Note in the cultnews.com articles where someone states the JW's view people 'turning' to homosexuality is a result of them abandoning the WTBTS denomination. The JW's need to understand the fact that people don't 'turn' to homosexuality when they leave the denomination. They were already gay beforehand because they were born gay and they decided to accept their sexual orientation. The JW's prefer to view their denomination as a Christian religion organization. They basically view themselves as a separate religion of Christianity and that is quite a false belief. The JW's are really no different than any other fundamentalist Christian denomination in my opinion as an atheistic ex-JW. The JW's are not a separate Christian religion no matter how much they think they are. Don't let them fool you on that. Sure, their earthly paradise, an exclusive group of 144,000 ruling with Yahweh and Jesus in heaven and their belief in divinely-inspired annihilation and eternal death of those Yahweh thinks are evil are a bit strange, but not uncommon in some other Christian denominations or other religions. That doesn't make them the 'truth' just because some of their beliefs are different. I am a former member of over 20 religions including the JW's, Catholicism, Seventh-day Adventism, Mormonism and Christian Scientism. The Mormons hold what some would consider to be pretty bizarre beliefs that cannot be found in any other Christian group. The LDS Church believes they are the one and only true Christian denomination and organized religion. The Mormons consider the JW's to be worldly and a false religion. Have any practicing JW's ever considered that the Mormons just might be the true Christian denomination? Have any JW's ever converted to or have been converted to Mormonism by a LDS Church missionary? Hell, I'd rather be a Mormon again then a JW. I'd rather be a Mormon again then a JW if I had to choose between the two. The LDS movement holds beliefs that cannot be found in any other Christian group. The Mormons for instance belief the LDS Church is the restored church of Yahweh.
The Mormons do get some beliefs correct that the JW's do not. The Mormons acknowledge that there are deities that exist other than Yahweh but that Yahweh is the only one who should be worshipped. The JW's wrongfully deny the existence of the Elohim or the Jewish pantheon of deities which Yahweh is descended from. There is no mention of a restored Edenic paradise on Earth in the Jewish or Christian texts as the JW's believe in. The 'great crowd' from the Book of Revelations of John in the Christian bible are a heavenly group, not an earthly group as the JW's believe.
The JW's are mostly good people but their religion is false to me. If they want to believe in it great. Don't except me to unconditionally or uncritically agree with any or all of your denominational beliefs or practices because I don't operate that way. I was more of a liberal JW and always believed that questioning what you believed was important. My best friend who grew up as a JW was introduced to Mormonism by a pair of LDS missionaries and came to view the JW's as a false Christian denomination. She's pretty liberal but she still views the JW's as apart of the Babylonian kingdom of false religions. I'm sure the fundamentalist Mormons in particularly would largely consider the JW's to be under the control of Satan. Look at Gladys Knight who is a Mormon convert, she is friends with Michael Jackson's homophobic , controlling mooch of a mother who is a hypocritical JW but I'm sure Gladys thinks that Katherine Jackson belongs to a false religion and that Jackson will not inherit the highest kingdom of glory in heaven. Gladys is perhaps the most famous African-American celebrity who is a well-known Latter-day Saint. Even as an atheist, there are some aspects of Mormon culture and history that I still identify with. Hell, the JW's are basically a splinter-group of both the Bible Students and the Seventh-day Adventist Church whether they like it or not. The SDA's are the cousin denomination of the JW's and I must say their beliefs are a bit more accurate then the JW's. Now, the JW's and the SDA's both still seem to cherry-pick the Jewish and Christian bibles of course like most Christian fundamentalist denominations, sects, splinter-groups, branches or movements do.
The two texts support racism, religiously-sanctioned genocide, the stoning of those who make false prophecies that never come true, disobedient children, burning prostitutes and the murder of homosexual men for simply having sex with one another. Killing homosexual men for engaging in sex with each other is wrong and it is not an 'abomination' or 'detestable'. The killing of sexually-active couples of the same-gender is what is detestable and the true abomination as can be applied to killing disobedient children, murdering those who worships other deities other than Yahweh or killing people who practice magic or those who make false prophecies ( which the JW's have done numerous times, so by Jewish religious rules they should be stoned to death). The texts both support slavery quite clearly and since the JW's and the SDA's refuse to act literally on these practices , than that proves they are cherry-picking. You cannot claim to follow your text literally if you do not act on all of it's rules.
Slavery is not condemned in either text. Jesus seems to accept it. Yahweh is not a pacifist so the JW's shouldn't be either. Yahweh is a god of war and jealousy which is how the ancient Jews viewed him. Jesus and Michael the Archangel are not the same person to me. Jesus is more of a lesser god than Yahweh and can do nothing without his father's approval. I believe Jesus and Michael are two separate people but the are supposed to fight together during the last holy war during the Second Coming. The JW's have faced some horrendous persecution and I do sympathize with them on that most definitely. However, disagreement with their religious beliefs and practices is not tantamount to 'persecution'. It is merely disagreement. They have the legal right to believe what they choose and act on certain practices, so long as they don't harm anyone else but non-JW's or former JW's are not inclined nor should they be expected to agree with any or all of the JW's beliefs or practices and the same goes for any other religious group.
Another thing. Jesus was Jewish and did not start another religion. He did condemn the High Priests of the Temple for some of the things they said and did but he still maintained his beliefs in the Jewish religion. He is the King of the Jews and did not come for anyone else. Paul is a heretic as he went against many of Jesus' teachings and the possibly real Jewish rabbi who inspired the legendary Jesus the Christ figure would not be too pleased if you ask me. Jesus was Jewish and claimed to come only for the Jews who are Yahweh's chosen people and the JW's call Yahweh by the false name " Jehovah" which is not accurate from what I know. The Jews are his witnesses that he is the only god they should worship and that no god came before him or after him as mentioned by an author in a passage the Book of the prophet Isaiah in the Jewish bible but JW's never quote the whole passage for some reason. The only witnesses of Yahweh are actually the Jews. Christianity is a heretical religion in itself. The JW's are a heretical group of Christians too. Charles Taze Russell who founded the Bible Student movement was influenced by Adventist thought, so technically the JW's are heretics, especially since Joseph Rutherford denounced most of Russell's teachings causing most of the Bible Students to denounce the Jehovah's Witness group and they left the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society including most of Russell's own family because of the distortions Rutherford made of Russell's teachings and started their own groups to avoid associating with the JW heretics.
The JW's would be and most likely are considered heretics by the Seventh-day Adventists. No Christians are actually saved, not even the JW's because Jesus only came for the Jews and this belief cannot be denied if you take the text literally. Most Christians rely on Paul's writings or the Jewish practices than Jesus' sayings, so Christians follow the beliefs of Paul the heretic and not Jesus who was a very religious apocalyptic Jewish rabbi who was condemned by his fellow Jews for spreading heretical beliefs and going against things that the Jewish religion condemned. He was executed by the Romans for being a rabble-rouser.
Paul was a heretic and he is wrong about many things including homosexuality. It is not 'shameful lust' nor is it 'unnatural' nor will gays receive 'recompense for what is not an 'error' and they seem to be more likely candidates for Yahweh's kingdom compared to a vicious murderer. A murderer can gain entrance into heaven if he asks for forgiveness and that is wrong as he may not truly be sorry and he has robbed the world of an innocent life which he can never replace. Neither the Jewish or Christian bibles condemn pedophilia or cannibalism and they should but they don't. Slavery is permissible. There is nothing wrong with cross-dressing. It harms no one and is not an 'abomination'. So the Jewish authors are wrong about cross-dressing too. The Golden Rule is a very good tool to use. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Murder, thievery, telling harmful lies are wrong and so is prejudice and bigotry which neither texts condemns. Racism is not condemned. I applaud the JW's for denouncing racism and xenophobia but there are some JW's who are racist and xenophobic but I also condemn the Jehovah's Witnesses for being homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, 'gaysexophobic',' gaymarriageophobic' and anti-sexual in general. Having consensual sex with another consenting adult without being legally married harms no one. Cheating without the other person's permission is wrong but not evil in my opinion.
Jesus was not so nice. He basically condemned men just for finding a woman attractive whom he was not married to and destroyed a fig tree for not bearing any food at the wrong time of the year, was impatient with his twelve students and ruined the Temple in a fit of rage because of his issues with the Jewish leaders. Stole someone else's donkey without permission and called a non-Jewish woman a racial slur when she went to him for help. Called his mother outside of her name. Hardly a man I would want for a role model. Now the story of the Good Samaritan in the Christian bibles has some valuable lessons about tolerance even if you disagree.
Most JWs are good people but I disagree with them on holidays, birthdays, military, patriotism, same-sex relationships, gay marriage and stuff like that. I think we have the right to defend our country from harmful invaders but still should take no delight in killing them in defense, I think we should be proud to live in a country that cherishes such valuable goals such as hard work and freedom. I don't think birthdays and holidays are 'pagan' or even if they are , celebrating them does not hurt anyone. I don't believe in Satan or demons and deny that they run the world. Religious holidays and secular holidays are important for many people as it may be the only few times we get to see some of our loved ones throughout the years.
I think it is wrong for the JW's to insist that no one in their denomination is not a 'true' JW if they commit a violent crime. Some JW's have committed violent crimes and sometimes their religious views did have a part in it but most were just crazy in general. The JW's are capable of hurting others and committing horrible crimes but most don't. I don't believe the U.N. is evil or that it will persecute all religions including the JW's as the U.N. strongly believes in religious freedom despite many of its flaws. I don't believe the governments of the world are under the control of a devil or that all other religion are false at least, not for the reasons the JW's might. We need governments to make sure that the world doesn't go into chaos. We need someone to set down rules and mete out appropriate punishments for those rules when some folk break them that are reasonable. I consider the JW's and all other religions to be false because the evidence does not prove their views to be true or moral to me. The JW's are not morally superior to anyone else and their conservative views on homosexuality and abortion, tolerance for others who hold different beliefs from you even if you don't always agree are beliefs that are not moral to me. The JW's may not think of themselves as a cult along with some of their non-JW supporters but I think some of their views and practices are cult-like anyways. To the WTBTS supporters who are non-JW's I say, you cannot be a Southern Baptist and espouse JW beliefs as that would make you a heretic. You cannot be a member Church of Christ member and espouse JW beliefs without being excommunicated. You just don't do that. Now, Steve McRoberts an atheistic ex-JW wrote in his fictional story of a JW who claimed the Unitarians are opposed to what the JW's do. That is not true. I am a former Unitarian-Universalist and still identify with some aspects of that group. The Unitarian-Universalist Church some of whom are former JW's are not opposed to the JW's work, they just disagree but they believe in letting the JW's do their own thing even if they don't agree with all that the JW's believe or do and they still believe in treating them like brothers and sisters and looking for the good in them as people and can find some positive qualities in the JW denomination even if they disagree with most of it and that is a very awesome definition of tolerance.
The UU's are one of the most tolerant religious groups in the world in my opinion even if they don't see always see eye-to-eye with the JW's or any other religion and sometimes with each other because they are willing to let others do their own thing as long as they are not hurting anyone else and not demonize them as people and try to find some good in some of what they do. I'd hope that the JW's could do the same for others and wish they would but I often rarely see it.
My point is that though I may disagree personally with most of the JW"s beliefs and practices, I still think most of them are good people and allow them to do their own thing because that is how I would want to be treated. I don't agree with much of what the SDA's or Mormons do either but I let them go on their way as long as they don't hurt anyone as that is how I would want to be treated.
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