Peddling Emotional Blackmail

I am experiencing and witnessing first hand the effects of the Governing Body's instructions to shun anyone who has left the religion.  It is deeply sad to see grandparents keeping their own grandchildren at arms length because they have lost all faith in an organisation that preaches love and truth yet practises cruelty and dishonesty.

None of my own family have been disfellowshipped or disassociated yet they are treated as though they don't exist. 

JW's seem to believe that anyone who leaves the organisation automatically enters a life of debauchery and excess.  Maybe this perception is perpetuated by the experiences relayed in their literature of people who have left and then returned years later.  Normally the experience involves a decline into meaningless sex or drugs and it is only a 'return' to Jehovah that enables them to regain control of their life again.  There is the inevitable reference to their 'spiritual need' and how they feel complete now that the spiritual side of their life has returned.

The reality is that life outside the JW's is pretty much the same as it was inside except there are no pointless 'meetings' twice a week, no requirement to force religious beliefs on complete strangers and no feelings of guilt because my field service report is under ten hours or I've missed a meeting due to work commitments.

Life goes on devoid of meaningless sex or drugs or endless parties and no desire for them.  I have no 'spiritual need' to fill and certainly no desire to ever return to the organisation that limited my opportunities in life.

Yet, if I want to re-establish a relationship with my parents and in-laws, I am required by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses to return to the organisation and accept it's teachings without any question - some choice.

So many of you will be facing a similar situation.  Yet many others of you are not - it seems that not all JW's are prepared to turn their back on family members simply because they have a differing view.

Why are these differing stances being taken when the congregations are normally united?

Of course I cannot carry out a widespread survey of JW's on this question however we can examine the facts.  The most recent district convention program was very specific - using both manuscript talks and mini-films they made it clear that parents were not to even answer the phone to a child that had left the religion.  (The sheer selfishness of this is material for another blog).

Some Witnesses are following the instruction, others are not. It seems as though the Governing Body are pushing their authority just a little too far for some.  Why?  They are normally viewed as infallible however recent events are dispelling this myth.  The footage of Geoffrey Jacksons cringe worthy display in front of the Australian Royal Commission enquiry showed the world a man flapping like a beached fish as he struggled to evade the very direct questioning about the Societies views on women, disfellowshipping and their handling of child abuse allegations.

Stephen Letts animated appearances on JW.ORG tv are reminiscent of the worst TV evangelists as he shrugs off the criticism of their handling of child abuse with an indignant claim that nobody protects children better than Witnesses.  He further damages his credibility when he appeals for money, claiming that the billion dollars they received from selling properties in Brooklyn would only last a few weeks!

Most Witnesses are not stupid.  They may be trapped by a manipulative organisation but they are only barred from watching and reading non-witness material.  Millions of them have watched their leaders spout from their television pulpit and inevitably some are questioning to themselves what they are hearing.  With that back drop is it any wonder that many are ignoring those same leaders when they are told to shun their family, even if all they have done wrong is lost trust and belief in the religion?

Many will have watched the video of the young girl ringing her mother in desperation and thought;

'What if she was in danger and she was calling for help?'  'How would her mother have felt if she received a call from the Police later that evening to say her daughter had been raped or murdered?'

Do the Governing Body really think that turning your back on a family member, who no longer wants to be part of the religion, is Christian?  Can you imagine Jesus ignoring that phone call? 

Whatever the Society want their members to believe there will be a significant number of JW's who can see exactly what they are being sold - emotional blackmail - and  they know that it can never successfully bring a person to genuinely love God again.