DISCUSS COURT CASE HERE JW.org - Jehovah’s Witnesses Mobilize Global Response to Threat of Ban in Russia

[Beggar for the Spirit]

Nice draft Sister Pauline. I like how cordial you are and how personal you make it. 

You asked for any suggestions, I was wondering if you might like the suggestion in the instructions that we may add 1 or 2 of the specific facts about the case against Jehovah's Witnesses . You don't have to but just an idea.

[Guri]

8 hours ago, BibleSteve said:

I am preparing to write my 6 letters but cannot bring myself to refer to President Putin as "dear" or "esteemed" neither seem appropriate as I personally don't hold him "dear" or "esteemed" It just makes me feel hypocritical for the same reasons I would not address the pope as your holiness or a priest as reverend. So I was thinking of writing ;

 

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin President of Russia

Sir,

I am writing regarding ..................

 

Does that seem appropriate do you think? Or am I wrong?

 

 

0.  

Biblesteve

 

My dear brother. I'm sorry but I would like to be bit frank. Please don't get me wrong. 

We all know from the Bible that we need to be kind towards everyone. Our speach must be mild and respectful, especially to the people who are in high authority. 

 

Instruction given by the governing body clearly says that we need to be nice and respectful. 

 

Do yo remmeber Felix in Bible times? "Insight on the scriptures" says that Felix was: "The procurator of the Roman province of Judea who held Paul prisoner for two years." How did Paul address him? In Acts 24:3 we read: "At all times and also in all places we acknowledge this, your excelency Felix, with the greatest thankfulness". 

As we see, Paul gave us excellent example how to address the oficials (respectfully). So by being polite (using "dear" or its synonyms) would reflect Christian qualities and will show respect to our humble God Jehovah and our true faith. So despite the fact that Putin or Medvedev aren't our favourite people we still need to address them in respectful and humble manner.

 

That's what I think and if I'm wrong please forgive me and meantime correct me, I'm ok to hear different opinions.

 

Love you brothers and I hope we will obey to the instructions given by Jehovah's organisation and most of us will manage to send a letter as soon as possible. 

 

 

[Beggar for the Spirit]

Very good scripture Brother Guri.

(Acts 24:3)

. . .at all times and also in all places we acknowledge this, Your Excellency Felix, with the greatest thankfulness.
 

Yes likely the citizens under Felix didn't feel that Felix showed "excellence" as a leader, but yet the Christians showed him honor rendering him the title "Excellency" as they learned from Jesus to show such respect. Notice how good of a leader Felix was:

 

*** it-1 p. 819 Felix ***
Tacitus described him as one who “practised every kind of cruelty and lust, wielding the power of king with all the instincts of a slave.” (The Histories, V, IX) He is reported to have engineered the killing of High Priest Jonathan. Suetonius says that Felix became the husband of three queens. (The Lives of the Caesars, Claudius, XXVIII) Such description agrees with what we learn of Felix in the Bible.
 

[Rocco]

This is "amazing" to see the support of so many willing brothers and sisters as well as children ready and supportive of the GB direction to "Write, Write, Write" and we are!. "I love our organisation for that reason, we are humble and willing to work along with direction".   Even if they refuse to open a single letter (which we know they will  and get the idea). What a shout of praise to our brothers and sisters in Russia to see every dignitaries mailbox filled with millions and millions of letters! That in itself is a witness and the rest.... Jehovah Has in complete control. Start of the GT???....speculation of course.

[Victoria]

On 22.03.2017 at 0:16 PM, Skye said:

I just spoke with a Russian colleague to inquire about the postal system in Russia, and she did not hesitate telling me that my letters would definitely arrive  , only in 2 months' time! 

Victoria, are you online? Is that really so? If yes, would registered mail find its way to the recipients faster? Or do we have to use DHL/Fedex/UPS to beat the deadline?

 

I am sorry I don't know how to make it faster. Russian post is really not fast. I guess all you can do is to write letters as soon as possible. But I hope it will not take 2 months! Anyway your letters will not be in vain.

[Traycie]

From Alabama,  USA its $1 to send 1 letter.  I plan on writing all of them as much as I can.  It really is about volume. 

[Thomas Walker]

BTW, to everyone posting their letters online?

 

I've heard that open letters sent to the public as well can be considered a threatening, or at least confrontational letter.

 

Not sure what the rules are here, but just letting you know.

[Ahuvah]

20 minutes ago, Victoria said:

I am sorry I don't know how to make it faster. Russian post is really not fast. I guess all you can do is to write letters as soon as possible. But I hope it will not take 2 months! Anyway your letters will not be in vain.

Jehovah is behind it Victoria, he has a purpose for this, we may not see the full story - yet ... but we will all be watching. Letters coming in that volume may demand a separate service maybe and addressed to Mr. Putin? Just watch.

[EverlastingLifeInView]

1 hour ago, ROCCOEXPRESS said:

This is "amazing" to see the support of so many willing brothers and sisters as well as children ready and supportive of the GB direction to "Write, Write, Write" and we are!. "I love our organisation for that reason, we are humble and willing to work along with direction".   Even if they refuse to open a single letter (which we know they will  and get the idea). What a shout of praise to our brothers and sisters in Russia to see every dignitaries mailbox filled with millions and millions of letters! That in itself is a witness and the rest.... Jehovah Has in complete control. Start of the GT???....speculation of course.

Brother Andy, how can this be the start of the Great Tribulation when the fall of Babylon the Great hasn't happened yet? We don't know when the king of the north will be exposed, it could be before or during the Great Tribulation. 

 

w13 7/15 paragraph 6 says: 

 

What will signal the start of the great tribulation? Jesus foretold: “When you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains.” (Matt. 24:15, 16) In the first fulfillment, the “standing in a holy place” occurred in 66 C.E. when the Roman army (“the disgusting thing”) attacked Jerusalem and its temple (a place holy in the eyes of the Jews). In the larger fulfillment, the “standing” will occur when the United Nations (the modern-day “disgusting thing”) attacks Christendom (which is holy in the eyes of nominal Christians) and the rest of Babylon the Great. The same attack is described at Revelation 17:16-18. That event will be the beginning of the great tribulation.

 

 

 

[New World Explorer]

5 hours ago, Bjern said:

I didn't know that bro. Mark Sanderson speaks Russian!

 

https://tv.jw.org/#en/video/VODOurOrganization/pub-jwb_201703_14_VIDEO

I was actually impressed!

I do understand some Russian and his pronunciation and even accent was very good!

[Victoria]

On 22.03.2017 at 0:55 PM, Skye said:

On the importance of this point in the instructions: "Give attention to proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation.—be pp. 71-73."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1344464/Letter-to-Putin-leaves-schoolgirl-out-in-the-cold.html

A well-meaning but sloppily written letter to President Putin from a 17-year-old Russian schoolgirl has cost its author her leaving prize and a place at medical school. 

Anna Provorova......followed the example of thousands of other Russians....by writing to the president for help....Her spelling was beyond reproach. But she broke two rules of Russian correspondence: she forgot the exclamation mark after the greeting "Esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin!" and spelt the word "you" without a capital letter. Kremlin staff who received the request sent it back to the local authorities, where officials behaved as though the head of state had suffered a grave insult.....In a move reminiscent of the Stalin era, inspectors arrived at the school......to insist on identifying which of the school's 156 pupils .....had penned the unsigned letter. They demanded that Anna be denied the leavers' silver medal that had been recommended by the headmistress. Later, the school discovered that her algebra and essay grades had been revised downwards.

I am sure if you write in Russian you must write according to Russian rules. But if you speak another language you must know its rules and apply them, not Russian rules

[Old]

5 hours ago, BibleSteve said:

22 March 2017

 

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin President of Russia

 

Dear Sir,

 

As one of Jehovahs witnesses I write concerning the recent change in attitude by the law authorities in Russia suggesting that Jehovahs Witnesses are an extremist group and considered a threat to other people within your country, with the greatest of respect nothing could be further from the truth.

We use the Holy Scriptures (Holy Bible) as our day to day guide as a manual for how to live, it teaches us to be peaceable to all people to be humble and to respect authority and show unselfish love for one another and our neighbours, we strive to live by the laws of the land and pay our full dues and taxes with honesty.

 

We are known throughout the world as having great respect for others and being good citizens carrying on peaceful activities and especially helping others to adopt a similar God pleasing and humble attitude. It has often been said by persons that are not Jehovahs witnesses that if everyone was just like you “Jehovahs witnesses” what a happy world it would be.

 

We don't carry on any activity that could be considered extremist or criminal in nature, to that end we condemn violence and criminality we don't even allow our children to play violent video games that are so popular amongst youths today. In many lands we even go into prisons and preach to help people change their ways and become good citizens and many respond favourably and completely change their attitude to life and become peaceable loving and neighbourly. Jesus taught that all those that live by the sword will die by the sword, we don't take up arms and there are many accounts especially last century when our brothers were killed by the authorities rather than take up military service and be forced to kill other humans in war. 

 

Our weekend meetings have a thirty minute talk which is called “a public talk” based on the bible and is just that a bible based talk that will use scriptures to help people to have a happier and more fulfilling life and is open for all to attend free of any charge. There is nothing that could be considered even remotely “Extremist” about it.

 

The safety and welfare of all the people in Russia is I am sure a priority for your leadership and rightly so, but to ban religious meetings and study of the bible for 170,000 of your most respectful and peaceful citizens surely cannot be justified? more than 170,000 model citizens who pay their taxes their dues and respect to the government rule and to the state surely should not be persecuted for living this way should they?

 

Russia’s “Federal Law on Extremist Activity” is being misapplied to Jehovahs Witnesses in Russia. Jehovahs Witnesses are known worldwide for our peaceable activities and under no circumstances would we ever resort to any activity that could be legitimately construed as “extremist” or criminal in nature.

 

I urge you please consider your personal intervention in these planned actions by your judiciary against a people that are kind, respectful and show love to all and are a threat to no-one please allow them to continue their Christian meetings and gathering together for what is simply pure worship of God. Thank you

 

Please accept my apologies for not being able to write in the Russian Language

 

Sincerely 

 

 

All that on one page per instructions. Very small type I assume.

 

[Sally]

NEW YORK—Threatened with an imminent ban on their worship in Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses are responding with a direct appeal to Kremlin and Supreme Court officials for relief through a global letter-writing campaign. The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is inviting the over 8,000,000 Witnesses worldwide to participate.

On March 15, 2017, Russia’s Ministry of Justice filed a claim with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to label the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia as extremist and liquidate it. The claim also seeks to ban the activities of the Administrative Center. If the Supreme Court upholds this claim, the Witnesses’ national headquarters near St. Petersburg will be shut down. Subsequently, some 400 registered Local Religious Organizations would be liquidated, outlawing the services of over 2,300 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. The branch property, as well as places of worship used by Witnesses throughout the country, could be seized by the State. Additionally, individual Jehovah’s Witnesses would become subject to criminal prosecution for merely carrying out their worship activities. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the claim on April 5.

“The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses wants to heighten attention to this critical situation,” states David A. Semonian, a spokesman at the Witnesses’ world headquarters. “Prosecuting non-violent, law-abiding citizens as if they were terrorists is clearly a misapplication of anti-extremist laws. Such prosecution is based on completely false grounds.”

The Witnesses’ global campaign is not without precedent. Nearly 20 years ago, Witnesses wrote to defend their fellow worshippers in Russia in response to a smear campaign by some members of the government in power at the time. Additionally, Witnesses have initiated past letter-writing campaigns to motivate government officials to end persecution of Witnesses in other countries, including Jordan, Korea, and Malawi.

“Reading the Bible, singing, and praying with fellow worshippers is clearly not criminal,” adds Mr. Semonian. “We hope that our global letter-writing campaign will motivate Russian officials to stop this unjustifiable action against our fellow worshippers.”

Instructions for Letter-Writing Campaign

In order to participate in the letter-writing campaign, please use the link below to download the instructions and mailing addresses.

Download Instructions - see link below for download

https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/jw-mobilize-global-response-to-threat-of-ban/

Edited March 23, 2017 by Sally

[Victoria]

20 hours ago, kejedo said:

I am going to try to write part of my letters in Russian: at least Salutation and Complimentay Closing. Suggestions, corrections welcomed.

                                                                                                                                                         Dasvidania, Tvoya sestra

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                            

                                                                                     .  

IMHO English is better if you are not fluent in Russian. As you can see even Russia girl made some mistakes.

[New World Explorer]

13 hours ago, Tortuga said:

The idea of a group or congregation getting together to have a letter writing party sounds odd to me. My perception is that each individual should prayerfully consider each letter as they write it. Getting together in a group seems more festive than prayerful. Do I need my thinking adjusted on this?

Kindly sending adjustment tool, please apply it gently

[Tortuga]

6 minutes ago, Gregexplore said:

Kindly sending adjustment tool, please apply it gently

Sure, now stand very still, this wont hurt a bit.....

[New World Explorer]

Do you remember this..?

 

17.Elders who are reading this article can draw some useful conclusions from the account we have just considered: (1) The most practical step that we can take to prepare for the coming attack of “the Assyrian” is that of strengthening our faith in God and helping our brothers to do the same. (2) When “the Assyrian” attacks, the elders must be absolutely convinced that Jehovah will deliver us. (3) At that time, the life-saving direction that we receive from Jehovah’s organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint. All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not. (4) Now is the time for any who may be putting their trust in secular education, material things, or human institutions to adjust their thinking. The elders must stand ready to help any who may now be wavering in their faith.
18 The time will come when God’s modern-day servants will appear to be just as vulnerable as the Jews trapped inside Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s day. At that time, may all of us draw strength from Hezekiah’s words. Let us remember that with our enemies “there is an arm of flesh, but with us there is Jehovah our God to help us and to fight our battles”!—2 Chron. 32:8. W13 11/15

 

[New World Explorer]

We have this topic already... ...long one too.

[Sally]

I rewrote the letter that I found on this thread and corrected a few mistakes.

 

22 March 2017

Viacheslav Mikhailovich Lebedev (put the name of the official you are writing to)

 

Dear Sir,

 

As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I write concerning the recent change in attitude by the legal authorities in Russia suggesting that Jehovah’s Witnesses are an extremist group and considered a threat to other people within your country. With the greatest respect I implore you that nothing could be further from the truth. We use the Holy Scriptures (Holy Bible) as our day to day guide, our manual for how to live. It teaches us to be peaceable to all people, to be humble, to respect authority and show unselfish love for one another and our neighbors. We strive to live by the laws of the land and pay our full dues and taxes with honesty.

 

We are known throughout the world as having great respect for others and being good citizens. We are  peaceful to all and love to help others adopt a similar God pleasing and humble attitude. It has often been said about us that if everyone were just like you Jehovah’s Witnesses what a happy world it would be.

 

We don't carry on or advocate any activity that could be considered extremist or criminal.  We condemn violence and criminality in all its forms. We don't even allow our children to play violent video games that are so popular among youths today. Jesus taught that all those that live by the sword will die by the sword so we don't take up arms. There are many accounts, especially in the last century where our brothers were killed by the authorities rather than take up military service and be forced to kill other humans in war. 

 

Our weekend meetings have a thirty minute talk which is called “a public talk” based on the Bible and is just that, a Bible based talk to help people live according to Bible standards which leads to a happier and more fulfilling life. It is open for all to attend free of charge. There is nothing that could be considered even remotely “extremist” about it.

 

The safety and welfare of all the people in Russia is, I am sure, a priority for your leadership and rightly so. Can banning the religious meetings and study of the Bible for 170,000 of your most respectful and peaceful citizens be justified?  More than 170,000 model citizens who pay their taxes, their dues, respect to the government rule and to the state surely should not be persecuted for living exemplary lives, should they?

 

It appears that Russia’s “Federal Law on Extremist Activity” is being misapplied to Jehovah’s Witnesses in your country. Jehovah’s Witnesses are known worldwide for our peaceable activities and under no circumstances would we ever resort to any activity that could be legitimately construed as “extremist” or criminal in nature.

 

I urge you please, to consider your personal intervention in these planned actions by your judiciary against a people that are kind, respectful and show love to all and are no threat to anyone. Please allow them to continue their Christian meetings and gathering together for what is simply pure worship of God.

 

Please accept my apologies for not being able to write in the Russian Language.

 

Sincerely,

[Raven]

A question for those planning to send multiple letters to the same address: Will you be writing completely new letters, rewording the first letter, or sending a repeat the same letter on a different day?

[James the Less]

Dear Mr. Putin,

 

No doubt you are aware that the worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses is being threatened in Russia. On March 15, the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a claim with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation seeking to declare the religious organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses as extremist, criminal in nature, and ban our activity. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses myself, I am writing you to implore your intervention, as not only will a ruling in favor of this claim have dire consequences for the more than 170,000 Witnesses in Russia, it will have enormous implications on rights to religious freedom that affect hundreds of thousands more non-Witnesses living in Russia. Please allow me to explain why I feel the decision should be reconsidered.

 

An extremist person is defined as one who resorts to immoderate, uncompromising, or fanatical methods or behavior, especially in being politically radical. In fact, Jehovah’s Witnesses are far from extremist people. We live our lives by Bible guidelines, which encourage us to lead “a calm and quiet life with complete godly devotion and seriousness.” (1 Timothy 2:2) Rather than being uncompromising in obeying laws set forth by the government, Jehovah’s Witnesses are frequently reminded to follow the Bible’s advice to “be in subjection to the superior authorities.” (Romans 13:1) And instead of being political fanatics, Jehovah’s Witnesses actively and completely refrain from involvement in political issues in harmony with Jesus Christ’s clear command to remain “no part of the world.” (John 17:16) As you can see, the facts show that the labelling of Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist organization is completely without basis; the actions of the more than 8,000,000 Witnesses around the world, including those in Russia, testify to the peaceful and law-abiding nature of our organization’s activities.

 

On February 28, 1996, Russia signed the European Convention on Human Rights. By signing that treaty, Russia’s government declared that its subjects have ‘the right to freedom of religion and the right to practice their religion at home and in public and to change their religion if they want to do so,’ (Article 9) ‘the right to say and write in a responsible way what they think and to give information to others,’ (Article 10) and ‘the right to take part in peaceful meetings.’ (Article 11) I am very appreciative of these human rights as well as the laws of the Russian government that guarantee freedom of religion to all citizens. However, I am deeply concerned that the action that is threatened to be taken against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia would constitute a serious violation of these basic human rights.

 

The last of the Witnesses imprisoned during the Soviet era were released in 1990. Thousands of Witnesses were thrilled to have their reputation cleared, receiving Certificates of Rehabilitation, affirming they were not enemies of the nation, but innocent victims of political oppression. It would be very saddening if the children and grandchildren of these innocent victims of the Soviet era were to face similar religious persecution. I thus appeal to your good judgment to intervene in this matter of great importance to both your country and to millions of law-abiding citizens around the world.

 

Please be assured of my respectful regards.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

So I have fit it all on one page but its relatively small type, I just didn't know where to cut things out because this in its entirety really expresses my feelings about the matter. I'm open to any suggestions.

[Victoria]

I just want to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all participating in this campaign!!! 

I think you need not to write long letters but it would be great if you mail as many letters as possible. Also I would appreciate if you show proper respect for the officials.

Thank you again!

[Margaret]

5 hours ago, Tortuga said:

Is anyone familiar with any type of bulk mailing that would allow an entire congregation to send all of their letters at a lower postal rate?

I am almost sure as long as they all weigh the same, and you have to have at least 100. That was a few years ago.

[hatcheckgirl]

Mailed my first 6.  Off to write some more!

FYI in Australia the stamp is $2.95 normal mail, takes around 14 business days.

[Lance]

Brothers and Sisters 

This is a very important request from "our" governing body, just follow the directions. We are not writing love letters, or protest letters. We are writing letters based on our love for our brothers and sisters. Write a standard, respectful letter that shows our Christian maturity. Every country has a standard format of written communication use it. Look at your information board you will see a standard letter written by your branch office. Use that as an example if in doubt.

Can you count your time? Yes.. But who cares,  this is your brothers lives we are talking about.

Should you use Dear or not ... if that is what is used as a sign of respectful letter writing in your country .. use it .

Will every letter arrive on time? Maybe maybe not ...So who cares .. Jehovah cares that you followed through ... "you did just so"

This is a request from "our" governing body, don't over think it ... just do it.

 

Lance

 

Edited March 23, 2017 by Lance