For 46 years Jehovah's Witnesses compromised their worship in Mexico to retain ownership of material property
by Watchtower-Free 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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wallsofjericho
on one hand I understand why they would do this. But they crucify themselves with the WT 1979 5/15 statement (and thousands more just like it)
growing up I remember alternative service was considered a complete comporomise for a JW. But the BOrg is allowed to compromise whenever it needs to?
So JW's went to jail in many countries to not compromise while the Borg essentially pulled a "Peter" and denied Jesus (Jehovah) outright to the Mexican government to keep their bottom line fat.
such blasphemy
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L3G
Thanks WT-free for updating what Ray Franz says in his book about the double standard there. I have long wondered what the current situation was in Mexico, whether they were still unable to sing songs, pray, etc. Would you mind providing, if you can, evidence for the legal change in Mexican law that the post speaks of?
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EdenOne
Marked
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JWdaughter
I knew of this when it was still going on. I still can't understand how JWs excuse this. It started in 1917 to control the CATHOLIC church. Yet, it was still the Catholic CHURCH for the entire century. The Catholic church itself was actively persecuted for decades. It was the Catholic church itself that fought for the rights of all churches in Mexico to worship freely as the harshness of the laws began to soften and times changed, it was the church that pushed the reforms for religion in Mexico. It wasn't JWs who were fighting for their rights or who gave up anything for it. They just played the persecution card-you know, OTHER churches could worship and pray. . . right? UGH.
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disposable hero of hypocrisy
Does anyone know if there's any evidence in WT illiterature or secular literature to prove that the JW's in Mexico were not allowed to sing, pray, or use bibles during that particular time?
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LogCon
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Listener
DHH here is the quote from the 1995 yearbook
La Torre del Vigía de México—A Cultural Society
"You will recall that back in 1932 La Torre del Vigía de México had been authorized by the government. However, there were obstacles because of the restrictions that the law imposed on all religions. Objections were raised to the house-to-house activity of the Witnesses, since the law stipulated that ‘every religious act of public worship must be held inside the temples.’ For the same reason, objections were raised to our conventions in public places. This was a problem, because these conventions were constantly getting larger. Owning property also presented problems, because the law required that every building used for religious purposes had to become federal property.
For these and other reasons, the Society decided that it would be wise to reorganize, with a view to giving greater emphasis to the educational nature of our work. Therefore, on June 10, 1943, application was made to the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs to register La Torre del Vigía as a civil society, and this was approved on June 15, 1943.
With this rearrangement, singing at our meetings was discontinued, and the meeting places became known as Halls for Cultural Studies. No audible prayers were said at meetings, though nothing could prevent a person from saying an earnest prayer silently in his heart. Every appearance of a religious service was avoided, and truly our meetings are designed for education. When Witnesses in other lands began to call their local groups “congregations,” the Witnesses in Mexico kept on using the term “companies.” House-to-house visits by the Witnesses continued, and with even more zeal; but direct use of the Bible at doors was avoided. Instead, publishers learned the texts by heart so that they could quote them. They also made good use of the book “Make Sure of All Things,” which is a compilation of Scripture quotations on many subjects. Only on return visits and on studies (which were termed “cultural” instead of “Bible”) was the Bible itself used.
The principal work of Jehovah’s Witnesses remained the same, namely, preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom." -
disposable hero of hypocrisy
Thanks listener, appreciated .
