Many of them really are in the dark about a lot of this stuff.
I can see how that is possible. I grew up in a cult with extremely high levels of information control. The amount of things Jehovah's Witnesses don't know about their own cult is insane.
You can show them actual facts with sources and they won't belive it unless it comes from their own religious leaders.
The information is out there, they just don't care to look. Still on them in the long run.
Thanks for sharing your story, Pede! Back in college, I used to debate all sorts of cultists and other religions, as I was an energetic 18-21 year old who had just gotten into religion deeper myself (I grew up Protestant, dabbled in the Occult in my teens, and ended up becoming an Orthodox Christian, which I have been ever since). I still engage in religious discussions, but not on the same level and certainly not in outright debating style, as I lost a lot of energy for it and straight up debate only "works" with a small percentage of people.
That being said, at the time, I did tons of research on Jehovah's Witnesses. My aunt unfortunately succumbed to them when she was going blind and her eye doctor "took pity on her" and "invited her to a Bible study." Hey, I can't fault JWs for their dedication and techniques, which obviously work on some people, but it's the total information blackout that I disapprove of, which you note.
I used to engage the JWs that came to my door, so they started sending more and more people. Even the guy that did housework for us once ended up being JW. I swear, they have the most sophisticated networking operation (after Mormons, that is). But they will never look at your sources, that's right.
Hence, I resorted to the "plant seeds of doubt" approach. I can read Biblical and Patristic Greek on an elementary level, well enough to get the gist of basic things, and certainly well enough to compare a quote in Greek to the English translation. So when they handed me the booklet, "Should You Believe in the Trinity?" and I saw them massacring a quote from St. Basil the Great (known to be a staunch defender of the Trinity!), I started "asking" the missionary a bunch of questions, playing dumb, about why they were translating the quote wrong, who did the translation, etc. You could see the brain activity fear level rising, but because I was not showing him non-JW stuff, he entertained the discussion for awhile. I can only pray he converted eventually.
Now, fast forward to 2018, and the Venezuelan refugees that moved in next door to me are JWs and while they are cool and don't shove it on me, every time they have friends over, someone is handing me a booklet and asking me what I think about the end of the world LOL.
I can see how that is possible. I grew up in a cult with extremely high levels of information control. The amount of things Jehovah's Witnesses don't know about their own cult is insane.
You can show them actual facts with sources and they won't belive it unless it comes from their own religious leaders.
The information is out there, they just don't care to look. Still on them in the long run.
Thanks for sharing your story, Pede! Back in college, I used to debate all sorts of cultists and other religions, as I was an energetic 18-21 year old who had just gotten into religion deeper myself (I grew up Protestant, dabbled in the Occult in my teens, and ended up becoming an Orthodox Christian, which I have been ever since). I still engage in religious discussions, but not on the same level and certainly not in outright debating style, as I lost a lot of energy for it and straight up debate only "works" with a small percentage of people.
That being said, at the time, I did tons of research on Jehovah's Witnesses. My aunt unfortunately succumbed to them when she was going blind and her eye doctor "took pity on her" and "invited her to a Bible study." Hey, I can't fault JWs for their dedication and techniques, which obviously work on some people, but it's the total information blackout that I disapprove of, which you note.
I used to engage the JWs that came to my door, so they started sending more and more people. Even the guy that did housework for us once ended up being JW. I swear, they have the most sophisticated networking operation (after Mormons, that is). But they will never look at your sources, that's right.
Hence, I resorted to the "plant seeds of doubt" approach. I can read Biblical and Patristic Greek on an elementary level, well enough to get the gist of basic things, and certainly well enough to compare a quote in Greek to the English translation. So when they handed me the booklet, "Should You Believe in the Trinity?" and I saw them massacring a quote from St. Basil the Great (known to be a staunch defender of the Trinity!), I started "asking" the missionary a bunch of questions, playing dumb, about why they were translating the quote wrong, who did the translation, etc. You could see the brain activity fear level rising, but because I was not showing him non-JW stuff, he entertained the discussion for awhile. I can only pray he converted eventually.
Now, fast forward to 2018, and the Venezuelan refugees that moved in next door to me are JWs and while they are cool and don't shove it on me, every time they have friends over, someone is handing me a booklet and asking me what I think about the end of the world LOL.