Downloaded it today and have already started reading it.
NJY
ANNOUNCING the Amazon.com KINDLE version of my BOOK
by Terry 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Virgochik
I'm ordering the book! I feel bad that my father was the congregation servant back then in the small town I grew up in, and he was sending guys like you off to prison with his bad advise to refuse the draft. One young guy I remember especially was sentenced to prison in Milan, Michigan. In his old age, my father turned around and claimed every VA benefit he could from his Army years before he becme a Witnoid. I'm speechless over that one.
-
LV101
What an accomplishment, Terry.
I tried to order few days ago (regular book not Kindle or I-Pad) and couldn't find on Amazon but will try again.
-
Terry
Hey--I appreciate you folks who have purchased my book. I want to get feedback from you, too.
I've been contacted over the years by many others who have run into the double-standards of the Watch Tower Society.
The Organization is truly shameless in its disregard for the welfare of its members. The brothers and sisters are used like
firewood to warm the doctrines on a cold day. It is hard for me to escape the notion of psycopathy at the top.
The odd things is this. I've never met an active Witness who knew ANYTHING about the Society's duplicity in regard to the Draft and Military.
My own best friend (who got me into the Organization) has been inside for almost 60 years and he was totally ignorant.
He asked me, "Would you rather have gone to Vietnam instead of prison?"
In other words, I should not complain.
I told him, "That wasn't the choice I faced."
He replied, "Sure it was."
As if I wouldn't know what choices I had?
I had to set him straight. I told him who told me what to do and what they said and I emphasized how I was specifically counseled to LIE if anybody
asked where I got my ideas. I could NOT say my congregation's overseer (presiding elder) and his assistant had instructed me what to do and say.
This 50+ year Jehovah's Witness, who himself had lived through that era, claimed to be totally ignorant.
The fact that he had flat feet and one eye and never had to deal with any of it might have something to do with it.
But--mostly, his ignorance was due to the secretive and insidious nature of manipulation.
The Society is run on two levels simultaneously. One is public and the other is private.
The indictment, arrest, public trial and imprisonment of Rutherford and Society Directors (in name only) during WWI SET THE PATTERN ever after!
The Governing Body would be puppeteers on a sub rosa level.
A vendetta of litigations, lawsuits, Supreme Court fights and the invention of malevolent policy are a matter of history.
The leaders of this religion care nothing about who gets hurt and they will lie, lie, lie about every mis-step they take.
I tried to really press this issue with examples in my book.
-
Band on the Run
I've stated before that my uncles went to prison during WWII. They refused to ever speak about their experience. I am curious as how anyone else ever written an account.
This book should be an interesting read. When I was research church state legal issues, I stumbled upon a law review article concerning Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan before and during WWII. Most of the praise seems to go the German Witnesses, who were probably more numerous. A brief course in Asian studies at college exposed me to Japanese militarism and Japan's refusal to follow any international norms concerning prisoners of war. Surrender was against their basic code, one of the reasons Truman ordered the A-bombs to be used. Pressed for time, I decided to skim the article. Some female lawyer (wtf?) at Bethel wrote an article detailing how brave Rutherford was, sitting at his desk in Brooklyn. Granted my mom told me that U-boats were frequently hunted down in NY harbors during the war. Bethel was not in the path of bombs. Although they reject a const'l democracy as being untheocratic, it served them well. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans sheltered Bethel in Brooklyn. The author neglected to mention a single anectodal account of a Japanese individual who faced the decision of whether to comply with the Japanese culture and government or resist. Only the president of the org counted. As flies are to wanton boys.... so are individuals to the WT. Individuals serve the time, not the publishing corporation.
A female lawyer. Wow.
So I look forward to reading Terry's experiences. The WT should be embarassed, not the many who failed to see its errors. Cults work on human emotions and we are simply human. I believe no one is cult proof.
-
Nathan Natas
-
Terry
Thanks, Nathan. How do I get the edible chocolate version?
-
avatar
Terry - I too felt increbily used and very foolish for being incarcerated for refusing to join the military. One of the absolute worst decisions of my life.
-
Terry
Looking back, I made a real mistake by registering for the draft in the first place. I sincerely doubt any other brothers in my congregation did.
I mean, as far as I know--I was the only bro to go to prison.
-
kurtbethel
There is a lot of power in looking back and saying, "I was fooled, I was a sap, they duped me."
Whether it's a religion, a political association, or a love affair gone wrong, to own up to it and admit one's own weakness is to liberate the bond and make it possible to avoid it in the future.
Those who don't admit their mistakes are bound to repeat them until they do.