Bad for some individual JWs in Russia.
Good for the WT.
Bad idea overall.
om
Russian JWs in Serious Trouble - about to be banned
by Dogpatch 106 Replies latest jw friends
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isaacaustin
OM's post not showing
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Finally-Free
BUT the WT does not seem to have the charismatic leaders who could really twist this to their benefit.
No problem, all they need to do is find a well spoken psychotic to groom for the position. I'm sure they won't have to look to far to find one.
W
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isaacaustin
true FF...this is the WT
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Dogpatch
It may be the largest single opportunity for growth for the JWs in decades - you watch!
If you were a dissident, what other religion would be more to your liking?
Randy
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compound complex
Hope it's all right to put this up, Randy!
CoCo
"After the Judge's death, as World War II was ending and persecution against the Witnesses began declining, along with the attendant drop in news-media publicity, Hayden C. Covington told the author [of THE FOUR PRESIDENTS] that Fred Franz saw the prohibition against blood transfusions as a way to accomplish two things: to continue to publicize the religion, and to create an uproar in the community. This reaction would convince the membership they were being "persecuted" and "suffering for righteousness sake," a sure sign they were 'in the truth.'"
According to Jerry Bergman, author of BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS: A HISTORY AND EVALUATION OF THE RELIGIOUS, BIBLICAL, AND MEDICAL OBJECTIONS, 1994
"The blood issue has brought witnesses more publicity than any other issue in the last twenty years."
"The ban on blood transfusions was an effort to solidify the Knorr administration." [Knorr initially objected to the weird scriptural interpretation justifying the abstaining from blood; he understood the scriptures to be in reference to animal blood only. Nevertheless, he went along with the ban.
While Rutherford swallowed some irrational rantings by Franz and Woodworth over the beginnings of the blood issue, he would not allow publication of FWF's "special knowledge" as "new light" in THE WATCHTOWER. The two mischief makers kept things stirred up and began convincing others, including Knorr. The author was told that now that "King Saul" [FWF] is dead, the leadership would like blood transfusions to be a matter of conscience and lay the blame for all the suffering at the feet of Franz and Woodworth.
THE FOUR PRESIDENTS OF THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY (JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES), Edmond C. Gruss, Editor, pp.74, 75, 231
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jonathan dough
Does anybody know:
Are there forums or boards like this in the Russian language where the truth about the Society can be discussed and falsehoods dispelled? How much anti-JW literature is available over there?
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purplesofa
It may be the largest single opportunity for growth for the JWs in decades - you watch!
Just the break they been looking for.
purps
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Finally-Free
It may be the largest single opportunity for growth for the JWs in decades - you watch!
When you think about it, it's pretty pathetic that JWs can anticipate growth through pity rather than through content.
W
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slimboyfat
I think it's a bit of a myth that JWs grow better under ban or persecuation actually. In Nazi Germany they just about held their own in terms of numbers, and Canada and Australia did not get big increases during persecution. In Malawi the number of Witnesses went down significantly during the ban, and only recovered to pre-ban levels after many years. In Russia itself and the rest of the former Soviet Union growth was slow for decades under ban; it was only after the ban was lifted in the 1990s that they began to experience good growth in that part of the world.