Jehovah's Witnesses To Announce Slimmer Magazines

During this Sunday's Watchtower study, a letter will be read to all congregations.  The letter states that, starting in January, the Watchtower and Awake! magazines will go from 32 pages, down to 16 pages.

Why?

Print has become a dead media, even for the Jehovah's Witnesses.  Moving operations online dramatically cuts costs.  Think about it...

How many of those magazines were legitimately "placed" out in field service?  My family would order a dozen copies of each issue.  Back in the day, we regularly had a stack of 50-60 magazines laying around the house.  It got to the point where we would leave an old Watchtower in the door, regardless of whether anyone was home or not.

A couple of years back, the organization scaled down their printing operations to only one "public" issue of the Watchtower and Awake! each month, with a second, super secret issue of the Watchtower made available to members of the Church.

Today, they claim that they're printing 42 million copies of each issue today.  I don't buy it.  If they are, the amount of waste is staggering.  Speaking for myself, I regularly shred 8-10 magazines a month...and that's just the ones I randomly come across in doctor's offices.  (Just imagine how easy it will be to shred Watchtowers that are half as thick.)

After years of having elders warn their congregations about the "dangers" of the internet and social media, it seems that the Society has reversed their position when it comes to their interests.  In the coming months, Jehovah's Witnesses are going to be consolidating their three websites into one, and focus the majority of their proselytizing to the World Wide Web.

Now, you can read the latest issue of the Watchtower, and have your favorite kiddie porn site open in the next tab.  That's a joke, of course.  We all know that only elders and ministerial servants watch kiddie porn.

You can see an image of the letter being read Sunday, below:

February 15, 2012 'Watchtower': Domestic Violence VICTIMS Are 'Unchristian' For "Feeling Sad"

Take a moment, if you will to read paragraphs 11 and 12 of the February 15, 2012, 'Watchtower' magazine.  It's part of an article titled "Happiness is Possible in a Divided Household", found on page 29:

"11 Many modern-day examples illustrate the value of applying Peter’s counsel. Consider the case of Selma. When she began to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses, her husband, Steve, was not pleased. He admits, “I became angry, jealous, possessive, and insecure.” Selma observes: “Even before I got the truth, living with Steve was like walking on eggshells. He was hot-tempered. When I started studying the Bible, this characteristic intensified.” What helped?

12 Selma recalls a lesson she learned from the Witness who studied with her. “On one particular day,” says Selma, “I didn’t want to have a Bible study. The night before, Steve had hit me as I had tried to prove a point, and I was feeling sad and sorry for myself. After I told the sister what had happened and how I felt, she asked me to read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. As I did, I began to reason, ‘Steve never does any of these loving things for me.’ But the sister made me think differently by asking, ‘How many of those acts of love do you show toward your husband?’ My answer was, ‘None, for he is so difficult to live with.' The sister softly said, ‘Selma, who is trying to be a Christian here? You or Steve?’ Realizing that I needed to adjust my thinking, I prayed to Jehovah to help me be more loving toward Steve. Slowly, things started to change.”  After 17 years, Steve accepted the truth."

I'm sorry?  Come again??

"Who's trying to be a Christian here?"  I thought you said "Did you call the police?", as that would have been the logical response to someone telling you that her husband hit her!  That, or, "I have a gun you can borrow.  It's not registered.  I'll help you bury him in the morning".


Yes.  This is really printed in a 'Watchtower' magazine.  In a study article no less.  One that the entire congregation will read aloud and ask questions corresponding to the paragraphs.  Don't believe me.  Follow this link to the Watchtower's website, and read it for yourself.  The article appears in the study copy of the magazine, and not the public copy, since the Jehovah's Witness organization would hate it if the public knew that they were excusing domestic abuse.

The article in question.

For those that were curious, one of the questions for discussion for paragraphs 10-12 is:

"How did one Bible student learn to apply the counsel recorded at 1 Peter 3:1,2?"

1 Peter Chapter 3, verses one and two state (I'm quoting the New International Version, and not the translation Jehovah's Witnesses use):

"¹ Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, ² when they see the purity and reverence of your lives."

Early in my teenage years, I recognized that Jehovah's Witnesses have a fundamental problem in their belief system.  They honestly, truly in their hearts, believe that if you are not one of Jehovah's Witnesses, you have no moral compass.  That it is impossible to have a conscience, or know rght from wrong, without being a follower of Jehovah god.  

Perhaps that explains the paragraph a bit.  You see, Steve simply did not know any better.  Since he was not one of Jehovah's Witnesses, he didn't know that it isn't acceptable to hit your fucking wife.  For that matter, Steve doesn't know that it's wrong to cheat on his taxes, or rob a bank, or rape and murder a little girl.  In the Witnesses' minds, he wasn't born with the instinct to know what he should or shouldn't do.  Since his parents weren't Witnesses, they didn't raise him to know the difference, either.  Not only do they believe that, when we are nearing the year 2012, we need the commandment "Thou shall not kill", but we need Jehovah's Witnesses to interpret those words for us.

This was clearly Selma's fault.  As one of Jehovah's Witnesses, she knew that Steve couldn't be trusted to keep from pooping on the new carpet, let alone not beat her.  She clearly was not following the principles set forth in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

^"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

So what's the lesson to be learned?

Let's look at Selma.  She says that “Even before I got the truth, living with Steve was like walking on eggshells. He was hot-tempered. When I started studying the Bible, this characteristic intensified.”  With Selma's patience and love (and a steady supply of bags of frozen peas), Steve accepted "the truth" and became a kinder, gentler man after 17 years!!!!


That's right ladies.  According to the Watchtower, suck it up and stop your bitching.  Because "feeling sad or sorry for yourself" wouldn't be the Christian thing to do.  You made this bed, now you have to lie in it.


Think of the message this is sending to the little girls that are currently in the congregation.  That, in any circumstance, it's acceptable for your husband to hit you.  Not only is it acceptable, but, as the one that is getting hit, you have no reason to be upset.  Essentially, you have what's coming to you.


It's hard to tell, but the picture accompanying the paragraphs is pretty telling, whether it's meant to be or not.  It's the typical "gathering" type of photo that you see in a Watchtower or Awake! magazine.  The men and women are never in the same room together.  Everyone in the photo is wearing "business casual".  The women are wearing slacks and blazers.  The men are wearing khakis and polos. (When I was younger, I used to think that there was a dress code to go to someone's house.)

Something interesting caught my eye.  While all of the guys are in the other room, chatting it up, the ladies are gathered in the kitchen, making dinner.  The one "sister" in the foreground is putting something in the oven.  She literally has a look on her face of, "I better not be late with Barry's dinner, again".   She looks panicked.

It's official.  I'm at a loss for words.

2009 Awake! Says 'No One Should Force You To Choose Between Religion And Family'

In what can only be described as the ultimate in hypocritical advice, the July 2009, 'Awake!' magazine tells their potential converts that no one should bully them into their beliefs.  Take a look at this paragraph.  Image courtesy of Saved From The Watchtower:

"No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family."

Evidently, what's good for the goose is not good for the gander, in this case.  Of course, no one should force you to worship as any religion  other than Jehovah's Witnesses.  But as one of Jehovah's Witnesses it's perfectly acceptable for the organization to intimidate and threaten their followers to continue to worship as they believe.

If you are a Witness, and later decide that you no longer believe their doctrine, or that being a Jehovah's Witness just isn't for you anymore, your friends and family members have no choice but to shun you.  If they don't, they're threatened with the possibility of being kicked out of the church themselves.

Speaking for myself, I haven't seen most of my immediate family in almost six years.  My father has never seen his granddaughter.  My mother has only seen her once, when she was 8 months old.  My little girl turned three in May.  I have found out about relatives of mine that have died, only from reading obituaries online.  I probably won't even get a phone call when my parents die.

Oh, but don't make us choose between our religion and our family.  That's not fair.  What bullshit.