JWs and the Internet

by JW_Researcher 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  JW_Researcher

  I posted the question below but it may have gotten lost in the shuffle.

  Nina indicated that the JWs have been "instructed" not to use the Internet. My understanding was that they were to use caution. I could be out of date, however.

  Does anyone have a reference for this "instruction" not to use the Internet?

  Thank you.

  Former post:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/116708/2048216/post.ashx#2048216
  

  1. Why would the WT put on a demo showing that their own members utilize the internet when they've instructed them not to?

  Nina,
  
  JWs are not to use the internet to pay bills, etc.?
  
  Do you have the reference for that instruction?
  
  Please and thank you.

  2. The JW on the demo directly addresses Satan. That's "spiritism"!

  It is not a direct address (although it may seem on a literal level to be so). It is a soliloquy .
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  collegegirl21

  They say use discretion, but they frown upon. We had a special needs talk about it at our kingdom hall. they said that it could prove to be deadly.... blah!
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  Stealth453

  I propose that we start calling it "The Anti-net"

  Anyone second the motion?
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  Balsam

  I was an active witness 5 years ago and all I ever heard was that extreme caution was needed if people had computers. Children must be supervised, and Adult need to beware because the internet could shipwreck your faith.

  So far as I know most were too scared to have internet on their computers or if they did they on used an email service only. Paranoia at is best.

  Balsam
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  tremoka

  Many in the local KH go to the lengths of being anti-computer! Internet is considered evil in some family circles that I know. A couple elders drill this message in their talks whenever they can.

  It's been addressed in WTs, KMs, for the past few years from cautionary- to outrite avoiding internet if possible. Rather than focussing on benefits of this technology, it's shunned for it's access to pornography, worldly association & entertainment, and apostate influence.
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  Severus

  JWs are not officially anti-internet. Otherwise why would they have their own websites? www.watchtower.org and www.jw-media.org

  On the other hand, they make strong general statements against the dangers of the internet, but without instructive details.

  For example, current JW talking points include "NO MYSPACE.COM". But there is no other instruction such as why is it dangerous to post personal info on the internet.

  So JW kids think "myspace is bad, so I'll post my bio on Friendster". This is classic mind control at work, demonizing without educating.

  Compare the huge response from the Dateline NBC "To Catch a Predator" series (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/). Here is an informative media war on child predators using the web. Real interviews, real screenshots, real particular.

  And yet Dateline never says "myspace BAD!".

  All this confusion and generalisation leads the unwitting JW to believe that Satan is in their computer. Other, younger or savvy computer users realize this as bogus and have more rational view towards the internet. (And realize that porn pop-ups don't happen unless someone's been where one shouldn't.)

  Even more cognisant JWs may even Google "Jehovah's Witnesses" to see what horrors Satan hides behinds the curtain. We can only hope.
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  Seeker4

  Yeah, I don't think NIna knows what she's talking about with either comment. The WTS has never said not to use the Internet. They've cautioned strongly about the "dangers" they fear - access to anti-JW information and porn in particular. There may be some anti-computer anti-Internet brothers individually, but most of the Witnesses I know were online years ago.

  And how is addressing Satan directly "spiritism"??? In the gospels Jesus talked with Satan and the demons directly, but it was hardly spiritism. Nina seems to misunderstand the whole demonstration.

  S4
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  dustrabbit

  Sheesh...the JWs...I tell ya. Being anti-computer/anti-internet is so Luddite...

  I pay so many of bills online to the payment form being losted in mail. I order books or music from overseas that I can't get here in Denver. Not to mention so many of my friends from overseas email me or IM me because getting mail to and from China can be a hassle. If I were an active JW, I'd love an Elder to tell me that I was in danger of my faith being shipwrecked. Then I could tell him, "So? And the Roman Catholic church told Galileo that he was a heretic for his theories on astronomy..."
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  Borgia

  The last convention required all half listening dubs to accept a resolution not to enter into discussion boards, chat rooms and the like. On the special one day assembly the term: correct use of internet, has been introduced.

  WT - dubs are not against the internet per sé, BUUUHUUT........

  When watching the demonstrations on the platform, a dub brother is always.....alone, and the introduction goes like: he is researching "some innocent subject", while being alone and unattended, and comes across a website accusing the GB of...."whatever".

  internet, alone and unattended, danger! Is it really true that you can trust a dub-brother doing the right thing?

  love hate relationship? I guess they do have that.

  Cheers

  Borgia
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  undercover

  JWs have never been officially instructed to not use the Internet. I have heard individual JWs comment however that it would be better if JWs avoided the Internet altogether rather than take chances...whatever those chances might be.

  JWs have been storngly cautioned about reading anything negative about the WTS on the Internet. They've warned to avoid bulletin boards, chat rooms, blogs and the like where any kind of negative information about the WTS could be easily or accidently accessed.

  Some dubs that I know use the Internet as much as any non-JW that I know, but manage to never give a thought to typing "Jehovah's Witnesses" in Google or any other search engine. I know one dub who gets his porn on-line, steals music on-line but he's loyal about never reading anything about JWs or the WTS on-line.

  But I know some other dubs who won't have a computer in the home...period. One dub family member had a computer with Internet access so they could email friends and family all over. After a while there was a problem with the computer. Another family member, non-JW, told them that something was wrong with the hard drive and needed to be replaced. She offered to back up the system, install a new drive and reload the info. But before taking her word the JW got a brother from the hall, supposedly PC savvy, to look at it. He said it had a virus and the Internet needed to be disconnected. The JW relative immediately thought apostates were trying to infect their computer and got rid of it. They refuse to own a computer, let alone have Internet connection, anymore.

  I'm sure that it was never said from the platfrom that apostates would use computer viruses to attack God's people...but they do demonize the Internet so much that those who don't really understand computers, the Internet, etc. come away with notions that the Internet, or computers even, or evil and must be avoided...exactly the result that the WTS wants.

  The WTS may be able to scare the older generation away from the Internet, but younger generations who learn computer skills and Internet skills at an early age, won't be so easy to buffalo. It will be interesting to see what the next generation or two of young dubs who know more about this technology than their parents will bring.