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‘Miracle’ of psalm book found in bog
July 27, 2006
The ancient book of psalms discovered in an Irish bog. Picture: National Museum of Ireland
DUBLIN: The accidental discovery of an ancient book of psalms – found last week when a construction worker drove the shovel of his backhoe into a bog – has been heralded as a miracle by Ireland’s archeologists.
The book, of about 20 pages, has been dated to AD800-1000 and is the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries, according to Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan.
Never before has such a document been discovered buried in the soggy earth of Ireland.
“This is really a miracle find,” said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration and facing years of painstaking analysis before it is put on public display.
“There’s two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out,” Mr Wallace said. “First of all, it’s unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing.”
He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland’s midlands – he would not specify where because a team of archeologists was exploring the site – when, “just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something”.
“The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in the past and is very much in favour of archaeological discovery and reporting it,” Mr Wallace said.
Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, “it could have dried out and just vanished, blown away”.
The book was found open to a page describing, in black-letter Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations’ attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Mr Wallace said several National Museum and Trinity College experts spent Tuesday analysing only that page – the number of letters per line, lines per page, size of page – and the book’s binding and cover, which he described as “leather vellum, very thick wallet in appearance”.
It could take months of study, he said, just to identify the safest way to pry open the pages without damaging or destroying them.
“That is certainly going to be the nightmare, trying to separate the pages,” he said, ruling out the prospect of using X-rays to investigate without physically moving the pages.
Ireland already has several other holy books from the early medieval period, most famously the ornately illustrated Book of Kells, which has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19th century.
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AZERBAIJAN: Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector sentenced
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Mushfiq Mammedov, a Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector has been given a six month suspended jail sentence and intends to appeal against this, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. He was sentenced for refusing compulsory military service – even though the country’s Constitution guarantees the right to alternative service, and not allowing this breaches its Council of Europe commitments. “My son has done nothing wrong – he’s not guilty,” his mother Sevil Najafova told Forum 18 “He told the Military Commissariat he’s prepared to do alternative unarmed service in line with his religious beliefs.” A spokesperson for the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, defended the sentence. “Our law says every young man must join the army, so this sentence is correct,” he told Forum 18. The OSCE has noted that “a constitutional right would be meaningless if the government recognised a right to alternative service only after it had initiated the promulgation of a law.”
The mother of Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector Mushfiq Mammedov has protested against the six-month suspended sentence handed down on him by a court in Baku on 21 July for refusing compulsory military service. “My son has done nothing wrong – he’s not guilty,” Sevil Najafova told Forum 18 from the Azerbaijani capital on 26 July. “He told the Military Commissariat he’s prepared to do alternative unarmed service in line with his religious beliefs.”
But Agil Hajiev, the spokesperson for the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, defended the sentence. “Our law says every young man must join the army, so this sentence is correct,” he told Forum 18 from Baku the same day.
Najafova insisted that Mammedov will lodge an appeal against the sentence within the specified twenty-day period after receiving the judgment in writing. “We will fight on because it’s an unjust punishment,” she told Forum 18. “We are preparing the appeal now.” Before his sentence, he had been imprisoned since his arrest on 28 April (see F18News 12 May 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=779).
Najafova said her son can work, live at home and also attend religious meetings during his sentence. “No-one has said what he can and can’t do.” However, she said she fears that if he fails in his appeal, officials could find a reason to accuse him of violating the terms of his suspended sentence and send him to prison. “We’re very afraid they could do this at any moment.” She said her son’s mood was “not good” in the wake of the sentence. “He hoped for a more just verdict.”
Mammedov’s prosecution and the failure to introduce alternative non-military service violate Azerbaijan’s specific commitment to the Council of Europe. When Azerbaijan joined in 2001, it pledged to introduce alternative service by January 2003, but did not do so. Hajiev of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations insisted to Forum 18 that the long-promised alternative service law will be adopted “in the next year” It will then, he claimed, be possible for young men to opt for alternative service. “But this law does not yet exist.”
Azerbaijan is violating its Council of Europe commitments in not adopting an alternative service law (see F18News 12 May 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=779). It joined the Council of Europe in 2001, but the country’s Human Rights Ombudsman Office has told Forum 18 that “signing such commitments doesn’t mean we have to accept these rights without a corresponding law” (see F18News 7 July 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=809).
The Office in Baku of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) pointed out that Article 76 of Azerbaijan’s Constitution recognises that those who cannot perform military service on grounds of conscience are to be offered alternative service. “Such a constitutional right would be meaningless if the government recognised a right to alternative service only after it had initiated the promulgation of a law thereof,” a spokesperson for the OSCE Office told Forum 18 from Baku on 26 July.
The OSCE spokesperson added that in Mammedov’s case, the prosecution “would follow the spirit of the Constitution, were it not to oppose a possible appeal against the sentence”.
The spokesperson said the Azerbaijani government would be “well advised” to establish a system of alternative service and refrain from any prosecution against those “who wish to make use of their constitutional right not to serve in the army on grounds of religious belief or other moral or ethical dictates of his or her conscience”.
Mammedov, who is 23, was arrested on 28 April, nine months after telling Sabail District Military Commissariat in Baku that he was unable to perform compulsory military service on grounds of his religious conviction. He demanded instead to be allowed to perform alternative service guaranteed by the Constitution. He was held for nearly a month in Baku’s Bayil investigative prison.
Mammedov’s trial began at Baku’s Sabail District Court on 30 June under Article 321.1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes evasion of military service with a sentence of up to two years’ imprisonment.
The last hearing in the case took place on 20 July. Jehovah’s Witness sources say the judge behaved correctly and praised Mammedov in court for being “very educated and cultivated”. Although the prosecutor was demanding a suspended sentence of one year, on 21 July the judge handed down the suspended six-month sentence.
Another Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector, Mahir Bagirov, faced criminal prosecution for refusing military service (see F18News 10 February 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=507). He lost all cases in court, and left Azerbaijan in 2005 to avoid further legal moves against him.
Despite the sentences imposed on Mammedov and Bagirov, the authorities appear to be trying to avoid legal cases which will set a precedent that conscientious objectors will not be punished (thus encouraging other local young men to demand alternative service in line with the Constitution) or, by contrast, will draw the attention of the international community to the country’s continuing violation of its Council of Europe commitments.
Najafova told Forum 18 that she knows of at least half a dozen other cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses who have written to the military commissariat of their inability to perform military service because of their religious beliefs and their willingness to perform non-military alternative service. “So far they’ve not been touched.”
In one current case, Jehovah’s Witness Farid Mammedov wrote to the human rights ombudsperson Elmira Suleymanova to complain that the military commissariat of Baku’s Nasimi District had refused to accept his request to perform alternative service or to defer the call-up. After consulting the military commissariat, she responded to him on 3 July to say that “it is clear that you have no legal basis for the provision of deferment to call-up to urgent military service”. She failed to tell him why he could not perform alternative service in line with the Constitution as he had requested.
The authorities have long regarded the Jehovah’s Witnesses with suspicion. Press attacks remain frequent and in 2005 a number of their meetings were raided by police, while individual Jehovah’s Witnesses were questioned, detained and threatened. A number of Protestant communities faced similar police raids (see F18News 16 November 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=689).
Although far fewer police raids on Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses have been reported this year, in late April police raided a Protestant house church in Baku.
Azerbaijan already has tight restrictions on religious activity which violate the country’s international human rights obligations. On 24 July, President Ilham Aliev named his former nationalities adviser Idayat Orujev to head the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. Orujev replaces Rafik Aliev (not a relation of the President), who was sacked at the end of June 2006.
In search of a few good judges
Yun Yeong-hun, age 30, otherwise known as Daejeon Prison’s prisoner No. 436, recently wrote to the Hankyoreh. Yun is a Jehovah’s Witness who conscientiously objected to completing his mandatory military service.
“I received my MBA in the United States and made the decision to return to Korea. Since it was already expected that I would be heading straight for jail when I arrived, my American friends cried and hugged me and I still remember the looks on their faces. I had a few job offers and there were even women who wanted to marry me, but I wanted to quietly return to Korea and assert my innocence as a law-abiding citizen…I asked that I be allowed to defend myself while not being held under arrest but was arrested right there on the spot in court. My request for bail was rejected. The judge said it was because I might take flight. That’s something for the gossip column, isn’t it? Someone who is supposed to ’take flight’ overseas has just voluntarily returned to Korea just to show up in court.”
Why did he return to a fatherland where only a tiny prison cell awaited him? I wrote back:
Over the course of studying American law, I’ve been surprised a few times. It seems the Jehovah’s Witnesses keep showing up in the precedents. A typical case would be West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, from 1943, in which the Supreme Court declared the West Virginia board of education’s rule calling for students who refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance to be expelled as unconstitutional. Look at this beautiful decision by Justice Robert Jackson:
’We can have intellectual individualism and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.’
The Jehovah’s Witnesses tested the limits of rights and freedom within American social norms and constitutional protections. It was a question of what attitude the American courts were going to take, and their “problematic behavior” led to greater universal rights and freedoms, especially in the area of conscience and freedom of expression.
That being the case, have there been no judgments in favor of conscientious objectors like you? The answer can be found in a petition written on your behalf and submitted to the court by an American civil servant. All it says is that when he was drafted during the Vietnam War, he was given an exemption for religious reasons and given the opportunity to work at a hospital instead. Some 31 countries have similar programs for conscientious objectors, and in Germany it is even a constitutional guarantee.
You are in prison because you want to maintain your religious conscience. There is a bill before the National Assembly that would allow alternatives to military service, but as you well know, politicians are not interested in the civil rights of people who are in the minority and don’t offer many votes. The fastest way to resolve the situation would be to find a good judge, one who is faithful to his mission to defend basic rights. Like William Brennan, the Supreme Court Justice who died right about this time nine years ago, who wrote these beautiful words:
’Due process asks whether government has treated someone fairly, whether individual dignity has been acknowledged… it may be essential that officials possess passion – the passion that puts them in touch with the dreams and disappointments of those with whom they deal, the passion that understands the pulse of life beneath the official version of events.’
I’d like to say the same thing to the Korean judges who are so deeply fond of money and wine and golf. It’d like to say it to the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court justices who retire to make big money as lawyers. What were you thinking when you decided to return to a place ruled by people in law who are so lacking in depth?
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In Pittsburgh and across the nation, surgeons are doing as many operations as possible without using a drop of donated blood.
The approach, sometimes known as bloodless surgery, emphasizes techniques that boost red blood cell counts before and after an operation, and cut blood loss while it is going on.
According to doctors at Allegheny General Hospital’s Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, the techniques free up blood for use in true emergencies, such as major car accidents, at a time when it remains difficult to get people to donate blood. About 8 million Americans donate blood each year — 5 percent of those eligible.
It also saves money.
Dr. Jan Seski, a cancer surgeon who has pioneered bloodless surgery methods in Pittsburgh, said there was no doubt how important blood transfusions can be in some cases.
“Blood products are as safe as they’ve ever been,” he said, “and we use them when we need to. Let’s not minimize the necessity of blood in certain circumstances.”
In many operations, however, there are ways to avoid transfusions, and doing so can not only make doctors better surgeons, but it also can cut infections, complications and healing time.
“Not all surgeons can do this because not all surgeons can do surgery without losing an excessive amount of blood,” said Dr. Seski, chief of gynecologic oncology at Allegheny General. “It’s just like anything else in life. There are certain degrees of expertise.”
Studies have shown that patients who get transfusions have more infections and complications after surgery, Dr. Seski said. Those who undergo cancer surgery have more recurrences if they get transfusions, he added.
Even when it is matched properly by blood type, donated blood “just overwhelms the immune system and plugs it up for a while, so the body has trouble recognizing foreign invaders,” Dr. Seski said.
“If we could do surgery without using blood,” Allegheny General heart surgeon George Magovern Jr. said, “that would probably be best.”
The savings accompanying bloodless surgery are not just in buying less blood.
“The savings to hospitals that have employed a comprehensive program of reducing blood transfusions is, like, $3 million to $4 million a year,” Dr. Seski said. “It’s saving on the cost of nursing time, the cost of blood, the reduction in infections, side effects and complications.”
Dr. Seth Perelman, associate chief of anesthesiology at the nation’s leading bloodless surgery center, Englewood, N.J., Hospital Medical Center, said many hospitals use blood transfusions in up to half their surgeries.
In his hospital, it’s down to 15 percent.
Dr. Jonathan Waters, chief of anesthesiology at Magee-Womens Hospital and head of UPMC’s surgical blood management program, said it was difficult to know how much the growing number of blood-saving programs is reducing demand for transfusions around the country.
It is harder to cut down on blood use in a large multihospital health system such as UPMC’s than at community hospitals such as Englewood, he said.
Nevertheless, Dr. Waters said, blood conservation programs can have a big impact. When he helped found the Cleveland Clinic’s blood management program nine years ago, it saved the hospital 10,000 units of blood in its first year.
Right now, he said, UPMC is working to eliminate the practice of having patients donate their own blood ahead of time for use during surgery, and instead use machines to salvage their blood during the operations. It also is trying to get its major hospitals accredited in blood management by the American Association of Blood Banks.
Many of today’s bloodless surgery techniques were developed because of the strong beliefs of a religious sect that has its roots in Pittsburgh.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, founded in Pittsburgh in 1872 by Charles Taze Russell, rely on verses from Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Acts as the basis for their refusal to accept blood transfusions.
They interpret the Bible to mean that they can’t donate their own blood ahead of time because it would be completely separated from their bodies.
Like many other surgeons involved in bloodless medicine, Dr. Seski got his start treating Jehovah’s Witnesses.
After years of experience with them, he feels their refusal to accept transfusions should be viewed as any other medical complication.
“If a patient comes into my office and she weighs 400 pounds and I have to do an operation on her,” he said, “I don’t say go and lose the weight before I take your cancer out. I have to operate on this person, despite her complications.
“The same thing is true of diabetes, hypertension, severe heart disease. … All of these things complicate a surgical procedure. If the patient comes in and says I don’t want blood, that’s just another hurdle we have to get over to cure this patient of cancer.”
Allegheny General, UPMC and other sites use five primary methods to avoid or limit blood transfusions:
Hormones. Doctors use synthetic versions of the hormone erythropoietin, which manufactures oxygen-carrying red blood cells in the bone marrow, to build up patients’ hemoglobin counts before and after surgery.
The hormones ensure patients won’t be anemic going into surgery, and help rebuild their red blood cell counts afterward in four to six weeks, instead of the three to four months it used to take, Dr. Seski said.
Hemodilution. In many surgeries, doctors will remove one to two pints of blood from a patient before surgery begins and route it through a machine that separates it into red blood cells and clear plasma.
They put the plasma and clear saline solution back into the patient so that his blood volume remains the same. Because red blood cells have been removed, however, any blood lost during surgery will have far less hemoglobin in it than normal.
They also can suction some of that blood and put it through the same filtering machine, and then, when the surgery is done, they can put the red blood cells back into the patient.
Cautery. Surgeons use electric and argon laser beam scalpels to seal off blood vessels as they operate, slowing blood loss. Surgical clamps which can cut off the blood supply to operative areas are also important.
Microsampling. Instead of drawing vials of blood during surgery and sending them to a lab, surgeons can now use machines that analyze a single drop of blood inside the operating room to check on its clotting and oxygen-carrying ability.
That not only saves time, but also lets doctors know more precisely whether the patient needs plasma for clotting or red blood cells.
Pediatric blood tubes. One of the stealthiest ways patients lose blood in the hospital is when their blood is drawn for testing after surgery.
If a patient goes into the intensive care unit, Dr. Seski said, standard blood testing could cost a pint of blood every week. By using diminutive pediatric blood tubes, though, hospitals still can do their tests and reduce much of that blood loss, he said.
There is no better proof of the value of these techniques than Wade Moss, of Murrysville.
Mr. Moss, 46, a former custodian in the Gateway School District, had major colorectal surgery in early 2002, had a hip replacement later that year and had his other hip replaced in 2004, all without receiving transfusions.
Mr. Moss, now on disability, is actively involved in Jehovah’s Witnesses ministry and never had the slightest doubt about refusing transfusions.
“People think blood is a lifesaving fluid that’s going to make you feel better,” Mr. Moss said. “But in reality, it’s the [blood] volume you’re losing that hurts you more than anything.
“Not taking blood, from a lot of doctors’ perspective, is actually safer and it helps the doctor become a better surgeon. If a doctor needs a lot of pints of blood, it could mean he’s being sloppy. And we, as Jehovah’s Witnesses, have raised that awareness.”
Many of the hospitals that pioneered bloodless surgery techniques were smaller centers that wanted to attract Jehovah’s Witnesses, UPMC’s Dr. Waters said.
But now, major institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins and UPMC are jumping on the bandwagon, he said.
One example of the growing interest in the discipline, he said, is that the Web site for the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management has grown from 4,000 to 13,000 unique visitors in recent months,
Bloodless surgery also fits well with other medical trends, Dr. Seski said.
More and more doctors are doing minimally invasive surgery which uses small incisions and tubes and scopes to perform operations, he said, and research is moving forward on artificial hemoglobin products that might reduce the need for blood donations even further.
These advances will become all the more important when baby boomers hit retirement and sharply increase the expected number of surgeries and cancer treatments.
But for any given surgery, transfusions are likely to decrease in the future, Dr. Seski said.
“I think we’re going to be using less blood 10 years from now than we’re even using now,” he said.
Zimbabwe: Jehovah’s Witnesses to Congregate
The Herald (Harare)
July 24, 2006
Posted to the web July 25, 2006
Harare
JEHOVAH’S Witnesses countrywide will from August 4 to 6 congregate for their annual three-day district conventions.
The theme of the conventions this year is “Deliverance at Hand!”
A spokesman for the organisation Mr Oliver Mutseyekwa said they wanted to extend to each household a special invitation for the three-day annual events at the City Sports Centre, Gokwe and Hwange.
Some 65 000 people were expected to attend one of a series of 24 conventions at various centres throughout Zimbabwe each weekend from August 4 to September 3.
The conventions will ultimately be held in Mahuwe, Chitungwiza, Masvingo, Gweru, Bulawayo, Tongogara Refugee Camp, Chipinge, Mount Darwin, Zvishavane, Murehwa, Mutare, Chinhoyi, Karoi, Checheche and Mutasa.
The conventions would be presented in English, Shona, Zulu, French, Swahili and in Zimbabwean Sign Language.
Admission to the conventions is free and no collections would be taken.
Mr Mutseyekwa said that over 30 000 witnesses in Zimbabwe would take part in a distinctive global campaign now underway to promote the district convention programmes that would be held in 155 countries globally.
He said the campaign was held because the witnesses believed that mankind sorely needed deliverance from the effects of inherited sin and its consequence, death, and they felt that only God could bring about that kind of deliverance.
The programme would examine Jesus’ role in delivering mankind and would review various Bible accounts of deliverance.
There would also be special focus on the hope of survival during God’s fast-approaching day of reckoning.
Building on the scriptural basis, for the house-to-house work of Bible education, the Witnesses would like to have millions of their neighbours benefit from the invitation, Mr Mutseyekwa said.
People of all ages, races and background would at the conventions have an opportunity to hear a message of comfort and hope explaining why the Bible was written. There will also be a dramatic presentation in a bible setting “To whose authority do you submit?” which will highlight what loyalty to God really meant.
Of special interest also were features “How to attain a happy family life; How young people can resist the temptations of immoral conduct” and public address “Deliverance by God’s Kingdom is at hand!”
The public address would be presented every Sunday.
Other presentations would emphasise on comforting scriptures that detail God’s loving provision for everlasting deliverance.
Current events such as poverty, epidemics and disasters among others fulfilled bible prophecies indicating that God’s day of reckoning was fast approaching.
An annual distinctive feature of the convention is a baptism ceremony on Saturday, following a talk on the subject of dedication and baptism.
Although the district conventions were a major annual event, these gatherings were not only for Jehovah’s Witnesses, as in the last years almost a third of those in attendance were not Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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Jehovah’s Witnesses are coming
Yes, Jehovah’s Witnesses do go door-to-door, and no, they do not celebrate holidays.
These well-known characteristics are true, but there are commonly held myths, too: Yes, they consider themselves Christians, but no, they do not believe that they are the only believers who can win salvation.
If you go
What: District Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses
When: Friday, July 28, through Sunday, July 30. Morning sessions are 9:30 daily; afternoon sessions are 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1:40 p.m. Sunday. Another English-language convention begins Friday, Aug. 4, followed by three Spanish conventions, Aug. 11, 18 and 25.
Where: MetroCentre, 300 Elm St., Rockford
Admission: Free; open to the public. No freewill offering.
Information: Call 815-489-8299.
The general public is invited to hear more about a faith that views first-century Christianity as its model by joining more than 5,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses expected for a convention this weekend at the Rockford MetroCentre.
“Deliverance at Hand!” is a five-session series, with the first two being conducted in English and the final three in Spanish.
Delegates from throughout the Midwest will converge on the downtown arena for the conventions. The daily schedule includes morning and afternoon sessions, Scripture-based messages, a baptism of new members on Saturday and a costumed drama on Sunday.
More than 260 similar three-day events are being presented by Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the United States. The national conventions include programs in various languages, including American Sign Language, Vietnamese and Polish, and sessions in Arabic.
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Massentaufen: Rund 1.000 wurden „Zeugen Jehovas“
H a m b u r g (idea) – Rund 1.000 Personen sind bei Massentaufen in deutschen Stadien „Zeugen Jehovas“ geworden. Das teilte die Religionsgemeinschaft am 24. Juli auf idea-Anfrage mit. Die Taufen waren Teil des Sonderkongresses „Befreiung greifbar nahe“. Daran nahmen vom 21. bis 23. Juli in Hamburg, Dortmund, Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig und München mehr als 200.000 Personen teil. In Deutschland gibt es 210.000 „Zeugen Jehovas“, weltweit sind es 6,5 Millionen.
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1,000s pack Stanley
Monday, July 24, 2006
By JACK HERMAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Kristine Adair had never been to the Stanley Theater, but standing inside it yesterday she said it was well worth the five-hour flight from Washington state.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” Adair said.
Adair and some friends stopped by yesterday for a brief tour before heading to Poland for an international Jehovah’s Witness convention.
But they represented just a small group of the thousands who descended on the Stanley Theater yesterday, most in attendance for a district convention of French-speaking congregations along the East Coast.
On the final day of the three-day convention, 3,179 people flocked to the historical Journal Square theater, Delva Don, a minister from Queens, said. A similar get-together was held last week, and those in other languages including Korean and English are slated for the near future, he said.
Visitors came from everywhere – Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, even France -for the event, whose theme was “La Deliverance est proche,” or “The Deliverance is near.”
“We’re having a wonderful time here,” said Connecticut’s Richard Donaldson, who learned to speak French after spending time as a missionary in Africa. “It’s worth the trip every year.”
Even those not there for religious reasons praised the theater.
“It’s beautiful, it’s been great,” said Boston’s Willay Gene, who is Catholic, but was invited to the event by relatives.
Members said Assembly Hall and the thousands of visitors it attracts each year boost the local economy.
“This has really brought up the area,” said New York’s Anthony Paris of the renovation the theater has undergone since being bought by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1983. “Whenever I come here, I take advantage of the shopping.”
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Communiqué officiel des Témoins de Jéhovah
- Le 22 juillet 2006 -
L’UNADFI indique dans un communiqué du 21 juillet 2006 que ” le Conseil d’État a refusé à l’Association chrétienne ‘Les Témoins de Jéhovah de France’ le statut d’association cultuelle ” et qu’à ce jour il n’aurait ” pas remis en cause cette jurisprudence de 1985 “.
Une telle affirmation, tendancieuse et erronée, appelle les commentaires suivants :
1) Cet arrêt de 1985 concerne une association qui aujourd’hui n’existe plus !
2) Dans sa décision, le Conseil d’État n’a pas précisé les raisons de son refus de reconnaître le statut cultuel. Il s’est contenté de relever que ” les activités menées (…) sur la base des stipulations de ses statuts en vigueur à la date du décret attaqué (…) ne confèrent pas dans leur ensemble à l’Association (…) le caractère d’une association cultuelle au sens de la loi du 9 décembre 1905 “. Cette absence de motivation a été relevée par tous les commentateurs (Conseil d’État (Ass.) 1er février 1985 (Association chrétienne les Témoins de Jéhovah de France), Revue du Droit Public, 1985, pp. 483-509, note Robert ; Revue Française de Droit Administratif, 1985.566, note Soler-Couteaux).
3) C’est par deux arrêts en date du 23 juin 2000 que le Conseil d’État a opéré un revirement de jurisprudence en reconnaissant le caractère cultuel des associations créées par les Témoins de Jéhovah (Requêtes nos 215 152 et 215 109, voir Revue du Droit Public, décembre 2000, no 6-2000, pp. 1825 et ss.).
4) Ce revirement de jurisprudence a été pris en compte par les Pouvoirs publics à compter de l’année 2001. En réponse à une question d’un parlementaire, le Ministre de l’Économie et des Finances a indiqué très clairement : ” Revenant sur sa jurisprudence du 1er février 1985, le Conseil d’État a effectivement confirmé deux arrêts de la Cour administrative d’appel de Lyon ” (Journal Officiel de la République française, 23 avril 2001, p. 2411).
5) En 1997, le Conseil d’État a eu à se prononcer sur les critères de reconnaissance des associations cultuelles. C’est à cette occasion que le Commissaire du Gouvernement Arrighi de Casanova s’est exprimé dans les termes rapportés par l’UNADFI. Effectivement, saisi pour ” avis “, le Conseil d’État ne pouvait pas sur un strict plan de technique juridique ” reconsidérer la solution négative retenue en 1985 ” (CE, Ass., 24 octobre 1997 (Avis), Association locale pour le culte des Témoins de Jéhovah de Riom, Recueil Lebon, p. 372 ; Revue de Jurisprudence Fiscale, 11/97, n° 1038, ccl. Arrighi de Casanova ; Droit Fiscal, 1997, n° 52, comm. 1365). Soulignons ce que ce Commissaire du Gouvernement a indiqué : ” La reconnaissance de l’existence d’un culte suppose ainsi que soient réunis un élément subjectif et un élément objectif : le premier est constitué par une croyance ou une foi en une divinité ; le second, qui matérialise le premier, est l’existence d’une communauté se réunissant pour pratiquer cette croyance lors de cérémonies. (…) La condition tenant à l’exercice d’un culte ne pose, à notre sens, guère de difficultés, alors même qu’il est clair que le champ couvert par la loi de 1905 n’est nullement limité aux cultes qui étaient connus à cette date (…) L’application de ces critères aux cérémonies organisées par les témoins de Jéhovah ne devrait pas poser de problème au tribunal : (…) la question peut être considérée comme tranchée dans le sens du caractère cultuel de leurs cérémonies. ”
6) Sur la base des arrêts du 23 juin 2000 de la plus Haute Juridiction administrative, de nombreux tribunaux administratifs et cours administratives d’appel ont constaté que chaque association locale des Témoins de Jéhovah dont ils analysaient les activités ” ne remettait pas en cause l’ordre public “, ” ne troublait pas l’ordre public ” ou ” n’était la source d’aucun trouble à l’ordre public ” (voir la liste détaillée de ces décisions in ” Les Témoins de Jéhovah : pratique cultuelle et loi du 9 décembre 1905 “, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2004, Annexe III, p. 89).
7) À l’heure actuelle, le statut cultuel a été accordé à 875 associations locales des Témoins de Jéhovah dans 98 départements. Il a également été accordé à deux associations nationales (arrêté du Préfet des Hauts-de-Seine, 9 juillet 2002, Association les Témoins de Jéhovah de France ; arrêté du Préfet des Hauts-de-Seine, 6 juin 2003, Fédération chrétienne des Témoins de Jéhovah de France). Ces décisions administratives sont prises en toute transparence, à l’issue de ” contrôles de l’administration “, conformément aux principes et règles de procédure prévues par la loi du 9 décembre 1905, en ce y compris les articles cités par l’UNADFI. En d’autres termes, les Témoins de Jéhovah ” n’ont rien à craindre ” et ne cachent rien. Leur fonctionnement et leur financement ne sont nullement confus pour qui se donne la peine de les analyser sans les dénaturer !
 Enfin, la position des juridictions et des Pouvoirs publics français est conforme à la Convention européenne de sauvegarde des droits de l’homme. La Commission Européenne a entériné le règlement amiable intervenu entre les Témoins de Jéhovah de Bulgarie et le gouvernement bulgare, portant sur l’institution d’un service civil alternatif au service militaire, et à la position des Témoins de Jéhovah sur les transfusions sanguines (Commission européenne des droits de l’homme, Association chrétienne Les Témoins de Jéhovah c/ Bulgarie, 9 mars 1998, Requête n° 28626/95).
Les Témoins de Jéhovah souhaitent rappeler qu’ils sont respectueux des lois et connus pour leur attachement aux paroles du Christ de ” rendre à César ce qui appartient à César ” (Évangile de Matthieu, chapitre 22, verset 17).
Pour tout contact, vous pouvez téléphoner au 02.32.25.55.55.
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Communiqué des Témoins de Jéhovah
- Le 20 juillet 2006 -
Nous notons avec satisfaction que le président de la MIVILUDES a publiquement reconnu que ” les Témoins de Jéhovah ne font rien d’illégal ” (Dépêche AFP, 19 juillet 2006).
Il émet toutefois des réserves sur l’éducation de nos enfants qui, selon lui, ” ne développe pas l’esprit critique “.
Les faits démontrent pourtant le contraire : cette année, une des plus jeunes bachelières de France est Témoin de Jéhovah. Tout juste âgée de 15 ans, elle a été reçue avec mention.
Un tel résultat n’est pas exceptionnel. Chaque année, de jeunes Témoins de Jéhovah s’illustrent par l’excellence de leurs résultats scolaires et universitaires.
Pour tout contact, vous pouvez téléphoner au 02.32.25.55.55.
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Informations / Communiqué du 18 juillet 2006
Communiqué officiel des Témoins de Jéhovah
- Le 18 juillet 2006 -
Les Témoins de Jéhovah s’étonnent de la polémique créée autour de leur rassemblement chrétien annuel à Lens. Ils déplorent de voir des individus, animés par des mobiles douteux, s’en prendre aux droits fondamentaux reconnus par la République : la liberté de réunion et la liberté de religion.
Comme chaque année à pareille époque, les ADFI s’efforcent de capter l’attention des médias. La recette est toujours la même : profitant de nos rassemblements cultuels d’été, les ADFI interpellent les pouvoirs publics pour leur demander sans sourciller de nous interdire.
La seule référence qui compte à leurs yeux est la liste ” noire ” des sectes dressée en 1995 par une commission d’enquête parlementaire. Les anti-sectes feignent d’ignorer les évolutions administratives et surtout les décisions des plus hautes instances juridictionnelles. Ces actions irresponsables et l’agitation malsaine qui en découle contribuent à isoler la France, seul pays européen où les Témoins de Jéhovah sont ainsi traités.
Les Témoins de Jéhovah sont considérés comme une religion en Europe où ils comptent deux millions de fidèles. En France, les pouvoirs publics leur ont reconnu le statut cultuel.
D’ailleurs, il y a tout juste 100 ans, en 1906, les Témoins de Jéhovah ont créé leur première association cultuelle dans le Nord de la France à Haveluy (Denain). Des familles partagent cette foi depuis cinq générations. Leurs rassemblements religieux annuels se tiennent depuis des décennies. Ils ont loué le stade Bollaert à Lens de 1990 à 1999. Ils ont aussi loué des lieux de réunion à Lille et Douai, comme dans d’autres grandes villes de France. Et jamais leurs réunions chrétiennes n’ont troublé l’ordre public.
L’assemblée chrétienne qui aura lieu le week-end prochain à Lens n’est que l’une des trente tenues en juillet et août 2006 pour les 250 000 Témoins de Jéhovah de Métropole et d’Outre-mer.
Face à cette nouvelle campagne d’hostilité, nous restons sereins et réaffirmons notre détermination à défendre notre droit d’exister et de pratiquer notre culte chrétien.
Pour tout contact, vous pouvez téléphoner au 02.32.25.55.55.
Témoins de Jéhovah: ”Quoi? Encore ???
Encore ?
Ben oui. Encore.
On va en reparler.
En tous cas tant qu’on ne leur foutra pas la paix.
Pour répondre un peu à toutes les amabilités qu’on nous a balancées, avec des sourires qui nous ont fait tout chose.
Mais bon, calmez vous. On ne parlera pas que d’eux.
On parlera aussi du reste.
Tout le reste.
Qui, d’ailleurs, est de la même veine.
Vu que, ce qui leur arrive n’est, malheureusement, qu’un épiphénomène dans ce giga problème de notre civilisation (sic) : l’exclusion.
Avec toutes ses composantes : l’orgueil, l’égoïsme, l’avidité, le mensonge, la haine, la tuerie.
Sans oublier la chienlit qui va avec. Et là, il y a le choix.
Une civilisation, disait Dumont, mais des millénaires après Platon dans sa République, laisse, ou devrait laisser, derrière elle, ce qu’elle a de plus beau.
La nôtre laissera une montagne d’armes, de munitions, de discours prometteurs non honorés, d’ordures et de déchets chimiques et nucléaires dont on ne saura que faire durant une éternité et demie.
Auxquels il faudra ajouter les pyramides de cochonneries morales que notre système engendre et fait proliférer.
FOU-TUS
Cassandre ?
Sûrement pas et ce pour répondre, aussi, à notre scientifique intervenant qui nous a reproché de ne pas voir dans l’état de l’humanité et de la planète, une somme de progrès et d’actions civilisatrices comme le monde n’en a jamais connu.
Tel que.
Selon notre correspondant, il y a de plus en plus de Terriens et de moins en moins de pauvres et de malades.
A croire que de nos jours, tous les cris d’alarme ne sont que de la musique douce…
Tiens, juste un petit truc à ce propos.
Vous connaissez Yves Paccalet ?
Un copain de Cousteau, qui a traîné ses guêtres tout autour de la planète.
Il a vu. Il a vécu. Et il en est revenu.
Il a testé. Il a expérimenté. Il a alerté. Il a publié. Il a espéré. Il a milité.
Et maintenant, il en a marre lui aussi.
Et qu’est-ce qu’il dit ?
Qu’on est foutus. Oui FOU-TUS.
Et il vient de publier un bouquin dont le titre vous fera comprendre que ceux qui croient au Paradis et à la Civilisation (saluez) soit rêvent éveillés, soit mentent effrontément.
Le titre ?
‘’L’humanité disparaîtra, bon débarras.’’
C’est publié chez Arthaud. 200 pages, 15 euros (1)
Le chant du cygne, sauvage, ce bouquin ?
Probablement pas car il continuera à se battre.
Mais sans illusion.
La fin de l’Histoire, lui, il la connaît.
Cela nous ramène à qui, on vous le donne en mille ?
Aux Témoins de Jéhovah justement.
Qui nous serinent, à longueur de dimanches, que l’Humanité va dans le mur.
Ces Témoins à propos de qui, il nous est demandé si nous, on ‘’en est’’.
Ben oui quoi, c’est classique comme question. Et tout à fait bien honnête. Bien logique.
Si vous dites du bien de quelqu’un, dans l’esprit de nos guides actuels, cela signifie, évidemment, qu’on est maqué avec lui.
Dans l’esprit des personnes intéressées, l’on ne peut évidement pas être désintéressé n’est-ce pas ?
Lorsque j’étais gamin on disait ‘’Comme on est on croit les autres.’’.
Alors ?
On l’est ou on l’est pas ?
Ben voyez-vous, on ne tombera pas dans cette soupe nauséabonde.
Qui consiste à dire que si l’on prêche pour les juifs, les musulmans, les catholiques ou les francs-maçons, cela veut dire qu’on est soi-même juif, musulman, catholique ou franc-maçon et que, de ce fait, on est disqualifié.
Sauf, d’ailleurs, que…et justement !
Le piège en question est à double fond…
Car pour savoir ce qui se passe dans toutes les catégories citées, nos intelligents s’adressent…justement, à leurs représentants, tout simplement.
Qu’ils considèrent comme des interlocuteurs valables. Des sources sûres. Pour causer des catholiques, on cause aux cathos, pour parler des Juifs, des musulmans, bref, vous connaissez la suite. Tous crédibles.
Par contre, lorsqu’il s’agit des Témoins de Jéhovah, là, le ton et la manière changent.
Vous en dites du bien ? Donc vous en faites partie. Ou vous avez des intérêts communs. Ou alors, vous magouillez avec la secte.
C’est cela que nous appelons chez nous la logique à tomber du fauteuil.
Ou, c’est pareil, la pensée unique.
Alors nous préférons avoir le réflexe corporatiste : nous sommes journalistes, encartés, point.
Et personne n’a à mettre en doute notre opinion politique, religieuse ou philosophique encore que de ce côté-là, ça aide dans la carrière.
Et puis dites, suspecter les gens pour mettre en doute leur travail, c’est un délit non ?
Mais que fait la HALDE grands dieux ?
MINISTRE, JUGES, TOUS TEMOINS DE JEHOVAH ?
Au fait !
Mais que fait Nicolas Sarkozy ?
Est-il lui aussi témoin de Jéhovah ?
Ou est-il payé par eux ?
C’est sûrement l’un ou l’autre non ?
Loupé ! Désolés !
Il s’est contenté de donner à ses interlocuteurs une petite leçon de républicanisme.
En rappelant ce que les tribunaux administratifs et le Conseil d’Etat ont dit et promulgué. Savoir que ‘’ces gens-là’’ ont un culte, et que donc, et il ne finasse pas avec le mots, ils SONT une religion. Et que la loi c’est la loi pour tout le monde.
Ca dérange ?
Eh bien si vous voulez, une, être poursuivi devant la HALDE et accessoirement au pénal, et deux, risquer de l’être pour mise en doute de la parole du ministre de l’Intérieur et des arrêts de justice, – lesquels, ministre et juges, selon vous, doivent bien être plus ou moins Témoins de Jéhovah n’est-ce pas-, vous prenez des risques.
Libre à vous.
Mais au fait !
Et vous cher ami, n’êtes vous pas aussi un Témoin de Jéhovah ? Sait-on jamais par les temps qui courent ?
Vu la pub que vous leur faites, directement ou indirectement.
Oh, pas de la meilleure il est vrai mais sait-on jamais. Ca peut toujours leur servir de figurer dans une aussi prestigieuse encyclopédie.
Ou alors êtes-vous journaliste ?
Quel numéro de carte professionnelle ?
Ce n’est pas secret. Ni l’année où vous l’avez obtenue.
Ou, peut-être aussi, avez-vous été Témoin de Jéhovah et êtes-vous, aujourd’hui, une des millions de malheureuses victimes de la secte ?
Bon. On n’insiste pas.
Cela dit, il serait peut-être bon de faire figurer l’info opportunément rappelée par le Ministre de l’Intérieur, référence tout à fait d’actualité, dans une encyclopédie sérieuse non ?
ET LES STATISTIQUES ALORS ?
Quoi encore ?
Ah oui !
Au fait !
L’on n’a eu aucune réponse à propos de ce problème de transfusion.
Quid des stats concernant les décès POUR CAUSE de TS ?
Ah bon ?
Il n’y a pas de stats ?
Et pourquoi donc dites voir ?
Pas de réponse non plus à propos de notre remarque sur les centaines, les milliers, voire les milliards de cas de pédophilie imputables aux Témoins…
Si, une réponse…dans l’intelligent et délicat journal du Var, Var-Matin comme il s’appelle.
Il cite, anonymement c’est plus sûr, l’ADFI qui, elle, fait état de, on cite à notre tour: ‘’Un ancien Témoin de Jéhovah condamné à 12 ans de prison pour pédophilie’’.
Vous avez bien lu !
Un Témoin, vous vous rendez compte, certes ancien mais c’est tout aussi terrible. A croire qu’être Témoin un jour c’est l’être toujours. Comme la lèpre quoi. Ou le VIH. Même vaguement stabilisé, jamais séronégatif.
Notez tout de même que de notre côté, ce n’est pas douze ans que nous lui aurions administré au gazier, mais quarante ou cinquante. Témoin ou pas.
Ceci dit, quand viendra donc le temps béni où pour chaque cas de pédophilie, sera dûment mentionnée la religion, ou l’ancienne religion, du coupable ?
Untel, ancien juif, ou ancien mormon, ou ancien catholique, ou ancien mus…euh oui bon, de ce coté là, vaut mieux se méfier, les coups de boule antiracistes (2), partent vite…
On n’a pas entendu, non plus, quoi que ce soit à propos de l’argument que nous avons avancé, savoir que ‘’ces gens-là’’ représentent le seul groupe au monde qui, massivement, collectivement, ni ne fait la guerre, ni ne prend parti, politiquement, pour ou contre un régime quelconque.
Et que cela nous paraît être, à moins de verser dans le crétinisme absolu, LA preuve qu’eux, au moins disent ce qu’ils font et font ce qu’ils disent.
La Paix en premier lieu.
Ce qui nous semble fort, de nos jours, être le bien le plus précieux que tout le monde encense mais que personne ne met en œuvre…hormis les Témoins de Jéhovah.
Evidemment, ça aussi, ça en particulier, dérange horriblement.
Au milieu d’une réunion de mafieux, venez donc prêcher les vertus de l’obéissance aux lois républicaines et mettre en pratique…Vous nous en direz des nouvelles…
C’est sûr que ces zèbres de prêcheurs impénitents dérangent.
Mais comme cela nous paraît tout plein rigolo, alors on les trouve sympas et on prend leur parti, ne serait-ce qu’en raison des attaques crapoteuses dont ils sont les victimes.
CHAMPIONS DU MONDE
Eh oui…
Depuis les Etats-Unis dans les années 30, jusque dans la France terre de libertés en 2006, en passant par le III° Reich de mille ans, le paradis du petit père des peuples (un des anciens maîtres à penser de monsieur Jean-Pierre Brard, ou alors faisons-nous erreur), et tous les pays où on les poursuit, on les fusille, les étripe, les brûle vifs, ou, plus benoîtement, ‘’on’’ mobilise les medias pour les faire disparaître.
Aujourd’hui, ils sont devenus les champions du monde catégorie parias.
Et si nous en parlons pour la France, eh bien c’est parce que nous intéressons, tout de même, à ce qui se passe chez nous.
Cela dit, on arrête.(3)
Ca nous gave.
Et peut-être vous aussi.
Pour vous nettoyer les idées, allez donc vous parfaire votre esprit critique sur TF12346.
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Los Testigos de Jehová reúnen a 5.000 personas en el Coliseo
Durante los tres días de asamblea se bautizaron 35 nuevos miembros
(Lugar: la voz | a coruña)
La asamblea de distrito convocada por los Testigos de Jehová celebrada durante este fin de semana reunió a casi 5.000 personas en el Coliseo de A Coruña. Durante la congregación, convocada bajo el lema Nuestra liberación se acerca , tuvo lugar el oficio del bautismo, que se celebró el pasado sábado, y a través del que 35 asociados pasaron definitivamente a pertenecer a los Testigos de Jehová.
Los responsables del evento consideraron un éxito la asamblea debido al alto índice de participación y porque todos aquellos que acudieron a la convocatoria tuvieron la oportunidad de «escuchar un mensaje de consuelo y esperanza». La sesión de ayer finalizó con la representación de un relato bíblico, con vestuario de época, en el que se destacó el significado de la lealtad a Dios.
Además del congreso en A Coruña se celebraron otros 70 en el resto de España, con una afluencia prevista de cerca de 125.000 personas.
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Witnessing to the masses Oft-maligned group hopes to boost its image during trip to Saginaw
DENISE FORD-MITCHELL
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Jehovah’s Witnesses Gary C. and Evonne M. Bocksch park on Holly Lane and gather religious literature for their door-to-door ministry in the sweltering temperatures roasting the blacktop in Saginaw Township.
They choose their first house and gather their courage. There’s a vehicle in the driveway, but no one responds to the Saginaw Township couple’s knock. They repeat at a second house; again no response.
As the duo approaches a third house, the homeowner darts inside. A fourth homeowner tracking their movements from the front door closes it as they head that way.
“That’s OK,” Gary Bocksch (pronounced Botch) says without skipping a beat. “We don’t push it. We typically find one in 100 genuinely interested in what we have to say. But it’s that one that makes it all worthwhile.”
Evonne Bocksch adds, “Most of the people are nice. There are some who are not interested but will take the reading information.”
William P. McCarthy, 62, doesn’t close the door or rudely greet the pair when they ring the doorbell to his home.
“We need all the peace and help we can get, especially with this war going on,” McCarthy tells the Bocksches. Agreeing, the couple hands the General Motors Corps. retiree a “personal invitation” to join them at the “Deliverance at Hand!” District Convention beginning Friday and share a few biblical scriptures of encouragement.
Combating stereotypes
Thrilled with McCarthy’s receptive response, the couple crosses to another home .
An elderly woman cautiously cracks open her iron security door to hear Evonne Bocksch’s invitation to join her at the upcoming Jehovah’s Witnesses convention in Saginaw.
“I’m a Republican,” the woman blurts out as she accepts a convention flier. Realizing she has misspoke, the woman clarifies, “I’m a Presbyterian and a Republican,” before turning away.
Rejection comes with the territory, the couple admits. Jehovah’s Witnesses are one of the most attacked and criticized religious groups in America.
Jehovah’s Witness organizers are hoping a three-weekend convention in Saginaw will counter their image problems.
The difference
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity (God the father, the Son and Holy Ghost) — the cornerstone of mainline Protestant denominations.
Witnesses believe God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator. The relationship between God and Jesus is like that of father and son: Jesus is the first creation of God. He was fully human when he walked on Earth. The Holy Spirit is an active force which intervenes for God on earth. The three — God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit — are separate entities.
That belief coupled with the biblical scripture 1 John 4: 2-3, is the primary bone of contention, says the Rev. Mark Karls, 59, pastor of Ames United Methodist Church, 801 State in Saginaw.
“You can’t help but love them because they are so serious about their faith and their search for God,” Karls says. “However, most mainline Christians believe the scripture ‘By this you know the spirit of God: Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming and now it is in the world already,’ means Jesus coming in the flesh is the same as God coming in human form. However, they don’t believe Jesus was God in human form.
“It’s baffling because that’s the absolute clearest part of scripture telling us how to determine whether something is of God or not, but it’s interpreted so differently. I don’t argue with them. Instead I just point to the magnificence of Jesus and leave it at that,” Karls says.
Another reason people shy away from Jehovah’s Witnesses is their unwillingness to learn or respect the doctrines of other faiths, says the Rev. Rodrick A. Smith, 44, pastor of Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 721 Johnson in Saginaw.
“It sets Jehovah’s Witnesses apart from all the other denominations when you deny … the divinity of Christ and the Trinity,” Smith says. “Growing up, we were always cautioned to stay away from Jehovah’s Witnesses and not to let them into your house because people didn’t consider them a denomination, but a cult because of their beliefs. I never knew what their beliefs were until I went to seminary.
“Unfortunately, one of the adverse affects of Jehovah Witnesses knocking on doors for so long, is whenever people see anyone coming to their door today, they automatically assume ‘oh, here come those Jehovah’s Witnesses again,’ then they slam the door in your face, too. The perception that only the Jehovah Witnesses go around knocking on doors makes it really hard for other ministries trying to reach out to folks.”
The mission
If all goes as they plan with the convention, more residents will welcome them into their homes, instead of greeting followers contemptuously.
This year, leaders of the 6.6 million-member denomination in 235 countries — including more than 950,000 in America — for an extensive campaign requiring members to hand-deliver about 75,000 ‘personal invitations’ to their “Deliverance at Hand!” District Convention this weekend in Saginaw.
Followers are using the fliers to convince nonmembers to reconsider longheld stereotypes characterizing believers as closed-minded, cultist pesters.
The first three-day session — expected to draw at least 5,400 followers — begins at 9:30 a.m. Friday, and continues through Sunday, July 30. at TheDow Event Center, 303 Johnson in Saginaw.
Organizers are repeating the free event Friday through Sunday, Aug. 4-6; and Aug. 11-13, enabling attendance by 11,000 additional followers from its 49 Michigan congregations. Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties are home to 11 congregations, representing more than 1,000 members.
“Ignorance is the worst enemy of anything,” says Daniel R. Ferriss, 45, an elder in the Grayling congregation. “There are so many things people looking in from the outside don’t know or understand about us. We’re good people who tend to dwell on the positive.”
Ferriss, who wasn’t raised in the faith, is trekking with his wife, Rene (pronounced Reen) to Saginaw for the first weekend of the conference. He joined Jehovah’s Witnesses more than 18 years ago.
“My personal goal during the three days is to learn how to be a better public minister, better myself as a Christian and improve my understanding of the Bible,” he says.
When they’re not at convention events, some members will bunk with fellow Witnesses, while others will join the Ferrisses at hotels throughout the community. What mid-Michigan residents won’t encounter, however, is a surge in the number of Witnesses going door-to-door promoting Bible education, Ferriss says.
“With the number of people we’re expecting, it’s not feasible. So members will continue their public ministry when they return to their respective home territories,” he says.
Doorbell ministry
When Gary Bocksch is not pounding the pavement “spreading the Kingdom message” as a volunteer elder with the Saginaw North congregation at 6025 Shattuck in Saginaw Township, the 57-year-old Mott Community College professor teaches electronics at the Flint campus. Evonne Bocksch, 55, is a homemaker. They were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses and raised their five children, now 27 to 37, in the faith.
The couple and their fellow North congregation members will attend the second convention session at TheDow.
“We try not to be a bother to anyone,” Gary Bocksch says. “We know there are people who don’t want to talk with us, and that’s OK. We try to find folks who are interested in having a free home Bible study with us.”
On this particular day, the couple starts their door-to-door ministry on Lawndale heading north to Tittabawassee in Saginaw Township. After a short drive from the Kingdom Hall, they pull their car into the driveway of a retired Saginaw teacher’s home. They’ve befriended the man, but he’s not home. They place a religious tract detailing some of their beliefs in his door before leaving.
“Our mission is to show people how Bible principles can help them in their lives,” says Gary Bocksch as he travels east on Tittabawassee before turning south on Coralberry to Holly Lane, where he continues knocking on doors.v
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Witnessing for the faith
Thousands arrive for an annual Jehovah’s Witness gathering.
Baptized (BOBBY COKER, ORLANDO SENTINEL)
KISSIMMEE — Jeff and Lucia Clay, both Jehovah’s Witnesses, remember the days when their tiny Bible reading group gathered in a downtown Kissimmee home more than 50 years ago.
“It was 14 of us; and half were from Orlando. We had no central heat, no air conditioning. We’re thrilled to death by how much we’ve grown,” said Jeff Clay, 79.
On Saturday the Clays, who helped build the first Kingdom Hall in Kissimmee in 1955, joined about 9,000 people at their faith’s annual district convention at the Silver Spurs Arena in Osceola Heritage Park.
The gathering is expected to draw about 65,000 visitors from Naples to Daytona over seven weekends through Sept. 3, with three of the three-day sessions conducted in Spanish. About 10,000 visitors are likely to be newcomers.
Crowds drawn to the convention, titled “Deliverance at Hand!” are a sign of how things have changed in Central Florida since the religion made a foothold here.
Today, about 50,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses are spread out over 400 congregations in the region, which includes Tampa, St. Petersburg, Daytona Beach and Naples, said spokesman Michael Roth.
Osceola alone has 29 congregations and seven Kingdom Halls.
Growth is attributed in part to demographic trends, but also largely to the work of congregants. Jehovah’s Witnesses share the word of God by knocking door-to-door in neighborhoods to gain adherents to the faith.
“We’re very active in the ministry,” Roth said. “It’s something we do for a lifetime . . . not just for a couple of years.”
Roth said Jehovah’s Witnesses in the area have learned to overcome obstacles, such as language barriers, by setting up congregations in several languages, with Spanish congregations outnumbering English-speaking ones in many counties.
More recently, they’ve bypassed a very local problem.
“There are number of communities here that are gated,” said Roth. “So how do you reach those people? Well, you can call them or you can write them. We do both.”
During Saturday’s convention, one of 266 such events held in 73 cities nationwide from May to September, many attendees described the gathering as a way to socialize, meet “brothers and sisters” from neighboring congregations and strengthen their faith.
More than 1 million people are expected to participate in conventions throughout the United States.
Speakers preached to a full house about overcoming Satan’s temptations, keeping their marriages strong and watching for signs of the end of the current world order, which Jehovah’s Witnesses believe they must prepare for urgently.
Other topics included keeping a “scriptural view of health care,” which advised against “obsessive preoccupation with physical appearance.”
The format was similar to that of weekly meetings attended by Jehovah’s Witnesses, which rely heavily on Bible reading and are punctuated by song.
Many congregants — women in dresses and men in jackets and ties — could be seen taking notes.
RaChelle Coleman, who drove from St. Petersburg to attend, said messages at the convention were “useful” as she left a morning session.
“We are living the last days of this system of things,” said Coleman, 34. “It’s important to remember how to resist the desires of the world because Satan uses different tools to keep us away from Jehovah.”
The faith estimates its membership at 6.6 million members worldwide. Jehovah’s Witnesses are politically neutral and often refrain from “worldly activities,” such as fighting wars and voting. They often frown upon higher education if pursuing it is perceived to interfere with someone’s devotion to God.
Dozens took the opportunity Saturday to be baptized. George Harris, from Tampa, described the experience as “the beginning of a new life.”
Harris, 20, said he grew up in the religion but began to feel closer to it when he noticed events in the Bible were “coming true.”
“I never felt the need to be baptized until now,” he said. “I started to see all these things happening in the world . . . the world just didn’t seem as kind anymore.”
Iva Uzunov, a 23-year old waitress from Kissimmee, was submerged in a pool set up by the main stage. Her baptism, she said, marked the end of a search for meaning she began in earnest a year ago after hearing of the religion from a co-worker.
“I was partying and doing sinful things,” she said. “But everything felt empty. I feel today I’ve washed away some of those bad things. I’ve made some serious changes in my life.”
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Bautismo colectivo ante 5.300 testigos de Jehová en el pabellón Príncipe Felipe
La asamblea religiosa “¡Nuestra liberación está cerca!” termina hoy en Zaragoza con varios discursos.
Unos jóvenes suben a la piscina del bautizo colectivo, ayer en el pabellón Príncipe Felipe
EVA DEFIOR. Zaragoza | Se ponen en pie 5.330 personas. Alzan el libro “Cantos y alabanzas de Jehová” abierto por el cántico 204 y corean al unísono: “¡Aquí estoy!, envíame”. Sus voces hacen temblar el pabellón Príncipe Felipe de Zaragoza y los protagonistas del “bautismo colectivo” se levantan de las gradas para vestirse con el “modesto” bañador y la toalla..
Esta escena se repite a lo largo de todo el planeta. Los testigos de Jehová celebran su Asamblea de Distrito “¡Nuestra liberación está cerca!”. En España, los más de 100.000 miembros de esta organización religiosa se reúnen en más de 20 capitales. Hoy termina en Zaragoza este encuentro multitudinario, en el que han participado 20 congregaciones formadas por aragoneses, catalanes, riojanos y navarros.
Una de las ceremonias más destacadas de esta reunión es el bautismo colectivo. En él, los testigos que han estudiado y conocen a fondo la Biblia piden ser bautizados. “Como Jesucristo en el Jordán, se les sumerge íntegramente en una piscina”, explicaba Juan Carlos Muñoz, uno de los organizadores.
La conversión de Silvestre
El primero en bautizarse como ministro de Jehová fue Silvestre Hernández, de 82 años y vecino de la localidad de Alcañiz. Está enfermo de cáncer y del corazón. “Cualquier día morirá. Hace tres años que estudia la Biblia y no es el mismo desde entonces. Antes era un cascarrabias. Jehová le ha devuelto la felicidad. No puedo creer que vayamos a resucitar juntos en el Paraíso”, afirmaba su esposa, Angelina, de 73 años.
Con ayuda y bajo la mirada de más de 10.000 ojos, subió las escaleras de la piscina, se tapó tembloroso la nariz y se sumergió. Al salir lloró sin cesar. Angelina, que tampoco podía contener la emoción, le ofreció un largo abrazo y le secó el cuerpo con una pequeña toalla de color fucsia. Tras él, otros 47 testigos de Jehová pasaron por esta improvisada “pila” bautismal, la mayoría menores de 25 años.
“Este dios es bueno, lo he comprobado en las Escrituras. Por eso he entregado mi vida a él voluntariamente y basaré mis actos en sus palabras”, argumentaba empapado Samuel Villabrilla, un zaragozano de 15 años que fue bautizado junto a su hermano gemelo, Jonathan. “En el colegio sólo los amigos íntimos saben que estamos en esto. No dicen nada, aunque a veces no estamos de acuerdo en muchas cosas”, añadía Samuel.
Durante los tres días que dura el encuentro, los fieles intercambian experiencias y aprenden de la Biblia. En concreto de la “Traducción del Nuevo Mundo de las Santas Escrituras”, editada por ellos mismos.
En los altavoces suena la palabra de Dios en la boca de varios oradores que leen textos bíblicos. “Satanás es el gobernante del mundo y tiene su descendencia desde Caín. Somos proclamadores del Reino de Dios y del Paraíso que reemplazará a este tiempo, el tiempo del fin. Sólo 144.000 personas irán al cielo para gobernar con Dios”, se escucha. Desde las gradas, ancianos, familias, solteros, jóvenes e incluso niños no quitan ojo de su Biblia y toman nota de las explicaciones. “La palabra de Dios tiene un valor práctico y nos ayuda a solventar los problemas personales. Somos predicadores de su mensaje, vamos de puerta en puerta”, explica Juan Carlos Muñoz, que acude semanalmente a la Escuela del Ministerio Teocrático, donde se aprende oratoria. En Zaragoza, los fieles se reúnen en los llamados “Salones del Reino”, distribuidos por los barrios del Actur, Torrero, San José, Las Fuentes y Delicias.
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Testigos de Jehová organizarán gran jornada en Trujillo
Asamblea “¡Nuestra liberación se acerca!” durará tres días
(Por Douglas Juárez Vargas) A partir de este fin de semana, los Testigos de Jehová organizarán una intensa campaña con el fin de entregar una invitación personal a todas las familias de Trujillo, así como de los otros distritos, para que se apersonen a la Asamblea de Distrito 2006 “¡Nuestra liberación se acerca!”. Tres días será la duración de esta actividad, en el Local de Asambleas “Los Almendros”, desde el 04 al 06 y 11 al 13 de agosto, a las 9:30 de la mañana.
Esta extensa campaña, efectuada por voluntarios, no solo se llevará a cabo en nuestra ciudad, sino en 155 países más. Todos los testigos, incluidos los miembros de las 79 congregaciones de la zona, quisieran que millones de personas aceptaran la invitación que les ofrecerán de casa en casa como parte de la labor de educación bíblica.
Por otro lado, se dio a saber, la necesidad de la humanidad por tener libertad de los efectos del pecado, convencidos del poder de Dios, quien es el único salvador y liberador del mundo. Para culminar, se aclaró que el evento será totalmente gratuito y no se harán ningún tipo de colectas.
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