"Try-harders" going on witnessing "holidays" to countries under ban!

by stuckinarut2 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  fulltimestudent

  hahaI I wonder how many are game to try North Korea??? In fact, I dare them, surely Yahweh/Jesus will protect them - (another grin)

  As far as China goes, there are many people and many religions doing the same thing. Its evidence, not of spiritual bravery, but a sign of obsession. Contrary to what many think, Christianity is not banned in China. The government wants all religions to be registered and if they do not register, they could be in some trouble. If you go to Wenzhou, you'll see buildings with crosses on all over the city. Some of these churches are 300+ years old (established by Dominican Catholic Missionaries).
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  steve2

  Same in Bali (Indonesia) - the Witnesses are not banned, they are constrained from preaching though.
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  OrphanCrow

  The author of the article, Leaving the Witness - a Preacher finds Freedom to Think in Totalitarian China, gives an interesting description of what it was like to be JW missionary in China.

  When I got to China, things were really different, by necessity. Pro-selytizing is illegal. Religious meetings are banned. The preaching work and congregation meetings have to be conducted underground. This means that the handful of Witnesses in Shanghai can meet only covertly, which makes seeing each other more than once a week next to impossible. Preaching in the usual structured, door-to-door fashion is also, obviously, out of the question. For me, a Witness accustomed to a life of uniform routine, this seemed like an unprecedented adventure.
  A couple of weeks after I arrived in Shanghai, I received a cryptic text message from a man who called himself James (some of us used fake names; we knew the Chinese government monitored electronic correspondence). He proposed meeting in a noisy local restaurant in the French Concession. I called his number when I got to the restaurant and he waved so I would know him. We chatted a few minutes, then he immediately got down to business. With a practiced manner, he explained the instructions from the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses as to how to conduct my missionary work. I was to find a job, perhaps teaching English, as a cover. Then I was to start cultivating relationships with worldly people, both Chinese and Westerners. These friendships were to be made with the sole purpose of religious conversion.
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  Vidiot

  That's a terrific article; I've read it a few times over the past couple years.
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  steve2

  I have a couple of "missionary" Christian friends who live in Singapore and who visit China every few months to do Bible "translation" work. Everyone knows it is not actual translation of the Bible. But don't ask what it acutally involves!

  They told me that at any one time in China there are vast numbers of Christians from a number of affiliations spreading "the Word". What Witnesses contribute is likely a measly drop in the bucket in this vast country.