Org. Re-orging in JAPAN (page 3)

Pork Chop

JWD my understanding has been that Loyd Barry was almost worhsipped in Japan. Has his demise had any effect?

I don`t know if `worshipped` expresses the bros. attitude towards
Loyd Barry, but some of the real old-timers we know tell stories
about going out in FS with him. According to them, in the `good old
days` Loyd and all the missionaries who came after WWII were very
commited, hard working and humble.They lived very frugally and were
sincerely concerned about the welfare of the bros.As years went by, however, and the org. grew power struggles and greed began to become
common place.A couple we know who were in the org. for over 40 years
talks about how the CO`s went from hard-working servants to wealthy
primadonnas. Over the years the change in attitude was so dramatic
that this couple became very disillusioned and ending up leaving the
org.It is commonly understood that various `gifts` are given to the
CO when he visits and he in turn gives certain `privaledges` to the
gift giver (i.e. makes him an elder, gives him a place on stage at a
convention, turns a blind eye to his immorality,etc.) That kind of
hypocrasy has become more and more obvious of late and has been one
of the driving factors behind the mass exodus which is taking place.
As to Loyd Barry in Japan, I`ll relate a famous story told to me by
an old former-elder who used to go out in FS with him. One day they
were in FS in western Kobe. The government had announced a plan to
put a bridge between the island of Honshu and Shikoku accross the
Japan Inland Sea. The bridge was to be built at a place called Akashi
and was to take many years til completion. As they were talking about
the bridge, Loyd said to elder `T`,Armageddon will come long before
that bridge is ever completed. The bridge was dedicated two years ago
and Lyod went ot his reward last year. Another one of the fruits of
false prophecy(?).
I`m not sure, but I believe the current head of the Japanese Bethel, a Masaharu Oda,was lead to the organization by Barry. JWD

JWD

Sorry Pork Chop, forgot to answer the last half of your question.
Lyod was in Japan so long ago that only the older JWs knew him
personally.There might have been some consternation among them, but
the majority of the Witnesses are relatively new and never knew him
personally, so there doesn`t seem to be any significant affect on them
due to his death.

JWD

Farkel

: One point that stuck out in my mind in this weekend's 1-day CA, was the emphasis put on "there are no rules in the WTS, only principles",

Of course, this is EXACTLY what Orwell's book 1984 said. There are no rules in Oceana. But everyone knew what to do and not to do. Those who did what they were not supposed to do simply disappeared, never to be seen again. All this happened, but there were no rules!

Farkel

ozziepost

Well done, Farks mate, this is one of the most perceptive comments of the week.

Of course, this is EXACTLY what Orwell's book 1984 said. There are no rules in Oceana. But everyone knew what to do and not to do. Those who did what they were not supposed to do simply disappeared, never to be seen again. All this happened, but there were no rules!

Well put.
Thanks, mate.

Cheers,
Ozzie

Freedom is not having to wear a tie.

JWD

One other news tidbit from Japan. Last year the org. went to court to
try to get a couple to stop distributing flyers which were critical of
the WT.The couple`s two sons and daughter are in the org. and are in
hiding from the parents.The couple included photos of their children
and asked for help locating them. The WT won an injunction which said
it violated the children`s privacy to pass out flyers with their
photos and names.(By the way, all three are legally adults).The parents changed the content to comply with the court`s opinion and
continued to distribute flyers. There have been many `grass roots`
movements aimed at the WT in the last several years.Flyer distributions, opposition to new KH building projects, a nation-wide
`Victims of the Watchtower` convention, support group for husbands of
Jehovah`s Witnesses, new home pages in Japanese,etc.The combined impact of all these things,together with a quite a bit of bad press seems to be the reason for the major downturn in growth. JWD

JWD

The Bethel headquarters here in Japan is about an hour out of Tokyo
in a city called Ebina.They have done a great deal of building and
expansion there.Japanese in general pride themselves on being orderly
and organized and the WT takes that tendancy to an extreme.They give tours of Bethel and the key word is `CLEAN`.At one point on the tour they pass by a room which has the door `accidently` left ajar and the tour guide acts like it was left open by accident and then comments on how clean it is. They pull this trick most every tour. So, if you go on the same tour twice you can see how spontaneous they are!!

The `rules` regarding personal hygiene are more rigid among the bros.
here than in the U.S.That`s in keeping with most of Japanese culture.
For instance, no Japanese JW would have a moustache and clothing would
be more `theocratic` than in the West. I have heard of people being
repremended for having a car that was too gaudy of a color.It was said
to draw attention to the person themselves and aid `creature worship`.
In short,life for a JW here is life in a straightjacket.As shocking as
it may seem young Witnesses who have gone to the States and attended
meetings there generally come back and tell about how FREE brothers
are in the U.S. compared to Japan. So, that kinda gives you an idea
of how restrictive things here really are.

With the drop in numbers,it seems the org. is vacillating between loosening up and getting stricter as a means to bolster activity.
Older Witnesses lament how loose the org. has become and young second
generation JWs just go through the motions and yearn for freedom.The
most common method for young people to break free is by using marriage
or work as an excuse to move away and then just stop going to meetings. DAing is still quite rare. JWD

JWD

Probably the greatest damage to the WT`s image here in Japan is their
stand on blood.A couple of years ago a JW couple was riding in a small
row boat when it collided with a motorized boat and capsized.The wife
was cut badly by the propeller of the larger boat and needed a trans-
fusion.Being a good JW she refused.At the time she was pregnant with
their second child,so here `faithfulness` on the blood issue,cost them
two lives.The incident was written up as a half page article in the
local Kagoshima newspaper and smaller versions of it showed up throughout all of Japan in various newspapers.When asked for comment
on the incident the spokesman for the WT at the headquarters in
Kanagawa Prefecture (Ebina),said (in good theocratic fashion)that`the choice whether or not to receive blood was strickly a personal choice based on the individuals conscience!!` Sure it was...gotta build that
firewall for future litigation. There have been several similar cases
throughout the years.They often make the newspapers and TV.So much so
that the average Japanese equates the WT with anti-transfusion.Unilike
Americans who tend to respect idealism, Japanese are extremely practical by nature.For them to deny a life saving procedure for any
reason is just plain stupid. It seems the WT is trying to water-down
or gradually pull away from their stand on blood.Two years ago they
started issuing NO-BLOOD I.D. cards which had a variety of boxes to
check.It had the appearance of giving the individual some room to make choices about their use of blood.It might be a way to fuzzy the
appearance of the org. applying the restraints.It might also be a
further step away from total rejection of blood via creating new
definitions of `what is blood`.

Today an emotionally disturbed man went into a grade school in
northern Osaka in a place named Ikeda and stabbed 30 or more people.
Already 8 have died and more are in critical condition.The thought
that crosses one`s mind is,`Were there any JW children involved?` and
`If so,are parents running to Handai Hospital insisting that doctors
don`t give their first and second grade children any blood!?`.It`s
terrifying just thinking about the possibility! JWD

Latte

JWD,

Yes, I heard on the news today about those school children....it's really terrible. I truly feel for those little ones, and their parents.

The borg. seem to be giving witnesses over here the feeling that they are making great progress with bloodless surgery, some friends of ours went to a HLC meeting....they came back buzzzing about how the society is spear-heading the progress in bloodless surgery, using synthetics I think. Our friends were 'over the moon' with whatever they told them, I don't think that they'd even considered the fractions issue.

If you have children, it is so important to know the FULL issue with blood the R&F certainly DO NOT. NMHO

Latte

Had Enough

Hello JWD:

I've been reading all of your news about Japan with great interest. Please continue to keep us informed.

With the drop in numbers,it seems the org. is vacillating between loosening up and getting stricter as a means to bolster activity.

It will be interesting to see which way the org goes with this. Either way they will still continue to lose numbers for the clear reason, they have misrepresented themselves to your country and to the rest of the world.

As for the blood card with the choices for the JW....how obvious is that. What choice does a JW really have?....(1)'Choose' to refuse blood and you remain in good standing..probably dead, but in good standing if you do live...or (2)Take blood and that tells the org that you 'choose' to da yourself from the org. That's a choice?

I'm sure once the public becomes more aware of the hypocrisy of the statement, that the blood issue is our choice, there will be more trouble ahead or the org will have to make changes.

Thanks JWD

Had Enough

Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

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