Unfortunately, as much as I would like to have that attitude as well: we can’t.
We have to evangelize. we can’t just let people persist in error. we tell them about their errors, show them wha the Lord says through our church then give them time for their answer. If they reject it: it’s on their own heads. If not, we welcome them back to the church with open arms!
I don’t think anyone who says we should “live and let live” is also suggesting that we never discuss our faith with Jehovah’s Witnesses to help them possibly see the error in their theology.
Why, recently Pope Francis released his “Top 10 Secrets to Happiness” in which he stated:
We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: “I am talking with you in order to persuade you.” No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are an ideological religion. As such they refuse communication on equal grounds. They are here to tell you the truth and teach you to leave your current faith behind. They teach that we are condemned by God unless we join their group.
While Catholicism recognizes many errors in their theology, we do not teach that they are thus condemned by God. They hold many truths dear in common with Catholics. Their love for the Sacred Scriptures, their zeal for evangelization, and even their doctrine regarding the coming New Heavens and a New Earth are more than merely admirable. We share a similar understanding and love for these things too. It is thus not impossible that a Jehovah’s Witnesses may find salvation through these truths that have essentially come from and are thus facets of the Catholic faith.
It is a mistake to think that all communication with Jehovah’s Witnesses should be merely to show them their errors. That is the way proselytizing religion works, and thus the way of the Jehovah’s Witnesses too. Who wants to hear talk about how wrong they are all the time? I have more faults than I want to know about or could possibly count. That surely is not appealing. God is not this way, as the psalmist testifies:
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?–
Psalm 130:3.
True evangelism offers a loving and prime example of holiness. It is often performed without speech. Are we not attracted to our patron saints because of their holiness or did we choose them because of the chastisements they made to those who were sinners? Does not their sterling example of self-sacrificing love attract them to us? Then we should do the same.
If we do not attract them by a life of saintly holiness first, they will not want to hear us tell them about any mistakes they are making. In fact, if we are not fully converted ourselves then they will not listen to our words of correction. Who believes a man who claims he can take a splinter out of your eye while he cannot remove the wooden beam that is stuck in his own?–Matthew 7:4, 5.
Sometimes we can offer the best witness to the truth by showing tolerance for them, not judging them, and showing them there is a different way to evangelize without harsh and judgmental proselytism. And sometimes a Witness will not allow any conversation about religion to go on unless it degenerates into a debate. When that is the case, a sprit of “live and let live” is not always necessarily wrong. Sometimes it’s one of the only ways of love we may have left at our disposal.
And what is evangelization if it is not the display of love in action toward others? Proselytism, on the other hand, is offering warning and judgment. Where’s the love in that?
