Jehovar or not to Jehobar: WT -vs- Awake

by DaCheech 13 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  atypical

  I think that's called the "bait and switch" in the sales world.
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  YoursChelbie

  its constant use in the WT as a mind control tactic

  After going to five meetings a week and studying for the meetings before you show up the meetings (to give those well-thought out comments, who has the time to read anything else??

  It's as if they want to wipe your mind and you consciousness clean of all non-Watchtower material.

  This reminds me of hypnotic control: Watchtower dogma is all you hear therefore Watchtower dogma is all you do.

  YC
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  Leolaia

  Okay, I've cranked out the stats from the data in the 2003 WT CD. "Jehovah" is indeed used more often than "God" in the Watchtower (but only slightly), while "God" is used more often than "Jehovah" in the Awake!, and the proportion of "Jehovah" is higher in the Watchtower than the Awake! for every year consistently since 1988 except for 1992 and 2000. Here are the figures for the Watchtower:

  2003 3068/5377 (57.0%)

  2002 3007/5489 (54.8%)

  2001 3077/5654 (54.4%)

  2000 2674/5271 (50.7%)

  1999 2356/4600 (51.2%)

  1998 2664/5166 (51.6%)

  1997 2684/5123 (52.4%)

  1996 2536/4891 (51.8%)

  1995 2734/4941 (55.3%)

  1994 2705/5157 (52.5%)

  1993 2433/4690 (51.9%)

  1992 2682/5409 (49.6%)

  1991 2532/5338 (47.4%)

  1990 2249/4967 (45.3%)

  1989 2012/4528 (44.4%)

  Table 1. Proportion of "Jehovah" in the Watchtower

  And these are the ones for the Awake!:

  2003 614/1345 (45.6%)

  2002 547/1168 (46.8%)

  2001 654/1393 (46.9%)

  2000 651/1231 (52.9%)

  1999 708/1546 (45.8%)

  1998 687/1441 (47.6%)

  1997 718/1500 (47.8%)

  1996 647/1384 (46.7%)

  1995 775/1585 (48.9%)

  1994 775/1598 (48.5%)

  1993 784/1520 (51.9%)

  1992 537/1297 (51.6%)

  1991 519/1129 (46.0%)

  1990 533/1468 (36.3%)

  1989 456/1228 (37.1%)

  Table 2. Proportion of "Jehovah" in the Awake!

  There are some interesting patterns in these numbers. First of all, it is obvious that "Jehovah" is used about 4 times more often in the Watchtower than the Awake! It is also clear that the overall frequency of use of "Jehovah" has increased over the years, up from 456 in 1989 to 614 in the Awake!, and up from 2,012 in 1989 to 3,068 in 2003 in the Watchtower. Not only has the Society been using "Jehovah" more often, but again the increase in frequency has been faster in the Watchtower than the Awake! (the magazine that is oriented more to outsiders). The overall proportion in the use of "Jehovah" has also increased, from 36.3% in 1990 to 52.9% in the Awake! and from 44.4% in 1989 to 57.0% in the Watchtower. There was an interesting divergence that began in 2000 between the use of the name in both magazines: since 2000 the proportion of "Jehovah" increased from 50.7% to 57.0% in the Watchtower but declined from 52.9% to 45.6% in the Awake! So it looks like the Society has been emphasizing "Jehovah" more in the Watchtower while deemphasizing it in the Awake! in recent years. It would be interesting to see if the trend continued in 2004 and 2005.
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  DaCheech

  I'm sure the graph would take a dive in the 2005 pubs