Why The Time Limit?

by Anitar 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Anitar

  Hi everyone, it's good to be back. Last Thursday, as I lay on the couch stuffed full of turkey, I had the sudden idea for a discussion, and please forgive me if this has been asked before.

  When my brother came back from college and we began to clean the apartment for the impending arrival of the rest of the family for Thanksgiving dinner (my mom was of course not calling it that), he asked her why she had so many stacks of Watchtower magazines everywhere. They were all organized by date in zip lock bags, not including her bound volumes and study books. We found at least five copies of each Watchtower publication from each month for the past seven years. Taking into account this is only a small, two bedroom apartment, I literally see Watchtower material in every single corner of my home, even the bathroom. In fact, I have an ongoing joke that if we ever run out of toilet paper, I know just what to use as a substitute.

  Anyway, her response was that she wanted to keep them for "research" and did not want to throw them away. My brother, trying to find the logic in this, said if she's such a zealous JW, than why doesn't she just give them away? To which she responded, she was not allowed to give away literature that was more than three years old. This no doubt led to many questions that I'm hoping someone can answer here:

  1) Was she telling the truth? Are JW's not allowed to give out literature more than three years old, or is this just a tradition in her own congregation?

  2) I'm aware of the old light verses new light doctrine, but since when does Jehovah's Word have an expiration date? If Jesus was directing the "faithful slave," than why would he waste time telling them things that he knows would be proven false in three years?

  3) If this is a new development by the WTS, than what is the difference between the bound volumes and the individual magazines? Can they change one or the other to suit their changing doctrine? If so, does anyone have any examples?

  4) Finally, did I misunderstand her? Am I perhaps looking too much into it, or do I have the wrong idea altogether?

  I would appreciate any answers anyone might have. Thank you!

  Anitar
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  looking_glass

  Well someone in Park Ridge, IL does not know that because they are constantly dropping off old mags at my GF's bakery. It may be a local thing. Maybe your mom's elders frown on it, but there is nothing in print regarding it.

  But there is something about mom's and the keeping of the old mags. My mother has become a pack rat and they are all over the place. I tell her that one day I am going to see her on the news and it is going to be about some crazy who refused to throw away old bible literature and when the cops came in they had to dig thru all the mags to find her crushed body under the weight of all those bound volumes and books that were stacked to the ceiling. For some reason she does not find the humor in that, I don't know why?
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  robhic

  3) If this is a new development by the WTS, than what is the difference between the bound volumes and the individual magazines? Can they change one or the other to suit their changing doctrine? If so, does anyone have any examples?

  I am not a JW nor is this a very sophisticated response, but below answers your question #3:

  From the Watchtower of January 1,1989, pg. 12:

  "...for a work that would be completed in our 20th century".

  Changed to "...for a work that would be completed in our day" in bound volume.

  There are scans of this example. I can't remember where they are but I know someone will.
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  Finally-Free

  Watchtower "truth" has a very short shelf life.

  The Watchtower bound volumes and CD-ROMs are not always the same as the original magazines, as shown in this scan of the Jan. 1, 1989 Watchtower.

  Here are the scans as Robhic referred to.

  W
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  codeblue

  If Jesus was directing the "faithful slave," than why would he waste time telling them things that he knows would be proven false in three years?

  > Loved that statement.

  I doubt that Jesus would ever approve of a publishing company. "You received free, give free" was his motto.

  IF Jesus were alive, I picture him going straight to the WTBS and clearing out the place.
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  dedpoet

  I can understand someone keeping one copy of each mag, or even two, but five? As far as I know, jws are still allowed to distribute older publications at the doors. When I was in, some used to write "sample copy" on the front of an old mag and push it through the doors of not at homes, and count it as a placement. Maybe she's saving them to give to the many new jws being gathered in by the preaching work, as kids of jws will have their own copies anyway.
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  NewYork44M

  To which she responded, she was not allowed to give away literature that was more than three years old. This no doubt led to many questions that I'm hoping someone can answer here

  I never head the society make such a comment. However, this comment sounds like something a "local elder" would make.

  But that still doesn't answer the question: why does she need five copies of each?
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  BCZAR2ME

  No time limit!

  bczar
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  Wasanelder Once

  In years past, when they weren't going broke, it was often advised on a local level not to leave "older and tattered" issues. That has since gone the way of the "seperating the sheep and goats" and the "Generation of 1914". They'll leave any piece of crap on a portch.

  W.Once
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  Anitar

  She says she needs five copies each for "anyone who's interested," which means she gives them to us whenever she can.

  Ironically, having them around allows me to take them without her noticing and show them to cult counselors, therepasts, not to mention my psych professor. The results are the exact opposite of her original intent!