by raymond frantz 53 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Biahi: They are afraid to speak out against Islam, they don’t want a “fatwa” put against them. The GB would be afraid to EVER leave the cult compound.
Free volunteer labor is great when you want to print magazines and make internet videos. It's not so great when you want to protect yourself from violent aggressors. The GB understand the limitations of their grift and of Jehovah's protection.
Here is an interesting perspective:
I know witnesses who learned Urdu to preach to Muslims. I don’t think they had much success here but I think there are Urdu groups in England. I know of one person with a Muslim background who got baptised in a nearby congregation but it caused a lot of problems in his family and don’t know if he is still a JW. He had some personal problems and was already a black sheep of the family even before he became a JW. He was baptised around 1998.
I just checked and there are Urdu groups in London, Birmingham and Glasgow listed on the JW website. There may be others. There are a couple of Arabic groups listed too.
It would be interesting to research, but my guess is that the Muslim country with the largest JW presence may be Indonesia. It would be difficult to tell how much of the preaching in Muslim majority countries is directed at Muslims but there must be at least some.
Thx RF for this post, and thx too, SBF, for those links. That revised 2010 book(let) is certainly targeted for Muslims. In the list of biblical teachings in section two the first statement is "God is one. He has no equal." In theological terms you cannot get more Islamic than that. The second point is "Jesus is not Almighty God. He is God’s prophet." That's straight out Islamic theology. The third point "God condemns idolatry in all its forms" is likewise. "Paradise" is capitalized. There's no doubt about it. This pub was written for Muslims.
What is quite interesting to me is that in section 5 where God's qualities are given, love comes in as number 4, after power, justice, and wisdom. Again, you could hardly get more Islamic than that. Furthermore, it violates the normal order given in just about all other Witness pubs where love comes first.
Do you know if someone has the earlier pub from 1998 scanned and posted somewhere? I'd like to see it.
The org is big on stating that they've covered the globe in their preaching, but if you stop and think about it, that's simply not true. If you take into consideration that China has a quarter of the earth's population, and then that the Islamic world stretches from North Africa to the Philippines with many countries there being mainly Muslim with it as the only state religion allowed, and then that much of India (outside of the southern coastal areas) has never really been fully reached with the Witness message, about half the world's population has never heard the name Jehovah. That's hardly preaching to the entire inhabited world! It's easy for us in the West to forget that fact.
Just as I posted my note, SBF, I saw your latest come up. As for Indonesia, there's an important factor to consider. The eastern portion is predominantly non-Muslim. That part is where the old Dutch colony was (the "Dutch East Indies"). I once spent some time with a chap from there who was nominally Christian, whose father still had business ties with Holland and who still spoke Dutch, and who told me he'd seen KHs in the eastern part of the country.
Thx too for the info on Urdu and Arabic. Aren't there some Witnesses in Israel from Palestinian backgrounds? I thought I'd read some life experiences from such in the old pubs.
I don’t know if there is a scan of the 1998 brochure anywhere. I think I remember there was an instruction (in a letter Atlantis posted on the forum) for local congregation to destroy any remaining copies of this brochure they had in stock a few years ago, so the brochure must be quite scarce now. Having decided on a gentler wording for the new brochure Watchtower probably decided they didn’t want copies of an older, more direct approach hanging around. I think the old brochure even quoted the Quran in places.
Thanks for the information on Indonesia. I forgot to mention that JWs have had moderate success preaching to Turkish Muslims in Germany and Austria, where there are a number of Turkish congregations. Turkish Muslims are perhaps a special case because Turkey was until recently a stand out secular country among Muslim nations.
Kazakhstan has a good number of JWs. It might be worth trying to find out how many of those are former Muslims. Over the years Watchtower has sent Gilead missionaries to countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Libya when those countries have allowed missionaries. Yes I am sure there are JWs from Palestine with Muslim backgrounds too because there were features about Israelis and Palestinians in harmony in the Christian congregation in the magazines.
Jesus' prophecy was fulfilled before 70 CE, so JW's can take it easy.
(Matthew 24:14) ...this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end [of the Jewish system] will come.
(Colossians 1:23) ….that good news that you heard and that was preached in all creation under heaven.
(1 Timothy 3:16) ...was preached about among nations, was believed upon in the world...
We are the only Christian denomination that doesn't believe in the Trinity like Mudlims do too, maybe thats what your friend had in mind - yes, you're right. He also had in mind Muslims don't believe in idols, too.
But, still, how can *not* believing in the trinity or idols or christmas mean that 'they believe the same as us'?
It's absolutely ridiculous, a comment from a mind which cannot reason properly
slimboyfat : It would be difficult to tell how much of the preaching in Muslim majority countries is directed at Muslims but there must be at least some.
There are publications available in Arabic (Algeria), Arabic (Egypt), Arabic (Iraq), Arabic (Jordan), Arabic (Lebanon), Arabic (Morocco), Arabic (Sudanese), Arabic (Syria), Arabic (Tunisia), Azerbaijani (Arabic), Kazakh (Arabic), Sindhi (Arabic), and Uighur (Arabic).
There must be sufficient interest to warrant these translations.
slimboyfat : I don’t know if there is a scan of the 1998 brochure ["The Guidance of God - Our Way to Paradise"] anywhere.
You can find it on watchtowerwayback. It quotes from three translations of the Quoran and has a section (p.8) "Some of What the Quoran Says on Paradise and Adam".
There are publications available in Arabic ... There must be sufficient interest to warrant these translations - maybe, but that doesn't really address the question asked in the OP.
The WTS has been pretty silent on Islam and Islamic terrorism.
Just imagine if 9/11 had been done by Catholic extremists. I can't imagine the WTS staying silent if that was the case ...
