Jehovah's Witnesses call all members family -article (page 3)

Sunspot

Hello Brenda!

How nice of you to join us! I'm sure that you have many stories to tell. Looking forward to hearing more from you.

hugs,

Annie

AlanF

I sent the following letter to the editor:

Hello,

I just read on a website ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/85636/1.ashx ) a reference to an article in your paper from Friday, February 11, 2005, titled "Jehovah's Witnesses call all members family". I want to correct a few misimpressions inadvertantly propagated by the writer Carol La Valley. I'll preface statements in the article with the standard Internet symbol ">".

> Jehovah's Witnesses embrace everyone.

Not so. Jehovah's Witnesses (henceforth, JWs) consider all non-JWs to be either potential converts, or, as one critic said of those who don't convert, "bird feed". The latter term comes from the JWs' literal application of the symbology of the book of Revelation, chapter 20, verses 17-21 (from the JW bible known as the "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures") to all non-JWs:

"17 I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven: 'Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God, 18 that YOU may eat the fleshy parts of kings and the fleshy parts of military commanders and the fleshy parts of strong men and the fleshy parts of horses and of those seated upon them, and the fleshy parts of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.' "

"19 And I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage the war with the one seated on the horse and with his army. 20 And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image. While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur. 21 But the rest were killed off with the long sword of the one seated on the horse, which [sword] proceeded out of his mouth. And all the birds were filled from the fleshy parts of them."

JWs also consider all non-JW Christians to be "apostates" or heretics. Thus, the above application of the book of Revelation.

In my own case, after having grown up as a JW, I left the JW religion gradually between about 1978 and 1983. In 1985, shortly after my daughter was born, my JW wife concluded that, since I would never again be a practicing JW, I was not worth any further emotional investment because I would soon be killed by God at the battle of Armageddon. Of course, that led to a downward spiral in our marital relations, and we divorced in 1994-1996 after much bitterness involving my "apostasy". By that time I was involved in activities that tended to show Jehovah's Witnesses as a destructive influence on the family. In 2002, my JW parents learned of this activity in connection with the ongoing attempts of the Watchtower Society to cover up child molestation in the JW community (see the website http://www.silentlambs.org/ ). I was disinherited and shunned.

> In their church, all members are family, all members are equal,

Not so. JWs have a male-centered hierarchy in which females are considered to be the lowest on the rung. Females are assigned no responsibilities (euphemistically termed "privileges" in the JW community) in their congregations. Males are assigned responsibilities at various informal and formal levels, starting with things like "handling the mics" (most JW congregations today in the Western world have a young male hold a microphone in front of someone in the congregation who wishes to comment publicly), to being a "Ministerial Servant" (someone who does mundane chores like handling congregation accounting), to being an "Elder" (someone who cares for the "spiritual needs" of the congregation). Elders have a variety of semi-permanent assignments, the top being titled the "Presiding Overseer". For the most part, the latter elder's word is law. However, there are two types of "Traveling Overseers" assigned to oversee the activities of JWs on a larger scale: Circuit Overseers who oversee roughly 20 congregations, and District Overseers who oversee roughly 10 Circuits. These Traveling Overseers hold much power in the JW organization, and are able to assign or remove lesser "elders" or "overseers" at will, subject only to review by the part of the Watchtower Society's headquarters staff in Brooklyn, New York, known as the "Service Department". When elders contact this "Service Department", anonymous staff members become the masters of all that occurs and have the final say in all matters. Despite all this, JWs on all levels still claim that even these string-pullers in the "Service Department" are equal to the lowliest of the rank and file.

> and all members, after being baptized, are ordained ministers.

This is a purely politically motivated claim. It originated in the 1940s when many JWs were trying to avoid being drafted. This was particularly true of the headquarters staff in Brooklyn, New York, which consisted largely of draft age young men. For example, the man who became president of the Watchtower Society in 1942, one Nathan Knorr, was only 37 years old at the time.

> Elders are considered teachers of the congregation.

But far more than that. They are also leaders of the congregation.

> There is no paid clergy.

This is a half-truth. Local elders are not paid, but they are certainly clergy. In court cases the Watchtower Society takes full advantage of all of the privileges that our government grants to clergy, such as clergy-penitent privilege. They are clergy in every sense of the word. Furthermore, the Traveling Overseers I mentioned above are certainly paid clergy. They receive a monthly stipend from the Watchtower Society, and local congregations take care of all of their expenses and then some, including housing, car, food and so forth. In addition, they receive a substantial amount of money via what is often called "the green handshake". A relative of mine, who was recently appointed to be a Circuit Overseer, reported that he receives on average $25,000 per year via this "handshake" -- completely tax free.

> Jehovah's Witnesses, like many other religions, send members out into their communities to knock on doors and share their beliefs with their neighbors.

That is a particularly interesting statement, in view of the fact that most JWs claim that they, and only they, are really interested in "knocking on doors". They tend to ignore the Mormon community and everyone else.

> Rowe said that Jehovah's Witness publications refer to, and accept, many different Bible translations.

Again another half-truth. Beginning in 1950, the JW bible called "The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures" was published in installments. Most JWs, although they would be loath to admit it to outsiders, believe that their own Bible translation is the only one authorized by "the holy spirit". So they merely give lip service to the notion that other Bible translations are equally valid.

> The good news Witnesses want people to hear, is that Christ is invisibly present now and that the heavenly kingdom is at hand.

The JWs today claim that Christ invisibly became "present" in 1914 and received "the Kingdom of God". However, until 1943 they claimed that these things commenced in 1874. Yet, hardly a JW today knows this. The obvious question is, how can a religion that claims to speak for God have changed a fundamental doctrine so drastically?

> Sunday services are a mixture of lectures and question-and-answer sessions.

The so-called question-and-answer sessions consist of an assigned reader on a platform at the front of the Kingdom Hall, reading numbered paragraphs from an article in "The Watchtower" magazine, and then an assigned "Watchtower Study Overseer" reading numbered questions from that article, and then the Overseer's calling upon someone from the audience who raised a hand to read back the answer from the just-read paragraph. This is hardly a question-and-answer session, but rather, a session of indoctrinaton by rote repetition of canned questions and answers.

> time donations are voluntary

Yet another half-truth. Donations of time are voluntary in the sense that no Elder comes after rank and file JWs with a gun to force them into doing work, but the extremely intense social and religious pressure in the JW community means that JWs who fail to perform are looked down upon or even ostracized in some way. For example, all JWs are required to "report time in field service", which means reporting on an official form the amount of time, in hours, spent in preaching door-to-door and related activities. JWs who report this "time" each month are labeled "regular publishers" and are commended. Those who fail to "report time" in a given month are labeled "irregular publishers" and are often described as "weak in the truth", and those who fail to "report time" for six consecutive months are labeled "inactive publishers". The JW community has various levels of social ostracism for all such irregulars, ranging from a distancing by "regulars", to virtually complete shunning.

> According to the Bible that Jehovah's Witnesses honor, family is an important obligation.

As I've described above, this is true only as far as family that are active JWs. For example, my brother, as I, was raised as a JW. In 1977 he married a JW woman and soon had two children, a girl and a boy. In the 1980s he left the religion, and eventually his marriage fell apart, for essentially the same reasons as mine did. Today, his children are about 27 and 24 years old, and despite his continued attempts to contact them, they refuse to have anything to do with him. He has never met his daughter's husband, and she refuses even to give him her phone number. If that isn't the mentality of a cult destructive of families, then I don't know what is.

I hope that my comments have enlightened your staff about the destructive nature of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. My story can be multiplied tens of thousands of times.

I suspect that Ms. La Valley contacted the local JW congregation for her article, and that they were the source of the misinformation that I've pointed out. Please feel free to contact me for source references for my statements, or on any related matter.

AlanF

seattleniceguy

I sent the following letter:

Dear Ms. La Valley,

I recently read with interest your article "Jehovah's Witnesses call all members family," which appeared on the Payson Roundup web site under the date February 11, 2005. I was especially interested in the article because I am a former JW who was raised in the religion from birth. At age 25, I did some hard thinking and decided that I could not conscientiously agree with the teachings of the church, and left. As a result, I lost contact with all my friends and family who are JWs. They are doctrinally forbidden from contacting me. In fact, if they do so, they are subject to being excommunicated themselves, which would put them in a similar situation.

I hope you'll stop for a moment to consider the magnitude of this. Because of a conscientious decision on my part, I lost all the friends and family I had ever known. Jehovah's Witnesses are strongly discouraged from forming relationships outside of their religion, so as a good Witness, I had no friends on the outside. Furthermore, since they believe that the "end of this system of things" is due any day, they strongly discourage preparation for one's future, such as education. None of my friends went to college, even though several were offered scholarships. One childhood friend of mine who wrote computer programs in high school now works crushing rocks in a quarry because he was not allowed to get schooling to pursue a more fulfilling career.

Jehovah's Witnesses are used to being in the public eye, so they are good at putting on a happy face when interviewed for a newspaper article. Believe me, a couple years ago, I too would have told you exacly the right things to appear benign. But the fact is that JWs do not show embracing love - in fact, they are forbidden from doing so. My own sister totally cut off contact with me at hearing a rumor that I was reassessing my belief system. She did not even call to hear it directly from me. Previously, we had talked several times a week. I have not heard from her since. My mother has called me once to ask after my health in the past year. Both have made it clear that I am not allowed to contact them. I doubt that I should ever see either of them again, barring serious illness or death.

These are not isolated incidents. There are systematic problems in this high-control group, and the fact that it tears apart families is only one. I urge you to do the necessary research and print an article that gives the other half of the story. Although I'm sure you did not intend for it to be so, your article was misleading and, as such, dangerous. There are many good resources out there to learn the inside story regarding Jehovah's Witnesses. If you would like to read some of their own quotes, you can visit http://quotes.watchtower.ca . You can also talk to myriad former members and get some serious perspective by visiting http://www.jehovahs-witness.com . Please feel free to contact me as well, if you wish.

I believe that members of the press fill an important role as conveyors of information. Please be sure to present the very profound other side of this issue.

Your sincerely,
[name]

SNG

seattleniceguy

I went ahead and sent Ms. La Valley a link to this thread and encouraged her to pop in. Perhaps we'll see her soon?

SNG

under74

Good idea SNG--also liked your letter very much. YOU TOO AlanF!

There's already a letter to the editor on the newspaper site from an ex-witness

http://www.paysonroundup.com/section/mailcall/full

I wish I could make this link active but....got a mac that won't let me do it easily.
If anyone wants to re-post the link above as an active link--that's be great--otherwise cut & Paste.

FreedomFrog

this is cool.

It bothers me that most non JW's really don't see the "inside" ways of JW's. They only see the outside. They may see this clean mug (religion)...but in reality it's filthy on the inside. (ewwww) My in-laws (non-JW's) have no clue. And even though we showed them they still can't grasp to what extent. They know/knew how "not right" the religion is, but that's about it.

I hope something comes from this. Maybe we can "stop" more people becoming trapped in this.

FF

Bryan

Sent mine this morning.

Bryan

Have You Seen My Mother

Jehovah's Witnesses call all members family -article

Neo

Sunspot

AlanF

seattleniceguy

seattleniceguy

under74

FreedomFrog

Bryan

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