So amac, If humans have to do the work, I go back to my original question. Why do Jehovah's Witnesses appeal for help to their enemies? If you are saying the Witness group does not believe "J" is intervening on their behalf I am quite sure there are dozens of Watch Tower Publishing Corporation produced pieces of literature containing examples where Jehovah has in fact directly intervened on the behalf of the corporation and it's agents.
When the group had a district assembly in Sioux Falls in 1971 and the health department was about to close the food kitchen due to unsanitary conditions it was announced from the podium that Jehovah had provided a semi trailer with a thermo king on it so the kitchen could stay open. So, if he came up with a semi trailer in 1971, seems to me he could turn on a water faucet in 2003. So are you saying the Witnesses lied in 1971 at a district assembly and that they are lying in the literature in claiming divine interventions? Or am I missing something? GaryB
Annual conventions of Jehovah's Witnesses disrupted and canceled in Russia
by Elsewhere 48 Replies latest social current
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garybuss
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rocketman
Think of all the people who were happy that they didn't have to sit in a hard chair all day, not having their butts fall asleep on them. I would have been happy if this happened to me.
I agree. It's not a good thing to see happen, but honestly - I'd be happy if I were them. I'd be saying "hey, I did my job and showed up, I can't help it someone cancelled....I'm outta here."
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heathen
crownboy--- I too read the reports from georgia . It seems in georgia they are meeting severe persecution at the hands of other religionists , so why on earth would they include violent hate groups in any legal action? I tell ya they do have guts if they plan on making waves in that part of the world . Those people do not respect anyones civil liberties . They are all crooks and mafia types . The russians have already used nerve gas on congregations so it's like they are not going to get a fair chance to fight for freedoms .
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uriah
This sounds a bit like Germany pre-and during war when (and I stand to be corrected) a mistake was made and the JW were persecuted in error. So, Rutherford seeing a chance to ride the presecution wave (in these remaining months before armageddon) changes from being nice to Mr Hitler to ranting and raving against him with the desired effect, that of the 'wave of persecution' that followed. It's all spin and corporate skullduggery - look what happened in Malawi with the bro & sis getting the heat with brutal persecution for not buying a 2-bit party card for a one party state, whilst in good old Mexico the bro & sis could bribe officials and get themselves a cartillo that said they had done a years military service and were now enrolled in the 'reservists' - all with Bethel nods and winks and say no-mores squire, nudge, nudge.. I remember flogging the Awake (or was it the WT or both) with the article in it - I sold a lot too, just played on the householders sympathy. It's all spin and backhanders.
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outnfree
amac,
Nowhere in my remarks did I condone what the Russian authorities did. It does seem like a case of religious discrimination, persecution, whatever, and I believe in religious liberty.
However, I tried to clearly make the point that this was NOT the first time the Watchtower Society ran into trouble from officials in that part of the world interfering with their "worldwide work." Thus it would have been prudent and far more considerate of the Governing Body/Service Department to make arrangements for the brothers and sisters to meet in a more neutral setting where they could be assured that they would be able to take in the entire program prepared for them.
"Feeding the sheep" on behalf of Jesus is what the conventions are supposed to be about. DCs are NOT supposed to be about testing the local political waters at the expense of thousands of the cult's adherents. As we have been reminded time and time again in Awake! articles, many JW's go to great lengths and make great sacrifices to attend these annual events. It would have been the loving thing IMNSHO for the Society to have made certain POLITICALLY of its arrangements, since the previous problems encountered in the area were POLITICAL.
Therefore, I still feel it was grandstanding on the part of the WTBTS -- certainly keeping the "delegates" around and waiting at gates for half the day was political/publicity-seeking grandstanding to make their point that they were being discriminated against. And yes, they have every right to make a public protest, but in so doing, they lost sight of the purported goal of the 3-day event: reinforcing the faith of thousands while imparting Bible knowledge. The attendees lost out, that's for sure. (Well, that's debatable , but you know what I mean.)
outnfree
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crownboy
Heathen, I was refering to the other religious minorities that were persecuted along with the JW's by the religious majority. Such groups include the Baptist and Assembly of God.
Here's a press release condemning religious intolerance for all from the Human Rights Watch:
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/georgia/georgia_memo_full.htm
A JW press release doesn't even mention other groups. Not that I expect a JW press release to spend most of it's time on the other religions, but at least mentioning them a little would put situation there in context (i.e.: persecution of religious minorities, as opposed to persecution of just JW's).
A typical JW press release:
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2002/1/22/article_01.htm
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heathen
uh crownboy , those other religions are the source of the WTBTS problems . I have heard baptists refer to the jehovah witnesses as a cult and are very much against the organization so why again would the WTBTS include them in any sort of legal matter ? It would make no sense at all . I think any win on the grounds of religious freedom is a win for all anyway .
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Phantom Stranger
The Russian authorities have obviously done the math on the publishing corp thing and are looking to get their palms greased in order to allow the assemblies to occur. This sort of thing is not uncommon in Russia if you aren't bribing the right people...
Maybe they've been on this board and read about the bribes in Mexico...