PROTESTS AT WATCHTOWER CONVENTIONS

by Lawrence Hughes 162 Replies latest jw friends

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  kurtbethel

  
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  steve2

  I'm aware of his reasons for protesting. Even so, his obsessiveness doesn't appear any more attractive. He's one of many people who have allowed their significant losses and grief due to Watchtower policies to justify adopting often unrelenting verbal attacks and protests that characterize them as unbalanced and actually garner greater sympathy for the beleagured crowds of JWs he continues to harrass.
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  ProdigalSon

  My sympathies for your losses Lawrence, but I also agree that the best thing to do with JW's is leave them alone and let them self-destruct. They don't need any help.
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  d

  Protests will only make them feel like they are being persecuted for being part of the real religion just them fade out on their own.
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  steve2

  In the early 1980s, Time ran an article showing "hooded" protesters at a JW convention in the states. Inadvertently, the hoods lent the small number of protesters an evil appearance. I nervously mentioned the Time article to one of my dedicated JW aunts who proclaimed, "It just shows how active Satan is in this time of the end". That was the end of the matter.

  In the intervening nearly 30 years, I have heard or seen nothing that suggests protests are any more successful. Indeed, their main "value" could be the way they make JWs feel "special" (i.e., persecuted).

  I've got better things to do with my time and energy than engaging in public acitivities - hooded or unhooded - that simply beef up the JWs persecution complex.
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  Band on the Run

  I believe most here feel your anger. Living well is the best revenge. Protesting makes the protestee feel special. How about writing letters to the editor about the destructive power of cults, and then, paritally, mention your story as an example.

  Twelve Step groups teach that we cannot manage our lives b/c we have no control. They posit a Higher Power who can manage it. I don't like Higher Power as God (neither do federal justices who call Twelve Steps a religion) but look at this site. It can be critiqued but it is a miracle in itself. Look how vibrant it is. All the different opinion. If HIgher Power led us here, he will lead others.
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  koolaid-man

  Hello Lawrence, most people posting as you already know are moral cowards, they are hiding behind there cartoon avatars still scared to death of the Watchtower Org.

  Lawrence you are a hero, I applaud your efforts, you are a man of action. You are not some anonymous fictitious bufoon sitting behind a computer screen pretending to be some internet therapist helping Jehovah's Witnesses. The people demeaning your thread should be ashamed for trying to discourage a sincere man who lost a loved one IN DEATH due to Watchtower doctrine. If you want to protest, I say protest , do not listen to people Who are still having a hard time diconnecting from The Watchtower Organization! Thank you Rick Fearon
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  steve2

  Rick, you are of course entitled to your opinions about people who do not join you in protesting.

  My focus was purely and simply on the claimed effectiveness of such activity based on outcomes.

  It's a similar issue to door-to-door preaching: Whenever JWs have dared questioned the Watchtower about the claimed effectiveness of door-to-door activity, the Watchtower has not responded directly to the question but instead labelled the questioners are opposers and "unfaithful". You appear to have done something similar by labelling people who question the effectiveness of protests as "moral cowards".

  Incidentally, you imply that anyone who does not agree with protesters has never lost a loved one IN DEATH due to Watchtower doctrine - that is a cruel and unsafe conclusion.

  Of course, ultimately, people will do what they think best. Lawrence is fully entitled to protest regardless of what anyone says, just as you are. THis forum welcomes discussion involving all points of view, not just announcements of what is considered "right" or "wrong".
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  Mary

  I have the utmost sympathy for Lawrence as his daughter died from acute myeloid leukemia, which is very similar to what my brother in law died from. Do I hold the Organization responsible? To a great degree, yes. I don't know every aspect of Bethany's case, but I can certainly understand Lawrence's rage and frustration at a cult that helped break up his family and hastened his daughter's death.

  While I don't think that public protests at ASSemblies really do anything other than reinforce the 'angry apostate' view that Witnesses have, if it helps him deal with his grief and anger, then I say power to him.
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  Maze

  Someday, it may dawn on you that there's no public interest in this sort of thing. There was a day when religious or anti-religious picketing was respectable, but those days are gone. In the eye's of the public, you're putting on a freak show. But, for what it's worth, you can come to my assembly. Houston, TX. What are the signs you're drafting up?