What was the Overall reaction from the world media ,to the Awake article ,may 22nd 1994 regarding "Youths Who Died Refusing Blood".

by smiddy 15 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  smiddy

  I , and my wife had probably left about 12 months prior to this magazine coming out , and I never at that time had any knowledge of it till many years later when I joined this site.

  When I did see it , I was appalled that they could put out such an article , in a magazine they would distribute throughout the world .

  To me it smacked of child abuse . These were kids , who had no life experiences , who were far too young to make life or death choices of their own , were influenced by religous leaders who had their own agenda , and sadly by family , relatives and freinds who were indoctrinated by a man made religion that has its roots in america in the late 1800`s .

  So my question is , did this episode of child abuse go under the radar of mainstream media ? Did it escape child protection agencies of the time ?

  Did anybody in the world really care ?

  Did it escape the attention of the general public ? or did they simply not care because it was an insignificant cult religion that nobody cared about.

  I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter if you have any.

  smiddy
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  DesirousOfChange

  Come on, Smiddy. No one reads these rags. Not even JWs.

  Only the "apostate" community devours this crap and scrutinizes it with such "zeal".

  If JWs really read the publications as do EX-JWs, there would be a lot more EX-JWs.

  Doc
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  Londo111

  I vaguely remembered this magazine when I saw it again a few years ago...I don't remember the reaction. At the time, under undue influence, I viewed such things much differently.
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  truthseeker

  You know, I remember offering this magazine in the preaching work and it always bothered me.
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  Apognophos

  Good question smiddy. I'm appalled that somehow this Awake seemed to ring no alarm bells in society at large.
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  rebel8

  I was already out by then and had that ragazine handed to me in a completely lame attempt to remind me of the wonderful sacrifice I had made in order to spark my dead faith.

  As you can imagine, I felt sick and outrage instead of "ooooh, I wanna be one of those dead children...lemme come back right away..." (I mean, WTH kind of incentive is that?)

  In the 70s and 80s there was little action on the part of Child Protective Services and its mandated reporters in regards to medical neglect for religious reasons, in my neck of the woods. That started to change in the late 90s or after. 1994, can't say.

  That doesn't exactly answer your question, but that's all I got.
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  Giordano

  Eventually when one leaves the JW world still in close friends and family stop mentioning anything negative that is being featured. Because we objected to the blood doctrine which caused our exit and because I compared the mass suicide of Jonestown to every event year mass holy of JW's dying for want of blood, no one would have told me about that horrible Awake. Like others I discovered it on this site and jwfacts.com
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  Separation of Powers

  Funny that you should mention this particular magazine. I remember the reaction of several very well. I had been married for many years before the magazine came out and many of my friends were already having children. I wondered what their reaction would be so I asked a couple. Like typical born-in JW's, they considered the children martyrs that manifested faith in the resurrection and adherence to God's word. The party line was being towed. As for me, well, I too was appalled. Even without kids I looked at the magazine as a testament to how far te organization would go to demonstrate its impact on its members.

  To this day I am appalled. It is commensurate with sacrificing them to Molech or Baal. There are many who believe that the blood doctrine will become a conscious matter. If that happens, the lives of these children will be even less valuable than they were when they gave them. Their memory will be tarnished as a "it didn't have to happen" issue.

  SOP
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  3rdgen

  At the time that magazine came out I had two pre-teen children. I was very busy doing my mom thing, dance lessons, slumber parties, play dates, school projects etc etc. Add to that, meetings FS, absentee husband, in-law problems, I was too distracted to really process the horror of that ragazine. BUT... I do remember CHOOSING not to use it in FS and CHOOSING to ignore the Cognitive Dissonance it produced in me. Like most JW's I coped by staying busy NOT THINKING.
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  smiddy

  Since that article was printed in may 22nd 1994 , their have been major changes , adjustments , with new directions given to jehovahs witnesses by the Governing body , as to what is now acceptable and approved procedures for jehovahs witnesses regarding blood transfusions , blood fractions , and alternative procedures that are now acceptable for jehovahs witnesses

  Dont some of these procedures that are now acceptable conflict with your stated policys that existed in the 1990 `s ?

  Doesnt that mean , today , that if the policys that are now held , had applied back then , some , if not many of these children would be alive today. ?

  smiddy