Ratcheting down the pressure on the WTS

by Lee Elder 9 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Lee Elder

  Please take a look one of the new layouts we are working on:

  http://www.ajwrb.org/newindex.shtml

  Let us know what you think. Does this go too far or not far enough?
  Will it make them squirm?

  Thanks,

  Lee
• 

  Skimmer

  Looks very good to me.

  One additional point that might be appropriate for the front page is the fact that JWs are allowed to blood fractions derived from human donations, but themselves are not permitted to donate blood to others.
• 

  Francois

  Way, way too soft. Those kids didn't die from their parents following irrational advice. They died because their parents betrayed them to the religious DEMANDS of the WTB&TS.

  Way, way too soft.

  Francois

  My $0.02
• 

  RationalWitness

  Wow, Lee! That really STINGS. I'll have to give it some thought, though, whether the site is over the line. My only concern is the feelings of the families of those precious children ... whether they might rightly feel that their children are being exploited. The fact that it is for a good cause notwithstanding, the use of their tragedy without their permission--and particularly in such a jarring fashion--might be over the top. I'll look forward to hearing others' opinions: what is ethical in this situation? How much is too much? Those children (and their parents!) were exploited by the hierarchically enforced fear tactics of the Society; would it be further exploitation to make them the poster children of those advocating an end to such fear tactics?

  Rational

  Trust those who are searching for truth; doubt those who have found it.
• 

  Thirdson

  Lee

  Ouch! Regarding those ones who try to exercise their freedom:

  They have been persecuted for their conscientious beliefs by their own religious organization which presents itself as a champion of human rights.

  That's gotta hurt!

  I think there are some very good points on that page and anybody reading, JW's or just interested people, are going to be made to think and have their preconceived ideas challenged.

  Thirdson

  'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
• 

  Scorpion

  Great job Lee. Kick some WT butt!
• 

  slipnslidemaster

  Optimize your graphics. The site takes too long to load.

  Other then that, I like it. Fire with both barrels.

  Now we have two good sites. www.silentlambs.org and www.ajwrb.org

  Go get 'em tiger.

  Slipnslidemaster: "You can pretend to be serious; you can't pretend to be witty."
  - Sacha Guitry
• 

  Roamingfeline

  Nice page! I don't agree that we should "walk on eggshells" regarding the parents of those children's feelings. They made the decision to let their children die without proper treatment and be glorified on the pages of the WackyTower's mags. They have to accept the consequences of that behavior. Go for it!

  RCat
• 

  Copernicus

  Lee – the new page looked fine. I thought it was fairly middle of the road, nothing overtly over emotional or inflammatory. You went with the facts and let the pictures speak for themselves. And WHAT pictures! Looking back now, if one of my children had died for want of a transfusion (risks and all) because I’d been inculcated with this senseless belief, I’d visit bethel and [deleted]. Or at least pull my sword and shield out from under the bed and ask Maximus to join me for a tour of the farms.

  But seriously, the work you do is great. It breaks my heart to think of anyone having lost a loved one to this cause, only to discover later how senseless it really was. They (the WTS) NEED to be held legally accountable for their complicity in enforcing this death dealing doctrine. People dying or suffering over a stand on some vague text – just so they’d have another reason to say - look, we’re separate from the world.

  It’s infuriating. So please indulge me while I vent for a moment. . .

  As far as the blood issue goes (all scriptural arguments aside), I see an analogy with the command to abstain from the fruit in the garden. Could you imagine Jehovah showing up and Adam saying – we only ate the skin, or just the seeds, or only the leaves, or we chewed but didn’t swallow! That would have gone over big I’m sure. What is the difference with this blood faction policy?

  Your website helped me (and I am sure, many others) to see the “light” on blood years ago. But the Bulgarian thing was the straw that broke my particular back.

  I'd like to say that from my perspective, the entire problem with the blood issue rests in the fact that I am, excuse me, I was part of an organization which claimed to "love" me. And yet it was willing to require me to sacrifice my life on the flimsiest of evidences and arguments, in order to avoid the consequences of relinquishing a failed and unsupportable policy. I cannot reconcile that contradiction; can anyone?

  I add that your page noted:

  Some Jehovah's Witnesses believe that a blood transfusion is a liquid tissue or organ transplant, not a meal, and hence does not violate the biblical admonition to "abstain from [eating] blood."

  I might go farther then you in saying that some JW’s don’t believe in the (supposed) biblical admonition to “abstain from blood” - period. It is so clearly meant to apply to Christians of Paul’s day, and the effect that their eating blood had on the recent Jewish converts.

  See what happens when people lift scriptures out of context?

  Thanks for all your hard work. I’ve no doubt it’s been responsible to a great degree for the slow but sure distancing we’ve seen the WTS make from it’s indefensible position.
• 

  teejay

  I like it Lee. I don't have a problem with the kids being pictured,
  either. If they were on an international magazine, it must be okay
  to put them on a website.

  The site got me to thinking: "what part of blood IS allowed?" It's
  cool that you have a link right there to answer that question. Love
  that analogy:

  "It's like saying, "see that truck over there, it's stolen and you
  can't buy it but if someone dismantles it, it's not a truck anymore,
  it's truck parts and you can buy what you want. However, the engine,
  the transmission, the radio and the disc brakes are special. They
  are the 'primary' components of the truck (i.e. the red cells, white
  cells, platelets and plasma). You can't have these 'primary' components
  unless you first completely dismantle them. If you do that you can
  buy them too."

  Keep up the good work.

  peace,
  todd