Stepford Mentality

     Yesterday, as I was waiting to pick up my daughter from school, I was approached by a  warm, graceful woman, with a very friendly face.  She smiled  at me as she enthusiastically thrust into my hand the latest copies of the Watchtower and Awake magazine.  Very politely I said, "Thank you, but I can not accept this.  She asked, "Why?"  And I said, "I am a Christ follower and I believe He is the one and only way to salvation."  Much to my surprise the woman replied, "So do I." 

     Not wanting to kill my opportunity to witness to a witness, I neglected to  mention the fact that I had been an active Jehovah's Witness for over 20 years.  From my past experience I already knew the answer that she had  given me was incorrect.  Jehovah's Witnesses have never believed that Jesus Christ is the only means to salvation.  Instead, they believe that a person must  be one of Jehovah's Witnesses in order to be granted eternal life and spared from Jehovah's great day of judgement at Armageddon.  This woman was was being dishonest with me, but I think that I know why.

     One of my favorite movies is Stepford Wives.  A very brief description of the movie is;  husbands were moving their families to the town of Stepford.  The men had all the power, and the women were excluded.  In four months, the women were murdered by the men and replaced with identical looking, robots.  Although on the outside the women appeared to be the same, on the inside they were non-thinking, preprogrammed machines. 

     I feel that this movie depicts perfectly what it's like to be a Jehovah's Witness.  They are trained to give automatic responses without really thinking about the question.  For example; if the Governing Body in Brooklyn,  New York tells them that it's acceptable to lie to non JW's, then the members truly believe that it is acceptable.  Even when the Bible condemns telling lies of any kind.   I think that because  the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society claims to be the only organization on earth who  processes the truth, they actually feel that not only is it permissible to lie, but that they are doing the unsuspecting  receiver a favor by lying to them.   The witness has one agenda and goal in mind and that is; to establish trust, ward off any suspiciousness and ultimately start a home Bible study  and eventually get the recipient  baptized as another witness.  Then kaboom;  you are in line for everlasting life.

        To people who have not been a witness  it's easy to assume that what happens to members of this group  is a result of the their own doing.   Many conclude that the members are  mentally weak, or just plain gullible,  but this is a misconception, it is not the truth.  Jehovah's Witness members are reprogrammed.  This standard  reprogramming  process can happen in as little as two months or it could take as long as 10 years.  In my experience the process did not happen all at once but a little at a time.

      All the woman thought about yesterday after she heard me mention Jesus, was the preprogrammed response that she had been trained to give.

     So...after five minutes of debating whether Jehovah's Witnesses consider Jesus Christ to be the only savour, I finally decided to switch approaches.  I suddenly felt lead to look her in the eyes and ask her if she believed that a person had to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses in order to be saved?  She side stepped the issue and never answered my question.

     Why couldn't she answer my question?  I believe that it's because just like the women in Stepford,when the question was not a  part of the programming the women were caught off guard and clueless, and the same is true with Jehovah's Witnesses.  When they have not been supplied with a response by the society they panic and say nothing because they are not sure about what to say.

     I encourage everyone who is approached by one of Jehovah's Witnesses to take the time and talk with them.  Ask them point blank if they believe that only Jehovah's Witnesses can be saved.  Even if they do not answer take the time to show them from scripture that, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved."  Romans 10: 9,10.  Let them know that if they are using their mouths to promote any other means of salvation, that they are making the blood of Jesus invalid.