Ryan Reeder
Rel 353
Keith Lane
April 19, 2001
Books Read: Royston Pike, Jehovah's Witnesses: Who They Are, What They Teach, What They Do, Philosophical Library: New York, 1954. (140 pages)
W. C. Stevenson Year of Doom, 1975: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, Hutchinson & Co.: London, 1967. (211 pages)
For this project, I chose to study the Jehovah's Witnesses. I chose this denomination partly because I had missed the lecture because my brother returned home from his mission at the same time, and partly because they seemed like an interesting group to look at. I tried to find material that would be fair to study-not the theological books published by the organization, nor books written by disaffected individuals or others with an ax to grind. I just wanted a good introduction to this group. I was unable to find one large book that satisfied these requirements, so I read two that did. The only drawback I found was that they were published some time ago; however, after attending a Bible study and Witness training meeting tonight, I found that much of the material in these books was still relevant.
The first book, Jehovah's Witnesses by Royston Pike is written by a man who claims to disagree with the witnesses (lower-case intentional), though at times when reading the material, one can hardly tell. He adequately suspends his own personal judgment and biases as he remarks on the history, theology, and practices of this people. It was a very informative introduction to this society.
The second book, originally published like the first in Great Britain, was written by a man who had joined the organization at a young man, had risen somewhat in the organization, after about fourteen years was disfellowshipped, and left the group, believing that he had been brainwashed. He claims to feel no ill will toward them, and does not wish to be perceived as "simply writing in a spirit of revenge or spitefulness" (Stevenson 204) though his tone at times lapses into a more judgmental one. He clearly states what he admires in the Jehovah's Witnesses, and on which points he has come to disagree with them. He also desires to write fairly, but unlike Pike whose purpose is to "present a fair and reasonably complete account of" this organization (Pike 133), his motivation is to give "an objective view of this religious movement" (Stevenson 205), implying that he does not desire that others should have to spend a significant portion of their lives as members, as he did. He also covers much in the areas of history, doctrine, and practice.
The meeting I attended was quite interesting. The Bible study portion was focused on 2 Chronicles 34-36. Several leaders gave short talks on the material, followed by a few youth speakers, who were evaluated on their presentations. Workshops were also done regarding appropriate door-to-door techniques. Much of what was said and done in the meetings confirmed the veracity of what I had read, though the chronology and dates, such as 1914 A.D. was not emphasized. However, in conjunction with the text, 607 B.C. was emphasized as the date of the Babylonian captivity, and there was a strong indication that it would be difficult to persuade them otherwise. One especially interesting moment was when a brother spoke on how disfellowshipped individuals should be treated. Apparently, this topic was especially assigned to him, as he related toward the end that his son had been disfellowshipped. Though difficult, he saw this as part of the sacrifice he needed to make to be worthy of God's kingdom.
Probably the most significant thing I realized after visiting this group was that these are real people, just as are found everywhere. They have natural fears of going door-to-door, just like anyone else would. I also noticed that the congregation was composed of people of a variety of races, ages, and family standing. They are really sincere in what they do. They are a people that has actually read the Bible, though they may have arrived at some interesting conclusions. Without the spirit of revelation, that's pretty easy to do. I've come up myself with some erroneous dates based on figures in the Bible, so I can understand how easy that is to do. They are dedicated, sacrificing much of their time and means to the building up of their kingdom. Many have even given up their lives, as happened in Hitler's death camps during World War II. Through reading the material and attending their meetings, I arrived at a higher degree of respect for this organization.
Back to Papers
No comments:
Post a Comment