Your opinion on Jehovah's Witnesses

I have a Jehovah's Witness hymnal. It's really weird. None of the hymns have any lyricist/composer credits, and they all have strangely propaganda-sounding titles like "Loyally Submitting to Theocratic Order". They "also" use a "lot" of "quotation marks" for "metaphorical" "terms".

I remember once when some Jehovah's Witnesses came to our door. My father answered it. They said, "Hello, we'd like to speak to you about raising children."

My Dad looked them right in the eye and said, "I have two sons. The youngest is thirty. They both turned out fine. I don't think I need your advice, thank you." And he shut the door in their faces.

That's what bugs me about Jehovah's Witnesses (and any other evangelical religious group) — they assume that they know better than anyone else, and that us poor, ignorant heathens need to be "saved" for our own good, whether we want it or not. And if we politely tell them "no," they think it means "try again later."

A family who had been longtime friends of ours suddenly became Jehovah's Witnesses. We don't associate with them anymore.

I don't know about how the health system works where you live, but here in France, the state pays for most of it. And if someone gets into an accident and the doctor says that this person needs a blood transfusion, it is because it is the best solution. And by best, that means cheapest. If there was a miraculous and cheap alternative to blood transfusion, absolutely everyone, everywhere would use it, and you wouldn't have constant calls to become a blood donor.

So I am 100% against anything that means that the country - so, everyone's taxes - pays because of someone's belief. I am absolutely okay with the state paying to give every believer equal access to a place so they can practice their religion, be it a church, mosque, synagogue or temple. But when your religion's beliefs mean the taxpayer has to pay extra, it's a simple "No".

Besides, such a behavior screws with the oath doctors take to try and save anyone they encounter. And since my mom was a teacher, I remember her discussing with her colleagues how much of a headache JW kids were, because if anything happened to a kid, they could get sued by the parents. Whether it was because he was treated, or because he was not treated, they could be in the wrong.

To me, that's exactly like vaccines. It's non debatable in a modern country. Public health is not something up to negotiation on a personal basis.

edited 5th Nov '17 12:43:56 PM by Julep

I brought this up with someone yesterday,they raised an interesting point, vaccines protect people but a blood transfusion effects only the individual,now this individual is choosing to reject treatment that will save their life or make them less ill

With a choice that only effects the individual it's really challenging

Possibly dumb question here, but don't Christians drink the wine at Mass as an analogy to Christ's blood or is it just a Catholic thing? Anyway, if it saves your life, I think it's ridiculous to refuse a blood donation, because practicality should nearly always come above ideology.

Apart from that, I have nothing against Jehovah's Witnesses and they never bothered me or showed up at my door either.

> but don't Christians drink the wine at Mass as an analogy to Christ's blood or is it just a Catholic thing?

You're referring to the Eucharist ceremony,which almost all christian faiths carry out in some form

edited 5th Nov '17 4:09:19 PM by Ultimatum

One of the weirdest thing I experience is a few years back when I was in Switzerland waiting outside of the watches shop my family is shopping in, when there's 2 women who walked to me and pretty much demand to know what's my native language...trying to respond that I'm ok with English and they still won't relent and want to know my native language...turns out they're JW who want to hand me pamphlets and such (and yes they do have ones in my native language)...I mean, I never have experience with missionaries and such before (being in country that is predominantly Buddhists) but are they normally this aggressive in preaching, or I'm just unlucky?

edited 7th Nov '17 10:23:48 PM by onyhow

It depends. Sometimes they go door to door, which people tend to find annoying, but the ones I've seen lately just stand around with their literature and don't offer it unless you approach them.

I had some of them knocking on my doors for months and only stopped when I went far away. I was annoyed but I couldn't shoo them away.

And of course, I don't like their doctrine one bit, for various reasons.

^^ Just forgot to mention that I was in Switzerland on a tour group...do JW normally do the preachings on random tourists?