JW books?

by bobingersoll 10 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • bobingersoll
    bobingersoll

    I am not a Jehovah's Witness, never have been. I am a former Christian (mostly Baptist background) and have been an atheist since 1999.

    My question is this - are there any books (not official Watch Tower publications) published by any JW's?

    Just to be clear what I am interested in: As an atheist, I have many books written by atheists explaining why they are atheists. I also have some books written by Christians, defending why they believe what they believe. They are not any kind of official denominational literature, just members of the Christian faith explaining / defending why they believe what they believe. Are there any Jehovah's Witness's who have written any books explaining / defending why they believe what they believe, or are all books or publications of that sort published only by the WatchTtower Society?

    My curiosity is because for the past couple months, every Sunday afternoon, I have been visited by two JW, trying to convert me, and at times, it is very hard to get a straight answer from them - they never give their opinion but always refer me back to the little booklet or the website.

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    Aha what an interesting question as I am researching this right now! The answer is yes there are loads! I know of about 30 books written by JWs to defend their beliefs in one way or another. But many are out of print and quite rare. Most are listed on Stan Melosivic's page, but not all. He annotates which ones are written by JWs.

    http://www.theocraticlibrary.com

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    I don't know if there's any book that meets what you are looking for however. The closest would probably be "Jehovah's Witnesses Defended" by Greg Stafford, who is no longer a JW. There is also "Theology and Bias in Bible Translation" by Rolf Furuli which is a defence of the NWT.

    Years ago Jehovah's Witnesses United used to be the website to go to but it's not been updated for near enough a decade.

    http://www.jehovah.to

    And there used to be Heinz Schmitz's website but it's long gone.

  • bobingersoll
    bobingersoll
    Thanks for the link, it's helpful. I wonder if JW's in good standing are expected to get "approval" from the head office before proceeding with a book project?
  • Acts5v29
    Acts5v29

    Hello BobIngersoil

    There are two - not anti-watchtower nor reasoning against watchtower - which you might find of interest on scriptural issues.


    One is "Divine Rescue from Mankind's Final Crisis" (nothing to do with Fudge ministries, by the way) which addresses the theme of the Bible; another is "Why God 'Permits Evil' " - which gives an answer.


    Both are short, neither are affiliated to any religion, and both are free as PDFs from www.worshipJehovah.org (not associated with any religion)

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    To my knowledge no JW apologists don't get permission to write their books. In fact the September 2007 Kingdom Ministry made it quite clear they don't approve.

    Perhaps the only approved unofficial JW book was Jehovah's Witnesses: The New Workd Society by Markey Cole in the 1950s.

  • stan livedeath
    stan livedeath

    the watchtower society doesnt like its members writing books telling how good it is.

    bwaaaa haaa haa ha ha ha

  • TheOldHippie
    TheOldHippie
    Don't forget MacMillan, slimboy.
  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    I did think of mentioning it but it is an autobiography rather than a defence as such. And was it approved? Penton claims Knorr was against it and it was not promoted.

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99
    Tony (Antony) Byatt was a Witness from Worcestershire (UK) who wrote at least one apologist publication. He also ran a small mail order service for Witness friendly books. He died some time ago but was an intelligent, educated and scholarly person. He contributed regularly to the publications in the 70s and 80s.

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