Category Archives: XJW News and Links

On the front page of Jehovah’s Witness News, I found this:

…NOTE TO OPPOSERS:
Jehovah’s Witnesses represent individuals
from all walks of life around the world who
have voluntarily left the churches of Christendom,
Judaism, Islam, and virtually all other religions,
despite the sometimes intense criticism from friends
and family or even physical persecution
(often the influence of religious leaders)
because we are lovers of truth.

Jesus Christ prophesied about and commanded
his congregation (church) to preach the
“good news of the Kingdom in all the inhabited
earth for a witness to all the nations” (Matt. 24:14, 28:19)

Jehovah’s Witnesses are an army of over 7,000,000
tried and tested pillars of spiritual fortitude,
spending over 1,000,000,000 (billion) hours
per year canvasing with a unified message
regarding The Good News Of The Kingdom
as Christ commanded his TRUE followers to do.

I especially love the “because we’re lovers of truth” line. Very humble and unassuming, no? Capitalizing the word “true” in the line “TRUE followers” was also a nice touch. So, what do you think?

VIDEO: Circuit Overseer RONALD AZAR Interviewed By CBS « Jehovah’s Witness News

On a related note, they also had this article.

Michael Jackson’s birthday burial in Watchtower’s long shadow

For those who are really into the Michael Jackson story, this article is especially cool because it has a lot of references to the Society’s literature, but it isn’t a site run by the Society or Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Is this the new Rose West? It’s beyond belief Nancy Garrido didn’t know what was going on

The manipulative, shrewd Garrido would then have brought both women steadily under his spell – his mother would have become ever more dependent as she descended into dementia.

And it could well be that Nancy’s religious upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness provided her new husband with another means of manipulating her – telling her, as he was to tell the world, that God spoke directly to him.

Religion would be a powerful tool in the hands of a man who wanted nothing more than to manipulate – and ultimately humiliate – any woman with whom he had a relationship.

Breaking News—Southern California Elder Faces Life In Murder Charge « Jehovah’s Witness News

An elder at a local Jehovah Witness congregation told police he was alarmed when he pulled into the garage of his Murrieta home and spotted two doors ajar.

…

His voice cracked a few times and he dabbed his eyes with the tissue Gomez hands him.

Kelle Jarka stood to gain $1 million from the three life insurance policies taken out on his wife in the weeks before she was savagely beaten to death inside her bedroom, according to police testimony earlier in the trial.

Death sparks debate on Jehovah’s Witness transfusion ban

Peculiar People: Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses

This is Mormon web site. Turns out they like to crack jokes about Jehovah’s Witnesses as much as Witnesses do about them. The author has drawn up a list of similarities between the two groups.

RAF veteran shot dead lover’s Jehovah’s Witness father in revenge for banning ‘forbidden affair’

An RAF veteran shot dead his girlfriend’s Jehovah’s Witness father in revenge for ending the couple’s ‘ forbidden’ love affair.

Let me say it now before someone cries foul: no, most Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t shoot people as a general rule. Still, it is an awesome photo of the guy.

Jehovah’s Witnesses overpower armed German pensioner

Police have begun an investigation into the incident, but no motivation for the man’s actions have yet emerged. Berlin — An 82-year-old masked man wielding a machine gun, a knife and a samurai sword was overpowered as he marched towards a meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses, German police said on Friday.

OK, they may not shoot people as a rule, but they do believe in being prepared!

AT&T PAYS $1.3 MILLION TO SATISFY JUDGMENT IN RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT

JONESBORO, Ark. – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that a Satisfaction of Judgment was entered in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jonesboro Division, in a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the federal agency against communications giant AT&T, Inc. on behalf of two male customer service technicians who were suspended and fired for attending a Jehovah’s Witnesses Convention. AT&T paid a total of $1,307,597 pursuant to the judgments entered in the case.

Another Apostate Blog

Jehovah’s Witnesses are trained to fear apostates. They are instructed to throw away any literature that is critical of their religion and to shun dissidents…There is a great irony in this. The ranks of Jehovah’s Witnesses are overflowing with apostates. An apostate is simply someone who disagrees with or leaves a certain religious tradition. Apostasy is actively encouraged by their literature and door to door ministry. They want everyone who isn’t a Jehovah’s Witness to leave their religion and become an apostate! They promote challenging religious authority, as long as you don’t challenge their authority.

Amen! I missed this article when it was posted back in May, but the author’s point was too good to pass up.

Poll: Mormons Most Likely to Be Offended by Hollywood

The survey showed more than two-thirds of Mormons (68 percent) rebuffed the entertainment industry, followed by 54 percent of Jehovah’s Witnesses and 53 percent of evangelicals. Less than half (42 percent) of the general population said Hollywood threatens their values.

Only 54 percent of Jehovah’s Witnesses? Hmmm…

The Christian Proselytizer Questionnaire from Unreasonable Faith

This one’s a lot less “on the nose” than the other links. It includes questions that could be applied to Jehovah’s Witnesses at your door, and many others that could be applied to any uber-religious zealots you meet. I’m tempted to create something like this for our crowd. While many ex-Witnesses who write lists like these focus on scripture swapping as their choice in warfare, I prefer simple reasoning skills, so my version would be a little different.

Does Prince’s Religion Forbid Necessary Hip Replacement?

But the real buzz on Prince is that his much reported hip problems of the past have now turned into need for a double hip replacement. Unfortunately, thanks to his practice as a Jehovah’s Witness, Prince still refuses surgery. JW’s don’t believe in blood transfusions. “He’s in a lot of pain,” said a source who was backstage with him last night at the Apollo. “He’s popping pain killers and hoping it will all go away.” But it won’t. Back in 2005 reports surfaced that Prince needed one hip replaced. He declined. Then again in 2007 and 2008 came more reports that he’d finally agreed to “secret surgery.”

There’s another, related article called Jehovah’s Witness Prince needs hip replacements but won’t get one if you’re interested.

Jehovah’s witnesses face increased risk of death during childbirth

New research to be published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has found that women who are Jehovah’s witnesses face a significantly increased risk of death during childbirth. The study found that women in this group are six times more likely to die, and three times more likely to have morbidity (serious complications), than average (compared to the general Dutch population). This increase includes a 130 fold increased risk of death from major obstetric haemorrhage.

Interesting. My wife has two brothers, and one is blind and retarded due to complications at birth. They’ve always suspected the hospital covered something up. I can’t help but wonder if there was any connection to the problems mentioned in this article.

Teen cannot refuse blood transfusion, top court rules

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a Manitoba law that denied an ill teenager the right to refuse a blood transfusion, even though she said it violated her religious beliefs as a devout Jehovah’s Witness. By a 6-1 margin, the court concluded that the legal tenet of the “best interests of the child” must be the overriding principle in deciding whether mature children under 16 have the right to make their own medical decisions.

For those who may not know it, it seems that Witnesses refusing blood transfusions has been big news up in Canada for a while.

Ex Jehovah ‘s Witness Michael Jackson Dead

I was tempted not to give a link to any Michael Jackson articles since the only relevance to this site is that he’s (presumably) a former Witness. But this one does go into some issues about his past as a Witness.

VIDEO: A news lady asked Anthony some questions at the 2009 “Keep on the Watch” Convention at Qualcomm

This one is just cute. If you’re into kids being cute, click on the link.

Jehovah’s Witnesses: ‘End is near’ | Conversations with an Ex Jehovah’s Witness

The following is an article by WPTV (May 30, 2009) outlining the Watchtower’s “The End is Near” campaign. Seemingly capitalizing on the current state of the world’s economy, the 2009 convention series looks like it’s targeting folks who are finding themselves down and out, hopeless and in dispair. With all due respect, I can’t help but read this and feel like the Witnesses are upping their quota of “crazy talk”. I’m not one to poke fun at the witnesses and in truth I feel compassion and pity for the spokesperson quoted in this article.

Alarming consequences of raid on religious meeting in Russia

ASBEST, Russia—Mrs. Aleksandr Mastyugina, a pregnant woman who is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, suffered a miscarriage after police illegally raided a religious meeting that she attended on May 24, 2009. A 15-year-old boy is also being illegally detained without his parents’ consent.

Jehovah’s Witnesses recognized as 14th Religious Community

STRASBOURG — With today’s notification, the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture has recognized the religious community of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Austria. It is now the 14th religious community in Austria that enjoys the status of a public law corporation.

Ramapo and Jehovah’s Witnesses talk payments instead of taxes

And you thought the Society was broke. Guess again.