JW glossary

Alternative Jehovah's Witnesses Glossary

STOP PRESS: To be added in the future, what people have said about these pages. Since 1998 I've had almost complete unaminous praise feedback comments from many people about the JW pages (Of course all totalitarian relgious cults will consider that as proof that the world is set against them!) and just one complaint in all that time, but unfortuanately I had lost that individual's email and all the other praise ones in amongst a hard drive crash, I want to recover that data so I can post the feedback about these pages in context. One of the more sucessful American religous cults in the last few centuries. There are approx 6 million worldwide members. It's sucess probably because predictions of world change/atrocities/wars famine etc match that of an individual's perception of human 'progress' in any civilised environment as he or she grows old. People from many different walks of life join these kind of cults, attracted by the promise of an ideal and eternal life free from sickness, having wisdom, better relationships. Often also because of some trauma in early life and the abilty to be able to aquire a new identity in order to oppress the memory.

For instance, the doctrines even prevent them from reading this page objectively, they will by now of already of condemned this page as "being the work of Satan", and will then start to look for spelling and grammatical errors in order to discredit the content.

If you are a Jehovah's Witness reading this, and/or believe you may be offended by these pages, please click here for more information

Anyway they seem harmlesss enough though, it keeps them off the streets as they braveley go round knocking on doors and spreading the word (even if it is just "NO!" )

Here is How to be a Jehovah's Witness

Amazing JW facts:
Vaccinations were prohibited during the 1930's and 1940's, because they are violating God's "everlasting covenant.". The ban dropped a decade later.

"Transfusions of blood from criminal donors could impart a criminal personality to the recipient." ( Awake!: July 8, 1969, p. 30)
Organ transplants were banned by the Watchtower organization from 1967 to 1980 (Watchtower November 15, 1967 p702..)

Glossary

The Truth In all totalistic cults, not just JW and the mormons, their ideology is "the truth," and is the only reality there is bar none. This doctrine not only serves to carefully filter all incoming information from outside sources but also regulates how the information is dealt with and even thought of. Their doctrine claims to answer all questions to all problems and all situations. Members are trained and conditioned to mentally block out any criticism, as it is 'the work of satan' etc. Nothing outside may be recognised as good/godly because that would be a threat on their monopoly on truth.

Disfellowship ed person This person is feared by the cult, because this person is brave enough to have broken free, perhaps after a great deal of thought and consideration and his experiences and opinions could undermine the whole fabric of what the cult is built on, so is dealt with accordingly: Shunned by the cult members, no conversation is allowed, there is no way to see why someone has left (I'm not exactly sure what else happens at time of writing, to be researched)

Kingdom Hall The 'Church'. They are not allowed to call it a church or use any ex-church or ex-school building because JW is not a recognised religion, but a religous sect only.

The Watchtower / Awake magazines Publications by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, specially written arcticles containing studies on bible scriptures taken out of context, this is the only authorised source of "The Truth"
The organisation even prints it's own version of the Bible. (Which they say is easier to understand !)

Bible Study Regular and frequent weekly attendance reading of the Watchtower magazine that does most of their thinking for them, where:
Verses are taken out of their immediate context.
Refuse to read verses in the entire biblical context as it was written.
Inserting their own theological interpretations into the text.
Altering the Bible text to suit their ends and latching onto one verse in order to interpret others.
Proclaiming some passages to be just figurative when they happen to contradict their doctrines.
The Watchtower magazine even has the answers to test questions printed on the same page to make it easy to 'understand'!
The whole idea of a bible is a reference book which does not change over generations.

Door knocking Not only is this a source of new members, but provides the opportunity to be persecuted so that they feel justified in being a JW.

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The Truth	In all totalistic cults, not just JW and the mormons, their ideology is "the truth," and is the only reality there is bar none. This doctrine not only serves to carefully filter all incoming information from outside sources but also regulates how the information is dealt with and even thought of. Their doctrine claims to answer all questions to all problems and all situations. Members are trained and conditioned to mentally block out any criticism, as it is 'the work of satan' etc. Nothing outside may be recognised as good/godly because that would be a threat on their monopoly on truth.
Disfellowship ed person	This person is feared by the cult, because this person is brave enough to have broken free, perhaps after a great deal of thought and consideration and his experiences and opinions could undermine the whole fabric of what the cult is built on, so is dealt with accordingly: Shunned by the cult members, no conversation is allowed, there is no way to see why someone has left (I'm not exactly sure what else happens at time of writing, to be researched)
Kingdom Hall	The 'Church'. They are not allowed to call it a church or use any ex-church or ex-school building because JW is not a recognised religion, but a religous sect only.
The Watchtower / Awake magazines	Publications by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, specially written arcticles containing studies on bible scriptures taken out of context, this is the only authorised source of "The Truth" The organisation even prints it's own version of the Bible. (Which they say is easier to understand !)
Bible Study	Regular and frequent weekly attendance reading of the Watchtower magazine that does most of their thinking for them, where: Verses are taken out of their immediate context. Refuse to read verses in the entire biblical context as it was written. Inserting their own theological interpretations into the text. Altering the Bible text to suit their ends and latching onto one verse in order to interpret others. Proclaiming some passages to be just figurative when they happen to contradict their doctrines. The Watchtower magazine even has the answers to test questions printed on the same page to make it easy to 'understand'! The whole idea of a bible is a reference book which does not change over generations.
Door knocking	Not only is this a source of new members, but provides the opportunity to be persecuted so that they feel justified in being a JW.