Hi everyone
Glancing through the Feb 2013 "public" Watchtower edition, an interesting article appears on page 8.
Here is the PDF download link...
It's interesting how, in the story, the young man's JW aunt and uncle switch him from Mormonism to the JW faith using third-party material (the Nov 8, 1995 Awake! article), and he ends up becoming a JW after confirming on the official Mormon website that the claims in the Awake! article are "factual".
"There were many things about the Mormon faith that I had accepted, but I wasn’t really sure how the Scriptures compared with those ideas. My aunt sent me the November 8, 1995, issue of the Awake! magazine, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, which included some articles on the Mormon faith. I was surprised that I wasn’t familiar with many of the Mormon teachings. That moved me to search through the official Mormon Web site to confirm that what was stated in Awake! was factual. It was, and those facts were further confirmed when I visited Mormon museums in Utah."
It goes without saying that this could never work the other way round. The Society would never allow anyone to read a third-party commentary on JW beliefs. And it's interesting that most web content that is critical of JW beliefs cites Watchtower publications as a reference, many of which are now available on the Society's official website. Still, checking Watchtower publications with a critical eye simply isn't the done thing.
It's one rule for the Watchtower, another rule for Mormons. "Accept what is written by us, but don't you dare try checking whether it is 'factual' or not. You can only do this for other faiths!"
Cedars