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Posted by Manazir al-Tabi'iyah (الْمَناظر الـطـبـيـعـيـة)
~ Natural Landscapes
Originally composed by Norgel Richardson
Just like many former Jehovah's Witnesses, I continued
keeping tract of the Watchtower doctrine and history even after my exodus from
the organization in 2000. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is one of the
largest publishing companies in the world. When I was associating with the
Watchtower Society during the 1990's, the organization published more
literature in six months than all of Christendom did in an entire year. The
Watchtower's doctrines have been changed so many times since I left the
organization in 2000. Over the years, I learned at least four new facts about
the Watchtower that proves its hypocrisy. The first hypocritical act I
discovered is that the Watchtower had a secret membership with the United
Nations for almost ten years, from 1992 to 2001, and during that time, the
Watchtower was still publishing articles condemning the United Nations as the
satanic scarlet colored beast of Revelation 17 and 18. The organization
withdrew from the United Nations when a British media source reported it, but
to this very day the Watchtower Society is still a member of a branch of the
United Nations known as the OSCE. A second hypocritical act I discovered is
that the Watchtower Society has been investing stocks in the Rand Cam Engine
Corporation, which manufactures engines and engine parts for military vehicles.
The Watchtower owns 50% stock in this company despite its publicly condemning
war, and forbidding military service. A third hypocritical act I discovered is
that the Watchtower Society has also invested in hedge funds and derivatives
with some of the most untrustworthy people on earth. A fourth hypocritical act
I discovered is blood transfusions being freely permitted among Jehovah's
Witnesses in Bulgaria, but a Jehovah's Witness would be disfellowshipped in any
other country for accepting a blood transfusion. The organization's
disfellowshipping policies have become stricter in recent years, and Jehovah's
Witnesses who apostatize are now described as "mentally diseased" by
the organization. This is idea of apostates being "mentally diseased"
is very insulting to me, given my lifelong battle with autism. It gets me to
wonder how the Watchtower would treat someone having a genuine mental disease,
such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, or mental retardation. It
seems ironic to me that mental illness rates and suicide rates are higher among
Jehovah's Witnesses than among people of other religions or society's general
population. The doctrine of the generations mentioned at Matthew 24:34 has been
changed twice since I left in 2000. The most recent change the to doctrine was
made in 2010 to mean "overlapping generations"; that is, the 1914
generation overlapping with the current generation. The Watchtower Society,
since 2012, has been putting forth greater effort to deify itself as the
"Spiritual Mother" of God's people, although the organization had
already declared itself as "Spiritual Mother" in 1957. The doctrine
of the Faithful and Discreet Slave (Matthew 24:45-47) was changed in 2012 to
include only the members of the Governing Body; the anointed class of 144,000
are no longer considered the part of the Faithful and Discreet Slave. The
Watchtower also changed its appointment doctrine in 2013 to say that Jesus'
appointing the Faithful and Discreet Slave did not occur in 1919 but will take
place during the future Great Tribulation. In my opinion, that is the
Watchtower Society admitting that Jehovah's Witnesses were NOT chosen by Jesus
Christ to be the only true religion on earth. I do not know what the Watchtower
Society's future will be like. There are currently 7.5 million Jehovah's
Witnesses worldwide with 1.2 million in the United States. Roughly 37% of
Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States are African-American (black). There
are far more ex-Jehovah's Witnesses than current Jehovah's Witnesses. Some left
the religion because they felt dissatisfied, while others were disfellowshipped
because they failed to fully conform to all doctrines and practices.
Approximately 1% (about 70,000) Jehovah's Witnesses are disfellowshipped each
year, and 70% of those who are disfellowshipped are never reinstated. The
Jehovah's Witness religion has the lowest retention rate of any religion in the
world, standing at 37%. This means that only 37% of people raised as Jehovah's
Witnesses from childhood remain Jehovah's Witnesses for the rest of their lives
as adults. The organization's growth has leveled off in the United States,
Europe, and other developing countries where Internet access is prevalent, but
numbers are still increasing considerably in developing Third World countries
where there is no Internet access. Also, the Watchtower Society gets very
little in monetary contributions from the Third World countries where its
growth is significant. The Watchtower Society appears to be in financial strain
at the moment, primarily because of paying off lawsuits filed against the
organization because of pedophilia, and because of a net decrease in the annual
contributions received. Most, if not all of the property in Brooklyn, New York
has been sold in order to replenish the money supply, and to relocate to newly
constructed facilities in Patterson, New York. The Watchtower and Awake!
magazines have been reduced from 32 pages to 16 pages in recent years, plus the
Watchtower magazine has been divided into public editions for the public and
study editions for Jehovah's Witnesses only. The Internet has exacted a heavy
toll on the Watchtower Society for two reasons. One reason is because the
Internet has been widely used to expose the Watchtower's doctrines, history,
and scandals. Another reason is because the printing industry is downsizing in
the 21st Century because of the Internet; a growing number of publishers and
media outlets are abandoning paper printing and are switching over to online
services only. The Watchtower Society is currently rebranding itself to
maintain its appeal to the public. Over the next five to fifteen years, the
name "Watchtower" will be phased out and renamed (for example:
Lucifer Publishing was renamed Lucis Trust), and the name "Jehovah's Witnesses"
may also be phased out and replaced with another name. Several groups within
the Watchtower, especially in developed
countries, may dissent and breakaway from the main organization to form
their own religious groups. I don't know if the Watchtower Society will ever embrace
the Trinity, the bodily resurrection of Christ, salvation by grace through
faith, and other doctrines of orthodox Christianity. I would love it if that
ever happened, because more people would become saved if that ever happens, but
I personally don't think the organization will ever embrace orthodox
Christianity. I think the organization will more than likely become a Unitarian
Universalist group. It will more than likely shrink in its membership over the
many decades until it gradually fizzles out and disappears from history.
Originally composed by Norgel Richardson
Posted by Manazir al-Tabi'iyah (الْمَناظر الـطـبـيـعـيـة)
~ Natural Landscapes
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