The Vatican is concerned about Jehovah's Witnesses

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DawnInTexas said:
A friend of ours told us when JW or the Mormon boys were approaching the house, to hurry up and make a mixed drink (straight up-on the rocks)—then answer the door.

Worked every time! 😉
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Jehovah’s Witnesses are quite comfortable with the consumption of alcohol. In fact, alcoholism reportedly is a problem for many of them. Greeting a JW at the door with a mixed drink would not be a deterrent to them, unless they perceived the householder was so thoroughly inebriated that they were incapable of dialogue.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
The JW’s are not a cult in the same sense as Rev Moon’s org, or others, which used brain-washing techniques to entrap their members.

In fact, the word “cult,” is probably misused here, when speaking of the JW’s.

Either way, if one looks at the history of the JW’s, its an obviously flawed religion.
…Jim
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freeminds.org/psych/beel.htm This report from an ex-JW describes how their conversion system has much in common with the ones the Unification Church uses.
For anyone who doesn’t realize it, the word “cult” has at least five meanings, two of which are used critically, the rest of which are neutral. One critical usage refers to any group, religious or not, that recruits, teaches, trains and retains people using a specific pattern of control and coercive persuasion, in order to meet a goal that is at least partly different from the goal for which members first become involved (e.g., the new member wants to serve God and help the needy; the group will really use most of the members’ time to grow larger, or attain wealth or power for the leaders; there are many variations).
The other means any religious group that appears at first glance to be an unremarkable Christian organization, but which actually has substantial doctrinal differences, especially a denial of the Trinity. These things can go together, but they’re also found separately.
In any case, AFAICS, the JW organization meets both criteria.
 
Greek Scholar Dr. Julius Mantey has already refuted their translation of the NT. (Dr. Mantey studied Greek for over 60 years)

When he took them to task personally for the way they manipulated the text, they replied, “You’re entitled to your own opinion, and we are entitled to ours.”

There are no Greek scholars working for the watchtower, mind you, and they responded to a Scolar in such an arrogant way!:eek:
 
I have a dear friend who is an ex-JW, now a Wiccan, the last I heard. Her ex-husband is also an ex-JW, now an atheist. The kids are confused, but the daughter is leaning toward atheism, in some sort of misguided show of solidarity with her cancer-ridden father.

Trying to talk about spiritual things with any of them is…interesting. Some times I think we’re getting somewhere, but then I realize that everything I’m saying is being heard in a very different manner than what I meant.

One thing I remember was saying something about the Church (because I am in love with the Church and talk about her a lot). And my friend said some things very sharply critical of the Church and I was really surprised that she did that. She was telling me that I should read the Duh Vinci Code, cuz I might learn something about the Catholic Church [these last words she spat as if they left a bad taste in her mouth]. I mentioned that she might wanna check out some of her facts before she continued, maybe learn something first.

This is what she told me:

Ex-JW: Oh, I know about the Catholic Church. We studied it.

Me: Um…you did? Where?

Ex-JW: At our JW meetings.

Me: Oh. Wonderful.

Ex-JW: I know some things. I know they use the King James Bible.

(Oy ve. Honestly, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or simply leave the room at that point.)

Me: No Catholic uses the King James Bible. Unless they’ve been stranded on a desert island or behind enemy lines and nothing else is available. What else ya got?

This was the general gist of the conversation. And, believe me, that was the highlight of it. I have kept her in my prayers. She said once that she wanted to go to Mass with me. But every time we try to arrange it, she chickens out.

And yet she is a very dear friend of mine. She has a heart of gold and helped me when everyone else had turned away. I owe her a lot. But I’m not sure how to be around her these days. I’m trying very seriously to follow the Church’s teachings and to live a life of holiness and virtue and I don’t feel like I can be around her right now. I’m not trying to be an “elitist,” as she calls it, or “a spiritual snob,” also as she calls me. I’m just trying to be a good Catholic Christian. Struggles. And prayers. Oy, oy, oy. 🤷
 
Lee1440 said:
I have a dear friend who is an ex-JW, now a Wiccan, the last I heard. Her ex-husband is also an ex-JW, now an atheist. The kids are confused, but the daughter is leaning toward atheism, in some sort of misguided show of solidarity with her cancer-ridden father.

Trying to talk about spiritual things with any of them is…interesting. Some times I think we’re getting somewhere, but then I realize that everything I’m saying is being heard in a very different manner than what I meant.
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:sad_yes: That sounds familiar.
… She was telling me that I should read the Duh Vinci Code, cuz I might learn something about the Catholic Church …This was the general gist of the conversation. And, believe me, that was the highlight of it. I have kept her in my prayers. She said once that she wanted to go to Mass with me. But every time we try to arrange it, she chickens out.
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If a Danbrownist who learned all she knows about the Catholic Church at Watchtower meetings said she wants to go to Mass with you, keep praying – it’s having an effect.👍
 
Oh, I am praying for her. I pray for her along with some other friends of mine when I pray the rosary. You know. The friends who think abortion is a matter of choice (my ex-JW friend also thinks it’s a matter of choice and that I am narrow-minded, judgmental and an elitist for daring to always speak out and say that it’s choice, all right, a choice to commit murder). The friends who no longer speak to me, who turn and walk away when they see me, also because I dare to call things what they are:

Murder is murder.
False is false.
Lies are lies.
No matter what “nice”
sounding words one uses
to disguise them.
 
if you wont to spoken with Mr Valerio Polidoro , link in this Forum
Thank’s
 
yellowbird said:
Yes, and can’t vote, don’t believe in higher education, celebrate ZERO holidays including birthdays and Mother’s Day (SO evil to celebrate your mom? :rolleyes: ) and publically shun those who disagree with the elders or commit a sin…

Totally a cult.
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They can’t serve in the military, or salute the flag or even recite the Pledge of Alligence. They can’t be organ donors either.
 
My wife and I were in the kitchen one morning when the witnesses came up our stairs and knocked on our door. As they ascended the long staircase, we had a 3-5 second long power outage occur just before the first knock. After my wife dismissed them, we looked at each other, both thinking the same thing… darn! Now we have to reset the clocks again! We had a good laugh as well.

😉
 
My husband’s middle brother has been a JW for several years. When both their parents died, he disobeyed the parents request(Order!!) that they not do anything to bring in the JW’s to their funreal. The brother had a private ceremony over the burial site with family members and priest still present. The family considered this a slap in the face of their parents and many in the family wished to have nothing to do with this brother.
Long story short, when Hurricane Rita(the forgotten hurricane of 05) destroyed our home town, we offered all our supplies, food and whatever the brother needed. He had stayed and we had evacuated. He had no damage and we lost our complete roof resulting in lots of damage. I called one day to thank him for checking on everything and keeping an eye on our home until my husband returned 2 days later. He was shocked that I called to thank him and he thanked us or the food and supplies. His attitide was one of shock and when I told him “this is what families do in an emergency” he seemed generally taken aback.
His relationship towards us and other members of the family has greatly changed. Although his family is still strong JW, I believe the prayers of all of us and his parents are beginning to show fruit.
God has no time limit on answering our prayers man is only too impatient to wait for the best.
Love and Prayers,
beanz
 
The important thing is that " The Vatican is concerned about Jehovah’s Witnesses". There must be some important reasons for that. All the negative comments and jockes about Jehovah’s Witnesses will not change that.

The reality is that the average catholic knows very little about the Bible. I am not refering to humble uneducated people, many of them are professionals; lawyers,doctors,etc.
I was born in a latin american country. There religion ( Catholic) was tought in public schools.In ten years or religious education; I never saw a Bible. The same with my friends, they went to church for years and they never saw a Bible either.
 
A Catholic neighbor was taken in by the JWs, and she forced her children to adhere to her new-found beliefs. They reverted to the Church as soon as they became adults.
One time she whipped out her Bible, doing a hop-skip-jump through it to make a highly questionable point. Then she asked me what I thought, as a Catholic who was “not allowed to read the Bible”.
I responded by taking her Bible in hand and pointed to Isaías 20, in which the prophet preached naked for three years on God’s orders. Then I asked, if the JWs believed in doing exactly what God had commanded, why they didn’t follow this example.
She thought about this for about a minute and replied, “Well, it’s too cold around her to do that.”
You know, she and her friends never bothered me again.😃
 
Noreb said:
The important thing is that " The Vatican is concerned about Jehovah’s Witnesses". There must be some important reasons for that. All the negative comments and jockes about Jehovah’s Witnesses will not change that.
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I apologize for making light of the situation. My own family was touched by the deceptions of the Watchtower Society. I’ve lost my entire father’s side of the family to the Witnesses and it has definitely had its impact on me throughout the years.

The Vatican is rightly concerned about the effect of the Witnesses. It is most certainly true that the average individual has little to no understanding of Watchtower theology. Ever wonder why their so persistent in going door to door… their idea of salvation depends on it.

The real question is… what must be done? I believe that the church must begin to dispel these types of “counterfeit” Christianity, as they have done over the centuries.

There are a number of good videos out there on the Witnesses on YouTube. While they are totally 80’s… they provide some good and very accurate history on the Witnesses and the basics of their beliefs (which would make any Christian… Catholic or Protestant… recognize the problems with the Watchtower Society).
 
jmcrcia said:
I apologize for making light of the situation. My own family was touched by the deceptions of the Watchtower Society. I’ve lost my entire father’s side of the family to the Witnesses and it has definitely had its impact on me throughout the years.

The Vatican is rightly concerned about the effect of the Witnesses. It is most certainly true that the average individual has little to no understanding of Watchtower theology. Ever wonder why their so persistent in going door to door… their idea of salvation depends on it.

The real question is… what must be done? I believe that the church must begin to dispel these types of “counterfeit” Christianity, as they have done over the centuries.

There are a number of good videos out there on the Witnesses on YouTube. While they are totally 80’s… they provide some good and very accurate history on the Witnesses and the basics of their beliefs (which would make any Christian… Catholic or Protestant… recognize the problems with the Watchtower Society).
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The real problem is that the average catholic knows very little about the Bible. The problem is not the Watchtower
 
I used to work with an anti-Catholic Witness and he was an alcoholic and thought that looking at porn was permissable. 🤷

He eventually got fired from work. All the JW’s I know seem to struggle with depression…
 
Ahimsa said:
I agree that people need to know their Bibles, but just knowing the Bible won’t mean that someone won’t join the JWs. Lots of JWs in fact know their Bibles. In fact, one could argue that people become JW *because *they read their Bibles.😃
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I think it depends on what “bible literacy” means. I think that bible literacy should also mean a literacy of what inspiration/canonicity means and how it was determined. A good history lesson would be needed.
 
pprimeau1976 said:
I think it depends on what “bible literacy” means. I think that bible literacy should also mean a literacy of what inspiration/canonicity means and how it was determined. A good history lesson would be needed.
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Most Catholics don’t read their Bibles, and JWs see Catholics as ‘easy prey’ for their presentation.
 
I knew some people that put an American flag in their front window with a sign that said “Our son serves proudly in the U.S. Air Force.” From that time on the J.W.s wouldn’t stop at their house.
 
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