Yesterday, in this thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=9805&site=3 i spouted these words:
happened to drag rays book, isocf from its hidding place in my car....at lunch time today.i opened to any page, i needed to brighten my day like no other j-dub borg book, could ever do.
i found a deception for the many newbies, trolls and plants that have been visiting us here in spiritual paradise, aka:simons board
i cant post it till tommorow, because i cant bring that book into the house while the j-dub wife is trolling around. i need to scan a paragraph or two and the appropriate w.t. articles.
you newcomers, trolls and plants, stay tuned.
a deception will be unvieled for you early in the morning.
its not of my thinking or originating from anything i discovered. i'll not take credit for it.you all stand so firm for what you believe in, namely that "organization". will you stand firn when you find out how deceptive the "truth" is?
deception is in of itself, a lie.
omission of facts are a lie.
lies, are lies.the watchtower bible and tackless society is therefore, a liar.
Now I bring you the deception, clear as day. the source of my information is providied and is scanned directly from the book. some editing was done to cut out irrelevant parts fyi.
The legal department of the Society now supplies a brochure to Witnesses who are faced with child custody cases (the opposing mate in such cases generally being a non-Witness). The brochure of more than 60 pages supplies guidelines to Witness parents, their children and their attorneys, as well as local elders and others who may testify, by reviewing difficult questions that may he presented by the opposing side and then offering suggested sample responses. Recalling the Watchtower article on honesty cited earlier, we may remember that it asked:
{note by zev: w74 1/15 page 58 “The Right Attitude Is a Safeguard”}
What about truthfulness? Do we really respect the truth, or are we willing to twist the truth a little bit, to get out of an inconvenient circumstance, or to get something we want?
Compare that with some of the responses suggested in the Society's manual. Under "APPROACH BY WITNESS PARENT TO CROSS-EXAMINATION," we find this question and suggested answer (page 12):
Will all Catholics (or other) be destroyed?
Jehovah makes those judgments, not we.
This sounds good, implies freedom from a dogmatic, judgmental attitude. Yet the Witness so responding knows that his organization's publications clearly teach that only those who are in association with "Jehovah's organization" will survive the "great tribulation," and that all those who fail to come to that organization face destruction.66
66 The February 15, 1983, Watchtower, for example says (page 12): "Jehovah is using only one organization today to accomplish his will. To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise we must identify that organization and serve God as part of it." The September 1, 1989, Watchtower on page 19 says: "Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the 'great crowd,' as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil."
Under the section "DIRECT EXAMINATION AND RESPONSES FOR LOCAL ELDER," the booklet presents these questions and responses (pages 29-31):
What view does church [that is, the Witness religion] take toward people of other religions?
(Jesus taught love neighbor as self, includes all; we respect others' right to worship as they choose.)
Does church teach that young people should learn only about religion of Jehovah's Witnesses?
(No. Consider following objective consideration of other religions in our publications.) [This is followed by a list of articles in the Watchtower and Awake! magazines.)
Again, the responses imply an attitude of considerable tolerance and even broadmindedness. Yet, once more, the Witness elder responding knows that his religion teaches that "people of other religions" are all within "Babylon the Great," the empire of false religion, depicted as a "great harlot" in Scripture, that the worship they have chosen is considered unchristian and, if continuing in it, they face destruction. He also knows that Witnesses are urged not to have social relations with such "people of other religions," since such would have a "corrupting" effect, the only approved association with such being in "witnessing" to them in the hope of changing their religion. He knows that all the articles set Out in the brochure's list emphasize negative aspects of the "other religions" discussed and that the organization discourages reading literature directly proceeding from other religions; only what it itself publishes about such religions is viewed as safe reading.
We find the following introductory paragraph under "EVIDENCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE" (page 43):
This can be used to show that they are normal. Try to have kids from local congregations who have been raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and, in the eyes of the presiding overseer, are spiritual but also enjoy the normal healthy things that young people do. They don't have to be competitive to enjoy sports. Be careful that they don't get the impression that they are in a demonstration at the circuit assembly, when they would show that the first things in life are service and going to the Kingdom Hall. Show hobbies, crafts, social activity, sports and especially plans for the future. Be careful they don't all say that they are going to be pioneers. Plans can be trade, getting married and having children, journalism, and all kinds of other things. Maybe you can show an interest in art and the theatre. They must be clean, moral, honest, but with the interests that you would expect from other young people.
Once more, the young people counseled to respond in this way must know that they are being asked to present an outlook that is very different from the one urged upon them in Watch Tower publications.67 If they are speaking the truth, without 'twisting it a bit,' they would not have to be told to speak differently from the way they would in a circuit assembly-or anywhere else for that matter.
The issue is that of double standards. In our human imperfection every one of us at some time fails by applying one standard for ourselves and another for others. It is to be hoped that we beg God's forgiveness and try not to repeat the wrong. We are all guilty at times of being inconsistent in our reasoning. Again, it is to be hoped that we try to learn from our mistakes, correct our thinking, exercise more care not to be dogmatic about our reasonings.
I believe, however, that to promulgate worldwide organizational standards that are clearly unequal, maintain them for decades toward millions of people, while condemning any who do not observe them as unchristian wrongdoers, surely must carry a more serious accountability before God. I cannot believe that He who notes even the sparrow's fall does not take into consideration whatever unnecessary anxiety, despair, suffering or loss such policies may cause. I cannot believe that He overlooks as inconsequential the weakening effect on people's attitude toward his Word that such unequal policies can have, the perverting and stifling effect they can have on conscience and the destructive effect they can have on Christian freedom.
Source: In search of Christian Freedom, Raymond Franz, Commentary Press, pages 283-285
There you have it. A basic deception. I stand by my words above. A deception is a lie. I'm not perfect. I will never claim to be. And I will screw up. But if indeed the wtbts was the spirit directed orgnization they claim to be, omitted facts, deceptions and lies, would never be part of the almighty's agenda.
-Zev
-August 8th, 2001 - The day the lambs ROARED