h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The question I am curious about is "Why are Jehova's Witnesses so antipathetic to Roman Catholicism ?" It arises from someone commenting to me a few years ago that this was the case, saying that if JW's knocked on your door, the quickest way to get them to leave you in peace was to say you were a Roman Catholic. Sometime later a couple of Witnesses did come to my door, and though an agnostic, I found them pleasant and agreed that they could leave the Watchtower(?) and have a look through it. I found some bits of it mildly interesting and they came back regularly, about once a month, leaving the journals each time, and we exchanged comments on them. The last time they came the journal had an article in it attacking Roman Catholicism in virulent but non-specific terms, which I found extremely odd in the journal of an organisation claiming to be Christian. (As they never returned I was unable to ask them about it -perhaps they had, quite rightly, given me up as beyond redemption). It wasn't the fact that the article disagreed with another Christian organisation that I found odd, but the violence of the terms in which the writer expressed his opinion. Maybe "opinion" is not the correct term in this context. Religions generally seem to claim absolute Truth and knowledge for their beliefs, but does this justify being downright nasty about others who dispute them ? I'd like to know the origin and reasons for this attitude please (even if you are able to tell me that it is not universal among Witnesses. As the article appeared in the official journal it must presumably represent an accepted view among an influential segment of Witnesses).

Thanks.

Al Symer

Basically it's because, although most churches teach some things that conflict with the Bible, the Catholic church does it with more vigour and zeal than most.

Everyone knows that one of the commandments is not to make idols or use them in worship. Yet catholic churches are full of such idols, and encourage people to kneel before them and pray to them.

Jesus explicitly commanded 'Call no-one father on earth, for one is your father, the heavenly one'. But the exact title the catholic church chooses for its ministers is 'Father'.

Jesus told us we should love our neighbour as ourselves. Still, many churches support wars which are based around killing our neighbours, and Catholic priests even go so far as to bless soldiers and weapons before they are deployed.

It'd be nice to be able to point things like these out nicely all the time, but let's face it, if people were receptive to the facts simply being stated, then it would suffice that they have Bibles in their homes telling them all these things.
And even when people realise that what they are doing is wrong, they want to continue anyway, saying that God will forgive them - as Paul, I think it was, described it, "turning the undeserved kindness of God into an excuse for loose conduct." So stronger terms sometimes have to be used to point out what a serious matter it is to be going against God's commands, in his own name!

Don't be too surprised though at 'virulent terms' from 'an organisation claiming to be Christian'. Christians follow Christ, and Jesus at times felt it was necessary to publicly denounce the pharisees, Jewish religious leaders, as being 'wicked', 'hypocrites', 'offspring of vipers' and to tell them that they 'resembled whitewashed graves, which on the outside, indeed, appear holy, but on the inside are full of rotting flesh and dead mens bones and every sort of uncleanness.' He considered it proper to use quite scathing remarks against people who were supposed to be looking after God's people but were really teaching lies for their own benefit, and actually drawing people away from God.

And there's nothing particularly special about saying your a Roman Catholic on the doorstep, it's the way it's said, which is usually to give the impression, 'so I don't need to hear anything you say.' There are some people though, who state that they are catholics but still express some interest, and they are talked to just as much as anyone else.

Thanks for explaining your viewpoint.

But .... "sometimes stronger terms have to be used [to make them more receptive]".

Is there any evidence that this DOES make them any more receptive to your ideas ?

I don't think they're for the purpose of making people more receptive, I'd say those articles are for people who are already recpetive to the message, but aren't sufficiently provoked to make any action based on what they've learned.

Out of the people I've seen my friends and family study with, the majority now accept what they have been taught. But they don't take any action - they keep going along to their respective churches despite the fact that they no longer believe what they're taught there. So I think articles are often meant to just point out how seriously some churches have gone against God, and how important it is to get away from them - as Revelation said, 'Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share in her sins'.

On the question of saying you're a Catholic when called on by Wittneses; I live in Ireland, where it almost shocks you if you meet anyone who's anything else. (Apart from the odd Protestant now & again, but you can generally tell that from the house before you knock. The last 3 years have seen an influx of African, Aisian and Eastern European peoples, so it's getting a little more multicultural.) The point being that we regularly talk to Roman Catholics about the Bible.


(Yes, I realise this conversation is long over; but I thought I could give a diferent viewpoint on the matter.)