WTS DISCOURAGES CERTAIN BOOKS

by Amazing 4 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Amazing

  WTS DISCOURAGES CERTAIN BOOKS

  As far back as 1972, the Watchtower Society discouraged certain books, especially in the Kingdom Hall Library. Here is what they said:

  “What kind of publications should be found in the Kingdom Hall library?”

  “The Kingdom Hall library is a Bible study library. Bibles, current publications of the Society (including “Indexes” and “Kingdom Ministry”) and a good dictionary are essential. If you have them, “Watchtower” and “Awake!” bound volumes from past years and older publications of the Society will be helpful. When available, encyclopedias, atlases, or books on grammar and history may be useful, but we do not recommend purchasing them.

  “It is not necessary to include books on health, genetics, politics, science, mathematics, etc., which one might have in a personal library. It is inadvisable to have books on spiritism, mysticism, higher criticism, evolution or fiction in the library.

  “The school servant is responsible for the library and for putting in new publications and bound volumes of the Society as soon as they are available. He would do well to mark on the inside cover of each book that it is the property of the congregation.

  “Everyone should cooperate in keeping the books clean and in good condition. Small children should not be allowed to play with library books, for they may damage them. At least once a year the school servant should have someone check over the books to see if any need repair or replacement.” – May 1972 KM, Pg. 4 – Question Box

  So, aside from talking down to JWs about how to care for books, even the bound volumes are not essential, just useful. But, more importantly, any books on science, math, genetics and health are not included, and especially not any books on “higher criticism” or “evolution”. Not even a good Harliquin Romance novel!

  What are they afraid of? Why? Fascinating! - Amazing
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  jelly

  Hello,

  One the actions that I will always regret is that when I started coming into the org. I tossed my personal library. Only about 150 books but they ranged from fiction to science, from evoulution to the physics of space travel. Sad.

  One the actions that I will always cherish is when I tossed the Watchtower bound volumes. The person I studied with gave me the bound volumes back to 49; a few years were missing but not much. The bound volumes looked much better sitting in a dumpster than in my bookcase. Many of my brothers and sisters were envious of my library; I should have burned the volumes in the parking lot of the hall.

  Jelly
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  Amazing

  Hi Jelly: Yes, the WTS books are fun to toss out, as I did this with my old individual magazines, excpet a few special copies. An alternative would have been to seel these to ex-JWs and clearing houses that are looking for them ... and you might have made a profit too! - Amazing
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  VM44

  Books on serious secular subjects as science and mathematics would not
  be useful, mainly because books are not allowed to be checked out of
  the KH library, and there is not enough time to read such books before and
  after meetings.

  Some books that I recall being in a KH library were:

  * Watchtower Reprints...from the 1870s to 1916 or thereabout.

  * Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures.
  which someone had written, "Do not misuse what is contained
  in this book" inside the front cover.

  * Faith On the March.

  * Jehovah's Witnesses, by M. Cole.

  * Yearbooks going way back to the 1950s.

  * Bound Volumes for the Watchtower and Awakes, back to the
  1960s.

  * Many colorful study books going back to the 1950s, and 1950s.

  * Some of Rutherford's books (e.g. Creation)

  The most used books appeared to have been the bound volumes of
  the WT and Awake.

  The contents of this Hall's library is probably very representative of
  what is contained in libraries of other congregations.

  --VM44
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  Amazing

  Hi VM: Good points. One clarification though. You noted,

  " ... mainly because books are not allowed to be checked out of
  the KH library, ..."

  The restriction on 'checking out' Kingdom Hall books was not brought about until the early 1990s. Prior to that time, JWs were encouraged to check out materials. The School Overseer, or a Ministerial Servant assigned by him, maintained a check-out log, or at least they were supposed to. With the advent of JWs deciding to research and borrow older books to make copies, and the resulting out-growth of 'apostasy', the Society issued the 'no-check-out' policy.

  Amazing