Mulan's pappy was a doc! Bone cruncher that is!!
carm
Moscow ban on JW's causes confusion
by DevonMcBride 14 Replies latest jw friends
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XQsThaiPoes
A Score is twenty. They have 6 million people. I am sure there are over twenty Doctors.
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MicStroz
Does this mean Jehovah is closing the door for Moscow?
I remember when Jehovah opened the door. I'm confused
Just kidding!
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sf
LATEST COMMENTS:
We have received an interesting letter from "A.M." who states "..some 80% of JW parents are accepting blood transfusions for their children, going secretly against the faith's tenets, and remaining unpunished according to latter policies (only if they trespass the official view repeatedly, they are considered dissasociated themselves from the organization). ....an oncological journal that states that for youngsters under 21 of age (minors, under the American Law), 83% received transfusions, which means that their parents agreed or did not challenge the treatment." He continues "Usually, people think that inside the JW organization, everybody has a 100% same minset, which is not true. The same thing happened with organs transplants - the official policy was that these are wrong, but the regular JW did not approve this, until the policy was changed. Currently, there is a strong current for reform on the blood issue (current I support)." Unfortunately, we are unable to include all of the contents of A.M's letter, but felt the following comment should be published "I do hope that the confusion inside the JW organization will be soon solved, and that the ban on transfusions (issued 50 years ago out of sheer conservatorism) will be lifted - but I do hope in the same time that Russia will know how to accept a religion that found its place in every civilized country."
A further comment from "D" who visited Russia in 1994 says "....there is no proof that the members of this group have broken any laws...my understaning (and knowledge from having worked with some of them) is that they are very hard working, honest, friendly, and intelligent people you will ever meet."
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OUR SUGGESTION TO THE MOSCOW AUTHORITIES
After receiving many different views on the subject of Blood Transfusions and the opinions of JW's on their faith, we would like to make the following suggestion.
Would it be possible for the leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses group here in Moscow and the authorities to sit down together and discuss a compromise? It would seem that Moscow's main concern with this group is the issue of Blood Transfusions and the methods they use in trying to recruit new members.
Firstly, the information we have published shows that many in the group feel that the issue on Blood Transfusions needs to be updated and made clearer. Secondly, with regard to the promotion and recruitment aspect we would like to say this. The methods of recruitment that have been used for many years, produce very low conversion rates and can create ill feelings amongst some. Such terrible conversion rates would not be continued if they were used in a normal business! Would it not be more productive to organize "Educational" events on subjects like "Bloodless Surgery" for example and invite the public to attend. In addition to informing the public about this technique, JW's would also have an opportunity to promote their faith without any home intrusion. We believe this would be much more acceptable to the public and would probably produce a much higher number of new members.
The question for JW's here in Moscow is "Are you able to issue a clear statement on Blood Transfusions and would you consider adopting a new method for recruiting? (at least in Moscow)" and our message for the Moscow authorities would be "Are you willing to lift the ban if this group are able to provide this?".
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sKally
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ignored_one
Looks like a new article:
http://www.profindpages.com/news/2004/04/07/MN074.htm
MOSCOW BAN ON JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES-THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!
(07.04.2004)From the continued response we are getting on this subject, it would appear that there are perhaps two "camps" on the subject of transfusions and other areas related to the Jehovah's Witnesses faith.
This is perhaps true of many religions where some follow the faith in its traditional form, while others choose a variation that they are more "comfortable" with.
Whilst this may cause some conflict from within the group, perhaps the most important factor should be the belief in their God and their desire to follow most of the rules and promote their religion to others?
We received the following point from B. Mc. "..I do not believe the issue that is talked about is as confusing as one might think. Why? One needs to understand that when it comes to blood, the real issue is not the substance but Respect for and obedience to God. It is not the fluid blood per se that is the area of contention but the acceptance that Jehovah God is the owner of blood and the source of life. Thus only he has the right to decide how blood may be used. Jehovah's Witnesses believe this because the Bible allows the consumption of meat that has been properly bleed. -Genesis 9:3,4. However, any meat will still have a small amount of blood in it. Thus the real issue is whether one is showing proper respect and obedience to the creator since he asks us to "abstain from blood".- Acts 15:28,29. Jehovah's Witnesses take God's Word seriously and can not see how taking a blood transfusion into their body is in any way obeying the command to "abstain from blood". Their desire is to give God respect for this blood,which is his special property. "
This statement seems to indicate that the blood itself is almost "symbolic" and that the important factor is the respect and obedience to God. However, bearing in mind that the first recorded blood transfusion (attempt) apparently occured in England in 1628, the Bible could not have been directly referring to blood transfusions when it was written. Could it be that the reference has some other meaning? (Perhaps of a more moral than physical nature).
Unfortunately, many of the books written in olden times can be read in many different ways. Take the writings of Nostradamus, although his work was created less than 500 years ago (long after the Bible), his messages have been interpreted in thousands of different ways. Some people, when reading the Bible, have even attributed the "miracles" to people from another world!
Whilst we do not want to get into the argument of whether "God was a spaceman" (at least not today:)), it would be interesting to know, if God was to order the writing of an updated version of the Bible, whether the question of blood transfusions would be acceptable or not.
Of course, in saying that, we have received many letters pointing out the dangers of receiving blood for transfusions and regardless of how you view the Biblical instructions for this, there are some real dangers in accepting transfusions. Sadly, donated blood can contain many diseases that are not screened for and you could be replacing one problem with another!
The other point that concerns many (not in the faith), is the methods that are traditionally chosen to promote the religion (basically door to door contact). Generally, people have a dislike for this kind of approach (as we are sure many Double Glazing and Life Insurance salespeople will testify). B. Mc. makes the following point "..Jehovah's Witnesses take seriously Jesus' command to go make disciples of all nations. -Matt 28:19 They will continue to go, in the method that Jesus did and his followers. Jesus commanded his followers, to "search" for worthy persons- Matt 10:11 Jehovah's Witnesses will continue to obey Christ in this regard." There is nothing wrong in trying to promote something you believe in, but as we pointed out in our last article, the conversion rates are very low. We believe that the Jehovah's Witnesses group would have much more success in promoting their faith if more modern (or different) tactics were used. Surely, Jesus would not object to his followers searching for "worthy persons" in a way that produces better results? And it would also help the image of the group, who are perhaps disliked more because of this factor than any other. As one of our readers pointed out in our last article, he found JW's nice people, honest, law abiding and hard working. Whilst there may be exceptions (like in any other situation), we agree with this comment 100%.
As stated before, we would like to see the Moscow Ban lifted, but feel that some compromise needs to be agreed before this is likely to happen. We would certainly like to hear from the groups leaders in Moscow to discuss our views and we are willing to present these to the Moscow authorities in an attempt to make them review the situation. Moscow certainly has some fears over this group and these need to be addressed before any change is likely to happen. But as we have seen recently, the authorities in Moscow are going to amend their original decision on "protests" in the City, so who knows? They obviously understand that admitting to a mistake is a sign of strength, not weakness (as we do).
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Ignored One.