JW's debunked. Who is this organisation really? Religion or corporation?

[29] Witnesses believe that only the anointed 144,000 (the "little flock") will actually reside in heaven, where they will exist as co-rulers with Jesus over his Millennial Kingdom. This belief is based on Luke 12:32 (the "little flock"); Rev. 7:4, 14:1,3 (the 144,000). In 1935 President Rutherford disclosed that the "great multitude" (Rev. 7:9) and the "sheep" class (Matt. 25) were in fact one class who would receive eternal life on the renovated earth. For the historical development of this idea, see Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, p. 72.

[30] The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, pp. 134-5. [31] See The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, pp. 134-5. [32] See Botting, Orwellian World, p. 26. They remark that "Most Witnesses have no knowledge of the world view of Freud; however, when it comes to concrete symbols, they are very Freudian in outlook, making a major issue of the decadent sexual symbology of Christendom."

[33] Mankind's Search for God, p. 369-70.

[34] The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, p. 138.

[35] Roman Catholicism historically has functioned as the primary Other for the Watchtower. Ironically, ex-Catholics now make up the largest proportion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, p. 254.

[36] You Can Live Forever, p. 255 [italics added].

[37] See "Jehovah's Witnesses in the U.S.A., 1942-1976" Social Compass 24 (1977), p. 54. Zygmunt argues that this trend is discernible in the group's translation of the Bible (the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, originally published in 1961), and in their opposition to blood transfusions (which the movement embraced in 1945).

[38] For example, The Watchtower magazine claims an average printing 15,570,00 (sic!) for each issue. It is translated into 111 languages, and 66 of those appear simultaneously with the English edition. "In other words, 95 percent of Jehovah's Witnesses receive the same spiritual food at the same time" [italics added]. Awake! claims an average printing of 13,110,000 issues in 66 languages; 30 appear simultaneously with the English edition. See the 1992 Yearbook of the Jehovah's Witnesses, p. 18. A major portion of a recently produced videotape focuses on the technological aspects of Brooklyn Bethel's publishing enterprise. See [WBTS], "Jehovah's Witnesses: The Organization Behind the Name" (Brooklyn, N.Y.: WBTS of Pennsylvania, 1990). [39] Beckford, Trumpet of Prophecy, p. 89.

[40] So Beckford speaks of the dangers of "ideological contamination." Beckford argues that the practice of witnessing door-to-door in pairs, and the pressing need to fulfill service- work quotas or objectives "help minimize the risks of ideological contamination from prospective converts." Trumpet of Prophecy, p. 89. Beckford does not contemplate the rhetorical potency of the theocratic language as a protective mechanism.

[41] The presence of dissent within the apparently monolithic unanimity of the Watchtower Society has been amply documented by Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pp. 117-23. Penton himself was involved in a schism that occurred in Lethbridge, Alberta. For information on his role in the controversy and his subsequent excommunication, see Apocalypse Delayed, pp. 122-3; Bart Testa, "Bearing Witness to a Mass Exodus," Maclean's (March 16, 1981), pp. 47-9; and James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance (Burlington, Ontario: Welch Pub. Co., Inc., 1986). For bibliographic data (with some narrative introduction) on dissenting groups, see Bergman, Jehovah's Witnesses and Dissenting Groups, pp. 242-352.

[42] So Harrison describes the Society as "an all- consuming religion." Visions of Glory, p. 39.

[43] Attributed to ex-Governing Body member Raymond V. Franz. See Richard N. Ostling, "Witness Under Prosecution," Time (February 22, 1982), p. 66.

[44] For Witness attitudes toward education, see Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pp. 270-74. See also Barbara Harrison's comments in Visions of Glory, pp. 92-6.

[45] [WBTS], School and Jehovah's Witnesses (Brooklyn, NY: WBTS of New York, Inc., 1983), p. 5.

[46] Knorr was also responsible for the establishment of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead (1943), a missionary training school. For the Society's own account of the school's founding and purpose, see Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, pp. 202-5.

[47] Lee R. Cooper,"'Publish' or Perish: Negro Jehovah's Witness Adaptation to the Ghetto," in Religious Movements in Contemporary America, I. I. Zaretsky and M. P. Leone, eds. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974), p. 712. [48] Raymond V. Franz relates his involvement in the Governing Body's decision to forbid all forms of non-genital copulation in marriage. See his Crisis of Conscience: The Struggle between Loyalty to God and Loyalty to One's Religion (Atlanta: Commentary Press, 1983), pp. 42-50. While the policy was reversed in 1978, for five years it was used to disfellowship sexually disobedient members. On dress and grooming, see "Why Do I Have to Be Different?," Awake! (June 8, 1992), pp. 16-8. [49] Awake!, Feb. 22, 1991, p. 4 [italics added]. [50] See The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, p. 22. Beckford's article on "Accounting for Conversion," British Journal of Sociology 29 (1978), pp. 249-62, argues that Witness conversion experiences usually relate a gradual process of transformation in which the subject gradually learns and obeys "the Truth." Sudden and emotional conversions are necessarily suspect. For Witnesses, becoming a part of Jehovah's organization is a matter in which the cognitive facilities ("the head") are initially convinced by Jehovah's pure Truth, after which the emotions or passions ("the heart") are gradually transformed.

[51] Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 199.

[52] Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 203. Restorationist themes frequently appear in Watchtower literature. See, e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses: Unitedly Doing God's Will Worldwide (1986), p. 5: " . . .how can you identify the true Christian congregation? By examining the Scriptures about the first-century Christian congregation and then by seeing who today follow the same pattern." See also pp. 7, 12-3, 26.

[53] Harrison declares that this is "a religion that fears magic, mystery, poetry--a religion that treats ecstasy as an aberration and flees from passion with a passion that is thoroughly small and dry." Visions of Glory, p. 213.

[54] Trumpet of Prophecy, p. 202.

[55] See ex-Witness Harrison's unflattering description of the "lobotomized good behavior" of Witness children. Visions of Glory, p. 90; and Botting's assertion that such scripted action "obviates the necessity of thinking." Orwellian World, p. 88.

[56] The rational self-sufficiency of the Society is a major motif in the Watchtower-produced videotape, "Jehovah's Witnesses: The Organization Behind the Name" (1990). Witnesses are thoroughly modern, though they certainly reject the label or the ideology of modernism. See Bruce B. Lawrence, Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt Against the Modern Age (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Pub., 1990), pp. 1-3. Penton, however, argues that "this vaunted efficiency . . . is more apparent than real." Apocalypse Delayed, p. 251. Quite probably most of their literature goes unread, and it is at least questionable whether their door-to-door proselyting efforts are really as effective as members (and outsiders) frequently believe. See Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, p. 231.

[57] See Reasoning from the Scriptures, pp. 9-24.

[58] E.g., at a recent service meeting, an elder announced that the New World Translation is now available in computerized form. The videotape, "Jehovah's Witnesses: The Organization Behind the Name" (1990), frequently informs the viewer that the Society was integrally involved in the development of much of the advanced electronic and computer technology utilized in their enormous publishing enterprise.

[59] See Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, p. 78.

[60] Although Raymond Franz's autobiography discloses the names of those Witness scholars actually involved in the translation process. See Crisis of Conscience, pp. 49-50. [61] Beckford, Trumpet of Prophecy, p. 81.

[62] Beckford, Trumpet of Prophecy, p. 96.

[63] See Harrison, Visions of Glory, p. 33.

[64] Harrison, Visions of Glory, p. 253.

[65] James A. Beckford, "Organization, Ideology and Recruitment: The Structure of the Watch Tower Movement," Sociological Review 23 (1975), p. 897.

[66] See Botting, Orwellian World, pp. 65-6. So Botting argues that the decision to publish all Watchtower literature anonymously was "a reflection of Knorr's insistence that all inspiration comes directly from God through the organization, led by the faceless 'Writing Committee' of the Governing Body." Orwellian World, p. 41.

[67] Apocalypse Delayed, p. 78.

[68] Penton observes that the Society takes a generally dim view of individual Witnesses who take it upon themselves to publish anything related to their religion. He argues that it is now virtually impossible to publish anything as a Jehovah's Witness scholar without risking the disciplinary wrath of the Society. See Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pp. 105-6.

[69] Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, p. 286.

[70] Harrison's claim that in fact the Witnesses "were among the last of all religious groups to be integrated in the South" is problematic, since most southern churches remain segregated. Given their resistance to any direct form of social reform, it is no surprise that the Witnesses did not participate in civil rights reform in the American South (or anywhere for that matter). See Harrison, Visions of Glory, p. 261; also pp. 159 (anti-Semitism), 254-5. Other attempts to document racism within the Watchtower movement include Werner Cohn, "They Hope for Armageddon." [Review of Marley Cole, Jehovah's Witnesses: The New World Society] The New Leader, October 17, 1955, pp. 24-6; and Herbert Hewitt Stroup, The Jehovah's Witnesses (New York: Russell & Russell, 1945), p. 29.

[71] Cooper, "'Publish' or Perish: Negro Jehovah's Witness Adaptation to the Ghetto," in Religious Movements in Contemporary America, p. 705. Cooper argues that Witnesses present credible responses and alternatives to commonplace criticisms of religion expressed by ghetto residents (including greed, hypocrisy, emotionalism, and the existence of personality cults that frequently develop around ministers).

[72] Bryan R. Wilson, "Jehovah's Witnesses in Africa," New Society (12 July 1973), p. 75.

[73] Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 305. On the other hand, leadership of the movement--especially at the highest levels--is still primarily white, male and American.

[74] You Can Live Forever, p. 160.

[75] 1992 Yearbook, p. 68.

[76] Harrison, Visions of Glory, p. 268.

[77] See the "organizational charts" of the theocratic Kingdom in Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pp. 212-3. Penton (p. 211) notices that the term "hierarchy" has pejorative overtones for Witnesses, as it is traditionally associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Penton's work displays a polemical strategy apparent in his recurrent attempts to compare the society in different ways to Roman Catholicism (see pp. 13, 35, 40, 69, 160, 162, 164, 211-124!, 220-1, 234).

[78] Watchtower iconography consistently represents that "great multitude" as an ideal multi-racial or multi-ethnic community. For examples, see Botting, Orwellian World, pp. 101- 3.

[79] Reasoning From the Scriptures, 305.

[80] Ludwig Wittgenstein, Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough, trans. A. C. Miles, ed. Rush Rhees (Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1979).

© 1993, Joel Elliott


Last updated: May 12, 2000



*****

Some further reading which some may enjoy:

Jehovah’s (Hidden) Message Revealed

by Terry Walstrom



What if I asserted the following as true?

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has no interest in an effective evangelical program of conversion.

Would that sound silly? Aren't they all about knocking doors and placing magazines for Bible study? Yes.

However: those two are not one and the same.

We live in an age of technology. As never before in the history of mankind a message can be communicated around the earth in seconds. An event, such as the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York on 9/11, could be seen AS IT HAPPENED by anybody who was near a television screen. Instant communication has been with us for decades.

So, I ask you this. If Jehovah's Witnesses believe they have the most important and urgent message in all of history; why do they deliberately choose to use the least effective means of delivering that message?

Statistically, (using the Watchtower's own figures) it takes 1,000s of hours of door to door preaching to create one convert! What is wrong with this picture?

How many preaching hours does it take to convert a person to a Jehovah's Witness?

In Japan, it takes about 18,000 hours (!) of preaching to gain one baptism, whereas in Nepal it takes only 2,000 hours.

(http://www.jwic.com/stat.htm)

(http://www.towerwatch.com/Witnesses/statistics/statistics_2004.htm)

 

WHAT IS THE ACTUAL PURPOSE

BEHIND THE JW MINISTRY?

In 1884 Charles Taze Russell applied for incorporation for his association "Zion's Watch Tower Society." He wanted to make the transition necessary after his death to be a smooth one. He stressed the limitations of the corporation in the following manner: "Zion's Watch Tower Society is not a 'religious society' in the ordinary meaning of the term; for it has no creed or confession of Faith. It is purely a business association, whose mission is to serve in a business manner the wishes of its beneficiaries, who are represented in its officers." (http://www. watchtowerinformationservice.org/reorg.html)

Judge Rutherford, the man who snatched the religious followers of Charles Taze Russell away from the International Bible Students movement, has the answer.

Rutherford piggy-backed his own schemes on top of the work of Russell by a bait-and-switch method of reassurance and pretend revelation.

First, Rutherford used his own personal association with Russell and his knowledge of legal maneuvers to wrest control of the Watchtower Society away from the men Russell had personally named to succeed him. Rutherford stabilized panic in the ranks by the outrageous claim that Russell still managed affairs from heaven!

In 1917 in The Finished Mystery (presented as posthumous by Russell), the view was expressed that Russell was still ruling the headquarters in his resurrected body. How was Russell supervising the work? C. J. Woodworth (the actual author of the book) found the answer in passages of Revelation mentioning the eight angels. Generally seven angels predominate in the book's symbolism, which seven angels Woodworth understood to be St. Paul, St. John, Arius, Peter Waldo, Wycliffe, Luther and Russell. But twice "another angel" appears, which could reasonably be Russell's successor. Both these times (Revelation 8:3; 14:18) Woodworth interprets the eighth angel to be the corporation.

"The corporate body - the WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, which Pastor Russell formed to finish his work. This verse shows that, though Pastor Russell has passed beyond the veil, he is still managing every feature of the harvest work."
(http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org/reorg.html)

Rutherford's next maneuver was swift and sure; he got rid of four corporate board members at the annual meeting on January 4, 1919 and became autocratic president. This was not a legally authorized move. It took advantage of inside information about document processing. The purpose was that of consolidating his personal power to render his "editorial advisors" ineffective. The plan worked.



The first test of total power would demonstrate two things:

1. Rutherford intended to create the idea that the corporate headquarters in Brooklyn, NY was identical with Russell's interpretation of a much-quoted scripture about the "faithful and discreet slave." (Maria Russell convinced her husband that he himself was this mouthpiece of God.)



2. Rutherford would write whatever came into his mind and use the editorial committee as a rubber stamp for his peculiar crackpot ideas to pass them off as the very word of Jehovah himself!



The showdown with the committee came in 1925. Rutherford penned an article of extreme controversy titled “The Birth of The Nation.” The editorial committee would not approve it. Rutherford moved swiftly to remove them! The absent men's names, however, still appeared in the Watchtower magazine as though they were still functioning until 1931.

Now that Rutherford controlled absolutely the "faithful and discreet slave" throne of dictatorial supremacy with the corporation he could now plot the takeover of local congregations (called ecclesias) to wield his will there as well.

On the local level all deacons and elders were elected by voting. Since Russell did not believe in religious organization as such, there existed no lists of membership at all. Slyly, Rutherford moved to change all that. From 1919 onward the local congregations were asked to register as “service organizations” with the Watchtower Society. Nothing drastic, right?

Next, Rutherford appointed a Service Director (not subject to yearly election) as an arm of the Brooklyn oversight to function at the local level. Rutherford's man-on-the-scene could usurp local control in this way by "helpfully" organizing the preaching work, assigning territory and encouraging participation in the field work in the congregation.

Thus, the actual purpose of the door-to-door work was a ruse to link up Judge Rutherford with complete autonomy over local congregations under the pretense of making the preaching work more organized.

This plan carried with it Rutherford's de-emphasis of local public discourses from scripture. These were replaced by studies of Rutherford's organ of propaganda in the form of Watchtower Studies. Instead of referencing the Bible per se, it was the fantasy mindset of one man, Judge Rutherford, who would be indoctrinating the former Bible Students with his own peculiar brand of humbuggery. The purpose of all this, as we have seen, was consolidating personal power. But, to do what?

Interestingly, the system of local elective elders was completely eradicated and replaced by something now called a “service committee.” These men took their marching orders from the throne room in Brooklyn, NY.

The book CONSOLATION (penned by Rutherford) says this: (Consolation 1940 p.25)

"The Theocracy is at present administered by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, of which Judge Rutherford is the president and general manager."

History shows that Rutherford embarked upon a plan which included:

1. Replacing the theology of C.T. Russell (mainly concerned with Adventist demonstrations) with his own.

2. Turning the Watchtower into a personal blog filled with crackpot ideas, schemes, poison-pen fulminations, rants and speculations dressed up as prophecy.

3. Creating a method of churning publicity out of throwing people of conscience willy-nilly into dangerous situations. (Avoiding military service, refusing blood transfusions, ridiculing other religions, railing against political parties, refusals to salute the flag, decrying the cross, etc.)

4. Renaming his Frankenstein monster of a religion to “Jehovah's Witnesses,” revealing his penchant for awkward phraseology.

Rutherford used religion as a bludgeon. Rutherford used people within this religion as weapons and victims to demonstrate the extreme reach of his ID.

How many honest and innocent believers were injured, killed, imprisoned, mocked, persecuted or otherwise maltreated because of Rutherford's mania for spectacle? It is difficult to know. The aim of the Watchtower Society was the purpose of Rutherford: become a famous religion with him at the helm.

Today it is easy for any Hollywood celebrity to capture headlines by engaging in some outrageous act of indecency or personal tragedy. But, in Rutherford's day, he discovered this process and used it for his own personal celebrity by capturing the attention of astonished churchgoers around the globe. He insulted ordinary believers, ridiculed them and flung pretzel-logic scriptures in their faces. He held up his own army of faithful slaves, Jehovah's (i.e. Rutherford's) Witnesses as willing to march into the jaws of hell if he told them to. It was the ultimate high for a megalomaniac drunk on power (and often alcohol)!

With Rutherford's death a change occurred. Nathan Knorr took over the helm of this Society; this Organization called The Watchtower.

A new invention took place not long after this time. A new terminology was introduced as if by magic: THE GOVERNING BODY.

Seven men became a Board of Directors of a Corporation disguised as a religion. This corporation/religion visibly existed for the purpose of making an urgent message available as effectively as possible: Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom as having arrived in 1914 and warning of the impending event Armageddon.

However..........

This corporation was made legal in its already existing powers for another purpose entirely. Corporations acquire legitimacy by earning a profit. In the case of a religious corporation the "profit" must not appear as mere monetary gain. There has to be a public service aspect to generating millions of dollars that will escape taxation! Ordinary corporations must demonstrate to the Board of Directors that cash flow is equitable to investors and a justifiable return on investment has been made. The Watchtower Corporation had to generate a kind of marvelous "machine" you could pour money into and make it disappear in the form of the preaching work.

CONSTANT EXPANSION was the key! This was a kind of maniacal pyramid scheme to grow and grow ahead of the curve of waves of $$$.

Watchtower rank-and-file members would be used as volunteer labor staying very busy appearing to be doing something important.

What they were really doing was generating publicity which served to hide the actual purpose of the Watchtower corporation.

What was the purpose? POWER INVESTMENT!

REAL ESTATE!

The Watchtower was a corporate Donald Trump. It could grow dollars and not have to pay taxes on them. It could point to a worldwide work as evidence of money well spent (which wasn't really "spent" at all.) It could account for the cash flow by pointing to new projects in development and new acquisitions ostensibly for more and more publishing effort.

But, in reality, the goose just kept laying golden eggs in the nest of Governing Body members.

To the rank and file there was no Bill of Rights. They could be worked to death grinding out book and magazine sales. In fact, they had no choice but to comply since their very identity as Jehovah's Witnesses depended on demonstrations of door to door sales and hours devoted.

But, why should they?

Their was a gun placed to the head of every Jehovah's Witness in the form of Armageddon. This threat could only seem real enough if Armageddon was made a fresh threat and not a vague one in the distant future.

Any Jehovah's Witness who didn't fear being slaughtered at Armageddon just wasn't paying attention. Failure to comply with the busy-busy work commanded from Brooklyn headquarters would lead to disfellowshipping. Disfellowshipping would lead to having a big target placed on the ex-JWs back at Armageddon.

It was the perfect "Protection Racket" organized crime had used to intimidate shopkeepers in the Al Capone era.

Further, every once and awhile a GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE would have to be run. This would be in the form of date-setting.

Date-setting (determining when Armageddon was to arrive) was an Investment.

The publicity was golden. The threat level was heightened. The cash flow was extraordinary. The need for more investment property increased. The grip of absolute power was made real.

The downside was practically nil!!

Whatever number of members who balked and left in disgust; the upside was greater! How so?

1.Only the "weaker" members would leave and that is no loss at all.

2.The disfellowshipping would serve as a warning to other members and make threats appear very real.

3.An outside body of “apostates” could be created as a target for vilification that served to drain off anger as a target away from the Governing Body itself. This apostate group would feel the brunt of frustrations and not the actual perpetrator's of date-setting fraud.

4.A mindset of cognitive dissonance would be reinforced because anybody who stayed would have to justify being made a fool of for believing in the Faithful and Discreet Slave nonsense in the first place.

5.Any slowdown in the worldwide conversions would be a bonus since it would "signal the end" of the preaching work was drawing near and that would mean Armageddon really was imminent!

Even outright fraud in the preaching purpose redounded as a benefit!

But, there was a fly in the ointment.

THE MESSAGE could not be made available all at once to everybody or the work would implode!



The only way for Jehovah's Protection Racket to stay healthy would be this:

1. The public at large must have only a vague idea of who Jehovah's Witnesses really are (or the public eye would see through the corporate treadmill and start asking where the money went.)

2. The rank and file must always bear the burden of selling the books and magazines to keep them busy.

3. The use of martyrs has a limited purpose. If the relatives of martyrs start suing in court: the game is up!

The legal situation got out of hand suddenly when people started questioning the backpeddling on delicate issues such as child molestation policy and medical emergency policy.

A buffer of protection was needed to separate the Governing Body from legal responsibility for their hurtful policy-making edicts.

Thus, the re-organization came and went without much publicity reaching the lower ranks and all was well.

Which brings us back to the question: Why no TV ministry?

As we have seen the purpose of the Governing Body is to generate investment capital through real estate ventures. A TV ministry would dry up that money machine quickly by generating a high-profile examination on the part of the newly well-informed public. An actual full-frontal presentation of the weirdness behind JW thinking would kill the vague persona of citizen do-gooders who clean up after themselves at conventions. The scrutiny would become intensely focused on Brooklyn, NY and the actual men who are power brokers on the throne of power.

Publicity has served the corporate purpose when they can frame that publicity as Kingdom Work. Publicity of a different nature could destroy them!

The lawsuits and exposure by internet sites dredging up failed prophecy and policy waffling are a sore point. Governing Body power can only deal with rank and file unrest by clamping down with threats and a tightening grip. It cannot control non-members curiosity. It cannot ignore penetrating questions of authority by threats if the press starts bombarding them with high-profile questions hanging in the air unanswered.

That is why there is no TV ministry for Jehovah's Witnesses. It is a kind of self-fashioned paradox that the Watchtower claims to be heralding an important and urgent message and yet demonstrates an absolute horror of making that message public effectively by using the best technology available.

Follow the money and it leads to a cover up; not a revelation of Christ's presence.

A new generation of leader will emerge soon at the top of the corporate ladder in Brooklyn. A younger and more legally-protected leadership will shift this money machine into high gear once again by protecting its assets and eliminating its liabilities. What changes will this bring to the local congregations?

Not the one they are praying for! The key purpose of new leadership will be to make individual responsibility invisible.

THERE WILL BE A GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ at the helm with fire and smoke and mirrors.

But, for the local Kingdom Halls it will be grunt work as usual. ~

http://www.freeminds.org/psych/hiddenmessage.htm

*****

Con'td ...

 

If you are interested in any of the following subjects, simply scroll down to the link provided at the bottom of this page, click that to go to the live links section, where you can view full explanations behind every topic.

This covers a small portion of the available information.

*****



Psychological and Recovery Issues
related to Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups




Joel Kramer: When a person or ideology or group is what we call "feedback proof," meaning that no one or nothing external to the authority in the group can change things then it is authoritarian. We also define authoritarian as any person or ideology that assumes they know what's best for others. Under these definitions, many of the social structures of the world are authoritarian. The very nature of being unchallengeable and of wanting an authority to tell you what is right for you, or what to do, is a deep part of how the world works.

In a static world, where change is either slow or not valued at all, as it has been throughout much of human history, authoritarianism although it has caused human suffering has also been the fast way to get things done. However, we now live in a world of accelerated change. It is our thesis that in order to properly problem solve in a time of accelerated change it is essential to be sensistive and take into account the nature of the changes that are taking place around you. Authoritarianism by its nature and structure is a filtering device that keeps new information out because it is predicated on maintaining the power that has come through tradition. It is our point that as a species we no longer have the luxury to do that. So I would say authoritarianism itself as a mode of information transference is essentially unhealthy for these times.

People tend to think of cults as an information problem, a doctrinal problem. They are missing the point: cults are a family problem, since a cult is an artificial family that seeks to supercede your own and ultimately destroy it.

R. Watters, Feb 1998






1984 and Big Mother (Orwell revisited)
A Psychoanalytic Look at Recovered Memories, Therapists, Cult
Absolute Certainty and the True Believer
Leaders and Undue Influence
Active Force Behind the Watchtower; Holy Spirit or Deceptive Spirits?
Apocalypse, Lure of the
Are Jehovah's Witnesses good parents?
Are you happy now since leaving the WT?
Armageddon Syndrome
Bad Behavior Among Jehovah's Witnesses
Baloney detection kit "Occam's razor"
Bergman, Dr. Jerry: A Response to "Witness United" critique
Bergman, Response to "Witness United" critique part 2
Borderline Personality Disorder among Jehovah's Witnesses
Children: The Introduction Of Phobias (Deep Rooted Fears) And Other Development Traits In The Jehovah Witness Child
Choosing A Therapist (Guide for ex-JWs)
Classic Rutherford propaganda from 1943
College Education Ban Now "Old Light"
Coming Out of the Watchtower: Why Is It So Difficult?
Comparing the "One True" Churches
Confronting Witness Relatives
Critical Reading and Thinking Skills
Cult leaders as psychopaths: Rutherford highlighted
Cult of Parenthood: A Qualitative Study of Parental Alienation
Cults: Do They Follow the Same Patterns?
Cults, Former Bethel Service Dept. John Bechtel on
Dating/ Witnessing to a Lapsed JW NEW
Dating and Singles sites for JWs
Deprogramming and Exit-Counseling
Disfellowshipping and Simon Says: Shun Your Family
Distinguishing Information from Misinformation
Divorce My Jehovah's Witness Mate?
Eight Marks of A Mind Control Cult
Families Broken Apart by Jehovah's Witnesses: Can They Be Restored?
Family Connection: When A Cult May Not Be Your Worst Enemy (family involvement)
Father Images in Cults
From Deprogramming to Strategic Interaction (S. Hassan)
Governing Body as evil rulers causing death
Growing Up Within the Watchtower: How Parents Are Taught to Influence Their Children
Hitchhiker's Guide to Jehovah's Witness Types
How I helped my family leave Jehovah's Witnesses
How Do You Feel After Leaving the Watchtower? (survey)
How to be Successful in Christian Ministry to JWs
How to React if your Child is Studying with the Witnesses
How the Governing Body Feeds Their Sheep (study in manipulation)
How Thought Reform Works (Dr. Margaret Singer)
How to Start an Ex-JW Support Group
How To Tell Your Children You Have Been In A Cult
Indoctrination: A Psychological and Sociological Examination
Influence: Ethics of Influence; Education versus Cult
Invincible Delusion by Gary Busselman
Jehovah's (Hidden) Message Revealed (no TV ministry?)
Joining the Club (how cults are like clubs)
JWS: A Threat to the Social Family Fabric
JWs and the Theocratic Subversion of Ethnicity
Language and Identity at the Kingdom Hall
LIES My Mother Told Me
LIFE After Leaving the Watchtower
Losing Fear and Guilt with HUMOR
Love of Structure or Love of God
Mind Control or Brainwashing? and Fear of Apostasy
Mind Control: A Response to Critics
Mind Control Used by the Watchtower
Miseducation of Jehovah's Witnesses
A Mom's Disassociation Letter after 40 years in the Watchtower
Myths and Facts About Cult Involvement
Opening the Closed Mind: How to Talk to JWs
Opening the Closed Mind: PDF version to print
Punishment Vibe: Use of psychological punishment in controlling cult members
Questions to Ask BEFORE You Join a Group
Quotes From the Watchtower On Psychiatry
Rage: The BOMB
RAPE: Watchtower Society's response to members being raped
Reflections on Marriage and Children after the Cult by Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W.
Report on Growing Up in Isolated Faith Communities
Science and Religion: A Painful Reality
Shunning: A Part of the Faith of Jehovah's Witnesses
Shunning: A One-Legged Stool
Study of Persuasion Techniques Used By The Watchtower (N. Beel)
Subliminal art in the Watchtower publications
Suicides in Nova Scotia
Support Groups, Starting and Maintaining (Christian Perspective)
Support Groups, How To Start - Therapist's Perspective)
Support Groups, Tips for
Survey taken in 1991 among former Jehovah's Witnesses
Theocratic War Strategy: Why Jehovah's Witnesses Lie In Court
Theocratic Warfare Doctrine by Dr. Jerry Bergman
Therapists who work with Witnesses and ex-Witnesses
They Stole My Daughter Away!
Understanding Watchtower Phobias: How and Why the Watchtower Uses Fear to Control Its Members
UNITY: Why Only the Cults Seem to Achieve It
Visual Rhetoric of Jehovah's Witness Iconography
Watchtower Teaches Youngsters To Give False Testimony in Court
What To Say When Cults Boast of their Unity
When Prophecies Fail (study of cognitive dissonance)
Why did you leave the Watchtower? (survey)
Why Some Can't Leave the Watchtower and Why Disfellowshiped Persons Often Defend the Watchtower
Women Who Are Leaving Jehovah's Witnesses
Women Who Must Recover Years Lost in the Watchtower



Free Minds, Inc. Home Page: http://www.freeminds.org/psych/psych.htm

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If anyone requires further understanding on these issues, by all means ask and I'll do my best to put things into a nutshell.

 

This is rather typical of what ex members have to put up with, this kind of attitude:

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Cold hearted? Hardly! He is not just an outcast matey! He is slandering the entire organization because he bucked the system and the system did not approve of that. Now he's disgruntled and goes out of his way to bring down the entire organization. Now who's being cold hearted? He lost his family through HIS actions and no one elses. He knows exactly what to do to fix that and if he swallowed his pride then he can do that. Nothing is preventing him from fixing his own problems. He knows the rules and so does his family.

Don't get yourself involved in things you don't know about. You will end up with egg on your face. If you want to know what it's all about. Go visit the Kingdom Hall nearest to you and study the Bible with us. Then you can make any statement you want based on personal knowledge.

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Oh if only the last sentence were true!

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Why would I want to belong to an organisation that I was born into third generation, if I disagreed with it's principles?

What if I had my own crisis of conscience and could not handle any longer the falsehoods that I saw being taught from such organisation?

Would it be truth, to be a hypocrite unto oneself, to lie to myself to stay within it? What purpose would this serve?

Got to say, I love your 'red herring' way of argumentation. Anyone that disagrees with you, you label as angry, as an individual prone to 'outbursts' - please provide proof exactly of where I have done this. You are making a grave erroneous error of judgement if you think that after 13 years passing I still feel anger towards the organisation, quite obviously you have not read everything I have written upon said subject.

You Sir, are like an animal that when it get cornered, lashes out with any words imaginable, hoping by gum, that some of them will stick, whilst the foundation of such words have not a grain of truth within them.

Please, learn to augment your points of view with a little more integrity and sincerity for the real subjects at hand here.

Now, perhaps it may have escaped your notice, that one of the things that always puzzled me about the Witnesses, even as a kid, was the point about voting.

As near everyone else knows, in any democratic structure of government, it is everyones right, to be able to vote, is this not so?

Would you kindly explain to the audience here why this is not allowed within the Jehovah's Witnesses and the reasons behind this?

Would you also care to explain why if an individual witness in the congregation was to take part in a vote or an election of government, that said individual witness, upon being found out in the congregation of partaking in such, would straightaway be called up for a Judicial Committee presided over by 3-4 Elders, who would then judge said action as being sinful or not, as the case may be? Perhaps you could explain this in a nutshell, so everyone comes to a full understanding of the processes involved behind this highly questionable point of law?

For correct me if I am wrong, but it is Everyones Right under Law to be allowed to vote, yet as you and I both know, a witness doing this, is meted out with the same punishment i.e. total disfellowshipping, total excommunication from the organisation. This would then mean that all family members would then totally disassociate themselves from any fellowship at all with this witness that had partaken in the voting process. They would essentially be cast out as evildoers, worshipper's of satan and his corrupt system, on a level with fornicators, adulterers and idolaters. People to be avoided at all costs. Simply because they exercised their RIGHT to Vote democratically.

How is it fair to mete out such a punishment structure, which causes the most immense emotional turmoil in family lives for something which is our constitutional right (to vote), a simple thing, that most other people, take for absolute granted, how can this be construed as fair and the right thing to do?

Could it not be considered unlawful to disallow members of the population to vote as is their right, without fear of being punished in the extreme like this?

Do you believe this is lawful on the part of the organisation to allow this practice to continue? (Members must NOT vote in elections for government).

I personally think this is an absolute disgrace.

I await your thoughts upon this very serious matter with mild interest.

Yours truly.

Mark Magawr

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Your questions have been asked many times before and your type will refuse to entertain the organizations answers to those questions. On that matter, if you were genuinely involved (as you say you were), then you already know the answer to each question. Which leaves us with two options. Either you are lying about your 28 years in the organization, or, you just don't like the answers. However it may be, I consider your accusations as untrue and inaccurate. Copying someone else's web site content and posting it all here in DP Forums does you no service at all. Many have done it before and dare say many will continue to do this form time to time.

It's nothing but complete twisting of words and conspiracies. The problem boils down to one very small thing. You are unable to accept you did something wrong, you knew the rules and you did it anyway. Anyone with 28 years in this organization knows what and what not to do according to the Bible. You can jump up and down all you like and pick out individuals in the organization, point the big finger and shout "BUT LOOK WHAT HE'S DOING". This might make you feel a bit happier but it does not take the original problem away. That problem is you. Only you know how to rectify that problem and by the sounds of it, you refuse to do so. We all make our nests to lie in it, Mark. You made yours. I need say no more.

Those within Jehovah's Organization if they are doing wrong will be weeded out at the right time. You know well the Bible says "vengeance is mine, I will repay". Remember the "wheat and the weeds" illustration that Jesus used? If you were in the organization for 28 years you know EXACTLY what that means and who it refers to. Your problem is you want something done about it now. In other words, you want to do things your way and not God's way.

You see. This whole problem revolves around YOU. No one else. Just you.

I am not going to speak on this any further with you. You have stated your case in the other thread (reams of it). I have stated my views on this according to your request (although, I refuse to enter into doctrinal arguments) and no more will be said from this end.

Good day and I hope you will one day see some sense about this matter.



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My reply:

Hmmmmm - what has any of that got to do with the position on voting and the legality of not allowing JW members to vote?

Unless I missed it (somehow), your reply makes not one mention of the subject, having said that, the absence of such does speak volumes, so I guess for that, I ought to thank you.

You did a great job avoiding all mention of it, what does that say?

I guess too Raymond Franz was completely cuckoo according to you eh?

Have a beautiful day.

Mark Magawr

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=534312&page=59
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=534312&page=60

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This is very typical of the JW mindset, a perfect example of - Don't you dare question us, God's Chosen Organisation.

He says, that this statement of mine is "full of inaccuracy."

Is he therefore saying that JW's ARE now allowed to vote? Further, that if members do vote in a democratic election that they will Not be disfellowshipped and totally excommicated?

Is this a change of policy, New Light, Jehovah changing his mind or did the GB (Governing Body) have a crackly telephone line to heaven when first jehovah spoke to them? Did they get the message which was received wrong the first time around?

I'll ask again, even though it's obvious he wishes not to be drawn on this issue:

Can a JW be punished by disfellowshipping for exercising his or her right to vote in a democratic election?

A simple yes or no will suffice.

Many thanks.

Mark Magawr

 

dude, thats like a quadrupal post, how about posting links to this info rather than filling the thread with a bunch of stuff half the people don't want to read