The Most Insane Thing Ever Printed by the Watchtower?

by Leolaia 101 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  ex360shipper

  If your dog gets a blood transfusion, he won't get into heaven or paradise. I guess all dogs DON'T go to heaven.
• 

  Band on the Run

  I studied Uncle Tom's Cabin a few years ago and read supplementary, academic materials. The materials I read contradict your post. I suppose there is an agreement to disagree. It is clear that Uncle Tom's Cabin was express propoganda, written for the Abolitionist movement. The book sounded dated in its time period to me. After reading its impact on public opinion, which cannot be understated, by the leading scholar on slavery in the world, a professor at Yale. It is propaganda. Anyone who believes slavery is hunky dory is crazy. There was a gamut of slavery. In contrast to all slavery that previously existed in the world (and he made the point that we are all descendents of both slaves and slave owners), the North Atlantic Slave system was especially brutal. Race was a condition of slavery for the first time.

  It is interesting how different commentaries on Uncle Tom's Cabin exist. I choose the one that dramatizes a horrific, amoral system. Civil rights is my specialty so I do have some knowledge. A series of lectures at the National Constitution Center that concentrated on the descendents of one of the largest slave trading famiies from Rhode Island made the point that Northern banks and merchants were a vital part of the slave trade. Without the capitol and trade, slavery could not exist in the South. The family still has substantial holdings traced to the slave trade. The actual descendents were warm and captivating.

  All sorts of adaptions had to be made to slavery. Pretending that slavery was hunky dory and that Harriet Beecher Stowe did not draw on actual examples is silly. Since the 1960s, Uncle Tom, the character, has been redeemed. Considering everything that slavery and its reaches into every American state, through Northern finance, Stowe was understated. The genre is so obvious. She did not write a survey of slave practices and mercantilism in every slave holding state.
• 

  Phizzy

  The most insane thing ever printed by the Watchtower ? OH my, so much to choose from !

  How about "Jesus came to the Temple in 1919" or something similar. It is insanity to print as fact more than once something for which there is no proof, once might be accidental, or bravado, more than once, or as in this case, very often, is insanity.
• 

  bsmart

  Bumping to the top
• 

  Dismissing servant

  " Although my favorite line has to be from an article I remember on masturbation back in the early-mid-80s (probably 1984, if memory serves). Seems like they had several articles on the subject right around that time. Regarding whether it was really a serious sin or not, it reasoned - I swear I am not making this up (but then again I was just a wee lad so my recollection may not be perfect): "Would you masturbate in front of the congregation?" How in the hell do you even begin to reply to such an asinine question?

  BTW, ten bucks to whoever can find the article first ;)"

  I just wonder if those sign-language guys read that article!

  
• 

  clarity

  Oh yeah...sounds like Rutherford alright......

  *

  "So you're the little woman who made this great war"

  *

  yeah the same guy who said "women were a hank of hair,

  and a piece of bone!"
• 

  clarity

  Hi AlanF,

  I remember reading that Rutherford was quoting Kipling when he
  made the remark about women being a "bag of bones, and a hank
  of hair"....He probably thought he was so cultured, quoting
  Kipling like that.

  Somebody should have given Rutherford a severe tongue lashing, for
  speaking so disrespectfully of women. It appears that no one
  around Rutherford had the nerve to do so. (except for Salter, and
  Moyle, both of which got the boot from Brooklyn)

  Well, I decided to look up the quote, first what "The Judge" said:

  "A woman is nothing more than "a hank of hair and a bag of bones."
  -- Speech given at a 1941 St. Louis, MO convention discouraging
  marriage
• 

  TheOldHippie

  Departmental Ditties and other Verses (1886)

  • I have eaten your bread and salt.
    I have drunk your water and wine.
    The deaths ye died I have watched beside
    And the lives ye led were mine.
    • Prelude, Stanza 1.

  • I have written the tale of our life
    For a sheltered people's mirth,
    In jesting guise—but ye are wise,
    And ye know what the jest is worth.
    • Prelude Stanza 3.

  • A fool there was and he made his prayer
    (Even as you and I!)
    To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
    We called her the woman who did not care),
    But the fool he called her his lady fair
    (Even as you and I!)
    • The Vampire, Stanza 1.

  • Call a truce, then, to our labours let us feast with friends and neighbours,
    And be merry as the custom of our caste;
    For if “faint and forced the laughter,” and if sadness follow after,
    We are richer by one mocking Christmas past.
    • Christmas in India, Stanza 5.

  • The toad beneath the harrow knows
    Exactly where each tooth point goes;
    The butterfly upon the road
    Preaches contentment to that toad.
    • Pagett M.P, prelude

  • And a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.
    • The Betrothed, Stanza 25.

  • A scrimmage in a Border Station—
    A canter down some dark defile—
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail—
    The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
    Shot like a rabbit in a ride!
    • Arithmetic on the Frontier, Stanza 3.
• 

  kepler

  One of the things I often wondered about Rutherford was his connection to the 19th century underbelly of the American politics, the No-Nothings and Nativists (sic). Here was why:

  There was reading his rants in the early Yearbooks (excerpts of the WT as "thoughts for the day" 365 or 366 of them) and reading accounts of harassments of immigrant attending churches, especially Roman Catholics. And then there was the famous letter to Adolph Hitler. All of this struck me as the sort of thing associated with the Klu Klux Klan or the Nativist movement.

  Other than that he was an intolerant midwestern tied to the campaigns of William Jennings Bryan, I never did find anything conclusive. It seemed like most of his ties in that regard were probably over drinks at his private bar or over cigars and cards. For sure he was part of the the attitudes that seemed to permeate the world 8 or 9 decades back and still seemed to leak out of crevices in my 1950s childhood.

  More than anything else he seems to emerge like one of those characters that were sitting int he same parlor car on the train with Sinclari Lewis on a cross country ride. Fact stranger than the fiction Lewis wove in "Elmer Gantry" and "It Can't Happen Here" combined. He actually was a combination of the two.

  I hope to God we don't have to look back the same way on this era someday...
• 

  punkofnice

  Theocratic Warfare Strategy = ***w07 2/1 p.6***

  Every lie is an untruth, but not every untruth is a lie. Why not? A dictionary defines a lie as “an assertion of something known or believed by the speaker to be untrue with intent to deceive.” Yes, lying includes the intention to deceive someone. Hence, to speak an untruth unwittingly—such as giving someone incorrect facts or figures by mistake—is not the same as to tell a lie.

  Moreover, we need to consider whether the person asking for information is entitled to a comprehensive answer. For instance, suppose Manfred had been asked the same questions by an executive of another company. Would Manfred have been obliged to tell him everything? Not really. Since that executive had no right to such information, Manfred would have had no obligation to provide it. Of course, even in this case, it would have been wrong for him to tell a lie.

  "Man on earth can no more get rid of these demonic `heavens' (the organization of wicked spirits) than man can by airplane or rockets or other means get up above the air envelope which is about our earthly globe and in which man breathes." (The Truth Shall Make You Free, 1943, p. 285)

  "The face of the deep, of course, would be toward the Pleiades, which are claimed to be the habitation of Jehovah." (Creation; 1927; 2,175,000 ed.; p. 94)

  "The constellation of the seven stars forming the Pleiades appears to be the crowning center around which the known systems of the planets revolve even as our sun's planets obey the sun and travel in their respective orbits. It has been suggested, and with much weight, that one of the stars of that group is the dwelling-place of Jehovah and the place of the highest heavens;..." (Reconciliation; 1928; p. 14)

  "The constellation of the Pleiades is a small one compared with others which scientific instruments disclose to the wondering eyes of man. But the greatness in size of other stars or planets is small when compared with the Pleiades in importance, because the Pleiades is the place of the eternal throne of God." (Reconciliation; 1928; p. 14)

  *** yw 323 12 The "Prince" of the Sanctuary Stands Up ***
  25. How could Jehovah God use these cosmic rays to affect the king of the north and the king of the south, and what other natural force might he use in his work?

  Strange ‘Awake!’ article titles:

  "Swiss- the Tasty Cheese With Holes In It"

  "Tree Frogs- Friend or Foe?’’

  "Are You Plagued With Loose Bowels?"

  "The Mighty Carrot."

  Anointed are nuts - August 15, 2011 Watchtower (the study edition) pg 22 QfR: Memorial partakers. This is the number
  of baptized individuals who partake of the emblems at the Memorial worldwide. Does this total represent the number of anointed
  ones on earth? Not necessarily. A number of factors—including past religious beliefs or even mental or emotional imbalance—might cause some to assume mistakenly that they have the heavenly calling. We thus have no way of knowing the exact number of anointed ones on earth; nor do we need to know. The Governing Body does not keep a list of all partakers, for it does not maintain a global network of anointed ones.

  Apostates are nuts – July 15, 2011 WT ‘’Well, apostates are 'mentally diseased', and they seek to infect others with their disloyal teachings." ‘’7 What is involved in avoiding false teachers? We do not receive them into our homes or greet them.

  We also refuse to read their literature, watch TV programs that feature them, examine their Web sites, or add

  our comments to their blogs.’’

  Elders should Slaughter Apostates (but we never said that!) Nov 15, 2011 WT - "The prophet Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu as king and to instruct him to kill every male of the apostate house of Ahab.—2 Ki. 8:28; 9:1-10." "Though the thought of violence is unpleasant, we should realize that in those days, Jehovah used his servants to carry out his judgments.... Today, no servant of Jehovah uses physical force against opponents of pure worship. “Vengeance is mine,” God says. (Heb.10:30) But to rid the congregation of potentially corrupting influences, Christian elders may have to act with courage similar to that of Jehu. (1 Cor. 5:9-13) And all members of the congregation need to be determined to avoid the company of disfellowshipped individuals.— 2 John 9-11." "Jehu announced that he intended to hold “a great sacrifice” for Baal. (2 Ki. 10:18, 19) “This is a clever play on words on the part of Jehu,” says one scholar. While the term employed here “generally means ‘sacrifice,’ it is also used of the ‘slaughter’ of apostates.” "It is true that Jehu spilled much blood. Yet, the Scriptures present him as a courageous man...

  Nov 15, 1952 Watchtower pp.703-704 - We are not living today among theocratic nations where such members of our fleshly family relationship could be exterminated for apostasy from God and his theocratic organization, as was possible and was ordered in the nation of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai and in the land of Palestine. "Thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him to death with stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, . . . And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee."? Deut. 13:6-11, AS.Being limited by the laws of the worldly nation in which we live and also by the laws of God through Jesus Christ, we can take action against apostates only to a certain extent, that is, consistent with both sets of laws. The law of the land and God's law through Christ forbid us to kill apostates, even though they be members of our own flesh-and-blood family relationship.

  Don’t argue with ‘Apostates’ WT 15 May ’12 (Pg 26 para 13)

  Indeed, we ought to move as far away from wrongdoing as possible and not see how close we can get to it without being overcome by sin. For instance, we need to guard against succumbing to apostasy, a sin that would make us unfit to glorify God. (Deut. 13:6-9) Let us therefore have nothing to do with apostates or anyone who claims to be a brother but who is dishonoring God. This should be the case even if he is a family member. (1 Cor. 5:11) We are not benefited by trying to refute the arguments of apostates or those who are critical of Jehovah’s organization. In fact, it is spiritually dangerous and improper to peruse their information, whether it appears in written form or it is found on the Internet.

  "The fact that fifty-four years of the period called the "last days" have already gone by is highly significant. It means that only a few years, at most, remain before the corrupt system of things dominating the earthy is destroyed by God." ***October 8, 1968 Awake, p. 13 - What Will the 1970's Bring?***

  "Minds must be cleansed" (Watchtower, June 1, 1953, p. 350 par. 24). 24 In these closing days of wickedness Jehovah’s people must demonstrate holiness. They must not foul their minds with the filthy mental food on the propaganda tables of this old world, but must feed on the feast of fat things Jehovah provides. (Isa. 25:6; 28:8.) Minds must be cleansed and made over, mental circuits formed by old-world thinking and acting faded out and new ones put in according to new-world specifications. By privately studying regularly, by attending all meetings regularly, and by engaging in all features of the preaching work regularly mental circuits are deepened and such good activities become habitual, not at all the struggle they are when the mental circuits are weak and faint because used only occasionally. For ourselves and for others, make them strong!—1 Tim. 4:16.

  WT 15 Nov 2013 - "At that time, the life-saving direction that we receive from Jehovah’s organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint. All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not. (4) Now is the time for any who may be putting their trust in secular education, material things, or human institutions to adjust their thinking. The elders must stand ready to help any who may now be wavering in their faith."

  Avoid DF Family ‘’Do not look for excuses to associate with a disfellowshipped family member, for example, through e-mail.’’ - w2013 1/15, p. 16, para. 19