Alternative to military service

by ozziepost 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  ozziepost

  Appearing on the WTS' official site is this news item:

  Hopeful in South KoreaSince 1939, well over 10,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been imprisoned in South Korea for conscientious objection to military service. Now a member of the National Assembly has proposed a bill that would provide the option of alternative service to qualified candidates.

  How times have changed! Now alternative service is being pushed as a matter of routine - remember when so many young men were imprisoned because they refused this seemingly logical alternative to their conscientious objection to military service?

  I wonder how the mothers of those young men now feel when it's being made "so easy'??
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  Honesty

  They will be grateful that Joe Hoba has provided New Everyone will Grovel to the Body in Crooklyn, NY. for this simplification in these end times.
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  LouBelle

  In Mexico right up until 1990 it was considered "up to the brothers' conscience" to bribe officials for a military certificate stating that they had done their military service. These brothers were then in the first reserve of their army....the brothers in head quarters knew of this and it was considered fine

  In the same period of time the Malawi brother could not buy a card of the existing government because if they did they would be sinning. Headquarters would not change their mind on this & our brothers suffered extreme persecution.

  Double standards!!!! Practised by the GB themselves when it suits their pockets & their agenda, otherwise they couldn't be bothered.
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  Jourles

  This was the other thing that bugged the hell out of me. Here is a little story that I've told before:

  During the Gulf War, my mother and I were visiting a sister in Kingman, AZ. The news was on. At some point the sister(btw, both she and her husband were bethelites and she was a personal secretary to one of the GB) turns and asks me what would I do if they instituted the draft and I was called up for the war? I didn't know about the ban on alternative service at the time, so I said that I would ask to work in a hospital or some other non-military type duty. You should have seen their reaction. Both my mother and this sister's eyes widened and said almost at the same time that that was wrong! I could not do any type of alternative service in lieu of military duty!

  That was funny to me because in my mind I thought it would be ok - it didn't bother my conscience. But of course the stance in the WT was the opposite. Roughly four years later, guess what happened? The light switch got flipped. That still pisses me off to this day knowing that I probably would have went to prison if the draft came into effect. I would have done it trying to follow the 'rules,' not by following my conscience.

  btw, for those who are wondering who this sister was, here is a link that reported her husband's death. sorry, you will have to recognize the name.