Watchtower: Telling truth is only an entitlement, not a requirement.

by FatFreek 2005 12 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  FatFreek 2005

  While I didn't listen to the recent audio interview (see this thread), a certain Watchtower official denied that disfellowshipped people are shunned by their relatives. I was understandably irked at that bald-faced lie since for the last 33 years I've been shunned by two of my children. Then I thought -- hey, that official simply reverted to his Watchtower teaching.

  That JWN thread may not show up. If so, here is the URL for you to copy.
  www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/205218/3/Bethel-have-just-DENIED-Jehovahs-Witnesses-shun-ex-members

  "While malicious lying is definitely condemned in the Bible, this does not mean
  that a person is under obligation to divulge truthful information to people who are not entitled to it."
  Insight on the Scriptures, p. 245, Lie

  The official probably thought, "this person interviewing me simply is not entitled to the truth. After all, the audience couldn't really understand all the details of our shunning policy so I'll just simply avoid the truth for now."

  Try telling that to a courtroom judge: " ... and so, your honor, I didn't think this court was entitled to that piece of information. After all, you can see there was no malice on my part ..."

  Try telling that to a mother: " ... so, Mom, I just knew you couldn't understand that I decided to take yesterday off from school."

  Try telling that to your wife: ... um, all right, dear, I thought you didn't need to know any of those intricate details as she really was a cheap hooker and, by the way, there was no love involved."

  

  Len
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  Aussie Oz

  they make me sick

  oz
• 

  Alfred

  "We only see light when it's God's time to reveal light." -David Splane, GB member

  Translation: "We will tell you lies until it's God's time to reveal the truth"
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  Amelia Ashton

  I am still reeling!

  I have had to take some right s**t from various elders over the years but I could always make an excuse for them, they didn't understand the situation fully/immature/covering their own backs/wait on Jehovah etc etc but this statement was like being slapped in the face with a cold wet fish.

  It is a bare faced lie they have tried to conceal with clever words. Only people like us really know the truth and in their eyes we just don't count.

  Here is an exact transcript of the statement given to the reporter by the Bethel in London:

  "Witnesses do not shun family members because of differences in religious beliefs. Many Witnesses have religiously mixed families and enjoy normal loving relationships together. If a family member who is a baptized Witness is disfellowshipped the spiritual ties he had with his family change, but blood ties remain. Accordingly, the marriage relationship and normal family affections and dealings can continue. As for disfellowshipped relatives not living in the same household we apply the counsel from the Bible at 1 Corinthians: "quit mixing with them." The scriptures are sacred to us and we therefore take this counsel seriously. The degree of family contact is a personal decision based on one's Bible trained conscience. If there are consequences, these relate primarily to one's relationship with God."
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  ziddina

  Well, one thing about that reply from Bethel...

  The Watchtower Society has certainly lost its reputation as "Bible 'scholars'..." if that puny partial sentence was the ONLY piece of scripture that they could come up with, on the subject of shunning....

  I don't think that they even quoted the entire verse, LET ALONE read the verse in context...

  Hope this bites them in the ARSE - hey, I know!!!!

  The next time one reads in the news about the Watchtower Society making a case in court for access to formerly "closed" areas, like Russia - send this interview - and accompanying information - to the area attempting to keep the Watchtower Society out of their nation/region...

  Zid
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  Vidiot

  Amelia Ashton - "It is a bare faced lie they have tried to conceal with clever words."

  I gotta say, it was prettty egregious.

  Was a time when they would have proudly and publicly stated that DFed and DAed XJWs deserved whatever the hell they got; a lot of hard-core (non-JW) Bible-Belters would've applauded the statement, too.

  Not so much now, though, huh?

  Way I see it, the full-transparency-and-damn-the-consequences approach is the only really honest way of going about it in the WikiLeaks era; the acid test or nothin', man.

  Just my opinion.
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  Black Sheep

  a certain Watchtower official denied that disfellowshipped people are shunned by their relatives.

  FALSE

  See the transcript.

  The two statements you are referring to are not about disfellowshipped relatives.

  No lie was told.

  They made statement on an unrelated subject that had nothing at all to do with Nathan's situation....... and that is what you should be spanking them for.
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  Vidiot

  Black Sheep - "No lie was told. They made a statement on an unrelated subject that had nothing at all to do with Nathan's situation..."

  Bait 'n' switch, huh? Clever; they can disavow anything that the reader infers from that.
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  poppers

  The degree of family contact is a personal decision based on one's Bible trained conscience.

  Seems to me they are trying to put the blame on the family and not themselves if shunning happens - clever.
• 

  GLTirebiter

  "The degree of family contact is a personal decision based on one's BibleWatchtower trained conscience"

  Remembering which "scriptures" they really follow puts that statement into its proper perspective.