I was looking at the questions that people ask e-Watchman and have come to the conclusion that he has a foot in both camps, being 'lukewarm' so to speak. Below I copy a question and part of the answer.I have highlighted in red what I consider to be the salient part of the question. If you go and look at the full answer you will see that he does not answer the question at all but pads out his reply, casting red herrings into the water so that it appears to be an answer and by the time you have read to the end you have, more or less forgotten what the question was. This reminds me of a mormon I used to correspond with. When I asked a question I would get loads of material that said nothing about the original question but answred questions I had not asked. Has anybody else come to this conclusion or is it just me being cynical?
| I have been inactive for years, And I truly want to be whole souled when I return. So please do not answer with an arrogant attitude. I have two questions. If many of our sisters and brothers died in Africa because of political persecution due to non-association of political association. Why was getting a political card in Mexico acceptable? Please do not say that was not true since we have a large Hispanic congregation in this area and they say it was allowed and provided me with the letters from the organization? #2 Not that I'm questioning voting, but why is the answer so flaky about voting since many were disfellowshipped and lost their lives regarding the situation? And we were always admonished to stand firm, not wavering for the faith even to death. I do not want to be viewed as apostate but truly searching for the truth. Thank you |
First: The situation in Malawi and Mexico were not identical. In Malawi, the government under Dr. Banda literally declared 'open season' on Jehovah's Witnesses. They lost all privileges of citizenship. They were fired from their jobs. Their homes and possessions were confiscated. They lost police protection, and so, gangs of patriotic thugs raped our women, and the brothers were beaten and imprisoned. Ultimately, most of Jehovah's Witnesses fled into neighboring Mozambique to escape the persecution. The situation in Mexico was nothing compared to that in Malawi. In Mexico, the brothers had to have a document stating that they served compulsory military service. There was no real penalty other than it was difficult to travel, and perhaps obtain certain employment, without that certificate. So, the brothers there were unfortunately ill-advised to avoid the inconvenience by means of the 'mordida'--- Spanish for "the bite," which is in reference to offering a bribe. By the way, bribery is the all-to-common way of conducting legal and business matters in Latin America. The mordida is so prevalent in Mexico that it is even considered as an unofficial fee that has to be paid in order to get things done. Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses have peddled the lie that the dark-skinned Africans were thrown to the wolves, while the Watchtower favored the Mexican brothers. That is simply not true. The Mexican brothers were not persecuted if they did not have that card. And given the rabid nature of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Malawi, they would have been persecuted even if they had purchased the political ID card. That is not to say that the Watchtower's advice to the Mexican brothers to pay the mordida was right, but the situation in Mexico was in no way comparable to the plight of the brothers in Malawi. |