by Abandoned 14 Replies latest watchtower scandals
The Watchtower Library CDROM indicates that the photo titled
"Governing Body members sign gift Bibles for public officials"
in Cuba appeared in the May 15, 1999 WT in the article titled,
"A Historic Visit Makes an Island Rejoice"
of course the CD has no photos, being produced they technophobe incompetents.
The April 1, 1951 issue of the WT also reports on an ealier trip by Henschel to Cuba. No mention of photos there, however.
Hey thanks guys! Yeah, that's why it turned my stomach so much, these guys were giving autographs. So much for the discretion.
Not to be an apologist here....
BUT
while the photo LOOKS bad and the idea of "idolatry" certainly comes to mind...the fact is that a lot of people "sign" WT literature that is meant as a gift. This is not "autographing" in the sense of celebrity.
My favourite Songbook was a gift from a friend in Florida and she signed it with a nice message. And this is pretty common thing to do among not just JWs but among all Christians when they give a gift bible or whatever.
I beieve it is safe to assume that what the GB members were doing were writing their little notes and "pearls of wisdom" (Gag) so as to personalize the books. These guys know the difference between doing that and signing them like they were rock stars.
So I don't think what they were doing is itself wrong or inappropriate, it is just that they could have used a little PR advisor or someone on the editorial staff to not publish the picture which looks bad and which doesn't convey what they were probably actually doing well enough.
while the photo LOOKS bad and the idea of "idolatry" certainly comes to mind...the fact is that a lot of people "sign" WT literature that is meant as a gift. This is not "autographing" in the sense of celebrity.
I see, so setting up a table in front of everyone is just to make it easier to write personal, friendly notes to people you've never met. Oh yeah, now I see why you started your post out by confirming you're not an apologist. Otherwise I might have become mistaken.
This is not "autographing" in the sense of celebrity.
Of course not!
This reminds me of Erich Frost sharing the podium with Nathan Knorr at German Conventions in the fifties - even though he'd been responsible for many Dubs going to concentration camps. In this case, even though the Cuban Commies had imprisoned and tortured faithful Dubbies, the leadership couldn't wait to have their mugs on film with them.
Guevara was an architect of Cuba's forced labor camps, which by 1965 were transformed into concentration camps for dissidents, homosexuals, people with AIDS, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Cubans of other religious sects.
All independent thought that refused to worship the communist state was an affront to Guevara. Christians were an especially difficult lot. From the earliest days after Castro took power, Che sent hundreds of men to face firing squads at the Havana prison known as La Cabana. His victims could be heard at dawn loudly crying "Long live Christ the King, down with communism," just before the rifle shots rang out.
