i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.
you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.
during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.
Fisherman
You are right on, there is only one detail.
There is a religious group called "Bando evangelico de Gedeon" or Gideon's Evangelic Band. They were the ones dressing in an all white attire (males and females); the friends were called "batiblancos" not "patiblancos". The meaning of "batiblancos" was white robbed and "patiblancos" means white legged; the brothers were not dressed like that, the last thing that they wanted was to be easily identified by their appearance.
i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.
you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.
during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.
Regular flights by commercial airlines are landing in Cuba, until now the only route to Cuba was Charters and it was quite expensive, about $500.00 RT; it seems that the price is down to about $210.00 RT.
With the gradual opening of the country I hope that the friends will be able to learn some of the very informative and truthful material about the WT.
60th anniversary – i was baptized 9-1-56 .
my parents weren’t witnesses at the time, but my witness uncle studied with my brother and i. i think the only reason my parents let him was because my brother was having mental issues and were hoping it would help him.
my father surprised me a few years later, started studying and was baptized in 1961, later appointed an elder.
Magnificent information.
I Think that by 1955-56 there were some baptismal questions.
This thread seems to confirm it:
i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.
you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.
during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.
It seems like I had one of those senior moments and in my previous post confounded the celebration of July 26th, the start of the Revolution and August 13th which is Fidel's birthday.
He celebrated the later as defiant as ever with an open letter full of criticism of President Obama; same thing that he has done to every American President since Eisenhower.
i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.
you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.
during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.
Cubans just celebrated the 90th birthday of Castro and 63 years since the start of his Revolution, the system is strong as ever and every aspect of daily life is under firm control of the Government; this includes the WT operation.
most of us are desperately waiting for the availability of a legal crisis of conscience.
deborah dykstra provided us with two updates.
on december 12, 2015 there was a clear statement about the copyright which stopped all illegal activity in spreading electronic versions & prints.. finally, she promised a new update by or before may 6.. so far no new update.
At the Spanish forum, a few years back there was a big controversy around Raymond Franz and his books, some of the participants were of the opinion that his books should be available for free.
A wealthy Spanish exjw tried to negotiate with RF and offered him a substantial amount of money for the copyright, that was not accepted and RF position was that he wanted full control of his writings.
There was a lot of opinions about this matter and the discussion became so heated that some of the friends left the site for good. Looking back I think that RF was handling his work as a "mom and pop" operation and was not aware of the tremendous value of his writings; the arrangements after his death are a reflection.
At this time his will and desires are to be respected hoping that in the near future the pending matters could be solved and the books will be available.
i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.
you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.
during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.
I was reading about the recent events in Russia and the letter with recommendations from the WT. Everything that is suggested was applied in Cuba and it didn't work, I feel sorry for the Russian friends and if they are smart they will not follow all that silliness.
i'm new here; one of my relatives was a member on this forum a few years ago and told me about it.
anyways, as a sister who has been in the org since childhood and now in her late 40's (plus as a woman of color), i have noticed that a number of brothers have an ageist attitude.
they are very accepting of young women under 26 and rejecting women over that age, particularly those in their 30's and over.. is this an unspoken mindset from wthq (specifically from bethel), or is it that quite a number of males (sorry, i'm not sexist here) have this type of mentality?
I agree 100% with the idea that the over 30 sisters are at a disadvantage within the WT.
I am going to mention something that I hope will not be considered in bad taste, due to that sad state of affairs I have seen some sisters become attached to each other and get into lifetime partnerships together as pioneers. In most instances people have the idea that there is more to their relationship that what meets the eye, but no one dares to say it.
I have witnessed in more than one case.
to make mistakes is human, to make mistakes dictated by faith is also human but foolish.
i am pretty sure that as jws we all have made decisions that later on we regretted, in some cases they have been minor and in others they had profound effect in our life; major items were like blood and education related.
i am going to post one decision that was a major disaster for the person involved and if you know of something similar please contribute.. in a spanish speaking country where "machismo" was the norm and it was common for a man to have several mistresses, there was a sister married to a wealthy man and they had four children.
It seems like a natural reaction to think about the past and mistakes or errors that were made, one of the most painful ones that I can remember involved a newly baptized sister with 4 children and a non witness husband. She was fairly new, less than a year active and the time period was the early 70s; became pregnant and she had complications during the delivery. The child was born but she was in critical condition and needing a blood transfusion, the congregation pressured the husband about her faith and wishes and he decided against the BT.
Sadly she died, he was left with the 5 children, including the newborn. For a while he tried playing the part of a JW interested person but finally he left the area and went back to another country to live with his family.
We lost track of him and I have no idea what happened to this family, looking back it was one of the biggest tragedies that I have ever seen and it pains me to know that her life was wasted for nothing.
jws have one of the worst, if not the worst, retention rates among their kids.
i've seen numbers from 65% to 88% who leave, never to return.. you'd think this would be a priority amongst the leadership, right?
where do tomorrow's leaders come from, if the vast majority of kids leave the organization?
