

This is a ridiculous statement.

I agree this is true of SOME Christian groups (only), but there are a literal world of religions on this planet to which this does not apply.

In fact, aside from the particular Christian groups who do believe this, I can't think of any religions to which this DOES apply.

It is not true of Jews, of Hindus, of Buddhists, of Sikhs, of Zoroastrians, of Muslims (who specifically grant both Christians and Jews "people of The Book" status), or of any of the tribal religions I have any knowledge of.

Tevai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is not true of Jews, of Hindus, of Buddhists,
> of Sikhs, of Zoroastrians, of Muslims (who
> specifically grant both Christians and Jews
> "people of The Book" status), or of any of the
> tribal religions I have any knowledge of.

Maybe more of a "truism...?"

Sadly, I personally know people from all of those groups (except one, I don't know any Zoroastrians) who think exactly that -- every religion that isn't theirs is ridiculous.

So while it may not be officially true in official beliefs of church organizations, it's very often true of individuals IN those organizations. Not always, but often enough.

My experience has been completely different, and I don't know why.

You and I live in the "same" geographical part of the planet, where we each live with similar varied demographics, and we have both traveled internationally.

I don't know what the difference is.

Thank you for posting this. Because of your words, I will be paying more attention to this issue in the future.

Maybe my religious discussion style brings out the feral-tribal in people?

The biggest shock to me was when a not-very-observant Jewish friend told me that Judaism was "the original religion," and that all others were "failed attempts to improve on it."

I had to ask if he was serious or joking.

He was serious.

I kind of see his point.

ificouldhietokolob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The biggest shock to me was when a
> not-very-observant Jewish friend told me that
> Judaism was "the original religion," and that all
> others were "failed attempts to improve on it."
>
> I had to ask if he was serious or joking.
>
> He was serious.

This would shock me as well, and I would certainly be calling him on it.

I know of no Jews who think this--probably, in part, because those raised within the larger Jewish community usually develop historical timelines in their heads at very early ages (certainly compared to their non-Jewish peers), and also because "everyone" is always looking "everything" up in the source literature(s) "all the time."

Most Jews usually know the basics of ancient history fairly well, and have no illusions as to when religions began (probably somewhere in the range of about three million years ago, and probably more or less simultaneously with the advent of tool making).

So far as we know right now, Jewish history makes its first known appearance about 1500 BCE (but known writings about NON-Jewish religions go back to about 3200 BCE).

There is no way that Judaism is the world's oldest religion, and any Jew who thinks this needs to undertake some remedial learning of the basics of human history. ;)

Tevai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is no way that Judaism is the world's oldest
> religion, and any Jew who thinks this needs to
> undertake some remedial learning of the basics of
> human history. ;)

I know! Hence my shock!

My experience in several different denominations is similar. Christians I know in those groups generally do not believe in any one church having a corner on Christian truth, nor do they view the church as an institutional entity but as s body of believers scattered among all Christian denominations. What binds them is a commonality of essential salvationalbeliefs rather than the particular denominational markers.

Yep ex Jehovah's witness are called apostates and they can't live on earth forever. Plus you lose everyone if you leave the Jehovah's witness

...but you gain yourself.
It's still a win :)

They joined for some of the same reasons people joined the LDS cult.