Posts by Juan Viejo2

37

Watchtower admits, "We are like the Catholic Church"

by Juan Viejo2 in

calvin rouse describes himself as "general counsel for the national organization of jehovah's witnesses out of brooklyn, new york.".

while representing one of the defendants during a trial held in san mateo county court in redwood city, california, on february 22, 2012, rouse made this amazing statement:.

"ordinarily, i wouldn't be here, but this is one our 13,000 congregations in the united states.

Juan Viejo2

My apologies to the court reporter. My contacts located the missing page (page 85). Apparently it was mishandled during the copy/conversion process to PDF.

I'll try to get it back into the mix in the correct sequence.

Kurtbethel - Thank you for reminding me of that point. That is extremely important on several levels. Here's why:

When I was old enough to register for the draft (1961), I was told to go to the office of the local draft board and fill out my registration. At that time, you simply had to register (no war was in progress) and state if you were married, had any children, or required corrective lenses. If you had any significant physical issues, I think you were supposed to list them. I had very bad knees at the time.

A couple of months later I got my draft card. I was classified as 1-A (eligible for the draft). In early 1963, I had to appear before the draft board (actually just a clerk) to update my status (we'd just been through the Cuban missile crisis and Viet Nam was heating up). My congregation servant provided me with a sheet of paper that explained how to request a ministerial exemption as a concientious objector. If you were interviewed by a draft board clerk, you were to say that you were a minister, a conscientious objector, and you would not serve. If the subject of how you could be a "minister" and not be leader of the congregation, you were to explain that Jehovah's Witnesses did not have "clergy-laity classes," that all JWs who participated in the door-to-door preaching work were "ministers" and qualified for exemption. Needless to say, I did not get my exemption and was still classifed 1-A.

A month before President Kennedy was assassinated (November 22, 1963), my wife gave birth to our first daughter. Six months later, US troops started moving into Viet Nam and the draft boards started pulling numbers. I went to the draft board in our town to update my status to show that I was now married and had a child. I also reaffirmed my status as a minister. Two weeks later I got an updated card showing my status as 3-A (eligible, but deferred due to having underaged dependents). Our draft board was ignoring all requests by JWs for ministerial exemptions. Two of our young men went to prison during that time and both were pioneers. The draft board wasn't buying our ministerial status.

We'd often state (while preaching door to door) that we were "all ministers," and that "Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a 'clergy-laity' class like the Catholic Church."

Things have really changed in the past 50 years. The current crop of elders clearly see themselves as above the rest of the congregation, and therefore see themselves in the same way as most Protestant clergy do now. They don't wear Roman collars or robes when they lead the congregation, but they clearly are set apart as something special within the congregation. JW ministerial servants are basically like altar boys and neophytes.

JV

37

Watchtower admits, "We are like the Catholic Church"

by Juan Viejo2 in

calvin rouse describes himself as "general counsel for the national organization of jehovah's witnesses out of brooklyn, new york.".

while representing one of the defendants during a trial held in san mateo county court in redwood city, california, on february 22, 2012, rouse made this amazing statement:.

"ordinarily, i wouldn't be here, but this is one our 13,000 congregations in the united states.

Juan Viejo2

Calvin Rouse describes himself as "general counsel for the National Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses out of Brooklyn, New York."

While representing one of the defendants during a trial held in San Mateo County Court in Redwood City, California, on February 22, 2012, Rouse made this amazing statement:

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't be here, but this is one our 13,000 congregations in the United States. We are a heirarchial religion structured just like the Catholic Church..."

After making that amazing admission, he then goes on to almost brag about that fact:

"And when the order from the Pope comes down defrocking a priest and kicking him out, he no longer has any say in any matter in the local parish priest...in the parish."

"We brought our organizational bylaws book, our rule book here, and we are prepared to present witnesses that this is a hierarchial organization. It is governed from the top down..."

So the matter is settled. After all these years, the Watchtower finally comes right out in court and under oath, one of their own attorneys clearly states that they are just like the Catholic Church. Whatever goes on, even at the local levels, is completely controlled by the headquarters in New York state.

So all those times they said that they were not responsible for what happened in local congregations - the Watchtower leaders and legal representatives were lying. They knew that they were lying and they did that under oath too.

You can read this amazing statement and even more surprising information on my latest post at Ex-JW.com:

Menlo Park Kingdom Hall: The State Lawsuit

Article includes PDF segments of the entire trial transcript (except for one page that was left out by the court reporter).

Feel free to comment. Second federal court case continues in San Jose, California. I'll publish more on that as it becomes available.

JV

56

A Brief History of Racism in Watchtower Publications

by cedars in

i've just completed a lengthy article on the history of racism in the society's publications.

many people (including myself, until recently) aren't aware that the society's early publications were brimming with racist rhetoric, and this only calmed down as the public mood towards racism changed, most notably with the civil rights movement in the 50s/60s.. a few "headliners" from the article are:.

russell segregated blacks from whites for viewings of the photodramarussell believed that the skin of a black man would turn white during the millennial kingdomunder russell, the society's publications portrayed the black races as "degraded" and the white race as "superior"rutherford viewed the blacks as a "race of servants", and spoke of "sobering the southern negro" in an article against prohibitionunder rutherford, the golden age slammed uncle tom's cabin (a work that helped end slavery) as being "the work of satan"; the same article branded spaniards a "backwards race"rutherford accused "jewish business men" of "oppressing the peoples of many nations"in 1929 the golden age (acknowledged by the society as essentially the same magazine as the modern awake!

Juan Viejo2

BTW - I forgot to finish my story. My wife and I did get married at the Kingdom Hall and it had more attendees than a Sunday evening talk by the CO. It was packed. My wife eventually was baptized and remained a JW for a few years after I left the religion. We were together for almost ten years and have three daughters.

But the whole controversy surrounding our Kingdom Hall wedding was one more straw on the stack that eventually led me to leave a few years later. Norvell and his sister's family moved to Georgia to serve where the "need was greater." I'm sure they saw a lot more discrimination in Athens, GA then they ever did in Riverside, CA - but still - discrimination is wrong no matter where it is practiced or how it is applied. A little bit of discrimination is just as bad as a lot of discrimination in my book, no matter who practices it.

If the Watchtower was truly "God's nation," it would not have allowed discrimination due to ethnicity or race in any of its Kingdom Halls or as far as who they chose to be among their leaders. Good for Samuel Herd, but there should have been several on the Governing Body by now. We've have Australians and Germans and even (God forbid) and Irishman. With blacks, hispanics, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders making up most of the growth in the organization, I would hope that they find their way to the highest ranks of the WTBTS soon.

JV

56

A Brief History of Racism in Watchtower Publications

by cedars in

i've just completed a lengthy article on the history of racism in the society's publications.

many people (including myself, until recently) aren't aware that the society's early publications were brimming with racist rhetoric, and this only calmed down as the public mood towards racism changed, most notably with the civil rights movement in the 50s/60s.. a few "headliners" from the article are:.

russell segregated blacks from whites for viewings of the photodramarussell believed that the skin of a black man would turn white during the millennial kingdomunder russell, the society's publications portrayed the black races as "degraded" and the white race as "superior"rutherford viewed the blacks as a "race of servants", and spoke of "sobering the southern negro" in an article against prohibitionunder rutherford, the golden age slammed uncle tom's cabin (a work that helped end slavery) as being "the work of satan"; the same article branded spaniards a "backwards race"rutherford accused "jewish business men" of "oppressing the peoples of many nations"in 1929 the golden age (acknowledged by the society as essentially the same magazine as the modern awake!

Juan Viejo2

Mr. Falcon,

Cedars provided photocopies of just about everything he quoted. True, they are excerpts, but you can get PDF copies of all of the original magazines at:

http://archive.org/search.php?query=golden%20age%20magazine

archive.org has copies of all the old books and magazines from about 1946 back to the beginning. So yes, copies of complete magazines are available.

I can assure all of the readers of this thread that Cedars only scratched the surface. He could easily find enough documentation and personal testimonies to do several more articles on the subject of racism in and out of the organization.

I was raised in Riverside, California and spent most of my youth as a JW there. My best friend at the time was an African-American fellow who was also a JW.

I remember when I was married in the Kingdom Hall and was 19 years old, I told my parents that I wanted a young man (about 5 years older than I) to be my best man. He had just been released from federal prison at Terminal Island (Long Beach, CA) after spendng two years for being a JW conscientious objector. He also happened to be black, but was much beloved by all in the congregation and was the blood brother of a lady that my mother had "studied into the truth."

My brother was too young, and my best friend had personal issues that prevented him from standing in for me. So I wanted Norvell (the young African-American) to stand in as my best man. When the word got around, I had several white JWs come up to me and ask me if I "thought that was the best thing to do?" They also approached my fiance (who was not yet a baptized JW) how she felt about having a black person in her wedding party.

Understand that this was 1962. Riverside, CA was not known for being an extremely racist town (there was more discrimination against Hispanics than blacks in our town), but it was still geographically divided as far as neighborhoods were concerned (California's Unruh Equal Housing Act would not be passed for another few years.) We had several Hispanics and African-Americans in our congregation and there was no obvious discrimination among JWs.

But this is what happened about two weeks before the wedding: I first get a call from the Assistant Congregation Servant. He wanted to double check about having a black person as my best man. "Are you really sure the bride and her family are OK with that?"

I replied that my wife's family were not coming to the wedding (they were Catholic and opposed to our marriage), and that the best man was the choice of the groom and the maid/matron of honor was the choice of the bride. "Those are the choices we've made. I'm OK with her choice and she is OK with mine."

"OK. You may get a call from the Congregation Servant. He may have to get an OK from the Circuit Servant and maybe the District Servant to go ahead with the wedding, but we'll get back to you."

A few days later my father called me and told me that the CongServ had called him and gently urged him to get me to change my mind. My dad said, "The Congregation Servant suggested several other brothers like "JDT" (who was a closeted gay) and "RH" and "BD" - all friends of yours. It's up to you, John, and you know we love Norvell, but you have to consider their suggestions."

Also undertstand that the Congregation Servant and the Assistant CS were both close friends of my family, and also loved Norvell and his family. They are as far from being racist as any white man could claim to be in the early 1960s. But they were getting cold feet.

What is surprising about this incident is that they were reluctant for me to choose a black man to stand for me - a man who was a baptized and dedicated JW - in fact a pioneer publisher - and someone who had just gone to prison for holding to his faith. And yet they never once suggested that the wedding should not go on in the Kingdom Hall due to the fact that my bride-to-be was not yet baptized! I believe that even then, both parties in the wedding had to be baptized JWs (this may have been added later - not sure). But that issue never came up because my fiance was attending meetings and going along with us in field service.

I've written other posts about the subtle racism that existed in the 1960s (blacks in one car, whites in another; no black servants at the time, not even someone like Norvell; and many other little issues that existed). All of the Kingdom Halls in the US southern states were segregated. Whites could visit (and were welcomed) in black Kingdom Halls. Blacks were discouraged from going to white Kingdom Halls, but JWs would not reject them if they did. They just could not be members there.

Cedars has done a great job on this subject. As usual, my praise for his work can not match its actual value to us all.

JV

45

Seeker4 Here - Anyone on Who Remembers Me From H20 & JWD?

by Seeker4 in

jw
friends

seeker4 - robert smith from vermont.

former jw, elder, pioneer, etc.

i've got a few thousand posts on these sites, but haven't posted for a year or two.

Juan Viejo2

BTTT -

Seeker4 - you have a PM

JV

20

JW Careers - Meter Reading??

by rrb2016 in

jw
friends

i remember in the 70's and 80's the big jw career was pin striping...in addition to the regular careers like janitorial and window washing.

now i hear the big career is meter reading in the pacific northwest.

what are some of the other jw careers that are hot in the 2012 and the "end is closer than ever?

Juan Viejo2

RRB - Meter readers in the Northwest? That's a dead end career like pin-striping.

I live in the Pacific NW. The power companies are just now completing their conversion over to wireless meter reading. This has been progressing in California too. We still see gas meter readers and the city still uses walking meter readers (they use a wand that reads the meter and then sends the results back to the HQ wirelessly).

It's funny how the rank and file seem to fall into the janitorial and construction type jobs. I've noticed that a high percentage of COBOEs tend to have white collar jobs or own their own businesses. It's also not surprising to me that most COBOEs also have some college training or hold a professional degree.

So while the Watchtower continues to discourage the R&F (especially sisters and young people) from getting university level educations, the WT leaders continue to promote those who have already received a professional level education into responsible positions. After all, COBOEs, COs, DOs, etc. are basically corporate managers. They need to know how to maintain accounts and inventories. They have to be able to speak well before crowds. They have to have some level of debating skills. More importantly, they have to have achieved a level of self-confidence that will give them an aura of authority and intelligence so that can lord it over the flock.

There are always jobs available at 7-11 stores, 24-hour gas stations, and all-night donut shops. Costco and Trader Joe's offer decent jobs in this area. Starbucks always has openings for baristas. But there aren't a lot of meter reader jobs available. I know for a fact that a lot of JW women work as hair dressers and manicurists. I even know of one JW lady in this area that does electrolysis and Brazilian bikini waxes. Oh, yes - don't forget pet groomers.

A lot of folks (both men and women - but not JWs, obviously) in the Pacific Northwest between the ages of 20 and 40 also belong to the National Guard. The reasons for this are too numerous to go into, but potentially putting your life and limbs on the line has valuable benefits not available to non-military folk - like Jehovah's Witnesses. You see a lot of people wearing full military cammies off-base around here.

JV

Need some translation help

by Juan Viejo2 in

jw
friends

i'm looking for anyone on jwn who might be fluent in both written and spoken italian and portuguese (brazilian dialect).. i've recently received two very interesting communications from jehovah's witnesses in brazil and italy.

they seem to be very anxious to tell their stories and share them with the rest of the world.

i've used google translator to try to get the gist of what they are trying to tell me, but i've found that for online translation services to work well you have to write in very short sentences and use very common phrases to make them truly intelligible.

Juan Viejo2

I'm looking for anyone on JWN who might be fluent in both written and spoken Italian and Portuguese (Brazilian dialect).

I've recently received two very interesting communications from Jehovah's Witnesses in Brazil and Italy. They seem to be very anxious to tell their stories and share them with the rest of the world. I've used Google translator to try to get the gist of what they are trying to tell me, but I've found that for online translation services to work well you have to write in very short sentences and use very common phrases to make them truly intelligible. I don't write that way, nor do most of my correspondents, so trying to fully understand emails is mostly unsuccessful.

Maybe someone here has already had contact with Rocco Politi. He sent me a link to an Italian talk show where he and his wife (I think that is him!?!) give an interview about their experiences and some kind of expose of the JWs in Italy or that part of the world.

So - is there anyone out there that can work with me on this? If so, please PM me and I will give you all of my contact info. Or contact me through Ex-JW.com on the Contact page.

http://ex-jw.com/contact-ex-jw

I will protect your identity if necessary. What I need are truly bi-lingual speakers and readers, not someone with a couple of semesters of high school level language courses. I need to fully understand the use of unique JW lingo and local shadings and slang, something not usually available to formally trained students - but only to someone who was raised or has lived with the languages.

I will, of course, give full credit to anyone who helps me with this. There is a lot going on in Brazil right now and it looks like there are possible a dozen or more anti-JW activist groups that are trying to expose the Watchtower and are fighting against shunning and blood transfusion teachings.

Check out this link (in Italian - very long) that I received from my Italian correspondent.

http://goo.gl/tClnq

JV

34

Jehovah, the God of Parking Lots

by 00DAD in

this idea was brought up on another thread today, but i thought this particular angle deserved it's own thread.

have you ever noticed that jws that have completely swallowed the kool-aid are really whacked in their thinking when it comes to interpreting life's events.

bb, "because i got the parking place and they didn't.

Juan Viejo2

This is the only way God could possibly answer prayers for parking spaces and sunny days...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0cG11lTS1E

I prayed for no commercials. Sorry, I'm not on Jehovah's list any more.

JV

38

2011 Yearbook= BEARDS are still for non-Witnesses ONLY!!!! Beard Fear?

by Witness 007 in

1960's the watchtower pictures showed jesus clean shaven and with short hair {watch 1954 p.511 "why do watchtower books now show jesus with short hair and no beard?

....because he is shown that way in representations that are older than the traditional effeminate looking pictures..."}.

yearbook 2011 p.57 "a bearded man named eric showed up at a congregation in the united states {oh god a bearded man!!!

Juan Viejo2

Back in the late 1980s when I worked for Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack), they hired an IBM castoff to be a Senior VP. He immediately imposed a new dress code on all Tandy store employees and corporate managers. This even included employees out in little franchise Radio Shacks located in the desert or in the Ozarks. They insisted that we all use the then popular "Dress for Success" model (John T. Molloy, 1988) whether we ever met the public or not.

"Dress for Success" meant that you had to have the "IBM salesman look." Wool blend suits, white long-sleeved shirts, conservative ties. You had to cut your hair up over your ears, shave your sideburns above your earlobes, and lose all facial hair.

This caused a great deal of distress among African-American store managers since facial hair was very much in vogue within that community at the time. Plus many African-American men suffer from skin irritations due to shaving. In spite of numerous requests for waivers, the Tandy SrVP would not budge, not even for medical waivers. Several long-time managers were fired for not following the edict to the letter.

At the time Tandy Radio Shack was trying to compete with IBM in the computer sales and integration market. The market they were competing in included school districts, government entities, and small businesses. To Tandy upper management having the field sales teams dress in the IBM manner made sense. But Tandy's requirement also applied to service and repair people, headquarters support staff, and part-time Radio Shack store employees. That made no sense at all.

The Watchtower Society must have read that book around the same time, because it seemed that beards and mustaches became verboten around the early 1980s. I remember growing up that we had two or three middle-aged brothers that wore beards in my Kingdom Hall (1955-1965) and quite a few younger brothers had neatly trimmed mustaches. One brother looked like Santa Claus and a KH servant looked like James Mason as Captain Nemo in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

After Tandy implemented its dress code, a major industry magazine (maybe Computer World) came out with an editorial article about the changes forced on Radio Shack employees. I think that what they wrote applies equally to elders and other male Jehovah's Witnesses that follow the Watchtower's dress codes:

"Let's face it, Radio Shack may be trying to make their male store managers and computer techs 'put on a new face' in an attempt to compete with IBM. But the truth is that a doofus without a beard is still a doofus..."

JV

15

Breastfeeding your child until they are 8 years old

by usualusername in

jw
friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxv6r9fuo74&list=fl868j_zisuing3g1hj8rtjw&index=7&feature=plpp_video.

discuss...

Juan Viejo2

My JW sister breastfed her children until they were 5 years old. She picked up that idea from somewhere within the JWs, but I never was able to locate the source and she never shared it with me.

JV