Does the 11/97 'Our Kingdom Ministry' Article "Good News on the Internet" Actually PROHIBIT Jehovah's Witnesses from "Prepar(ing) Internet Pages" or Witnessing Online?

[Guest Kurt]

Opposers of Jehovah's Witnesses love to use the quote found in the 11/97 'Our Kingdom Ministry' Article "Good News on the Internet".

The specific part of the quote in question is as follows:

"The purpose of our Web site [the Official Website of Jehovah's Witnesses] is, not to release new publications, but to make information available to the public in electronic format. THERE IS NO NEED for any individual to prepare Internet pages about Jehovah’s Witnesses, our activities, or our beliefs."  - Our Kingdom Ministry; November 1997, p. 3 "Good News on the Internet" (Emphasis mine)

The Official Website of Jehovah's Witnesses have made "information available to the public in electronic format." But it would be a stretch to say that the wording "there is no need" is a direct prohibition on anyone who would also desire to make "information available to the public in electronic format." The wording "there is no need" means exactly what it says - that additional information posted on-line concerning Jehovah's Witnesses is NOT NECESSARY when one can simply refer an interested one toward the relevant article already available at the Official Website of Jehovah's Witnesses pertaining to the topic at hand. What better place to refer interested ones than to the Official or Authorized Websites of Jehovah's Witnesses themselves?

One thing about the internet is the problem of anonymity. I have seen many websites that claim to be favorable toward Jehovah's Witnesses but were actually set up by apostates looking to fool unsuspecting ones. If one wishes to not fall for this trap, then they should by all means always stick to what they know they can depend on - the Official Website of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Because the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society does not have any control over the content of other websites on the internet, it is very understandable that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society does not want to be associated in any way with unauthorized websites, favorable or unfavorable. With this in mind, the managers of several pro-Witness websites (including this one) have posted the following disclaimer (or wording like it):

"This website is NOT an official website of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

"This is a personal website that is not officially supported nor endorsed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The Watchtower Society cannot be held responsible for the content found on this blog/website.

"Links are offered here for additional reading, however the manager of this site does not necessarily support every comment on all of these sites. You are invited to conduct your own research.

"To those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses, please remember that if you are looking for the authoritative information on beliefs, practices and news releases you should look to the source at http://www.jw.org/en."

Source

  

[The Librarian]

Ironically, wasn't the writer of the 1997 article ANONYMOUS himself (herself)?

WTBTS has been at the forefront of PROTECTING anonymous free speech in the US courts (setting precedents worldwide)

 

Back then most JW's were basically under the impression that they should "stay away from the Internet". Social media had not yet surfaced and the Internet was not nearly as popular worldwide as it is today.

It was quite a shock to many to see us get our own "Television" channel a couple years ago due to years of condemning TV evangelism. However times change....

 

As you can all see... now we all talk freely on this platform in this category... on Facebook and on Twitter etc....and are now even encouraged to do so.

Largest Facebook group of JW's (English) y el grupo en español mas grande de Facebook

Largest Facebook Page regarding JW's (English) (español) (francais) (portugués) etc...

Twitter JW news

and on and on.....

I want to personally thank the admin of this forum for allowing me to post on here freely and share JW history and photos from our archives when other platforms have tried to silence / censor my posts.

[JaniceM]

This was a good clarification.