A brave Jehovah’s Witness has engaged with me in the comments of the Following the Christ post. Snowhoney expresses the usual views in the usual ways, so it’s a good example of the trained mindflow of a practicing Jehovah’s Witness. Sometimes JW comments are so emotive or hateful that I hesitate to claim that they really represent the views or practices of JWs in general, but this is good example of someone who is devout in the JW way. I…
“On Faith” (an online joint venture by the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine) published an essay called “Witness to Separation of Church and State,” by Joel P. Engardiom, on June 5, 2007. Joel was the director, writer and narrator of “Knocking,” the documentary about Jehovah’s Witnesses that ran on the PBS series Independent Lens. Yet as otherwise law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, they remind us that the America worth fighting for is an America that does not force people to follow a…
Two pleasantly plump Jehovah’s Witness women have just departed, their undelivered invitation to the upcoming District Convention in hand. They were still huffing and puffing a bit from the exertion required to climb the driveway when they rang the bell. For a moment, I was tempted to pretend not to be home. Sigh. Nah. I instructed Ben to go play elsewhere in the house so that I could talk to them. Follow the Christ. Sigh. I let them go through…
It is possible that internal discussion about Watchtower policies has begun, at least among some Jehovah’s Witnesses. Internal discussion or debate is very rare – those who attempt to initiate such are quickly disfellowshipped so that their “unsheep-like” attitude does not “infect” the congregation. The Watchtower Bible and Tract publishing empire/religious group is totalitarian – very much a “top-down” organization. They believe that their Governing Body is literally God’s earthly representative. Disagreement with the Governing Body or the Watchtower publication’s…
OH….my….GOD. Oh, sweet lord in heaven.. (string of expletives following, unsuitable for blog publication). I can’t believe it. Brenda Lee has done what I’ve fantasized about doing since I was 12. I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying not to think about it, for fear that I might actually do it. A mildly disrespectful, gum-snapping Brenda attended the Jehovah’s Witness Memorial Service (their annual memorial of the Last Supper, at which almost no-one partakes of the “emblems” of wine…
Someone has put some of the coverage of the Silent Lambs in Nashville up at YouTube. Check it out. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlRHaO0y4ro[/youtube] Over a five day period in February, 16 civil child sex abuse lawsuits against the Watchtower Society (the Jehovah’s Witness headquarters in New York City) were quietly settled in three states (CA, TX and OR). The victims involved were essentially coerced into signing ‘gag orders’ that prevent them from discussing the cases. One Jehovah’s Witness elder who was sued was…