Questions by JWs in 1976

by Doug Mason 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Doug Mason

  In 1976, my friend Bruce Price was in contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses who had become disillusioned through the debacle with 1975. Bruce was the leading voice among the SDA ministry in working for JWs. At the time, I was a member of the SDA Church. Although I left them about 25 years ago, to this day Bruce and I enjoy a strong and genuinely warm friendship.

  So, in 1976 Bruce invited me to a meeting with one of the JWs who was leading the disquiet in his congregation in Dandenong (Victoria, Australia). Our JW contact was ultimately involved in helping 200 Witnesses leave the Dandenong congregation.

  This JW – and I will never divulge his name – provided us with documents and newspaper clippings related to the great disquiet. I have scanned one of the documents this JW provided to us. It is available at:
  http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=ad617687741620437355bf7421af28eb

  I do not know who wrote the material. I only know that it was a JW who provided it to us. The contents confirm the date it was written. The citation on page 13 is to the 1961 booklet “Blood, Medicine and the Law of God”, and the WTS released its next “Blood” booklet in 1977.

  If I locate them, I will scan the subsequent documents that the JW provided to us. Hopefully I will soon scan the newspaper articles.

  Doug
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  fresia

  will download file later...but I do remember about Dandenong as I was living in Melbourne at the time, in fact baptised the same year and the talk was about an apostacy congregation in the Dandenongs

  Actually my book study elder left the org only a few months after before my baptism and went to America to live.
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  DannyHaszard

  Bump
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  BONEZZ

  A great document! Well worth downloading and saving.

  -BONEZZ
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  JK666

  Thanks, I downloaded it for later reading.

  JK
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  dust

  bttt
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  brinjen

  bttt, good job!
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  BabaYaga

  I had never heard of that mass exodus... thank you so much for making this available.
  
  Cheers,
  Baba
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  BizzyBee

  Thank you for this fascinating read.

  Apparently this 'campaign' was successful - it would be very interesting to know more about how it was executed, such as

  • who rec'd the letter and how was it determined who should receive it?
  • what kind of responses did they receive at the PO Box locations?
  • what was the backlash from the WTS?

  It would be great to try this again - we've got 30 years more of failure, deception and oppression since 1976. And - we've got the internet!
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  Doug Mason

  Do not underestimate the significance of the present day in the history of the WTS. The power, spread and intrusiveness of the www is playing havoc. It is proving as great a watershed as 1975 did, probably even more, because it is becoming impossible for the WTS to hide the facts under the carpet. The growth of their membership has shrunk in those parts of the world where the www has influence.
  
  In the seclusion of their own home, JWs can conduct their personal investigations. More than this, the www acts as a spiritual counselor, where the JW can communicate with others who have identical concerns. No longer need the JW ask, rhetorically, “to whom else can we go?” Now they can know. They are told that there is real life after the WTS.
  
  Consider the 20 pages of questions that those concerned Witnesses wrote 30 years ago. Within 24 hours of it becoming available on this site, 89 people had downloaded it. Who knows where they are located in the world, whether they are JWs, and to how many people they will circulate that document.
  
  I hope that some will notice that questions posed 30 years ago are the same questions JWs are asking today. This should tell them that the organization will never listen to their questions.
  
  Doug