Glen T. Winstein

Basics Page 5

Page 5

12. How I apply my stances in my the coverage of the Jehovah's Witnesses
leaders--"Glenster's Guide to GTJ Brooklyn"

"Glenster's Guide to GTJ Brooklyn"
http://glenster1.webs.com/gtjbrooklynindex.htm
http://gtw6437.tripod.com/index.html

In this case, God is the God of the Bible, but the JWs leaders' doctrine on
blood, like their other distinctive doctrines, isn't guaranteed by the Bible and
the best related evidence and reasoning as claimed.

It's a claim of the JWs' Governing Body that the JWs leaders are the sole re-
cipients of special messages/guidance from the holy spirit or angels who al-
legedly want them to play prophet--

with a string of forced points, misuse of research material, and omission of
pertinent evidence--

to impose or exchange their distinctive rules, such as about the medical use
of blood, or distinctive ways of teaching relatively distinctive ideas, such as
Jesus as archangel Michael, into or instead of the requirements for salvation of
the Bible. This isn't confidently and forthrightly made clear in JWs leaders'
literature on their blood policies, but that's all it is.

You may want to have a hope commitment for God. You may even have a faith in
an old account that God used His prerogative to have someone cause the death of
another but realize it would provide no better than an arbitrary reason to have
anyone hurt or killed about it in the present.

But if it gets into someone claiming more than faith--that they're transmit-
ting a divine intervention from God calling for anyone to be hurt or killed or
guaranteeing that an old account justifies it--

- someone's idea of "us"es flying jets into skyscrapers full of "them"s or
murdering homosexuals,

- following centuries of peaceful Christians by making Christianity the law,
so creating a ton of people who say, "Yeah, I'm a Christian, I plan to read
about it sometime--don't hurt me," then having political reasons to sic them on
others for gain as if Jesus taught to find people who believe different and beat
them up,

- people angered into attacking from either side of the Palestinian border,
etc.,

the most popular source material I know of would have you look for proof of God
and the He wants it before complying or it's just lies and murder. Proof of God
and good ethics are a good combo for complying with such a request, and a sign
of not God (getting things wrong) and unethical behavior is the worst. If it
gets into interpersonal unethical things, only excusable at the level of God's
prerogative, some of us require you to put proof of God and that He wants it on
the table or shut up--you're just running around making trouble like you've got
no sense. If the ancient account has it that God told someone to kill another,
I'd ask for the same--show me the clouds parting and Charlton Heston talking from
a flaming shrub or such or no deal.

So it comes down to whether or not you want to throw a hope commitment in the
direction of the JWs leaders' claim. But I hope I've shown you every reason to
see it's not something you have to do to have a hope for God, including the God
of the Bible--it's to wonder if you want to have a hope commitment that the JWs
leaders are the exclusive voice of the holy spirit on Earth.

It's not like their track record is a big secret, either; the JWs leaders
haven't delivered the goods on any supernatural claim, and the evidence of their
past failed predictions, the current leaders' claims about their past record,
forced points, quotes used deceptively out of context, revisionist history,
omission of pertinent evidence, etc., shown in this article are signs of "not
God." I wouldn't let a kid die at a hospital over it. I wouldn't spare it the
left mouse button click for "spam" if it showed up in my e-mail.

You might hope for something possible that's good, but this is the difference
between God and the JWs leaders's claim to be God's sole channel of information:
God is possible--they're not.

The false prophet makes special rules or predictions to define the righteous
ones, it creates unnecessary divisions and accusations between followers, and
people may even get hurt or killed. This is why Mosaic law had false prophets
dodge rocks. It's supposed to be an internal corrective--you're not supposed to
make heroes out of them.

To send hope in the direction of the JWs leaders' claim has carried the possi-
bility of a loved one having a diminished range of medical options, so a great-
er risk of fatality, in a hospital for over half a century now. The risk is
greater the farther back in time you go (fewer alternatives to blood/major blood
products) and farther from the better hospitals you go. I don't know why anyone,
aware of how cynical it is for the JWs leaders to keep up pretensions in spite of
of the harm and fatalities that can still happen, would hope for that.

But since that's what the JWs Governing Body is asking JWs to do even unto pain
of death, and their own literature on the blood issue won't be straight with them
and the general public, and that literature is spread in many places where the
JWs leaders' organization can make money from it, I hope "Glenster's Guide to GTJ
Brooklyn" spreads a fuller overview about it.

Glen T. Winstein

Click here to edit subtitle

Basics Page 5

Oops! This site has expired.