Ships do this when they are struggling against the wind. What I'd like to know is: what is the "wind" that God is struggling against that makes it necessary for him to resort to this tactic?
Very good question. So far no one has given me this funky "tacking" explanation, but when they do, I'll ask them this.
A couple days ago, I came home from work, and I had a scratchy 5-day beard. I grumbled about shaving, which is my wont. At dinnertime, I really pressed the issue, and dad snapped back with, "Well, we'll just have to wait on Jehovah!"
Basically, the excuses given were: it has bad connotations in the US (60s/70s hippy movement), it might offend a brother from another part of the country, and that the Society hadn't said we could yet. I made short work of the excuses, and all I got was, "Well, just look at the Society's literature as to how to proceed."
It's just so tiresome, trying to combat cult thinking...