I found an article by an atheist explaining the methods in which Jehovah’s Witnesses are controlled buy their leadership. There are curious parallels to the WOF, such as an exalted "anointed" leadership, although the origins as well as the overall personality of the groups are quite different. For example, I have never seen any WOF church to be anywhere close to the well-oiled recruitment machine that the JWs organization is.
One of my concerns is that such controlling methods have been filtering out into mainstream evangelicalism for a number of years via the Word of Faith movement. If a church is built up as one man's career vehicle, then the temptation to try to control people may be too hard to resist. It seems like a lot of guys leading mega-awesome mega-churches should just quit the ministry and be regular ol' CEOs instead of religious business philosophers.
I don't know the world of faith (WOF), but I do know Jehovah's witnesses, and I'll see this truthfully, nobody controls our minds, in Brooklyn, or anywhere, I'm a teacher, I am studying for a science certificate and have a certificate in early childhood and high school psychology. I follow the Bible and also where the Bible says, "Make sure of all things, hold fast to what is fine." We don't need to let others control our mind. All the internet-hype about mind control is overdone, and there is a lot of room for personal choice, personal decisions, and normal interaction with non-Witness family, which my family has done all our life, our Catholic family are our friends, we never missed family dinners, with the non-Witness family and friends, and my wife is on her way to stay with her Catholic family for 2 weeks in Brasil and to see her Catholic nephew get married in church, with full consent of anyone in the congregation. We do believe that the end of this sytem is coming, Jesus taught it, but my wife threw our her images before she had any contact with Jehovah's Witnesses, from reading the Ten Commandments. Ex 20. Sorry to rain on your theory, don't believe everything you read on the Internet!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd please buy my poetry book of Rabindranath Tagore, the Hindu philosopher and poet! Thanks.
First, a comment to John Scott. I had a Jehovah's Witness neighbor across the street from me for several years before I moved, and I do believe that the JW's are brainwashed. I can go into that in more detail some other time, but theological aspects of cults usually have psychological and sociological symptoms associated.
ReplyDeleteGW, I appreciate your post. You make a point I have been asserting for quite some time, namely, that the American evangelical church has become wholly infected by "clergy" who are intent on building their own personal empires. (I wrote a post on this, titled, "Newspapers, Church Culture and Bad Breath.) This is one big reason why I don't go to evangelical churches anymore, even though I still consider myself to be evangelical. The "pastors" of these outfits need a sobering kick in the pants.