Suppressed Jehovah's Witnesses Elders' manual "Pay Attention to Yourselves and All the Flock" (1991). While a number of unauthorized excerpts of the document have appeared over the years, including purported HTML versions of most of the book minus illustrations, an authoritative full original scan has hitherto remained out of public view, preventing reliable third party analysis and reportage.

[...]

In a bold move aimed at suppressing dissident Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower Society’s New York headquarters has filed charges with the police against ex-members Kent Steinhaug and Jan Haugland of Norway. Steinhaug reported for questioning this morning (March 4, 1997) to the police station in Skein, his home town.

Both men are accused of violating copyright laws by posting copies of a secret elder’s manual on the Internet. The manual "Pay Attention to Yourselves and to All the Flock" tells local elders how to conduct closed-door trials and other actions controlling the personal lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Among the rules enforced through the manual are forced shunning of family members who leave the sect and the requirement that Witnesses refuse blood transfusions regardless of the consequences in loss of life.

The charges filed against Steinhaug and Haugland allege that they have made the secret manual available to rank-and-file members and to the general public, in violation of a copyright held by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Only Witness elders are allowed to read the book, and an elder must surrender his personal copy if he loses his position in the organization.

[...]

NineBerry wrote:

Analysis of the manual: http://www.watchman.org/jw/1404-1.htm

stijndeloose wrote:Oh, yes... I remember a time when I wasn't supposed to watch Tom & Jerry because it 'incited violence'.

astrowhiz wrote:

stijndeloose wrote:Oh, yes... I remember a time when I wasn't supposed to watch Tom & Jerry because it 'incited violence'.

Haha, yeah. It was the same with lots of cartoons - He-Man, Thundercats etc. The strangest was the Smurfs debacle where they were kinda unofficially banned cos of anecdotes of smurf dolls being demon possessed and coming to life, or saying swear words. I always think that JW's are in a lot of ways a Satanist organisation. Probably more than 50% of the articles from the WBTS are focused on the devil and his feindish ways. It wasn't the love of god that kept me in the JW's, a godly concern for people always seemed lacking, but more a fear of satan.

stijndeloose wrote:

astrowhiz wrote:

stijndeloose wrote:Oh, yes... I remember a time when I wasn't supposed to watch Tom & Jerry because it 'incited violence'.

Haha, yeah. It was the same with lots of cartoons - He-Man, Thundercats etc. The strangest was the Smurfs debacle where they were kinda unofficially banned cos of anecdotes of smurf dolls being demon possessed and coming to life, or saying swear words. I always think that JW's are in a lot of ways a Satanist organisation. Probably more than 50% of the articles from the WBTS are focused on the devil and his feindish ways. It wasn't the love of god that kept me in the JW's, a godly concern for people always seemed lacking, but more a fear of satan.

I remember the Smurfs story, too. Ridiculous.

My dad threw a bunch of LPs away when he became a JW, too. Black Sabbath (obviously), Floyd, some Tangerine Dream LPs, some YES albums, Led Zep... meh. Threw away his copy of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy as well.

My leaving was hilarious, actually. I had to hide books that I got from the library because they were 'against' JW teachings. One of the books I got (Franz's "Crisis of Conscience") had to be tucked away particularly carefully. Apostate literatury = .

EDIT: Actually, it's their 'secrecy' and the taboo around non-JW (and ex-JW) literature that got me thinking "What do they have to hide?" and played a big role in my decision to leave. Not the effect they were hoping for, I suppose.

With such a volume of printed matter one could almost say the primary ingredient in the "spiritual food" of Jehovah's Witnesses is wood pulp.

astrowhiz wrote:Oh man that sounds so familiar. I bought Crisis of Conscience too and hid it in the loft. My dad found it and decided to look through other books of mine (most of which were fairly innocuous but I had some Dawkins, Steven J Gould etc) and he decided that my belongings were bringing demons into the house. He built a large bonfire of everything I owned; books, DVD's, computer games, software, and burnt them all
I was still a JW at this point but had started to ask myself why there was a taboo around certain subjects like evolution and JW history. The bonfire incident finally gave me the wake up call I probably needed to get out.

chairman bill wrote:Burning books? Godwin's Law in 3, 2 ...

Seriously, I can't begin to understand the madness* that generates such behaviour

* I use the term advisedly, being a psychologist working in a university department of mental health