Richard E Kelly

This is the third and last post related to what is known by most Christians about the Bible that ain’t so. While much of this information is reported in Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus, the following facts have been well known to well-informed, objective Bible scholars for almost two hundred years:

• We do not have the original writings of the New Testament. What we have are copies of these writings, made years later—in most cases, many years later. And none of these copies is completely accurate since the scribes who produced them inadvertently and/or intentionally changed them in places. All scribes did this.



• There are more differences among preserved manuscripts than there are words in the New Testament.
• The twenty-seven books we call the New Testament were not gathered into one canon and considered scripture, finally and ultimately, until hundreds of years after the books themselves were first produced.
• We do not know precisely how old the New Testament is. It could be 1,200 years; we just don’t know. But we do know that it’s not 2,000 years old as I was taught growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness.
• The third-century church father Origen, made the following complaint about the copies of the Gospel at his disposal: “The differences among the manuscripts have become great, either through the negligence of some copyists or through the perverse audacity of others; they either neglect to check over what they have transcribed, or, in the process of checking, they make additions or deletions as they please.” Continue Reading »

Rick Fearon of Six Screens of the Watchtower called me last week and asked if I would like to be interviewed on his Saturday, September 26 Conference Call Show. He told me that fascinating people from all over the world call in, including both former and active Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many other people who are “touched by the tentacles of the Watchtower.” While it sounded interesting, I knew little about his group. So I told him that I needed a few days to think about it before deciding to participate.

I did my research and talked to several friends. As it turns out, Rick and his wife, Inez, are fully committed to a very unique ministry that exposes the false teachings and hypocrisy of the Watchtower Society. It didn’t take me long to decide to appear on his show.

Fearon’s site, along with FreeMinds.org, Ex-JW.com, and BRCI.org , to name just a few, are all doing a great job sharing the truth about this dangerous cult.

I dialed into the show at 6:35 PM and listened in on an active conversation between several ex-JWs and people studying cult behavior. One of the alarming observations came from a disfellowshipped woman whose son was a known pedophile. She knew that he and society would be better off if he was in jail, but his local congregation’s elders were protecting him. They had no intention of reporting him to the local police because they believed his confession and resolve to stop his sordid behavior was enough evidence for them to forgive him of his sins.

At 7:00 PM, Rick closed the outside lines so that only the two of us could talk while assuring his phoned-in audience that there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of listeners already listening to the call.

Rick spoke for twenty-five minutes, sharing the goals for the Six Screens Ministry and reporting new developments in the activity and loss of members for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Continue Reading »

If you have a couple of spare hours next Saturday, you might want to check this out…

I’ve been invited to be a guest on an open telephone conference call moderated by Rick Fearon at “Six Screens of the Watchtower” on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 7:00 PM (EST).

You can get specific information about how to join in and listen to the call at Six Screens of the Watchtower – Conference Calls. Access to the call is free (except for your own long distance call charges, if any), and you will have the ability to participate during the question and answer segment.

Here is the site’s official announcement:
“Richard Kelly author of the book “Growing up in Mama’s Club” will be our guest this Sat. Sept. 26, 2009 7PM EST. What can happen when a child is forced to adhere to strict religious ideology that he or she is unable to comprehend or believe? “Growing Up In Mama’s Club – A Childhood Perspective of Jehovah’s Witnesses” answers that question by disclosing the rare insights of a boy and his day-to-day life experiences grappling with religious confusion for over sixteen years.”

Six Screens of the Watchtower is a good source of information about Jehovah’s Witnesses and the history of the Watchtower Society. It has a wide readership and its bi-weekly conference calls are attended by hundreds of former and current Jehovah’s Witnesses. The website has an audio collection of many of their past calls, many of them that you might find interesting and want to listen to at your leisure. I recommend that you take a few moments and check out Six Screens of the Watchtower.

If you have time, be sure to listen in on Saturday. I’d love to read your comments and impressions of the show.

Instructions on how to join the call:
Call (712) 432-8710. When asked for pin number use #9925. It’s easy to participate. When you come into the conference, you may have to hit *1 to unmute yourself. The conference call takes place every two weeks on Saturday night at 7pm EST.