Quotes website receives "Cease & Desist"

by Quotes 286 Replies latest members private

  • Scully
    Scully

    It seems to me that the WTS is working at cross purposes to its own Wisdom?:

    *** Watchtower August 15, 1950 p. 263 Name and Purpose of The Watchtower ***

    ?The Watchtower? invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures.

    *** Watchtower November 15, 1963 p.688 Execution of Divine Judgment upon False Religion ***

    3 Can there be false religion? It is not a form of religious persecution for anyone to say and to show that another religion is false. It is not religious persecution for an informed person to expose publicly a certain religion as being false, thus allowing persons to see the difference between false religion and true religion.

    *** Watchtower March 1, 1966 p.132 Should Falsehood and Corruption Be Exposed? ***

    Therefore, how will you respond when pointed statements are made about false religious teachings and corrupt practices? Will you immediately condemn the person or organization making the exposé? Do you feel it is all right to teach lies and misrepresent God's Word, but wrong to expose the error? Contrary to what some may think, it is not unkind and unloving to lay bare falsehood and corruption.

    *** The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life 1968 p.13 Why It Is Wise to Examine Your Religion ***

    4 However, you have no doubt heard people say: "It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you lead a clean moral life and deal kindly with your neighbors." But is that all there is to worshiping God in an acceptable way? These things are necessary, but God requires more. Doctrines are also involved. The Bible informs us that "the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth." (John 4:23) If our worship is to be acceptable to God, it must be firmly rooted in God's Word of truth. Jesus reproved those persons who claimed to serve God but who relied heavily on the traditions of men in preference to God's Word. He applied to them God's own words from Isaiah 29:13, saying: "It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines." (Matthew 15:9) Since we do not want our worship to be in vain, it is important for each one of us to examine his religion.

    5 We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachings in full harmony with God's Word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. It should be the sincere desire of every one of us to learn what God's will is for us, and then to do it.-John 8:32.

    *** Awake! October 22, 1973 p. 6 Examine the Evidence ***

    Reasonable persons agree that the only fair method is to examine the evidence on both sides, both for and against a disputed theory. That is how one arrives at the truth.

    http://quotes.watchtower.ca/

  • BONEZZ
    BONEZZ

    This proves without a doubt that all of us, especially the most vocal such as Quotes, are having the desired effect upon the Evil Empire! There are plenty of resources out there to fight them.

    -BONEZZ

  • confusedjw
    confusedjw

    Here are my next two suggestions:

    1. We should commit to you money for legal fees if it goes down that road. I can commit $100 up front and $10 per month for a couple of years if the who thing goes this far.

    2. UNIVERSITY LAW. How about seeing if a University in your area would be willing to take up advising the case? Professor to class "Ok here we have a case where an individual is presenting material on a website concerning a well known religion...."

    I would think that numerous ideas would come from those nimble minds who love a cause and thus save the serving lawyer time and you money.

    Quotes, I'm proud of you, and your website was an early life-line to me. It was safe to visit as it only had the words of Truth, in small non-copyright infringing bites, that really helped me organize my doubts.

  • johnathanseagull
    johnathanseagull

    Well, it's a start, I already rec'ed a mail from Stephen Bates.....below....JS

    Thank you for telling me this. I am currently on holiday but will look into
    the matter after my return next week.
    Best wishes,

    Stephen Bates

    My original letter..........

    Dear Mr Bates

    I am aware that you were prominent in the exposure of the Watchtower
    Societies affiliation with the UN back in 2001. Incidentally Mr Bates,
    the UN NGO web site had so many enquiries that they had to upload a
    standard response, which can be found here
    ://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection /watchtower.pdf

    A matter has arisen to which you might consider for a short
    publication in the Guardian.
    Many ex Jehovah's Witnesses use a particular web site for individual
    research purposes,
    http://quotes.watchtower.ca/ As suggested this
    particular site does not comment on the particular rights and wrongs
    of the Watchtower Society, it serves only to show Watchtower "quotes"
    from their publications, therefore leaving the observers a decided
    choice. It has now come of light that the Watchtower Society has
    served a Cease and Desist on the site owner via the web host. The
    Watchtower are claiming copyright infringement and therefore
    ultimately, I suspect, to get the site taken down. You might be
    aware of their policy towards members using the internet and therefore
    being exposed to alternative views regarding the Watchtower doctrines.
    It is viewed by ex Jehovah's Witnesses as an "information control"
    mechanism and therefore in the light of this latest cease and desist
    motion, many feel that it deserves a wider audience.

    This information has come from the site owner himself via an ex
    Jehovah's Witness discussion forum.
    http://www.jehovahs-witness .com/9/83334/1.ashx to which the details
    and subsequent discussion can be found.

    I gladly hope you consider an article and would appreciate any
    feedback or comments on your decision

  • xjw_b12
    xjw_b12

    I find all of this fascinating, but I am concerned WTS may be monitoring this site, and this thread in particular. (noticed a couple of newbies popping in)

    Perhaps it should be moved to "Campaign Strategy" by invitation only. I really don't want to lose track of what's going on, and being left out of the loop, but perhaps it would be the prudent thing to do to keep those futher muckers in the dark.

  • Midget-Sasquatch
    Midget-Sasquatch

    Confused

    Wild idea about getting law students to do the bulk of the work and cut down on legal fees.

    I just want to thank all of you who have shared your resources and bandwidth. If the WTS wants to play this game then I think upping the ante with multiple mirrors is the best way to go. If the WT watchers now decide to send C&D letters to you all as well, then we'll have something meatier to take to the media. "Not one but many sites the Org was after?" That should make quite a few dubs curious methinks.

    XJW

    Its a given that they're watching. Thats why Quotes is mum. But having multiple fronts is nice because it'll keep them running too.

    What would be really funny is if a "bootleg" version of Quotes stuff were to become sought after by some dubs, and actually circulated by themselves.

  • minimus
    minimus

    I just saw this. If you send the quotes to others and keep them spread out, kinda like a WT. Corporation, the Society will have a tougher time with enforcement. IF they ARE abe to do this----ANYTHING written by WT. would have to be taken off ALL internet sites. I don't think this could be done.

  • undercover
    undercover

    Sorry, minimus...could you repeat that? I didn't hear it all that well....

    I guess the war on apostates is heating up. How long before the battle goes from picking on websites and the more outspoken prominent apostates to a search and destroy mission on all that just try to leave quietly?

    I think they realize that the Internet is a more powerful enemy than they gave it credit for before. Their admonition to stay away from it is not working. Too many regular joe publishers are finding out the truth about the "truth" and are losing faith. So many losing faith means losing control not to mention money. They are now fighting back. Sooner or later, the battle lines will advance to each and every one of us I think.

  • minimus
    minimus

    I'm going undercover.

  • BONEZZ
    BONEZZ

    Don't know if anyone mentioned the ACLU and these guys might be interested too....

    http://www.ij.org/cases/index.html

    -BONEZZ

    PS. If it can become high profile, big nasty Cult coming down on little individual who is representing a small, but growing group of former believers...who knows? ..maybe 60 Minutes...Leslie Stahl where are you again? Dateline? They should all be notified and again my apologies if this has already been covered.

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