Question Number 12 - Secret Elder Meetings

Dear Watchtower Society,

The elders are given a secret publication called "Pay Attention To Yourselves and to All the Flock", creating within them what is called "a granfalloon", also known as "an imagined community" - basically, a cult wihin a cult.
The elders have secret meetings called "elder meetings" that other members are not permitted to attend, furthering the "imagined community" even more.
In these meetings, sins of members are often "discreetly" discussed, members' pasts are discussed - their habits, their shortcomings, basically areas of the members' lives where the elders are programmed to help, all usually being done without the permission and never with the input of the ones being discussed - discussions that are based on third party hearsay. Often, misrepresentations of ones being discussed are stated as facts with no defense able to be offered directly from the ones being scrutinized.
In a case where a child molester is released from prison and shows up in the kingdom hall, the elders meet and discuss this new situation. Are the other members warned of the person's past as law enforcement agencies and school districts do? Are the single female members with children given clear warning about the person approaching their children with candy and gifts? Or, does the WTS' secret structure hidden within the "organization" prevent this secret knowledge from being presented to the other so-called "brothers and sisters"? Why are certain members - elders - allowed to discuss this situation, but other members are not allowed to attend these meetings and also be included in these discussions? Wouldn't a "loving" so-called "family" being supposedly led and protected by what you label as "glorious ones" want to do all they can to protect the so-called "sheep"? Why does your "legal department" forbid them from doing so? Who really directs your organization? God, as you say, or the legal department?

Question Number 11 - Slave

Dear Watchtower Society,

As representatives of a class of people that you've assigned the title "Faithful and Discreet Slave" - all of your belongings, comfortable surroundings, living quarters in high rise apartments overlooking all of New York City in Brooklyn, automobiles, gasoline, vacations spent traveling the world - all of this given to yourselves freely by contributions from members - hardly what one would expect from people who have assumed the title "slave" for themselves. Yet, about seventy miles north of you in Wallkill, New York are a group of people you've categorized with yourselves as "Bethelites" that live day by day with their futures as to where they are going to end up due to recent numbers being sent "into the field" as "special pioneers" held in the balance, who work long days in a printing factory where a part of their day consists of changing their clothes into suits and ties for meals, giving a pretense of formality to visitors who may tour the facility, believing this to be a "spiritual paradise", when in reality they are living completely regimented lives in exchange for food and living quarters - slaves' wages - printing propaganda to promote your brand of totalitarian government. "Who really is the faithful and discreet slave...?" Inquisitors would like to know.

Question Number 10 - Reasoning From The Scriptures

Dear Watchtower Society,

You have a publication to assist your members in the house to house ministry. It's entitled "Reasoning From the Scriptures". Here are several quotes from the book:

*** rs p. 405 par. 2 Trinity ***

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states: "The formulation ‘one God in three
Persons’ was not solidly established..."

*** rs p. 41 par. 3 Apostolic Succession ***

The New Catholic Encyclopedia admits: " . . . the scarcity of documents..."

*** rs p. 353 par. 3 Saints ***

The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XI, p. 670, acknowledges: "Usually in
the N[ew] T[estament], all prayer..."

*** rs p. 176 par. 4 Holidays ***

The New Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges: "The date of Christ’s birth is..."

Wouldn't a more appropriate title be "Reasoning From The New Catholic Encyclopedia"?

Question Number 9 - "Progressive Revelation"

Dear Watchtower Society,

According to the 1985 Awake! magazine, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible is complete.

*** g85 12/8 pp. 16-17 The Bible—Do We Have All of It? ***

"Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Bible is complete."

Yet, when students of the Bible under your tutelage advance through the stages of indoctrination in accordance to your teachings, you introduce a new concept to them somewhere down the road during your "public meetings" and through more advanced publications, something called "progressive revelation", a term you've never actually defined for your members.

*** w94 3/15 p. 12 par. 11 Jehovah The God of Purpose ***
Therefore, down through the centuries, he has progressively revealed his purposes to his faithful servants.

*** yb75 p. 145 Part 2—United States of America ***

"Jehovah certainly blessed his people back in the 1920’s and provided
the things they needed to advance the interests of the Kingdom. He also proved himself to be a God of progressive revelation."

Isn't it true that the "progressive revelation" you speak of is, in fact, a concept that suggests that God reveals "truth" progressively through certain divine messengers over time and that this revelation is adapted to time periods and places where they are revealed, even giving new meaning to old prophecies and other Biblical principles, a concept that originated in the 1800's in Persia by a religious movement called the "Bahá'í Faith"?

The channel today that you claim God is using would be the organization that you, The Watchtower Society, are the figurehead of. So, two tenets your members are "encouraged" to accept are 1) that the Bible is complete and that God has provided man with everything necessary for life and knowledge about Him, but 2) that you, The Watchtower Society, must reveal "progressive revelation" to your members as divine messengers of yesteryear have done, working hand in hand with God Himself in enlightening mankind with spiritual insight that you have labeled "new light" - mankind that you have stated repeatedly has been trapped in satanic darkness for thousands of years. That's quite a tall glass of water that your members are "encouraged" to drink after being told for a great portion of their recruitment that all that is necessary for living and learning about God is the Bible.

Question Number 8 - Your Take on Brainwashing

Dear Watchtower Society,

What is your take on the subject of brainwashing?

*** g80 1/8 p. 13 Has Mass Persuasion Affected You? ***
"The person most easily brainwashed is the 'normal,' average individual. Such a one is already conditioned to accept opinions of others rather than to form strong convictions of his own. On the other hand, those hardest to brainwash are ones with unconventional ideas and strong convictions and who are not afraid of what others think."

What are some suggestions for your members to avoid being brainwashed?

*** g80 1/8 p. 14 Has Mass Persuasion Affected You? ***

"Have strong convictions: As noted above, the person most easily brainwashed is the one quickly swayed by others. Do not go along with an idea just because your associates accept it. Make sure that the views you adopt are truthful. The best way to do that is by comparing them with the inspired Word of God, which is ultimately 'the truth.'

Find the reason: Inadvertently we often accept attitudes without knowing what is behind them. For instance, people in your
community may have a negative view of certain races or ethnic groups. But why? If you find the reason unconvincing, why adopt the viewpoint?

Speak up for what you know to be right: This will give you opportunity to test what you believe and more firmly entrench the truth in your life. If you are convinced of the truth of a matter after thorough search, do not be disconcerted by ridicule from others.

Live the truth: Do not look for excuses to compromise what you
know to be right. Remember, if something is right and proper, it will work out for your good. Do not be tricked into thinking that you are missing out on something or that you are unduly restricted because you conform to what is right.

In some respects our minds are like a container of water. If one adds
just a drop or two of ink, all the water quickly becomes colored."

These suggestions to avoid brainwashing you've given seem to be quite sound. If certain members of your corporation continue to follow these suggestions you've given in regard to your teachings, what will the ultimate result be for these members?

Question Number 7 - Brainwashing

Dear Watchtower Society,

In the summer of 1975, Steve Hassan, a former leader of the destructive cult called the Moonies attended an assembly of followers and relates the experience involving an accusation from a popular magazine against the authoritarian leader Sun Myung Moon that he was brainwashing his followers and how Moon handled the accusation. Here's Hassan's words taken from page 56 of the book he authored entitled "Combatting Cult Mind Control":

"I do remember, however, Moon giving us a speech in which he said a popular magazine had accused him of brainwashing us. He declared, 'Americans' minds are very dirty - full of selfish materialism and drugs - and they need a heavenly brainwashing!' We all laughed."

Do you agree with Sun Myung Moon's defense against the accusation of brainwashing members and also find his response to the accusation comical?

Question Number 6 - Sons of God

Dear Watchtower Society,

You have repeatedly reinforced a tenet into the minds of your members that only the "anointed class" of members, the "144,000" are adopted as sons of God.

*** w87 3/15 pp. 14-15 par. 17 ***

"What about those to whom Jesus referred as his "other sheep"? (John 10:16) Do they enjoy such peace with God? Not as sons of God, but Colossians 1:19, 20 does include them as recipients of divine peace."

*** ip-2 chap. 15 p. 222 par. 12 ***

"Though not among the anointed sons of "Jerusalem above," these faithful companions of the anointed fill an important and long-prophesied role."

If the "other sheep" are not sons of God, who are they the sons of?

Question Number 5 - France

Dear Watchtower Society,

Why haven't you informed the members of your corporation that the reason you were denied tax exemption in France is because the French government categorized your institution as a socially and psychologically destructive cult after reviewing many cases involving your insistence upon young members in particular to go knocking on doors and to refuse whole blood transfusions while at the same time allowing all fractions of blood to be accepted and the unnecessary pressure that places upon them?

Question Number 4 - The Emphatic Diaglott and "The Anointed"

Dear Watchtower Society,

In 1902, the printing plates of the word for word translation of the Greek Scriptures called the Emphatic Diaglott was purchased by one of your representatives and then presented to you as a gift.

The Emphatic Diaglott printed by you today, is it something that must be ordered only through congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses and something not accessible to the public?

Here is a quote by Jesus Christ from the Emphatic Diaglott that wasn't printed by you for the first two decades after the plates were purchased and "presented as a gift" to you:

Mt 24:5 "Many for shall come in the name of me, saying: I am the Anointed; and
many they shall deceive. Not therefore go you after them." Luk 21:8 (Emphatic
Diaglott)

Isn't it true that some of the members of your religious order claim to be The Anointed? At what point did certain members begin referring to themselves as The Anointed, an expression connoting a higher spirituality than others?

If given the choice, should the members under your authoritarian rulership continue obeying you and keep waiting for "new light", or should they begin listening to Christ and not go after the ones among you calling themselves The Anointed anymore?

Question Number 3 - "Flock Book"

Dear Watchtower Society,

Is it true that you furnish what you label as "overseers" with a "disciplinary", textbook that must be precisely followed?

Is it also true that this textbook must be kept confidential from both the public and members not in positions of leadership within the agency under your autocratic leadership?

This raises more questions; What does this publication contain that must be kept confidential? Why must it be kept confidential? Does this create an environment of mind-control called an imagined community among the leaders comparable to Hitler's cadre of easily identified, brownshirted, jackbooted thugs - forging solidarity among the few "in the know"?

Wouldn't this form a pyramidal agency based on a heirarchy of secret knowledge, another propaganda technique? How do you convince the members under your leadership that you represent an organization that is "united in worship" when there are elements within the organization privy to techniques and procedures that are hidden from others? Please bring "new light" so your members will not rebelliously leave, psychologically disturbed.

Question Number 2 - "Unsuitable Fish"

Dear Watchtower Society,

Regarding the explanation given for a quote Jesus Christ made at Matthew 13:47-50 involving angels separating individuals at the time of Armageddon* found in the July 15, 2008 Watchtower magazine, page 21, paragraph 19: Why do you stereotypically label and compartmentalize people that have stopped studying the Bible with members of your corporation by comparing them to "unsuitable fish"?

***w08 7/15 pg 21 par 19***

"As with the unsuitable fish, many who once studied the Bible with Jehovah's
people have stopped studying."

Do you feel you are assisting the angels before Armageddon by psychologically separating and further isolating your members from society in general through the skilled use of a propaganda technique called simile? Do you expect your members to actually believe this information coming from you as true or are the members merely accepting this information as just another tenet so as to continue "remaining in good standing" with their families and within the congregation?

Wouldn't enforcing members to accept a tenet such as the one previously mentioned or face shunning by the ones you've appointed as "overseers" be a form of mind-control? By marking certain members that cannot consciously accept certain tenets as being prideful and rebellious, coupled with ordering their family and friends to shun them if they do not feel they can accept a tenet decreed by you, you have placed yourself in a very detestable light in the eyes of the public in general. Would this motivate your members to obey your rigid demands out of love or out of fear of being branded and then expelled as they've seen carried out by you repeatedly?

Are there annual reports on the number of people you've branded as "unsuitable fish" and then expelled? Based on the increase in peak publishers over the past ten years subtracted from the total sum of ones baptized over the past ten years it would appear that the number of ones that are no longer active members is quite a bit larger than many current members are aware of. This high turn over is rather strange for a group that claims to have "the truth". Of course, simple mathematic computation is not something the members of your corporation are programmed to become very skilled in which would explain their ignorance when it comes to doing simple math.

Will the inquisitors have to wait for "new light" (alterations to the "present truth") in order to find out why you have assumed the role of angels by labeling ones that do not agree with your tenets as "unsuitable fish"?

*(Matthew 13:49)

"...the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the
righteous..."

Question Number 1 - The Use Of Images In Worship

Dear Watchtower Society,

In your writings, you strongly denounce the members of religions other than your own over and over again for displaying images related to religious service you deem false, yet, there is an image

that you have copyrighted and is referred to as a "logo" identical to this image,

worn by the Ephesian goddess Artemis as a crown atop her head prominently displayed on your publications.

Why do you feel the use of images is acceptable for the corporate leaders of your organization but not for the members of your organization or for the members of other religions? Should the inquisitors "wait on Jehovah" for an answer?