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.
