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

[Miss Bea]

As they go through the mail, with gritted teeth,(perhaps) With Jehovah being in charge, those with open, good hearts, may quietly stream in. Jehovah does the unexpected, and with class! 

[LeslieDean]

Ahhh, Bea!  Wouldn't that be a great 'How did you come to learn the Truth story?' ----'Well, I was at work one day pouring over countless letters during the current 'trial of the century', knowing that the worlds eyes were upon us.  Reading thousands of letters from around the world, knowing these people could not all possibly know each other, yet they all sounded like they were written from the same person!  How could that be?  Then I turned to the 'banned' publications and could not find one thing that warranted this decision. There was a quiet, pleading going on for not just the welfare of  these 'brothers and sisters' but a message about the God they serve and his purpose for mankind. I observed the quiet, respectful attitude of the 'protestors' as they stood in line before the court proceedings and could see they were being portrayed as something they were not.  As they say, the rest is history,  Literally history.  Read if for yourself in the New Scrolls."

Edited April 13, 2017 by LeslieDean

[rocket]

2 hours ago, Thesauron said:

Why care that Russia's Jehovah's Witnesses face persecution – but get scant coverage?

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2017/4/10/why-care-that-russias-jehovahs-witnesses-face-persecution-but-get-scant-coverage


____
"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."—Matthew 6:21.

 

I made this comment in the comment section of this article to soften the anti-witness folks:

 

Quote

Thank you so much for the article, nicely written. I read somewhere within this article or the comments that JWs receive no support from other religions in Russia in their struggle with Religious Freedom. I would just like to point out that the Russian Baptist Support Jehovah's Witnesses.
http://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/170405e.html English translation
http://www.portal-credo.ru/site/?act=news&id=125170 Russian language
Maybe they feel they are next or maybe they just want to do the right thing. It is refreshing to read an unbiased report, thanks again.

 

[campanula]

21 hours ago, Shawnster said:

 That gives us hope the outcome isn't already set in stone.

I would say this hope more looks like dead than alive. Something like in a clinical death condition.

[Thesauron]

 

I usually just skip the comment sections. There the darker elements of the Internet tend to roll in the mire.

But the article was fine and enlightening. I wish media in my country would consider it. They've been silent on the subject, as far as I can tell.


____
"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."—Matthew 6:21.

[Grant Adair]

  My first draft (in German, translated rudimentarily into English for the forum:)
 

 
Dear Mr. Lavrov,

as a Jehovah's Witness, I am very much concerned about the developments that are currently taking place in Russia in regard to the freedom of  my brothers and sisters in the faith to be able to exercise their faith.

As I have heard, the Russian Ministry of Justice has submitted a request to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to classify the Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremist" and to ban their activities. As a result, 170 000 Jehovah's Witnesses would be prosecuted simply because they gather for worship, read together in the Bible, or speak with others about their faith, yes even for singing songs together.

In this day and age, it is not surprising that a government would do everything in its power to protect its population from the dangers of extremism. However, I assure you that this law is being abused to an absurd degree with regard to the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Before I became a Jehovah's Witness, I abused alcohol and drugs and was a very violent person. But with the help of wisdom from the Bible it was and is possible for me to work on my personality. Do you know what helps me? In the New Testament, Epistle to the Galatians, chapter 5, Paul wrote:
"On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,* kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law"

Mr Lavrov, at the end of the day, classifying the religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist is tantamount to claiming that Jesus Christ was extremist. For none other is our greatest role-model.

As a worldwide people - consisting of over 8 million - we are concerned about the freedom of our faith brothers in the Russian Federation. I urge you to intervene. Please make sure that our Russian brothers in the faith are not wrongly classified as "extremists".

Sincerely
 
-----------------------------

 

Sehr geehrter Herr Lawrow,

als Zeuge Jehovas verfolge ich mit großer Besorgnis die Entwicklungen, die derzeit in Russland in Bezug auf die freie Ausübung des Glaubens meiner Glaubensbrüder und –schwestern stattfinden.

Wie ich vernommen habe, hat das russische Justizministerium beim Obersten Gericht der Russischen Föderation einen Antrag eingereicht, um die Zeugen Jehovas als extremistisch einzustufen und ihre Tätigkeit zu verbieten. Folglich würden 170.000 Zeugen Jehovas strafrechtlich verfolgt werden, nur weil sie sich zur Anbetung versammeln, gemeinsam in der Bibel lesen oder mit anderen über ihren Glauben sprechen, ja sogar nur weil sie Lieder gemeinsam singen.

In der heutigen Zeit ist es nicht verwunderlich, wenn ein Staat seine Bevölkerung versucht, vor den Gefahren des Extremismus zu beschützen. Doch ich versichere Ihnen dass in Hinblick auf die Zeugen Jehovas dieses Gesetz ad absurdum geführt wird und missbraucht wird, um die Falschen anzugreifen.

Früher, bevor ich ein Zeuge Jehovas wurde, hatte ich intensiv mit Alkohol und Drogen zu tun und war ein sehr gewaltbereiter Mensch. Doch durch Erkenntnisse aus der Bibel war es und ist es mir möglich, an meiner Persönlichkeit zu arbeiten. Wissen Sie, was mir dabei hilft? Im „Neuen Testament“, Epistel an die Galater, Kapitel 5 schrieb Paulus:

„Andererseits ist die Frucht des Geistes Liebe, Freude, Frieden, Langmut, Freundlichkeit, Güte,  Glauben, Milde, Selbstbeherrschung. Gegen solche Dinge gibt es kein Gesetz.“

Herr Lawrow, tatsächlich ist es so, dass wer die Glaubensgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas extremistisch nennt, auch behauptet, dass Jesus Christus extremistisch gewesen sei. Denn niemand Geringerer ist unser größtes Vorbild.

Als weltweites Volk – bestehend aus über 8 Millionen – sorgen wir uns sehr um die Freiheit unserer Glaubensbrüder in der Russischen Föderation. Ich bitte Sie dringend, einzugreifen. Bitte tragen Sie Sorge dafür, dass unsere Glaubensbrüder in Russland nicht zu Unrecht als „Extremisten“ eingestuft werden.

Hochachtungsvoll

 

 

 


That will be a wonderful story indeed. My wife and I were musing about an RC experience in the future when Brother Vladimir Putin and Brother Sergei Lavrov will reminisce about how they came into the truth after having their hearts softened by all of the loving letters they received from us and others.


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[Iron Stylus]

23 hours ago, Friends just call me Ross said:

Other paperwork?

Yah mean, like opening their mail?

After sorting out 500,000 letters one of the mailroom clerk shouts out triumphantly "found our water bill!"

[TRUTH04]

After sorting out 500,000 letters one of the mailroom clerk shouts out triumphantly "found our water bill!"

Do you mean the letters we sent to Russia?

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[Iron Stylus]

4 minutes ago, TRUTH04 said:

 

 

Do you mean the letters we sent to Russia?

Sent from my TECNO DP7CPRO using Tapatalk
 

 

Yeah. If it takes 500,000 to get to their water bill, they better keep sorting if they want their lights to remain on!

[stuagu]

18 hours ago, ChocoBro said:

What do both threads have in common?

 

....

 

 

they're both about freedom for our brothers!

 

I am always watching !  

[Cool Cat]

I found this was quite a good alternative report from Wednesdays proceedings.

 

Portal-credo

 

Using various news sources it was quite positive with regards to the days evidence.

 

I liked this bit:-

"Believers who gathered after the meeting, not far from the Supreme Court building, were satisfied with the results of the day"

 

 

 

 

[New World Explorer]

2 hours ago, Iron Stylus said:

After sorting out 500,000 letters one of the mailroom clerk shouts out triumphantly "found our water bill!"

(funny..funny)

[rbrown1205]

On 4/12/2017 at 5:42 PM, Tortuga said:

It was more than that...

I was quoting the figures from the Holocaust Museum, but a book quoted in the literature gave these figures:

*** w84 10/1 p. 8 Impressed by the Integrity of Jehovah’s Witnesses ***
What are these figures? “Some 10,000 were imprisoned, and together they received sentences totalling 20,000 years. One out of every two German Witnesses was imprisoned, one in four lost their lives.
 

The book:

IN 1978 Christine E. King visited the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses in London, England. In connection with a thesis she was preparing for her doctorate, she was seeking information about the experiences of the Witnesses in Germany during the second world war

The title of Dr. King’s book is The Nazi State and the New Religions: Five Case Studies in Non-Conformity.
Most outstanding among Dr. King’s findings are the figures of deaths and imprisonment of Jehovah’s Witnesses. These indicate that the figures previously published by the Witnesses were greatly underestimated. Dr. King’s source for these statistics was a volume published in Munich, Germany, by Michael Kater. “My own perusal of Court and Gestapo records,” she declared, “would certainly support these higher figures.”

 

Dr Kater's book was entitled “Die Ernsten Bibelforscher Im Dritten Reich” in Vierteljahrs Hefte Für Zeitgeschichte, Volume 17, Munich, 1969.  

(Several of his books  on Nazi history are available online, and he is still living)

Dr King, also an extensive author on this subject, was Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive at Stratfordshire University in England until 2011.
 

 

[Iron Stylus]

In Russia, being peaceful is considered especially heinous. In Moscow, the lawyers that represent the Ministry of Justice attempt to prosecute innocent, law abiding citizens. Even though they have no real evidence, these are their stories:

The Watchtower Sessions.pdf

[bagwell1987]

Wow Jeremy, that was a lot of work.

[Tbs77]

Russia labels ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ as extremists and tries to ban them from the country

By Amanda Erickson


https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/14/russia-labels-jehovahs-witnesses-as-extremists-and-tries-to-ban-them-from-the-country/

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[Luezette]

"tries to ban them from the country"? 

Seriously? Goodness! I thought it was just a religious thing as in they not wanting them to preach, etc.

Well, I have a futon for a single sister to sleep on.

Edited April 15, 2017 by Luezette

[Raven]

23 minutes ago, Luezette said:

"tries to ban them from the country"? 

Seriously? Goodness! I thought it was just a religious thing as in they not wanting them to preach, etc.

Well, I have a futon for a single sister to sleep on.

 

Well I did read the term "liquidate" a few times..

[Tbs77]

RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


First they came for the Jehovah's Witnesses, then . . .

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES TRIAL: WHO ELSE IS AFRAID?

Who of believers is next in line for liquidation, ban of activity, and prosecution for extremism in Russia?

BBC Russian Service, 13 April 2017

http://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/170413b.html



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[Luezette]

Oh man! They're crazy!!! Seriously! Oops...is that disrespecting Caesar? 

Edited April 15, 2017 by Luezette

[Bluebell]

9 hours ago, Tbs77 said:

RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


First they came for the Jehovah's Witnesses, then . . .

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES TRIAL: WHO ELSE IS AFRAID?

Who of believers is next in line for liquidation, ban of activity, and prosecution for extremism in Russia?

BBC Russian Service, 13 April 2017

http://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/170413b.html



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shows the churches of Babylon are not concerned about themselves. But... Just wait...

[Tbs77]

 
shows the churches of Babylon are not concerned about themselves. But... Just wait...

If they only knew... rather wanted to know.

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[Tbs77]

RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS

State-controlled TV gives negative coverage to Jehovah's Witnesses

ROSGVARDIA TROOPS DESCEND UPON JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

Rosssia 1 Yuzhnyi Ural, 14 April 2017

Further down webpage:

Ed. note: Here is a more sympathetic version of the news.

ROSGVARDIA STORMS KINGDOM HALL OF CHELIABINSK CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

SOVA Center for News and Analysis, 14 April 2017



http://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/170414a.html

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[bagwell1987]

Listening to Fox News this morn-

Christians most persecuted group in the world as attacks grow:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/14/christians-most-persecuted-group-in-world-as-vicious-attacks-grow.html

 

Must say they didn't mention the attack on us right now, that should have been news worthy as there are 170,000 cong threatened right now. How they over-look THAT bit of information?

Edited April 15, 2017 by bagwell1987

[Good-O]

13 minutes ago, bagwell1987 said:

Listening to Fox News this morn-

Christians most persecuted group in the world as attacks grow:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/14/christians-most-persecuted-group-in-world-as-vicious-attacks-grow.html

 

Must say they didn't mention the attack on us right now, that should have been news worthy as there are 170,000 cong threatened right now. How they over-look THAT bit of information?

 

Sister, I wondered the same when I heard that news this morning.