User talk:AuthorityTam/Draft of Jehovah's Witnesses and governments

Outline for article rewrite
'''My plan is to freely edit my own draft outline. I'm not trying to hide anything, I just need to keep my sanity.'''

Jehovah's Witnesses consider themselves literal subjects of a literal government: God's Kingdom. Their interactions with human governments are generally intended to be consistent with what might be expected of a foreign ambassador or envoy whose primary allegiance is to his home government, but who recognizes his obligation to obey most of what is required for law and order by the governments under which he resides. An individual Jehovah's Witnesses adherent's decisions regarding a particular instance of governmental interaction may be influenced by Watch Tower publications' explicit instruction and implicit examples, and by his personal Bible understanding and conscience.

For example, at one time Jehovah's Witnesses canvassers obeyed or ignored each posted "No Trespassing" sign according to personal conscience; the Witness would weigh evidence of that homeowners' wishes against the Witness's conviction to preach at that home. Since 19xx, Witnesses have been explicitly instructed to obey "No Trespassing" signs.

Nationalism as worship
 * Flags and idolatry
 * Anthems and patriotic displays
 * Deference not worship
 * Acceptable (bowing to royalty, many titles)
 * Unacceptable (Kissing rings, many titles)

Ethnic pride (seealso)

"Superior authorities"
 * Law-abiding
 * Onesimus and reporting
 * Taxes
 * Oaths
 * Voting
 * Jury duty
 * Civil service (neighborhood watch etc)
 * Government employment
 * Political appointments

"The Bible—A Practical Guide for Modern Man", The Watchtower, May 1, 1993, page 7: In one African country, the diamond industry was the scene of much stealing and corruption. It was decided to put a different person in charge. The government ministers were asked to submit names of those who they thought would be suitable for the position. When the cabinet met to decide, the names were eliminated one by one, mainly for corruption. Finally, they came to the last name on the list—the president’s candidate. “But he is not a member of the party!” objected one minister. The president replied that this was not a political position. “He is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” stated another. “And that is why he gets the job,” said the president. He then added: “We know they are honest, and this is the kind of person we need. We know we can trust him.” Yes, those who apply Bible principles often find that this is to their advantage even in today’s world.

Politics

Military service
 * Ancient
 * Patriarchal defense (Abraham, etc)
 * Israel
 * Other pre-Christian
 * First century
 * Modern
 * Nationalism
 * "Beating swords into plowshares"
 * Bloodguilt
 * Revelation
 * Military industries
 * No weaponry
 * No military agency (stand-in, contractor)
 * Not majority of compensation
 * Perception by community

Illegitimate governments
 * Rebellions
 * Guerrillas
 * Secessions

Biblical "beasts" and symbols
 * Ancient
 * Modern
 * Non-beast symbolism
 * "The earth" which swallows

United Nations

Rewrite
The structure you have here looks (mostly) pretty good for a new article. However, the purpose of your article seems to be to present JW beliefs about governments, as opposed to the distinctly different existing article, which discusses JW interactions with governments. I would therefore recommend that the existing article be retained (and possibly moved), rather than replaced by your new article.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 05:52, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't disagree with the above. At some point in the distant future, I'll solicit for suggestions at Talk:Jehovah's_Witnesses_and_governments. It's premature to do that now, I think. --AuthorityTam (talk) 11:08, 17 July 2009 (UTC)