Does the average JW know anything about Menlo Park?

serenitynow!

Is there any way to interest JWs in the Menlo Park situation so they can see the court proceedings where the Jws admit to being like the Catholic Church?

Aussie Oz

I doubt it

they have no interest in anything thats not printed in the Watchtower, anything else including the news media is Satans lies.

Oz

dark angle

they have no interest in anything thats not printed in the Watchtower, anything else including the news media is Satans lies.

So true!

darth frosty

Care to give a cliffsnotes version?

Ive been seeing threads on it but never investigated.

blondie

What to know about Menlo Park?

First, use search here on JWN then

Second, use Google Search

Jehovah's Menlo Park--suggested search words

Unless jws are Google searching using Jehovah's or in general, I doubt they would know anything. Nothing will be in their publications.

Gayle

they are not to investigate anything,,could get df'd if they persist.

You also have to be able to read things as if you shared none of the Watchtower views or prejudices to see that there really isn't much to really understand unless you are one of those closely following or involved.

For example, the article on ex-jw.com has a line that reads:

Do you really understand how the Watchtower has become more like the Catholic Church?

What does the writer mean? Are they talking about doctrine? Are they talking about real estate ownership?

This isn't to say I'm all gung-ho for the example set by the Catholic Church's dealings with victims of abuse and the like, because I'm not. But if you replace the words "Catholic Church" and put any other religion or perhaps a group other than Catholic, you'll note what I am talking about. Let's say it said the "GLBT community" in place of "Catholic Church." Unless the writer was biased in some way (or an outright bigot), the next thing the writer would do is provide details on what they were talking about. Not many today want to openly insult those in the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual community unless they were known for being part of those hate groups that like to blame natural disasters on the gays or protest at military funerals while claiming that homosexuals cause the death of US soldiers and are “on the way to hell” for being gay.

It's not clear if the writer is trying to compare the way the Watchtower ownership of property is supposedly like the Vatican's, wherein Church property comes under the government of the Holy See (which is why one can ask for "sanctuary" in some cases by running into a Catholic Church because the land becomes part of a sovereign state) or if they have something else in mind. Since the Watchtower is not a sovereign state like the Holy See, it is not clear how the ownership of land by individuals is the same as land which has a sovereign claim upon it, outside of an uneducated or prejudiced view by Witnesses under the instruction of their Governing Body (which doesn't inform its followers that Catholics are keenly aware of this fact and many openly contribute to this means in spite of the JW view of it).

Again let me make it clear--because I've learned that people can read things with a disposition they will not shake off unless you shake it off for them--that this is not a "let's all become Catholics" or "be blind to the criminal actions" of certain members of their clergy.

But what I am saying is that the writer is too close to the situation to give a balanced and unbiased account. All accounts are biased to at least some extent, true, which even the most professional journalists will tell you (which is why they work with editors so closely).

I'm definitely NOT a friend of the Watchtower (just read all my other postings if you want my personal view), but if even secular courts don't see anything illegal occurring (at least not yet), has there really been illegal activity? I personally believe the Watchtower keeps its people in the dark with double-speak and a haze so that members don't realize exactly what they are doing and what the results can or will be. And I also think the leadership of the JWs is underhanded enough to know how to engage in this form of double-sleak without being able to be accused of "lying" by secular definitions of the term.

But lying is one thing, and breaking the law another. They don't always go hand in hand. And in the long term, this is just another one of the examples of what happens if one becomes a JW: the average members loses more than their personal freedom and identity--they lose what's in their pocket too.

We may have been swindled in by a group that counts on its members being ignorant of the Bible, the religion, and reasoning in general (and then pats their members on the back for being able to recite Watchtower "truth" like well-trained pea-size brained parrots, which is what I became for a while myself). But nobody "points a gun to our heads," so to speak, when it comes to giving items of value away to their cause.

Yep, it's not fair, it's sad, and it stinks. But we all played our part, hold at least a little responsibility (if not more) for what happened while we were JWs, and can't spend the rest of our lives being sour grapes (not to be confused with the member SourGrapes on this board, by the way).

This story, while I wish things had a different outcome myself, is basically meaningless to the world and the events are not important to the average person. Why not? This is how all religions generally deal with property (some don't, but most do). And the article I've cited presumes that everyone reading agrees with the Governing Body view of Catholicism. In spite of what we ourselves now believe as ex-JWs, what if a former JW converted to Catholicism?

Sure, some of us might write some pretty strong condemnations on this board about how we personally feel regarding Catholicism, but we're not going to oppose or reject a former ex-JW who makes such a choice for themselves. If anything, we're going to at least defend their right to exercise their freedom this way, even if it is to do something we don't personally choose to do once we are ex-JWs.

Except for a very few voices here and on other ex-JW boards, you will note that even at our peak moment of being on whatever soap box we choose to step upon after leaving the Watchtower, we are never against the ex-JW and the new path they choose (we hope to share some wisdom that we hope they will use in finding that new soap box, of course). We might outright condemn some action, but never insult the person. There may be problems with the Catholic Church, true, but there are very good Catholics, and thus it’s not fair to say something is wrong with the Watchtower because it is acting like a Catholic does (or better yet, the way they should). If they really did, they would have disfellowshipped themselves a long time ago.

So unless there is anything wrong with the Watchtower acting like anything but itself, even the Menlo Park situation, sad as it may be for all the honest people who are losing their battle for justice (at the moment), is just part of the way the GB gets its people to make JW-issues seem like they are "world-shattering events."

If it has to do with the Watchtower, believe me, few on the planet care.

flipper

The average JW doesn't know anything about anything

MrFreeze

They only know what they are told from the platform. Why would the WT be dumb enough to talk about this case from the platform?