Posted by Friend [Friend] on November 12, 1999 at 09:26:40 {CkRQXOxAaIhxaL3hj3H2OgnjR4Br/g}:
In Reply to: *****I knew it... posted by AF on November 12, 1999 at 08:45:59:
AF
Methinks thou dost protest too much.
LOL, you must be kidding me! That is all you do with practically every post when directed toward the Society. I believe you call it your agenda? All I’m doing is keeping you honest.
Are you saying that the informed choice made by an adult member of the Jim Jones cult to kill his children with cyanide-laced Kool-Aid should be respected?
No. Please note that I said, "In the end if people have made an informed choice and their chosen community accommodates society at large then the community should be respected as well as the individuals making it." I believe actions taken by Jim Jones and his poor followers went contrary to the values of society at large too the point of extremely offending it.
Apply this to the JW blood situation where JW parents sometimes kill their children by withholding a lifesaving transfusion.
At this point I think that is an inexcusable crime. The problem is that I know not one single community on planet earth that does not have a (or some) tolerance or stipulation that is just as inexcusable. If I make the choice that I will tolerate no association that has any of what I deem inexcusable stipulations then I could tolerate no community on earth. I must leave planet earth or at least live on some mountain top away from any civilization.
Your notions of spiritual and moral relativism are diametrically opposed to JW teaching. JWs reject your notions entirely, claiming that one cannot be a Christian or serve God unless you're a member in good standing of the JW organization.
I do not entirely agree with that comment or yours. All I have really done is describe self-determination, which is an idea closely espoused by Jehovah’s Witnesses and probably you too. Even if you are correct, so what? My comments on this thread are not said in defense of the Society. I am only exploring that which makes people see things differently.
As for people showing disrespect for JWs by labelling them graduates of WWU etc., please note that this is usually hyperbole designed to make an obvious point. It's poking fun at a stereotype. Stereotypes usually have a basis in fact, and this particular stereotype certainly has such.
Remember what you kept harping about with Greg and what we can ascertain from rash actions? I contend that a similar type of extrapolation can be made from constant actions of stereotyping with derogatory labels.
I will probably be unable to respond for at least a couple of days, if then.
Friend