JWD

Joined

• started 15 topics
• posted 160 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by JWD

• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  There was also a TV drama made and aired some years back entitled,
  `Settoku` which means to convince someone. It was based on the true
  story of a small boy who was in a bicycle accident and rushed to the
  emergency ward where he needed blood due to extensive bleeding. Since
  both his parents were JWs they refused blood. The story focused on the
  battle the doctors faced and the frustration in the face of parents
  who couldn`t be reasoned with. The story came out in book form as well
  and pretty much sealed the WTs image as a religion which allows people
  to die via their `no-blood` policy. JWD
• 
  33

  MORE FROM PROFITS OF DOOM

  by You Know in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  whom do you trust?

  according to apostates, god and his word can't be trusted because the bible is unreliable and jehovah god is a baby killer and murderer of innocent people.

  trusting the watchtower is out of the question, because obviously, the whole thrust of the apostasy is aimed at discrediting the watchtower so as to create wicked suspicions and distrust in the minds of trusting ones, apparently with some success.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  To You Know,

  On one of your threads entitled something like Apsotates Are Doomed,
  I wrote at some length asking you`What is so scarry about Armageddon?`
  As you know the WT teaching is that apostates die and then what happens?...they cease to exist. So what? What`s so aweful about non-
  existence? All of us never existed before we were born and I don`t
  remember the experience being so terrifying, do you? JWs can find a
  way out through suicide, or even homicide followed by the death penalty. Because when all is said and done the only thing awaiting
  them is non-existence. So stop using the Big-A as a scare tactic.
  What`s so scarry about it? If it comes, well commit suicide or die
  and enter into non-existence. Does non-existence hurt? I doubt it.
  If,on the other hand, you believe in a literal hell and eternal
  punishment, now that`s scarry! According to Christendom`s version of
  judgement, the WT leaders will be suffering eternal judgement for
  being false prophets and refusing to recognize Jesus as God. So,
  please tell me,You Know, what is so frightening about the WT`s teaching regarding Armageddon? Have you ever read the verse,`Fear not
  him who can destroy your body, rather fear Him who after destroying
  the body has authority to cast into Gehanna`? I await your answer.

  Now as to your present account of all the crises in the world and
  how they have through the years lent varasity to the WT claims that
  the end is near, it is painfully obvious that you have rarely left
  the shores of the great US of A and therefore; your thinking is
  extremely ethnocentric. Virtually everything you refered to were the
  types of criseses which afflict Americans. The world is much bigger
  than the U.S. Many so-called end times signs are of no significance
  if you live in another part of the world. I remember the big Y2K
  scare. I was in Japan all during that time and it just amazed me at
  how much doomsday talk was coming from accross the Pacific Ocean!
  Nothing happened here, nothing happened there, nothing happened
  anywhere. So much for doomsday.

  I believe in the Bible and I believe in biblical prophecy.I`ve read
  many books about prophecy both WT and otherwise.It`s obvious that
  no one has a very good grasp on what`s going to happen.You Know,you
  should try reading other books on prophecy written by non-JW sources.
  You will be amazed at how heavily the WT has borrowed from other
  older Christendom writers.They borrow and then throw on a WT spin to
  make JWs the spiritual Jews and the center of the whole thing.My
  conclusion is that no one really knows what`s going to happen.

  Please stop peddling an American religion.The WT is not a world-wide
  religion.Sure they have a sprinkling of believers in various countries,but they are by no means a world-wide religion.One in five
  believers is American! The total number of JWs world-wide is less than
  that of several American Protestant denominations (i.e.Baptists,etc.)

  And please stop making the Bible a Jehovah`s Witness book.The simplicity and arrogance of that kind of thinking is down right
  embarrassing. Have you ever asked yourself why with over 2000 translations of the Bible world-wide the WT has only done a little
  more than a dozen? Have you ever wondered why all the WT translations
  are into languages which already have valid translations of the Bible?
  Have you ever wondered why Protestant missionaries will spend virtually a life time translating into languages of small tribal groups where a JW has never even set foot while no JW is even qualified to translate the Bible? If you could only read Japanese! The WT has massacred the Japanese language in their NW translation. It`s an unbelievably poorly translated! Many Japanese JWs have left the org. due to their poor, inaccurate translation.

  Enough said...I await you response as to what is so frightening about
  the WT`s view of judgement. JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  I mentioned this on another thread,but it fits in with this current
  train of thought so I`ll mention it again.

  It was a fairly common practice here in Japan for doctors to tell
  Witnesses that they wouldn`t use blood, but then, if it became necessary during surgery, to actually use blood without the patients
  consent.It was more or less the hospital`s `don`t ask,don`t tell` type
  of reasoning.You would have to understand the culture here to fully
  appreciate this, but the physician is the expert in medical matters
  and should have the final word about appropiate medical procedure.Thus
  it flies in the face of reason for a JW, who knows virtually nothing
  about medicine, to tell the doctor what he can and can`t do merely
  because of some article in a religious magazine. Anyway,the facade of
  no blood while actually using it on occasion when necessary work well
  for both parties.The doctor had a free hand and the JW`s conscience
  was at ease. Then in came BIG BROTHER. The org. decided to make a
  statement by using an older sister who had had surgery and was given
  blood without knowing it.Thus several years ago the org. took one of
  the leading hospital`s in Japan to court for violating patient rights
  (never mind the fact that they saved her life...).The org. lost in
  district court but appealed to a higher court and won round two.The
  fallout is that now hospitals merely refuse to admit JWs who have a
  blood related condition. The real losers? Naturally it`s the individ-
  ual witnesses who live or die by WT edict.More blood on the GB hands.
  I`m reminded of Christ`s statement to the Pharises when they stood
  around waiting to see whether or not he`d heal on the Sabbath.`Which
  is the right thing to do on the Sabbath,to take life or give life?`
  The Bible says he looked at them with anger.
  JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  Probably the greatest damage to the WT`s image here in Japan is their
  stand on blood.A couple of years ago a JW couple was riding in a small
  row boat when it collided with a motorized boat and capsized.The wife
  was cut badly by the propeller of the larger boat and needed a trans-
  fusion.Being a good JW she refused.At the time she was pregnant with
  their second child,so here `faithfulness` on the blood issue,cost them
  two lives.The incident was written up as a half page article in the
  local Kagoshima newspaper and smaller versions of it showed up throughout all of Japan in various newspapers.When asked for comment
  on the incident the spokesman for the WT at the headquarters in
  Kanagawa Prefecture (Ebina),said (in good theocratic fashion)that`the choice whether or not to receive blood was strickly a personal choice based on the individuals conscience!!` Sure it was...gotta build that
  firewall for future litigation. There have been several similar cases
  throughout the years.They often make the newspapers and TV.So much so
  that the average Japanese equates the WT with anti-transfusion.Unilike
  Americans who tend to respect idealism, Japanese are extremely practical by nature.For them to deny a life saving procedure for any
  reason is just plain stupid. It seems the WT is trying to water-down
  or gradually pull away from their stand on blood.Two years ago they
  started issuing NO-BLOOD I.D. cards which had a variety of boxes to
  check.It had the appearance of giving the individual some room to make choices about their use of blood.It might be a way to fuzzy the
  appearance of the org. applying the restraints.It might also be a
  further step away from total rejection of blood via creating new
  definitions of `what is blood`.

  Today an emotionally disturbed man went into a grade school in
  northern Osaka in a place named Ikeda and stabbed 30 or more people.
  Already 8 have died and more are in critical condition.The thought
  that crosses one`s mind is,`Were there any JW children involved?` and
  `If so,are parents running to Handai Hospital insisting that doctors
  don`t give their first and second grade children any blood!?`.It`s
  terrifying just thinking about the possibility! JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  The Bethel headquarters here in Japan is about an hour out of Tokyo
  in a city called Ebina.They have done a great deal of building and
  expansion there.Japanese in general pride themselves on being orderly
  and organized and the WT takes that tendancy to an extreme.They give tours of Bethel and the key word is `CLEAN`.At one point on the tour they pass by a room which has the door `accidently` left ajar and the tour guide acts like it was left open by accident and then comments on how clean it is. They pull this trick most every tour. So, if you go on the same tour twice you can see how spontaneous they are!!

  The `rules` regarding personal hygiene are more rigid among the bros.
  here than in the U.S.That`s in keeping with most of Japanese culture.
  For instance, no Japanese JW would have a moustache and clothing would
  be more `theocratic` than in the West. I have heard of people being
  repremended for having a car that was too gaudy of a color.It was said
  to draw attention to the person themselves and aid `creature worship`.
  In short,life for a JW here is life in a straightjacket.As shocking as
  it may seem young Witnesses who have gone to the States and attended
  meetings there generally come back and tell about how FREE brothers
  are in the U.S. compared to Japan. So, that kinda gives you an idea
  of how restrictive things here really are.

  With the drop in numbers,it seems the org. is vacillating between loosening up and getting stricter as a means to bolster activity.
  Older Witnesses lament how loose the org. has become and young second
  generation JWs just go through the motions and yearn for freedom.The
  most common method for young people to break free is by using marriage
  or work as an excuse to move away and then just stop going to meetings. DAing is still quite rare. JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  One other news tidbit from Japan. Last year the org. went to court to
  try to get a couple to stop distributing flyers which were critical of
  the WT.The couple`s two sons and daughter are in the org. and are in
  hiding from the parents.The couple included photos of their children
  and asked for help locating them. The WT won an injunction which said
  it violated the children`s privacy to pass out flyers with their
  photos and names.(By the way, all three are legally adults).The parents changed the content to comply with the court`s opinion and
  continued to distribute flyers. There have been many `grass roots`
  movements aimed at the WT in the last several years.Flyer distributions, opposition to new KH building projects, a nation-wide
  `Victims of the Watchtower` convention, support group for husbands of
  Jehovah`s Witnesses, new home pages in Japanese,etc.The combined impact of all these things,together with a quite a bit of bad press seems to be the reason for the major downturn in growth. JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  Sorry Pork Chop, forgot to answer the last half of your question.
  Lyod was in Japan so long ago that only the older JWs knew him
  personally.There might have been some consternation among them, but
  the majority of the Witnesses are relatively new and never knew him
  personally, so there doesn`t seem to be any significant affect on them
  due to his death.

  JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  I don`t know if `worshipped` expresses the bros. attitude towards
  Loyd Barry, but some of the real old-timers we know tell stories
  about going out in FS with him. According to them, in the `good old
  days` Loyd and all the missionaries who came after WWII were very
  commited, hard working and humble.They lived very frugally and were
  sincerely concerned about the welfare of the bros.As years went by, however, and the org. grew power struggles and greed began to become
  common place.A couple we know who were in the org. for over 40 years
  talks about how the CO`s went from hard-working servants to wealthy
  primadonnas. Over the years the change in attitude was so dramatic
  that this couple became very disillusioned and ending up leaving the
  org.It is commonly understood that various `gifts` are given to the
  CO when he visits and he in turn gives certain `privaledges` to the
  gift giver (i.e. makes him an elder, gives him a place on stage at a
  convention, turns a blind eye to his immorality,etc.) That kind of
  hypocrasy has become more and more obvious of late and has been one
  of the driving factors behind the mass exodus which is taking place.
  As to Loyd Barry in Japan, I`ll relate a famous story told to me by
  an old former-elder who used to go out in FS with him. One day they
  were in FS in western Kobe. The government had announced a plan to
  put a bridge between the island of Honshu and Shikoku accross the
  Japan Inland Sea. The bridge was to be built at a place called Akashi
  and was to take many years til completion. As they were talking about
  the bridge, Loyd said to elder `T`,Armageddon will come long before
  that bridge is ever completed. The bridge was dedicated two years ago
  and Lyod went ot his reward last year. Another one of the fruits of
  false prophecy(?).
  I`m not sure, but I believe the current head of the Japanese Bethel, a Masaharu Oda,was lead to the organization by Barry. JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  Just found out today that there is a plan to build a new KH in the
  next town over.It seems the trend is to combine congregations which
  are slipping in numbers and then give them a greater sense of perman-
  ency by building new halls (traditionally Japan has been too expensive
  to purchase land and build. The trend of late is to add real estate
  to give a sense of growth and keep funds coming in via over-priced
  building projects). In several areas,however,the WT has met with stiff
  oppostion from the locals to building new halls.Thus, in some instances they have opted to keep the nature of the building project
  hush-hush until it`s near completion. JWD
• 
  95

  Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

  is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

  of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JWD

  If the current trend downward continues thru the remainder of the
  WT reporting year (August), they will have to report another minus
  1% growth for 2001. That will be two years of negative growth here
  in Japan.
  JWD