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Yeah. I guess I'm just not geopolitically tuned in enough to intuitively understand what 'improvement' looks like or for who. So far the track record of US 'improvement' in the middle east has been lackluster to say the least, so I'd argue some pessimism is warranted.
I pray for my loved ones, unfortunately on both sides of the guns here.
In WWII, the same situation lead my ancestors to become Jehovah's Witnesses.
Are any of them still?
There's an entire half of my family that are Witnesses, yeah. I can go into the religious history of the family FiveHour if you'd like but I'm not sure it's particularly interesting.
I'm not sure your family history would address it, but I've been curious about what keeps people in JW (Where I am, I see recruiting fliers and the pairs standing around with literature frequently, but also "do you need help escaping JW" fliers, too). The organization as whole in the US seems perpetually stuck between cult and major religion with more of the drawbacks of the former than the benefits of the latter. To be blunt about the cost/benefits and not the theology, Mormonism is an obvious set of big benefits, many adherents are some of the happiest, most productive people I've ever met, and the costs aren't all that steep. I cannot say those things about JW and the adherents I know. Perhaps a question for Sunday.
My father, who grew up a witness before leaving the faith when he went to college, would tell you that the poor witnesses get favors off the rich witnesses, and the rich witnesses take advantage of the poor witnesses. It's like intentionally joining an ethnic minority!
My uncles and cousins over the years have stuck us with all kinds of Witness contractors, at varying levels of competency. They make sure their co-religionists get work! But, they would often call my dad and yell at him for paying the Witness contractors too much, telling him if my father paid them that much then they would start expecting that much from my uncle. They exploit the poor witnesses!
It's mostly just like a serious version of any other sect of Prots. There's a sense of community, there's a strong religious set of teachings and morals, there's family. The theology doesn't seem any stupider, really, than most. Certainly less difficult than Mormonism.
And of course there's the missionaries, door knockers will get some people by nature who happen to be at a vulnerable moment. A family friend became a witness when he was involved in some unfortunate dealings with some unfortunate characters, and one day his car was set on fire by way of persuasion. Well his wife told him to clean up his life that very day or she was leaving with the kids. That very day a knock came at the door, and a copy of Watchtower in his hand.
It's sort of like the Taxi theory of marriage in Sex and the City: men are like Taxis, you can wave at them all you want when they are off duty or have passengers, but the moment the light comes on the first woman to wave at them can get in. The same goes for a man looking for a wife, you can date a man for years and if he isn't ready for marriage he won't propose while once he is ready for marriage he will propose to the next woman he dates, or in this case for a religion. If you happen to run into the Witnesses at a time in your life where you need a religion, you will become a Witness, just as surely as you would have become a Mormon or a Baptist or a Muslim. The Witnesses (and the Mormons) stack the odds in their favor by constantly recruiting, they are more likely to run into a person ready to adopt a religion by constantly Witnessing to those around them.
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