Lee Elder

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Posts by Lee Elder

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  16

  Proposed Goals for AJWRB

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  perhaps this forum can serve as a place for some serious discussion regarding the direction that ajwrb will take in the coming months.

  this document lays out proposed strategy and goals for ajwrb.

  we would like you to evaluate the contents and offer your views.

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  Lee Elder

  A show like "Judging Amy" might be able to do a good job with the subject.
  I wouldn't know where to start with this kind of an endeavor.

  Lee
• 
  16

  Proposed Goals for AJWRB

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  perhaps this forum can serve as a place for some serious discussion regarding the direction that ajwrb will take in the coming months.

  this document lays out proposed strategy and goals for ajwrb.

  we would like you to evaluate the contents and offer your views.

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  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Lee Elder

  Perhaps this forum can serve as a place for some serious discussion regarding the direction that AJWRB will take in the coming months.

  This document lays out proposed strategy and goals for AJWRB. We would like you to evaluate the contents and offer your views. Please give thought as to how you may be able to assist us in reaching these goals.

  In order to formulate strategy and goals, we need accurate information and in lieu of that, we have to make certain assumptions. Access to accurate information regarding the exact thinking of various members of the Watchtower leadership would be very useful, but we simply don't possess it.

  It seems that while there are some members in favor of further dismantling of the blood doctrine, they remain in the minority. Greater pressure is required to move more decision-makers into the reform/dismantling camp. Internal pressure, while helpful, is insufficient to spur the reforms we seek.

  Our common goal remains the complete abolishment of the misguided policy on blood. There are certain objectives to be reached, strategy we must use, tactics to employ. Change is likely to come "piecemeal", as it has in the past.

  We have already won a number of battles and our strategy should be to continue to rack up small victories. We have the high ground morally and ethically and we want to advance our agenda and build alliances with those who can assist us in "ratcheting" down the pressure on the men who run the Watchtower Society

  We believe we must resist the temptation to suggest policy or strategy for the Watchtower Society. That is simply not our place. Our role is to educate Jehovah's Witnesses and anyone who will listen with regard to the destructive and irrational nature of Watchtower policy on blood.

  We have the attention of certain segments of the medical community and our ability to influence this community is well established and could increase. Additional pressure needs to be brought to bear on the WTS by the medical community.

  Attempts to open a direct line of communication with senior Watchtower officials have been unsuccessful. We believe this is due to the enormous risk associated with any connection to perceived "apostasy". There are no plans to expend any additional energy in this area. We will, however, continue to have some limited "back channel" conversations.

  There are several legal issues that could be explored if funds were available or if we had access to competent counsel. These include violation of medical confidentiality, wrongful death, agency and torts. We don't see anyway to progress in this area at present and even if funds were available, we would need plaintiffs to come forward. If evidence of a staged strategic disentanglement policy to jettison the blood policy materialized, and we could demonstrate that Watchtower decision-makers no longer believed in their own policy, and have made a decision to slowly "gut" the policy in order to minimize the fall out, we would have to find some way to act on that. This would require an insider to come forward and provide documented evidence.

  Based upon our knowledge of the current situation, we are suggesting the following strategic plan for AJWRB.

  Goals

  1. Host at least one medical convention in 2001 and each subsequent year.
  2. Publish a major article in the American Ass. of Anesthesiologist's journal during 2001.
  3. Submit an article for publication in a pediatric journal during 2001.
  4. Shift the focus of the AJWRB website to children's issues. Explore linking the blood issue and molestation issues under the larger umbrella of child neglect in the WTS.
  5. Attempt to move the Watchtower Victims memorial to AJWRB. David Reed/Comments from the Friends is apparently shutting down.
  6. Call for the Watchtower to duplicate their Bulgarian policy of not issuing advance directives to Jehovah's Witness minors worldwide. Issue a press release.
  7. Add a pediatrician to AJWRB's group of physician advocates.
  8. Regularly exhibit at the Pediatric events.
  9. Set up a toll free phone number for AJWRB.
  10. When HemoPure is approved in the United States, mount a massive education campaign from hospital administrators to chaplains, surgeons to ER physicians, critical care nurses and the like, alerting them to the new treatment. We should go ahead and write at least some articles at this time so that they are ready to be quickly published.
  11. Write an article for Hospital Administrators and Chaplains detailing the role of Hospital Visitation Committees and H.L.C. members as informants that breech medical confidentiality of Jehovah's Witness patients.
  12. Provide a critical analysis of the WTS letter to all elder bodies and the outline provided for the service meeting part associated with the Health care power of attorney.
  13. Provide a critical analysis of the new blood video.
  14. Develop an article in conjunction with Steven Hassan to demonstrate how the WTS has planted phobias in the minds of JWs to prevent them from accepting needed blood therapy. Provide suggestions for physicians and family members.
  15. Political action: Letter writing campaign's to U. S. House Committee on International Relations, European Commission/Court on Human Rights, and other promising European Governments. Some governments are already inclined to view the WTS as a dangerous sect and refuse to recognize it officially as well as tax it. We want to stress that the WTS is persecuting its own members by refusing to grant them basic rights like the right to privacy, medical confidentiality and autonomy when making life and death medical decisions. We want to communicate that members of the WTS loose the right to enjoy normal relations with their JW family members simply for expressing disapproval of the WTS policies on the use of blood transfusions or for refusing to let their child die by authorizing a blood transfusion.
  16. Provide a new article that specifically answers the objection of some JW's that nothing has changed.
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  1

  Blood - Link to European Court

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the following is a link to the court's ruling on the wts' application:.

  http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/hudoc1doc/hedec/sift/3641.txt.

  all of the files on this subject at ajwrb have been extensively edited and updated.. lee

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  Lee Elder

  The following is a link to the Court's ruling on the WTS' application:

  http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/Hudoc1doc/hedec/sift/3641.txt

  All of the files on this subject at AJWRB have been extensively edited and updated.

  Lee
• 
  13

  Damage control

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  since brooklyn finally allowed the 1914 generation to die in 1995, the distributing apparatus of the multinational printing organization has been starting to slow down.. service is down, the numbers of pioneers are decreasing, the number of baptized show an alarming drop and people are leaving in their thousands.. after many decades of incessant harping on how jehovah, jesus and the bible had guaranteed that the end would be over before the 1914 generation was dead, the witnesses had the only thing that kept many of them going, ripped out from under their noses.

  suddenly jehovah hadnt promised any such thing in the awake!

  suddenly jesus had never been talking about the length of a generation, as usual the watchtower had never said any such thing, someone had speculated about the generation.

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  Lee Elder

  I was the Watchtower Study conductor back in 1995 when that revelation was
  published. I was in a state of disbelief. My immediate reaction was, "if we could
  be wrong about somthing like this that we were so sure of, what else could we
  be wrong about." For me, it was a signal that I had to carefully evaluate what
  I believed and why. While I eventually concluded that most of the Watchtower doctrines
  were beneign, there were some notable exceptions - foremost of which was the blood
  doctrine.

  I can still vividly recall the cover of one Watchtower with a group of elderly
  JWs (probably meant to depict anointed ones) and the caption, "The Generation
  That Will Not Pass Away."

  It's embarassing to have been a part of.

  Lee
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  5

  JW mother loses custody of son for refusing blood

  by jschwehm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the lincoln journal star has a story in it this morning about a jw mother in omaha who lost custody of her son for refusing to allow a blood transfusion.

  evidently her son has sickle cell anemia and his red blood cell count became extremely low.

  the young boy was complaining that he could not breathe.. the newspaper does not have this story on the internet but the paper says it is an ap story.. i thought you guys would want to know.. jeff s.

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  Lee Elder

  Well done. Let's hope the letter is published.

  Lee
• 
  115

  Randall Watters exposed

  by StiLLinTruth in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello again friends!.

  well it was time again for me to take my weekly dose of apostate faeces and see what it tastes like.

  decided to check out randy watters this time (we all love him here) and his little testimony on freeminds.org, titled "what happened at bethel in 1980?

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  Lee Elder

  Dear Stillinthetruth,

  Your post displays the kind of cocky attitude that is often found
  among those who know very little about a matter. Believe whatever
  you want, its all a matter of faith anyway. 3 or 4 generations from
  now someone in your family will figure it all out. The price of self delusion
  and arrogance.

  Lee
• 
  16

  Watchtower-1, Lee Elder-0

  by messenger in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well friends it came tonight at the thursday meeting, a new video "no blood medicine meets the challenge".

  it has prepared case histories and testimony of several in the medical field show that no blood is good medicine.

  it is to be distributed to newly interested ones and to those in the medical profession it has been especially prepared for the non-witness viewing public.

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  Lee Elder

  Most of us appreciate that the WTS' propaganda machine is well oiled
  and capable of producing voluminous amounts of material that is quite
  capable of impressing those who do not command a knowledge of the
  facts.

  Although I would like to see the policy quickly dispensed with, I have
  never felt that was particularly practical although some members of
  AJWRB disagree with me.

  Ultimately, the WTS will disgard the policy when they perceive that they
  have no other choice. We cannot make policy for the Watchtower. However,
  we educate the public, the medical community and the Jehovah's Witness
  community regarding the policy. This information creates pressure on
  the WTS to try and defend their position. Recent articles in the Journal
  of Medical Ethics, the British Medical Journal (and the resulting debates)
  have demonstrated that they cannot win this debate on a level playing
  field. I look forward to seeing the video as does Dr. Muramoto and other
  medical professionals.

  With the changes instituted by the Watchtower in June of 2000, any argument
  that Jehovah's Witnesses "abstain" from blood is ludricrous. The availability
  of hemoglobin solutions and their use by Jehovah's Witnesses will save
  thousands of lives. Based on the published comments of Hospital Information
  Services in 1998 it seems probably that AJWRB's work played a significant
  role in the WTS decision to permit hemoglobin solutions. 1

  There will still be many JW's, particularly children, who will suffer and die
  prematurely as of a result of the ban on platelets. This is the WTS' achille's
  heel.

  1 As recently as 1998 two officials from the Watchtower Society’s
  “Hospital Information Services” wrote that Jehovah's Witnesses
  “do not accept hemoglobin which is a major part of red blood cells
  .... Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accept a blood substitute which
  uses hemoglobin taken from a human or animal source."
  Bailey R, Ariga T. The view of Jehovah's Witnesses on blood
  substitutes. Artif Cells Blood Substit Immobil Biotechnol 1998;26:571-576.
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  26

  C.J. Woodworth - New historical information

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the following information was obtained from skip higgins who is a distant.

  relative of c.j.

  woodworth.

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  Lee Elder

  The following information was obtained from Skip Higgins who is a distant
  relative of C.J. Woodworth. Skip is a non JW who was researching his family
  tree when he contacted me in April of 2001. Skip's great grandfather was
  C.J. Woodworth's brother. I've edited some of the email I've received from
  skip and it is presented below. I didn't have time to reduce the photos but
  I will post them later.

  Hello. I am interested in contacting someone within your group who
  might know something of the family of Clayton James Woodworth. I believe
  he might have been involved with the productions of some of the
  publications of the Watchtower Society. I believe he died in the Cleveland area
  in 1987(Note: This would be the son) . He was a first cousin of my grandmother,
  and I would be interested to know if he had any family.

  Thank you, Skip Higgins

  Thanks for answering my question. Clayton James Woodworth, the father,
  was born in 1870, and my records show that he died on Nov 18, 1951 on Staten
  Island, NY. His son, Clayton James Woodworth, born 1906 and died in 1987
  is the one that I thought was involved with your church. Perhaps I'm wrong,
  and the father is the one that you can help me with. The father is the
  younger brother of my great grandfather, and as there were 10 children in
  this family, they scattered far and wide. Thanks in advance for any
  information that you can give me about the person and his family.

  Two photos are attached. In the group photo, I believe Clayton (C.J Woodworth)
  is at the far right, front row.

  By the way, you might be interested in knowing that his two wives were
  sisters, Mary Emma Arthur and Sophronia C. Arthur. I don't know their
  parents names.

  For Clayton James Woodworth, Jr., my notes say that his last known address
  was the Watchtower Society, Lakewood, OH.

  Clayton James Woodworth was the 10th of 15 children born to Charles
  Roswell Woodworth and his wife Elizabeth Hannah "Libbie" Bennett. Of this
  15, 5 died in childhood and 10 grew to adulthood. Clayton was born in
  North Pitcher, NY, where Libbie's parents lived. They were there for a few
  years after the Civil War as Charles adjusted to the loss of his left arm in
  the Civil War. He received a minnie ball in his left hand in the Battle of
  the Wilderness, and they had to remove most of his left arm as a result.
  Eventually, this family moved back to Nunda, Livingston Co., NY where
  Clayton grew up. Charles started a knife factory in Nunda, known as the
  Woodworth Knife Works, which survived until the 1930's. My great
  grandfather, Fred Woodworth, Clayton's older brother, was my great
  grandfather and he ran the company until it went out of business.

  My records show that Clayton was married twice, with one child by each
  marriage. I have only sketchy information on each of these children, and my
  point in contacting you was to ask if you might have more. I'm going to
  send this note to Mr. Raines, and ask him if his research on Mr. Woodworth
  would include any family information.

  I have a childhood picture of Clayton, and a picture of him as a young man,
  and these pictures very much resemble the picture on Mr. Raines' website.
  So, I think we're talking about the same guy. Gee, I never would have
  guessed that such a close relative could be involved in such a bizarre
  situation.

  > Ken Raines has written extensively about CJ Woodworth:
  >
  > http://www.premier1.net/~raines/woodworth.html
  >

  Comments from Lee:

  CJ Woodworth is a central figure in the development of the WTS blood policy.
  As others have noted, the concern over "purity" played a very significant role
  in the development of Watchtower policy.

  Ken Raines analysis of the life of C.J. Woodworth has an evangelical bias.
  I believe that C.J Woodworth can best be understood by an evaluation of his
  family background and in light of what psychologists would recognize as a
  dissociative disorder. Clearly, he was intoxicated with religion, unbalanced and
  suffering from extreme anxiety. The obsession with purity, so often seen in a
  religious context, is so intense that I would imagine he probably suffered
  from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) or some related condition.
  My guess is that much of his energy was spent in discerning how to keep
  clean in order to block out the high level of anxiety he was experiencing as
  a result of his inability to block out intrusive thoughts. The magical thinking and
  distorted belief systems that individuals generate to survive in these situations
  is simply unbelievable to those who have not studied or experienced it.

  What is troubling and unfortunate is that someone who was clearly mentally
  ill rose to a position of power and influence. Then again, history is full of
  comparable examples and my own experience as a JW exposed me to similar
  situations Involving elders and circuit overseers who were very troubled
  individuals.
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  11

  HemoPure

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i received a press release today from hemopure and also viewed an.

  ap article that also reported on the approval of hemopure for use.

  in humans in the country of south africa.. in very short order, jehovah's witnesses in south africa will begin.

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  Lee Elder

  I received a Press Release today from HemoPure and also viewed an
  AP article that also reported on the approval of HemoPure for use
  in humans in the country of South Africa.

  In very short order, Jehovah's Witnesses in South Africa will begin
  using this form of highly purified cow's blood.

  BioPure will apply for final FDA approval later this year in the U.S.
  This product, if widely accepted by the JW community will save
  hundreds of lives each year.

  This is a very promising development.

  Lee
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  54

  JW Decline

  by larc in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i found some interesting statistics, some of which you may know, that indicate that the wtbts is in decline.. 1. in the twenty years from 1970 to 1990, the rate of yearly increase dropped from 10% to 6%.

  in the last 10 years it has dropped from 6% to about 2%.

  since the world population growth is about 1.5% they are only growing at about 1/2 of 1% faster than the population.. 2. in 1999, there were 21 large countries that showed a decline.

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  Lee Elder

  The WTS is experiencing hard times and I suspect that things will get worse.
  They have shown great resiliency in the past, however, and I wouldn't be
  at all surprised to see the organization make some changes in coming years
  and rebound.

  Lee