Islamic ISIS, the Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower, and their Governing Body – Part II

Watch Tower Society Headquarters in NYC

This is the Part II of the new series of posts titled “Islamic ISIS, the Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower, and their Governing Body”.

In this entry I will address the second section of the original article “What ISIS Really Wants” by Graeme Wood and how it relates to the faith and practices of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

Previous post can be found here:

Intro: http://testigoscristianosdejehova.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamic-isis-christian-jehovahs.html
Part I: http://testigoscristianosdejehova.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamic-isis-christian-jehovahs_22.html

II. Territory

“The caliphate, Cerantonio told me, is not just a political entity but also a vehicle for salvation.”
Comments: Witnesses are taught to believe that being associated with the Watchtower Organization is a mandatory requisite to be saved and to be able to live forever in the promised Paradise on Earth. The watchtower organization is considered as “the salvation ark”.

“to die without pledging allegiance is to die jahil (ignorant) and therefore die a “death of disbelief.” Consider how Muslims (or, for that matter, Christians) imagine God deals with the souls of people who die without learning about the one true religion. They are neither obviously saved nor definitively condemned. Similarly, Cerantonio said, the Muslim who acknowledges one omnipotent god and prays, but who dies without pledging himself to a valid caliph and incurring the obligations of that oath, has failed to live a fully Islamic life.”
Comments: Witnesses must be baptized to be saved or actually be working towards to be baptized soon to have God’s approval and to survive Armageddon. Even though Jehovah’s Witnesses does not practice the baptism of infants as the Catholic Church does, many kids as young as 9 years old are accepted to be baptized and ordained as ministers of the religion. When a person is baptized as a Jehovah’s Witnesses, he/she needs to answer a formal and official question publicly with which they pledge unconditional allegiance and loyalty to their religious Organization. This is normally done during conventions in front an audience of thousands.

“Like Cerantonio, they regarded the caliphate as the only righteous government on Earth, though none would confess having pledged allegiance. Their principal goal in meeting me was to explain what the Islamic State stands for, and how its policies reflect God’s law.”
Comments: This is very similar with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The word of the Governing Body is regarded by the Witnesses as God’s Will for them, and to challenge or question them is like challenge or question God himself. Every Witnesses must confess loyalty to the Governing Body so in that sense their commitment is stronger than ISIS’s. Jehovah’s Witnesses regard themselves as the only true Christian religion and everybody else is whether false Christian, pagan, or an unbeliever. None of those are saved unless accept and commit to the Witnesses message.

“In return, the caliph commands obedience—and those who persist in supporting non-Muslim governments, after being duly warned and educated about their sin, are considered apostates.”
Comments: The Governing Body demands and expect obedience and submissiveness from every Jehovah’s Witness from all over the world and this is clearly stated all over their publications. Whoever does not obey is considered a rebel and an apostate. It does not matter if leaders are unfair, abusive, dangerous, or malicious; l they are just “imperfect” but still obedience must be given.

Some References:

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/salvation-only-for-jehovahs-witnesses.php

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002203

Islamic ISIS, the Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower, and their Governing Body – Part I

Governing Body of the Jehovah's Witnesses

Following this new series of posts titled “Islamic ISIS, the Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower, and their Governing Body”, in this entry I will address the first section of the original article “What ISIS Really Wants” by Graeme Wood and how it relates to the faith and practices of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The other posts of the series can be found here:

Intro: http://testigoscristianosdejehova.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamic-isis-christian-jehovahs.html

Before starting, it is important for the readers that are not familiar with the Witnesses extensive terminology to clarify some of their terms. Here are some keywords to understand Jehovah’s Witnesses’ lexicon and the further understanding of my comments:

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Generic name of the religion’s conglomerate that includes the individual members worldwide and the publishing legal entities. The vast majority of the witnesses are not legally associated with any of the Watch Tower societies as official members; therefore their association is merely by ideology.

Watch Tower or Watchtower:  One of the many legal corporation or societies used by the religion to conduct their businesses. They are conformed by around 500 anonymous voting members to publish, print, and distribute their religious publications.

Governing Body: Currently 8 men from New York who direct and impose doctrine over the 9+ millions of witnesses worldwide. They are not necessarily part of the Watch Tower corporations’ voting members.

“Faithful and Discreet Slave” or “The Faithful Steward”: The doctrinal term how only the Governing body is currently described as a spiritual teacher leader.

Disfellowshipping: The act of being excommunicated from the church by an internal disciplinary Judicial Committee. The person is completely shunned by formers fellow worshippers and families.

Disassociation: The act of being excommunicated from the church by oneself based on practicing something against the doctrines or rules. The person is also completely shunned by formers fellow worshippers and families.

Armageddon: the Judgment Day in which Jehovah God will destroy all humans that are infidels to his laws as taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The exact date of the Armageddon has been prophesized several times by the leaders of the Watchtower societies and the Governing Body.

The original article is divided in 5 parts:

I. Devotion

“Zarqawi’s penchant for bloody spectacle—and, as a matter of doctrine, hatred of other Muslims, to the point of excommunicating and killing them.”
Comments: The first similarity I spotted from the article. Abu Musa’b al Zarqawi can easily represent any member of the Governing Body. They have imposed the literal interpretation of the bible to disfellowship (Jehovah’s Witnesses excommunication act) members that do not agree with them, getting them shunned by their communities and families and consider them plainly dead. They considered ex-members as dead and “food for the bird” in the near Armageddon.

““If a man says to his brother, ‘You are an infidel,’ ” the Prophet said, “then one of them is right.” If the accuser is wrong, he himself has committed apostasy by making a false accusation.”
Comments: Jehovah’s Witnesses consider accusations between brothers as not conclusive necessarily. If there is only one accuser, the matter dies there and everybody must “waits on Jehovah”; it is just one word against another and the truth may or may not come out eventually. This rule has allowed the Jehovah’s Witnesses to be a very unfair place to be and worst, a “Paradise for Pedophiles” and Child Sexual Abusers. Their golden rule is that they require two witnesses of the same accusation to put the accused under a Judicial Committee.

“The punishment for apostasy is death. And yet Zarqawi heedlessly expanded the range of behavior that could make Muslims infidels.”
Comments: This is particularly similar with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They consider apostates as the worst class of individuals only worthy of death; not by them directly, but by the wrath of God in Armageddon. They have even mentioned in their publications that they don’t kill their apostates only because it happens to be illegal*.

“The distinction between apostate and sinner may appear subtle, but it is a key point of contention between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.”
Comments: It is the same within the Watch Tower organization. A sinner is not necessarily and apostate, but an apostate is the worst of the sinners.

“Denying the holiness of the Koran or the prophecies of Muhammad is straightforward apostasy.”
Comments: This is exactly the same in the Jehovah’s Witnesses belief. When somebody gets his faith questioned by the elders -for instance, during a Judicial committee, elders go down to only one question they ask to the accused: Do you believe in the way the “Faithful and Discreet Slave” (the Governing Body alone) provides spiritual food as the Truth? Even though the Governing Body does not currently calls itself a “prophet”, it has prophesized events that never occurred many times during the church’s history. Absolute faith and trust in the current teachings and interpretations of the governing body are mandatory for the Witnesses.

“But Zarqawi and the state he spawned take the position that many other acts can remove a Muslim from Islam. These include, in certain cases, selling alcohol or drugs, wearing Western clothes or shaving one’s beard, voting in an election—even for a Muslim candidate—and being lax about calling other people apostates.”
Comments: Many of the officially written and unofficial de-facto rules on the Witnesses lives have to do with their clothing choices, grooming, job choices, political position, and food consumption. It is well known that Witnesses don’t vote in “worldly” political elections and if they are forced by law to do so, they practice the nullification of their vote. Whoever is caught somehow voting by a particular candidate or party have disassociated themselves from the faith and is treated as disfellowshipped. There are many rules regarding dress choices and what to avoid and when to use certain type of clothing. Beards are not approved and extremely reproachable in most of the countries. Not accepting blood transfusions even to the cost of their own lives is a result of their many rules taken form the literal reading of out of context Bible verses. Many kids have died so far due to this “eating rule”.

“Being a Shiite, as most Iraqi Arabs are, meets the standard as well, because the Islamic State regards Shiism as innovation, and to innovate on the Koran is to deny its initial perfection.”
Comments: Witnesses are coerced to follow the Governing Body instructions and current teaching to the letter. No exceptions. Trying to change its meaning, or even to have an own personal understanding of the Bible is not allowed and considered as potential apostasy. Been a progressive Witnesses is not allowed. Only the Governing Body will implement changes as they see fit and when they see fit.

“That means roughly 200 million Shia are marked for death. So too are the heads of state of every Muslim country, who have elevated man-made law above Sharia by running for office or enforcing laws not made by God.”
Comments: In the Jehovah’s Witnesses theology, whoever is not a Witnesses or is a former member (apostates, disfelloshipped, and disassociated ones) is mark for death in the soon coming Armageddon. It is important to understand that the Witnesses preaching work is considered by them as “Life-saving work”.

“Following takfiri doctrine, the Islamic State is committed to purifying the world by killing vast numbers of people.”
Comments: One of the most attractive aspects of the theology of the Witnesses is their coming Earth Paradise. It will be the earth restored and populated only by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Everybody else will be destroyed in Armageddon so the clean paradise can start. This should happen soon based on their own particular eschatology.

“Muslim “apostates” are the most common victims.”
Comments: There is a particular despise and fear against the apostates by the Witnesses. These apostates are the primary targets of the judgments and shunning practices. Active Witnesses are commanded to avoid them at any costs.

“Many mainstream Muslim organizations have gone so far as to say the Islamic State is, in fact, un-Islamic.”
Comments: Many, if not all the other Christian churches and denominations consider Jehovah’s witnesses as a non-Cristian cult or an anti-Christian religion. At the same time, much of the propaganda and publications published by the Watchtower organization is focused on trying to prove how Christian actually they are.

“According to Haykel, the ranks of the Islamic State are deeply infused with religious vigor. Koranic quotations are ubiquitous. “Even the foot soldiers spout this stuff constantly,” Haykel said. “They mug for their cameras and repeat their basic doctrines in formulaic fashion, and they do it all the time.”
Comments: The daily life of the Witnesses is flooded with theocratic activities that practically consume all of their time. Five meetings per week, daily Field Service Meetings, Family worship, extensive Field Ministry, Elders’ Shepherding calls, elders meetings, Pioneers meetings and arrangements, personal study, Bible students preaching, preparations for all these meetings, conventions, etc., etc., etc. The life of a Witness is extremely busy and the Governing Body makes sure it is kept that way.

“Leaders of the Islamic State have taken emulation of Muhammad as strict duty, and have revived traditions that have been dormant for hundreds of years. “What’s striking about them is not just the literalism, but also the seriousness with which they read these texts,” Haykel said. “There is an assiduous, obsessive seriousness that Muslims don’t normally have.””
Comments: The Watchtower Society and the current Governing Body have always been obsessed with their assiduous and characteristic reading and interpretation of the Bible. This is a “restoration religion”; as ISIS claims to be as well; meaning that it fervently claims to restore the early and pure Christianity to its supposedly original way.

Part II: http://testigoscristianosdejehova.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamic-isis-christian-jehovahs_72.html

Some References:

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2001051

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/jehovahs-will/dress-and-grooming/

http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/cult/dress-code-for-bethel/

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20150415/disfellowshipping-a-loving-provision/

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2009443

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

* "Question from Readers" Nov. 15, 1952. "The Watchtower" Nov. 15, 2011

Islamic ISIS, the Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower, and their Governing Body – Intro

Islamic ISIS Beheading

As far as we can perceive, the non-Islamic world -or so-called “westerns” mainly, is not understanding really well the doctrinal motives ISIS has to be… ISIS (“Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” or “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham”). Regular people just have catalogued them simply as fanatics or fundamentalists and the President Barack Obama have portrayed ISIS as not Islamic.

A recent article with the title “What ISIS Really Wants” by the contributing editor at “The Atlantic”, Graeme Wood, about the doctrinal background of the Sunni ISIS, have thrown some light about this issue and how this theology serves as THE engine for the ISIS machinery.

As my Spanish-speaking readers have well-known for several years now, I was associated with the religion of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the capacity of an elder (overseer with pastoral and administrative authority) during several years of my 20+ years of experience within the religious community as an active and in “great-standing member” in several countries.

When I knew about the ISIS article, I read it with much interest. For my surprise, but not really much unexpectedly, the amount of striking similarities between the beliefs and practices of ISIS and the Jehovah’s Witnesses was amazing.

Christian Jehovah's Witnesses Beheading: Disfellowshipping

I will try to describe these similarities by making comparisons as much as my experience within the religion allows me to do. While I have never claimed scholarly of any sort, my comments –as always, are just based on my firsthand 20+ experience with the Witnesses’ organization.

Subscribe to my blog and/or bookmark it so you can receive the next updates regarding this and other interesting posts regarding the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their “ISIS-like” religious practices.

Part I: http://testigoscristianosdejehova.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamic-isis-christian-jehovahs_22.html
Part II: http://testigoscristianosdejehova.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamic-isis-christian-jehovahs_72.html

Governing Body member Anthony Morris III of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and your "Gay" Tight Pants

Recently, Anthony Morris III, a current member of the Governing Body of the Jehovah's Witnesses, gave an interesting speech about fashion and how particularly homosexuals enjoy seeing you wearing tight pants.

What is his fixation with tight pants all about? Nobody really knows at this point, but may be it has to do with how envious he gets when other brothers' packages seem to be bigger than his when wearing them? We will see, but for now, we just know that Tony Morris III added a new rule on the shoulders of the poor and overworked witnesses around the world regarding now… their fashion taste.

Cedars, a blogger in the resistance and education about the watchtower Society doctrines and practices, was able to reach brother Morris in Bethel, and over the phone, he got a valuable glimpse on the Governing Member's eye-opening attitude toward the fashion rule he is imposing so adamantly.

Enjoy!

Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Sex Abuse - Reveal Investigative News Report

The fame of Jehovah’s Witnesses is not increasing in the media thanks to their so-called “worldwide life-saving preaching work”; bottom line, their door-to-door and street stands with "free" books are not more than annoying proselytism and religious propaganda. The fame of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is actually increasing thanks to the well documented internal policies and practices of their own ‘almighty’ Governing Body regarding Child Sex Abuse and Child Molestation.

The Watchtower Society with its Governing Body and the Jehovah’s Witnesses have tried to show a public face of condemnation of such crimes mainly using their two main publications: The Watchtower and Awake!, while abusing the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. The problem is that they have never really considered Child Abuse as an actual crime, but only as a sin that needs to be dealt with internally within the religion; away from the light and justice of competent secular authorities.

The investigative News Webpage http://www.revealnews.org/ have posted a podcast with excellent notes about the Jehovah’s Witnesses official policies regarding Child Molestation, the Candace Conti judicial case, excerpt from her trial, and assertive Watchtower publications.

PODCAST: Jehovah’s Witnesses use 1st Amendment to hide child sex abuse claims.

The complete article can be found here:
http://www.revealnews.org/article/jehovahs-witnesses-use-1st-amendment-to-hide-child-sex-abuse-claims/

Understanding the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Society's Truth. (English Articles)

Hello all!

So far this blog has been written only focusing on sharing information regarding the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Spanish territories. Starting from today, I will start to translate some of my previous entries into English for the benefit of the English-speaking readers that may be involved in researching about this religion.

As a summary of my blog, the covered topics are: the life of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their spiritual paradise inside their organization. The Watchtower Society and how the Governing Body controls the whole pyramid of believers under their surveillance. I also talk about the regular meetings in their Kingdom Halls, Assembly Halls, and Conventions.

Much of my citations is taken from their publications such as:

- The Watchtower and Awake! Magazines

- The New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses own version of the Bible)

- Insight on the Scriptures, 2 volumes (1988)

- Aid to Bible Understanding (1971)

- Reasoning from the Scriptures (1985, revised 1989)

- Comprehensive Concordance of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (1973)

- All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial (1963, revised 1983, 1990)

- Equipped for Every Good Work (1946)

- What Does the Bible Really Teach? (2005) (Available online)

- Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life (1995, revised 1997, 2000)

- You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth (1982, revised 1989)

- The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life (1968, revised 1981)

- Things in Which It Is Impossible for God to Lie (1965)

- You May Survive Armageddon into God's New World (1955)

- Let God Be True (1946, revised 1952)

- The Harp of God (1921)

- Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1920)

It is also part of my blog to talk about how the Jehovah’s witnesses are organized in their cult and their respective positions (from bottom to top): Associates, Bible Student, Unbaptized Publisher, Publisher, Auxiliary Pioneer, Regular Pioneer, Special Pioneer, Missionary, Bethelite (Bethel), Ministerial Servant, Elder, Congregation Overseer, Traveling Overseers, Circuit Overseer, District Overseer, Zone Overseer, Branch Overseer, Bethel Elder, Governing Body Helper, Governing Body.

Currently, the Governing Body of the Jehovah’s Witnesses located in Brooklyn, NY; Wallkill, NY; Warwick, NY; and Patterson, NY, is currently formed by these members:
- Samuel Herd

- Geoffrey Jackson

- Stephen Lett

- Gerrit Lösch

- Anthony Morris III

- Mark Sanderson

- David H. Splane

Former members are:

- Charles Russell (1884-1916)

- J. F. Rutherford (1916-1942)

- Thomas J. Sullivan (1932–1974)

- Grant Suiter (1938–1983)

- Nathan Homer Knorr (1940–1977)

- Frederick William Franz (1944–1992)

- Lyman Alexander Swingle (1945–2001)

- Milton George Henschel (1947–2003)

- John O. Groh (1965–1975)

- Raymond Franz (1971–1980)

- George D. Gangas (1971–1994)

- Leo K. Greenlees (1971–1984)

- William K. Jackson (1971–1981)

- William Lloyd Barry (1974–1999)

- John C. Booth (1974–1996)

- Ewart Chitty (1974–1979)

- Charles J. Fekel (1974–1977)

- Theodore Jaracz (1974–2010)

- Karl F. Klein (1974–2001)[

- Albert D. Schroeder (1974–2006)

- Daniel Sydlik (1974–2006)

- Carey W. Barber (1977–2007)

- John E. Barr (1977–2010)

- Martin Pötzinger (1977–1988)

- Guy Hollis Pierce (1999–2014)

Currently, the Watchtower organization is conducting much of their education efforts via online using its website jw.org as a vehicle to deliver their current teachings and publications.

Many scandals have been brought to light lately about these men and how they manage the rest of million of Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world. Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Pedophilia, Money practices and shady businesses, Tax evasion, Real Estate questionable businesses, dangerous bible doctrine, shunning, death of people regarding the abstinence of blood transfusions, records with the FBI, Hitler and the Nazi Germany, etc.

All these aspects about the Watchtower Organization, the Christian Congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and all its associated legal entities are covered in over 800+ posts in Spanish so far. Some of them will be translated so bookmark this blog and follow the updates.

All of you are welcome!

Thanks.

El Cuerpo Gobernante dice: Nuevos y más vendibles Salones del Reino de los Testigos de Jehová

Se ha filtrado de una reunión especial con todos los ancianos del territorio de los Estados Unidos en el pasado 31 de Enero de 2015, la información de un nuevo modelo de salones del Reino para el país. No esta claro si tendrá un alcance mundial por el momento.

Se informa también que hubo una discusión acalorada entre los peces gordos de la sucursal sobre la decisión de imponer un modelo de estilo más residencial o seguir una línea comercial. Se optó por el estilo comercial. Obviamente.

Aquí alguna de las fotos que se filtraron:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/81520004/some-screenshots-from-new-kh-meeting