Defiant message from rebel JWs as Watch Tower threatens to silence them.
AN Internet site which provides a confidential forum of free speech between Jehovah's Witnesses and non-Witnesses has issued a defiant message to the Watch Tower Society following rumours that the Brooklyn-based "Big Mother" is about to order it to close down.
The Australian based H20 web site is run by Jehovah's Witnesses from all over the world.
Each week thousands of messages are sent to its forums and message boards which cover subjects including doctrine and "new light".
The reason the Watch Tower may want to silence the sight is believed to be because many of the JWs on it have openly criticised its doctrine on blood transfusions and other doctrine.
In a letter to the Watch Tower Society, which is produced on the site at http://www.cyberpass.net/~h2o/wwwboard/hourglass2board.html, the anonymous author says the site owners will ignore instructions to shut the site, fully believing such instructions are not "spirit-directed" by Jehovah God or his son Jesus Christ;
He continues; "We will allow those posting on our site to continue exposing to the world scriptural errors the Society thus far refuses to address in its specific teachings pertaining to: The medical use of blood transfusions as a form of "organ transplant" , denial thereof leading to needless death through denial of medical care that is not unscriptural; and
The irreversible psychological damage leading to severe mental illness and deaths through suicide the organisation has inflicted on countless thousands of disfellowshiping victims;
"The grossly unscriptural claim that those baptised after 1985 are in the name of the Father, the Son, and God's "Spirit-Directed Organisation."
"Should the Society attempt to impel H2O to shutdown using legal means, we shall reopen this site in a nation that refuses to recognise any legal judgements against this site. H2O will then again become available across the internet.
"Freedom of speech and the ability to be friends with, and recognised as real human beings, by our brothers and sisters who are loved by Jehovah God and baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is a human need. This human need is denied by a small clique of ageing and self-serving men on the Governing Body."
Concern will watch the situation carefully and will include a future report, if the Watch Tower Society takes action.
CONCERN has also just learned that another JW web site, based in Germany has been forced to close.
The JW NET site was taken offline on June 30th 1999, just a week after the Watchtower Society sent out a letter to all congregations advising against the reproduction of their copyrighted materials on the Internet.
The site included a weekly newsletter published by Holger Helms of the Fulda-Sued Congregation in Germany
and always contained messages from brothers and sisters from around the world. The JW NET web sites were host to much original content in English and German, including a repository of Kingdom Hall pictures from around the world.