Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Jehovah's Witnesses: What Drives Them?
Assalamu Alaikum,
I recently developed an interest in reading about Jehovah's witnesses after coming in contact with a few of them through personal knowledge and debates.
Theologically speaking they have many alien beliefs, even to the majority of the traditional Christian denominations...They basically interpret the Bible through the evolving paradigm of their Governing Body, a group based in Brookly NY.
In issues dealing with religion, Jehovah's Witnesses are quite stubborn and hard to reason with as once you start talking about your views/religion, they tune out.. they're trained to. And instead they try to draw their prey into an ocean of very well and carefully prepared talking points mastered in their weekly study circles... They don't stay focused in their conversation and instead they jump from one point to the other as part of their tactics, especially when you corner them with a certain point. To add, they're even allowed to lie to you in their conversation in what they call "theocratic warfare," in other words "lying for the sake of truth"! Those folks are skilled in the art of communication and they work on mastering a lot of tactics to be used for luring people in...
This is what you should expect to see when you try to talk religion with them. Aside from that, you can tell that they are generally sincere about what they're after, and most importantly (to me), they're super dedicated, driven, motivated and zealous, consistently!! And this is really what peaked my curiosity: what is it that really drives them? Where do they get all the motivation, discipline, focus, desire to study and energy from? And what is it that makes us Muslims so not like that in general?
After reading accounts from insiders and comparing that to my personal experience with them, I am so far coming to the realization that 2 intertwined factors play a major role in shaping the JWT's drive: The first one is a very very very purpose-driven life too focused on overcoming Armagaddon and gaining the afterlife on planet earth (as they interpret it), and this factor plays into their total-submission to their governing body, which is factor #2... The governing body is a group of 11-17 elite elders based in NYC (Bible and Tract Society/watch tower founded in the late 19th century). They are considered as being the "prophet" of God on earth today, and the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. What they say is indisputable, and should be taken as is. The governing body dictates through their bimonthly publications, through literature and conventions even the smallest details about how a JWT should think and conduct her/his life while staying focused on their purpose. They even tell them if they can marry or abstain from marriage, or if they can have children or not, if they can have vaccination this year, they tell them what to wear, how to wear it, what to have at home, what not to have at home, how to talk, how to walk...etc They have an amazing influence and possession over the personal lives of the JWT's and the grip is ensured and moderated by their elders in their local kingdom halls.
Psychologically speaking, a purpose is what gives meaning to life, which in turn generates a lot of motivation and focus to one's life...A lot of research was conducted in this area over the last few decades (read about Existentialism, Logotherapy.. Viktor Frankl) and a general consensus is that the sense of purpose generates focus, dedication, motivation, hope and a very strong drive to overcome obstacles. That is their secret, I believe, simply put, a very very purpose-oriented life focused on Armagaddon!
I realize that Muslims are not as zealous as JWT's in their spreading of their religion for many reasons. Majorly, JWT's are pressured to spread their faith if they are to remain active members, otherwise they'll be sidelined and harassed.. their pressure comes from their elders/community, and the drive that they may die in Armagaddon if they don't do it well! As for us Muslims we're not forced per se, and the obligation of spreading Islam on a personal level is left upon the conscious decision of the individual, generally speaking. However I feel that we have been generally lagging behind in this area in addition to many others, as an Ummah. Something has been shackling our creativity and our drive. How come we're not as creative, innovative and deep as our Muslim ancestors were? What is that weight on our shoulders that is slowing us down? What is it that is causing friction against our evolution as a society, and as an Ummah? Could it be the methodology of education itself that encourages us to stay in the closet of comfort? Could it be some of our systems that put more emphasis on memorization and on parroting the thoughts of our ancestors instead of building upon them, continue the path and evolve with our creativity, thinking and innovation (within the realm of Sunnah and Qur'an)? Could it be that we've been too focused on memorizing the letters in the Qur'an than on pondering upon its meaning and synnergizing with its wisdom?
Allahu Aalam. Whatever it is, may Allah guide us, inspire us, and help us against our low-selves and the Shaitan, against lazyness, against mental blocks, and may Allah bring us out of our slumber into a rightly-guided purpose-driven life, with Jannah being our ultimate purpose! Ameen.
--------------
NOTES: Other Beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses:
a- They believe that Jesus Christ is actually on earth in a hidden form, having arrived in 1914.
b- They do not believe in the trinity, to them Jesus is not God, however he is the son of God.
c- They made several wrong prophecies about the date of Armagaddon, the war of all wars.. the most recent date being 1975 going back as early as 1914.
d- They swang back and forth in their doctrines especially in those related to vaccinations, blood transfusion and medical issues. This is important because they believe that the Governing Body is a prophet, but this prophet changes his mind 180 degrees back and forth on such critical issues while playing with people's lives and causing deaths. Thousands of Jehovah's witnesses die every year due to not taking blood transfusion.
e- Armagaddon is really big to them: if they don't do their hours of door to door service every month, if they don't follow what their elders dictate to them..etc they are at a risk of being killed by God in Armagaddon as they believe.. and whomever dies there, dies.. and does not gain their eternal life.
f- they believe that only 144,000 humans will go to heaven and become the political governing body of Jesus Christ after resurrection, and those have already been annointed/selected (except for some very few that still get replaced). As for the salvation of the rest, only the true jehovah's witnesses will have a paradise-like life but on earth, this earth, after Armagaddon. Evil people die and stay dead, they do not believe in Hellfire eventhough reportedly Jesus peace be upon him spoke a lot about it in the new Testament.
g- They have their own Bible translation called the New World Translation. They deliberately remove/insert statements and ideas in it. Before the 50's, they used to follow the King James Bible Translation.
h- They are very community oriented, but too exclusive. They don't like to mix and have real friends outside their circle of JWT. They don't marry outside their circles.
i- They are discouraged from getting higher education for the main reason that their time needs to be spent in prostelizing and going from door to door.
j- Committed JWT need to do a certain number of hours in prostelizing/month going from door to door, with requirements soaring to several dozen hours/month at times.
k- If any of them disobeyes their elders/leaders or questions/disbelieves in ANY of the doctrines of jehovah's witnesses, they're disassociated from the organization if they don't cease, and their JWT family members and all other JWTs are then forbidden from even talking to them. In other words their whole community rejects them.
l- The System Jehovah's Witnesses adopt has too much control over their daily lives, that is why you see that they have similar behaviors no matter where you find them. They dress in the same fashion, they walk/talk in the same fashion...It is like an army but with no guns, they just take orders from the higher ups.
Some Reading Recommendations:
----------------------------------- -
1- Crisis of Conscience.
Raymond Franz.
2- Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness: Escape from the Watchtower Society.
Diane Wilson
3- Index of Watchtower Errors: 1879 To 1989
David Reed
I recently developed an interest in reading about Jehovah's witnesses after coming in contact with a few of them through personal knowledge and debates.
Theologically speaking they have many alien beliefs, even to the majority of the traditional Christian denominations...They basically interpret the Bible through the evolving paradigm of their Governing Body, a group based in Brookly NY.
In issues dealing with religion, Jehovah's Witnesses are quite stubborn and hard to reason with as once you start talking about your views/religion, they tune out.. they're trained to. And instead they try to draw their prey into an ocean of very well and carefully prepared talking points mastered in their weekly study circles... They don't stay focused in their conversation and instead they jump from one point to the other as part of their tactics, especially when you corner them with a certain point. To add, they're even allowed to lie to you in their conversation in what they call "theocratic warfare," in other words "lying for the sake of truth"! Those folks are skilled in the art of communication and they work on mastering a lot of tactics to be used for luring people in...
This is what you should expect to see when you try to talk religion with them. Aside from that, you can tell that they are generally sincere about what they're after, and most importantly (to me), they're super dedicated, driven, motivated and zealous, consistently!! And this is really what peaked my curiosity: what is it that really drives them? Where do they get all the motivation, discipline, focus, desire to study and energy from? And what is it that makes us Muslims so not like that in general?
After reading accounts from insiders and comparing that to my personal experience with them, I am so far coming to the realization that 2 intertwined factors play a major role in shaping the JWT's drive: The first one is a very very very purpose-driven life too focused on overcoming Armagaddon and gaining the afterlife on planet earth (as they interpret it), and this factor plays into their total-submission to their governing body, which is factor #2... The governing body is a group of 11-17 elite elders based in NYC (Bible and Tract Society/watch tower founded in the late 19th century). They are considered as being the "prophet" of God on earth today, and the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. What they say is indisputable, and should be taken as is. The governing body dictates through their bimonthly publications, through literature and conventions even the smallest details about how a JWT should think and conduct her/his life while staying focused on their purpose. They even tell them if they can marry or abstain from marriage, or if they can have children or not, if they can have vaccination this year, they tell them what to wear, how to wear it, what to have at home, what not to have at home, how to talk, how to walk...etc They have an amazing influence and possession over the personal lives of the JWT's and the grip is ensured and moderated by their elders in their local kingdom halls.
Psychologically speaking, a purpose is what gives meaning to life, which in turn generates a lot of motivation and focus to one's life...A lot of research was conducted in this area over the last few decades (read about Existentialism, Logotherapy.. Viktor Frankl) and a general consensus is that the sense of purpose generates focus, dedication, motivation, hope and a very strong drive to overcome obstacles. That is their secret, I believe, simply put, a very very purpose-oriented life focused on Armagaddon!
I realize that Muslims are not as zealous as JWT's in their spreading of their religion for many reasons. Majorly, JWT's are pressured to spread their faith if they are to remain active members, otherwise they'll be sidelined and harassed.. their pressure comes from their elders/community, and the drive that they may die in Armagaddon if they don't do it well! As for us Muslims we're not forced per se, and the obligation of spreading Islam on a personal level is left upon the conscious decision of the individual, generally speaking. However I feel that we have been generally lagging behind in this area in addition to many others, as an Ummah. Something has been shackling our creativity and our drive. How come we're not as creative, innovative and deep as our Muslim ancestors were? What is that weight on our shoulders that is slowing us down? What is it that is causing friction against our evolution as a society, and as an Ummah? Could it be the methodology of education itself that encourages us to stay in the closet of comfort? Could it be some of our systems that put more emphasis on memorization and on parroting the thoughts of our ancestors instead of building upon them, continue the path and evolve with our creativity, thinking and innovation (within the realm of Sunnah and Qur'an)? Could it be that we've been too focused on memorizing the letters in the Qur'an than on pondering upon its meaning and synnergizing with its wisdom?
Allahu Aalam. Whatever it is, may Allah guide us, inspire us, and help us against our low-selves and the Shaitan, against lazyness, against mental blocks, and may Allah bring us out of our slumber into a rightly-guided purpose-driven life, with Jannah being our ultimate purpose! Ameen.
--------------
NOTES: Other Beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses:
a- They believe that Jesus Christ is actually on earth in a hidden form, having arrived in 1914.
b- They do not believe in the trinity, to them Jesus is not God, however he is the son of God.
c- They made several wrong prophecies about the date of Armagaddon, the war of all wars.. the most recent date being 1975 going back as early as 1914.
d- They swang back and forth in their doctrines especially in those related to vaccinations, blood transfusion and medical issues. This is important because they believe that the Governing Body is a prophet, but this prophet changes his mind 180 degrees back and forth on such critical issues while playing with people's lives and causing deaths. Thousands of Jehovah's witnesses die every year due to not taking blood transfusion.
e- Armagaddon is really big to them: if they don't do their hours of door to door service every month, if they don't follow what their elders dictate to them..etc they are at a risk of being killed by God in Armagaddon as they believe.. and whomever dies there, dies.. and does not gain their eternal life.
f- they believe that only 144,000 humans will go to heaven and become the political governing body of Jesus Christ after resurrection, and those have already been annointed/selected (except for some very few that still get replaced). As for the salvation of the rest, only the true jehovah's witnesses will have a paradise-like life but on earth, this earth, after Armagaddon. Evil people die and stay dead, they do not believe in Hellfire eventhough reportedly Jesus peace be upon him spoke a lot about it in the new Testament.
g- They have their own Bible translation called the New World Translation. They deliberately remove/insert statements and ideas in it. Before the 50's, they used to follow the King James Bible Translation.
h- They are very community oriented, but too exclusive. They don't like to mix and have real friends outside their circle of JWT. They don't marry outside their circles.
i- They are discouraged from getting higher education for the main reason that their time needs to be spent in prostelizing and going from door to door.
j- Committed JWT need to do a certain number of hours in prostelizing/month going from door to door, with requirements soaring to several dozen hours/month at times.
k- If any of them disobeyes their elders/leaders or questions/disbelieves in ANY of the doctrines of jehovah's witnesses, they're disassociated from the organization if they don't cease, and their JWT family members and all other JWTs are then forbidden from even talking to them. In other words their whole community rejects them.
l- The System Jehovah's Witnesses adopt has too much control over their daily lives, that is why you see that they have similar behaviors no matter where you find them. They dress in the same fashion, they walk/talk in the same fashion...It is like an army but with no guns, they just take orders from the higher ups.
Some Reading Recommendations:
----------------------------------- -
1- Crisis of Conscience.
Raymond Franz.
2- Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness: Escape from the Watchtower Society.
Diane Wilson
3- Index of Watchtower Errors: 1879 To 1989
David Reed