User:Jpb1968
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm doing what I can to work on articles related to Jehovah's Witnesses, including:
Jehovah's Witnesses Doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses Practices of Jehovah's Witnesses New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures Charles Taze Russell
as well as a few others.
I hope I can contribute to Wikipedia by offering accurate information about what I know from my 20 years as a Witness. I am trying to write as objectively as possible, without making extravagant claims. Obviously, most people want to present themselves in the best possible light, and I am certainly no exception.
[edit] NOTE TO CRITICS OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Yes, I know all about the mountains of criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses on the internet and elsewhere. Some of it is factual, but in my view a lot of it is prejudiced, paranoid or sometimes just hateful. In any case, the fact that there is a lot of it does not mean that it's valid. Now I'm not against having accurate facts about the Witnesses in Wikipedia, including the less impressive chapters of our history, but at the same time I see first hand how the Jehovah's Witness faith gives a lot of comfort and meaning to the lives of many people (including myself) and I think it's important that Wikipedia reflects that too.
I'm sure that if I make any mistakes or gloss over anything, you'll be happy to let me know!
[edit] NOTE TO OTHER JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
I imagine you have realized by now, as I have, that we can not, and should not, seek to delete all unfavorable information about Jehovah's Witnesses from Wikipedia. That will only lead to confrontation and edit wars (I'm relatively new, but as far as I can see from the archives, this has already happened.) In any case, there's no need to get hung up about mistakes made in the past by members of our religion, including those in positions of responsibility. We aren't perfect and we don't have to pretend to be. Over the years, I think I've heard just about every possible accusation against our organization. Although most of them were, in my opinion, unjustified, I have to admit that there was more than a grain of truth in some of them. And yet, here I am, still one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Personally, I really don't care if the Watch Tower once condemned vaccinations and organ transplants, or if Charles Taze Russell believed that the Great Pyramid of Giza held divine revelations. No-one gets it right all the time! God can use us despite our frailties. And as for weakening my faith ... well, if people who know about the torture, cruelty and inhumanity of the inquisition still remain in the Catholic faith, then I'm not about to lose my faith over matters of much less importance!
Information about the many positive aspects of our faith is in short supply on the internet. Let's try to make Wikipedia an objective source of information about us.
