Originally posted by Rajk999
Good examples of attempted mind-control and brainwashing by the Watch Tower. In particular, telling people that they cannot read and understand the Bible for themselves is contrary to the most basic of Bible instructions which is to READ THE BIBLE. Nowhere does the Bible say anything about any orgainsation interpreting the Bible for you.
[quote]"If we are ...[text shortened]... ication, the faithful and discreet slave," [Watchtower, October 1, 1994, page 8].
Rajk999,
One of googelfudge's favourite expressions is something along the lines of "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". I would like to modify this to "serious criticisms require serious analysis".
Quoting the odd sentence from a text that runs to hundreds of pages, without providing the full context, and was published, in some cases, over 50 years ago is not going to convince me that the current Watchtower organisation is engaged in brainwashing and mind-control. Indeed, nothing in these quotes taken in isolation leads to me to conclude this.
However, one of the benefits of the modern age is that you have access to contemporaeneous material from most organisations. So, my first inclination on reading your post was to look at the Watchtower website. If you haven't done so already, I would encourage you to do so.
www.watchtower.org
Did what I find there suggest to me that this was a organisation engaged in mind-control and brainwashing, and some of the other claims you have made? No, for the following reasons:
1) The website is there and open to the public.
2) It actively encouarges students to read the Bible for themselves and to think about it.
3) Its set out the arguments for the JW view clearly and then cross-references these to the Bible with links that you can follow.
4) It does not duck any of the more contraversial issues (the Trinity, blood transfusions, evolution etc).
5) In some cases, they set out the contrary perspectives (e.g. the debate on evolution). Though they disagree with the conclusions others have reached, in most cases this is handled in a moderate tone.
Of course, I don't like some of the conclusions reached, and I particularly did not like the reference to 'true Christians' not celebrating Easter (the language, not the sentiment) but that's my personal beef about religion generally, not JWs in particular. As a religious website, it was better than most, and very informative to those of us unfamiliar with what JWs stand for. However, these are by way of an aside, and do not relate to the claims made in your post.
Unless you can substantiate your claims with better evidence, I am not going to accept your perspective.