THE RATIONALE TO STAY

Introduction

While we’re on the subject of the Roman Catholic Church, let me expound on the logic of some awakened, though sincere, active Jehovah’s Witnesses. And perhaps this is a good time to mention that my constant reference to the Roman Catholics is no indication that I have a special aversion for them, no. I consistently refer to them simply because Jehovah’s Witnesses (“the Governing Body”) always paints them in a bad light, you know: “The Catholics this, the Catholics that,” the basic idea being that Catholics are lacklustre and our organisation is the real McCoy. Yessir!

I recall reading somewhere that the judgment you mete out to people is the judgment that will be meted out to you.[1] I really believe that the Witnesses have come full-circle, organisationally. The Witnesses of today will be the “Catholics” of tomorrow. It’s just unfortunate, sometimes, that these things take years to unravel, but, already, a studious eye can see the insidious trend.

The Rationale in Question

Some active Witnesses know that not all is well in Watchtower. True, most in this class of Witnesses must be cognisant of the guillotine that is hanging over their heads, namely, in the form of “disfellowshipping,” waiting to behead them should they decide to vamoose from this organisation on the basis of this enlightenment. However, within this class, there are those who, despite being aware of the internal issues in the organisation, entertain a certain hope that these things will someday change. I know I was such a person. And this “hope” is undoubtedly a branch of this phenomena popularly known as “leaving things in Jehovah’s hands.”[2]

So a sincere Witness who wants to bridge this conflict will adopt the following logic and say to himself: “You know what, I’m not here to serve men, the Elders, the Governing Body. I’m here to serve God. I made a dedication to Jehovah and I will serve him. I’m not going to allow the imperfections of Elders, or, indeed, the past mistakes of the organisation to deter me. I’m going to remain steadfast and be true to my dedication.”

Now, this, right here, is admirable. And I say this with the utmost sincerity. There is unquestionably a certain beauty to it. I’m certain that there are many Witnesses who have adopted a similar stance. To be sure, there must be a psychological term for this sort of thing, for it is an attempt at bypassing certain negatives in an attempt to secure certain comforts.

So, then, is this type of logic a bad thing? By way of comparison, consider the following.

The Sincere Catholic

Here’s a Catholic, right, she reads her bible, prays, is charitable, hospitable etc. A sincere Christian Catholic. Committed. Now, she’s not stupid either, in fact, she’s erudite. She knows the history of her church, she knows all the past ills, the shenanigans, the skulduggery. She may even privately disagree with some of the things that the Pope says; she’s not, you know, “one hundred” with all of the pronouncements of the church. Heck, she might even entertain dissenting views about certain scriptural interpretations. She’s clearly got a functioning mind and she hasn’t abdicated her thinking ability, but, nevertheless, she remains a committed member of the Catholic church, subscribing, bona fide, to its doctrines and practicing its liturgy.

In her rationale, she says to herself: “You know what, I know the Catholic church has made mistakes. I know we (illicitly) supported the war efforts during the World Wars. I know that some of our priests have committed disgraceful acts, molestation of innocent children. I know that some of our prominent leaders (the likes of Marcial Maciel) have been some of the biggest hypocrites. What is more, I don’t agree with the beautification of so-and-so or the canonization of such-and-such. But you know what, I’m not here for all of that. I’m not going allow the imperfections of others or the errors of my church to interfere with my dedication to God. Besides, some of these matters are out of my control, there’s nothing I can do about them. I’ll just leave these matters in the Almighty Father’s hands while I continue being a good Catholic.”

If you’re a Witness, what would you say to such a woman?

The Broader Picture

I don’t necessarily question the intentions of these two fictitious persons, both the Witness and the Catholic. They are representative of a certain class of individuals. They both want to do what’s right; they both want to focus on their service to God, while, at the same time, making a conscious effort not to be side-tracked by the “theatrics” of their respective organisations. But, now, think about it, what will the net effect of this mentality be if hundreds and thousands of such persons maintain this disposition? More directly, “Who are the direct beneficiaries of their alleged ‘service to God’.”

If you are a Witness, right, and you pioneer, volunteer at bethel, build Kingdom Halls, make financial contributions, you know, this being your “service to God,” who are the direct beneficiaries of this service of yours to God? Put more succinctly, at the end of the year when they release the Yearbook and they “gloat” to the world about the millions of hours of preaching that “they” have done, the number of Kingdom Halls that “they” have built, the funds that were spent maintaining the ranks of the “Special Order of Fulltime Servants,” when they mention “their” new studio, “their” new headquarters and all the people that “they” baptised during that fiscal year, the question to ask is, where did they get that from? Was it not from your “service to God?” So in actual fact, your “service to God” perpetuated this. The organisation still exists today partly because of your alleged “service to God.”

Do you see where I’m going with this?

When You Mirror That Logic

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but a seasoned Witness anxious to help, and who observes the plight of the aforesaid Catholic woman, would strike up a conversation with her that would be couched in the following terms: “You are such a good person, dear, with a good heart. You seem very sincere, and, certainly, God appreciates people such as yourself. However, have you ever considered what God’s words says at Revelation 18:4, 5? It says, ‘Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues. For her sins have massed together clear to the heavens, and God has called her acts of injustice to mind’.”[3] The basic encouragement, therefore, would be to leave the Catholic church. Why? Because of all the “sins” that it has committed (not to mention, all of the alleged falsities that it promotes).

Now, if Jehovah’s Witnesses conduct a fair assessment of their own religion, they’ll find that they too have gangrenous elements in their midst, they too – organisationally – have committed acts of “terror” in their past, their hierarchy – Ministerial Servants, Elders etc. – has also been guilty of child molestation,[4] they’ve caused the death thousands of people with their doctrines, they have devastated families and have orchestrated the ruination of people’s lives with their incontestable policies.

And, people, I’m not saying all of this simply to lash out at the “poor” Witnesses, or even as a product of schadenfreude. The information is all out there. Do your research.

Also, I don’t mention these things to necessarily compel Witnesses to hightail it out of the organisation; albeit, that mightn’t be inadvisable. Truth is, I don’t care much for organised religion. I don’t put much stock in anything coming from religious leaders. My basic, simple, message to Witnesses is: Pipe-down on your criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and fix your own house… first. And, then, perhaps – at an organisational level at least – you’ll have some semblance of freeness of speech with which to counsel, or indeed, level criticism, at others.

Conclusion

So, then, Sincere Witnesses who adopt the “I’m-only-here-to-serve-God” disposition are not very different from a sincere Catholic who adopts the same view. Such Witnesses need to understand the broader picture and to appreciate the cumulative effect of that logic. Otherwise, they may wake up to find, someday, that they have unwittingly contributed to an “evil” that ought to have met its demise a long time ago. It’s imperative, therefore, that we learn to think beyond ourselves and see the bigger picture.

#ThinkingWitnesses


[1] Matthew 7:2.

[2] This phenomenon is a basic form of: “O well, there’s nothing I can do about it; I’m gonna leave in God’s hands, he’ll sort it out (in his own time).” This is not altogether a heinous idea, mind you, but it not without its peculiar challenges and shortcomings.

[3] This “her” of which they speak her refers to the symbolic “Babylon the Great” whom the Witnesses, et al, ascribe to the world empire of false religion, the forefront of which is considered to be the Roman Catholic Church.

[4] The Australian Royal Commission of 2015 is a good place to start looking. There have been several other documented incidents globally.