Branch Correspondence Guidelines

by pronomono 89 Replies latest members private

• 

  cappytan

  It will make a difference when that document is subpoenaed.

  Good point.
• 

  wifibandit

  Just to make sure this file never dies, someone has set up a link exchange here. The basic idea is if everyone posts a link to their copy of the file, WT is faced with a game of whack-a-mole. If they take down a link, 7 pop up in its place!

  Thank you to the Leaker and to Lloyd (who's site saw its highest traffic yet). Keep bringing us the info!
• 

  Oubliette

  WiFi: Thank you to the Leaker

  Yes, thanks. Although you may want to consider referring to them as "the Source."

  I'm just sayin' is all! ... lol
  
• 

  Beth Sarim

  If that letter gets subpoenaed, very damaging. I'm sure whoever is doing this leaking, is covering his tracks well.
• 

  EdenOne

  Can we name this anonymous source as "Deep Throat"?

  Eden
• 

  MacHislopp

  Hello pronomono,

  many thanks for providing the link. Already downloaded and in my files!!!

  I'll take my time toread abd comment.

  Greetings,

  JC MacHislopp

  *** Awake ! August 22nd 1984 page 28 From Our Readers ***

  “…claims to be the way of salvation … .Any organization that assumes that position should be willing to submit to scrutiny and criticism.”
• 

  Truthexplorer

  Given this latest leakage.....seems harder and harder for the Watchtower to plug all the holes!!!!
  
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  The Elders, have no qualification on how to deal with, mentally ill people, suicidal people, teenagers hormones, natural human development, child abuse, domestic abuse, and many, many other day to day, and life's challenges. Yet, the MEN, are to enforce this bullshit, and can have the power to, make or break your standing in the congregation, your, supposed spirituality, your relationship with your family, your complete social structure, and even your career. The "power" these men have, over other humans, but without ANY qualifications, is APPALLING.

  They instruction unqualified men to give counsel to members that really should only come from from the likes of mental health experts, often resulting in harm to the person. Sounds like the making of a class-action lawsuit. Put me on the jury and the WTS will lose.

  Doc
  
• 

  Vidiot

  Truthexplorer - "Given this latest leakage.....seems harder and harder for the Watchtower to plug all the holes!"

  That's actually really common amongst authoritarian regimes.

  The more information leaks they experience, the more tightly they try to restrict internal information, but the very act of tightening inevitably causes further leaks to go "squirting out the cracks" with even more force, and ultimately, the internal restriction cripples the regime's ability to function.

  This specific phenomenon was the main principle that inspired Julian Assange to create Wikileaks.
• 

  Vidiot

  Okay, finally read the JWSurvey piece, and what stuck out to me was the (very correct, IMO) comments of Ray Franz and Cedars about how "Talmudic" and "pharisaic" the Org has become with virtually every and all aspects of JW life and behavior.

  Many people have asked why the Org is so f**king legalistic, even in comparison to other fundamentalist churches, and the answers vary... overconcern for the Org's public image, fear of losing the R&F's confidence that it's "God's Earthly Organization", uniformity of appearance for the purposes of in-group/out-group solidarity, basic authoritarianism, and the like.

  All true.

  x

  I've said this before, but another (and, IMO, hugely under-emphasized) reason, however, is the WTS's fundamentally inherent archconservatism.

  In Ray Franz's "Crisis of Conscience", he mentioned a conversation he'd had with another high-ranking WT rep, in which he felt compelled to ask, "Does the Society not believe that its own members have enough love of truth to behave morally on their own, rather than rely on an endless litany of rules)?" (paraphrasing, but that's the gist; if anybody can supply the exact quote, it's more than welcome).

  What Ray, and, indeed, many of us don't seem to realize (or tend to forget) is that one of the central axioms of conservative ideology - religious or secular - is the firm belief that all human beings are inherently shitty, unable to be better, and absolutely must be kept on a short leash for their own damn good and everybody else's.

  And this set-in-stone (and, IMO, irrevocably flawed) viewpoint cannot help but heavily influence virtually every aspect of WT ideology, policy, and action.

  x

  In one of the "Safehold" novels by David Weber (can't remember which one), the ruthless ruler of the corrupt Church gives a contemptuous rant detailing why he and his inquisitors do the horrible things they do, and it builds up to the main thrust of his take on things...

  "...the simple fact is that mankind has no 'better nature'...the iron rod of discipline is the only thing that will ensure that he lives a moral life in submission to Holy Writ..." (again, paraphrasing, but that's the gist).

  x

  I think this is something that needs to be remembered about the WTS much more that it seems to be, and is also one of the main reasons why the WTS can (among other things) never truly reform...

  ...it would have to abandon its own inherent archconservatism, which, at this point, has become too fundamental a characteristic.