A Few Bad Apples

By Eveningmeadows ~

I had quite a revelation today.

Image by alison e dunn via Flickr

This young man that is close to the family has been telling us that he’s had Jehovah’s Witnesses coming around visiting him. He’s let them in to talk to them. He told me today that he’s seriously thinking of becoming one himself. He’s trying to find a replacement for a lifestyle of partying. Back in my religious days I would believe that if he became a born-againer, that god would turn his life around. Not much happened for me, but heck, maybe it would work for someone else. He said that he believed that all religions were basically cults in one way or another. I agreed with that statement. But he was disappointed when we told him that we didn’t think becoming a J.W. was a good idea. He thought that we would be happy that he wanted to change his life, and not hang around with people who were drinking. In his case it’s sad, because he doesn’t know what to fill his life with, or how to meet people that don’t spend their time drinking.

Not knowing what else to offer him, I found myself encouraging him to go to my old born-again church. I didn’t know what else to say. I thought in his case, it was better if only marginally. I said that they have young families there, a gym and guys who play basketball. He could get support from the young men there. I didn’t know what else to say to him.

I was quite surprised by his reaction to my old church. I figured we weren’t well known, since we didn’t get involved with worldly stuff. All those heathens. He was quite popular in high school, and knew many of the kids that were in the church. He said he would never go there because of the behavior and attitude of some of the families in the church. What surprised me was that these were some of the best, most spiritual, elders, servants way up there, holy rollers of the church! Basically these self-righteous morons ruined the testimony of the other 95% of us! It didn’t matter that most of us worked ourselves to the bone for the church. We served quietly and weren’t considered the “spiritual giants” of the church. It didn’t matter. Our “witness” was ruined by the actions of a few arrogant, self-righteous fools. You know what was also sad? He had a positive experience in high school with a J.W. friend. He was impressed with his friend and his family. What could I say? His choice of one cult over another was on the basis of the behavior and attitude of his friend. Not knowing or understanding the different doctrines or beliefs of either group, he made his decision based on the behavior of the people he met from each group.

If there are any born-againers reading this, keep that in mind. Your self-righteous, arrogant, hateful behavior probably has turned away many people from your church. And also pushed them right out the door.