Hello Bethel! Are You Listening? Wake Up!

by Room 215 19 Replies latest jw friends

  • Room 215
    Room 215

    Hello Bethel,

    By now it's clear to all observers that the organization is running out of steam, especially in the developned nations, and no amount of hyped-up propaganda about ``quick-build'' Kingdom Halls, standing up to the Nazis, lifetime experiences of pioneers, etc., etc. can rectify.
    What's needed urgently:
    Fix the meetings! Too long, too many, too repititious, too boring, and worst of all, too unspiritual (the so-called Service Meeting being probably the worst of them all).
    Cut back on the sickening self-priase and reintroduce the language of First Century Christianity. You know, restore words like ``redemption,'' ``grace,'' ``salvation,'' ``reconciliation,'' etc. to the JW vocabulary... they've been on too long a sabbatical from the local Kingdom Halls.
    Fix the preaching: Given the amount of time and tons of literatuer we produce, it's shcokcing that the general publis knows little more about us and out beliefs than 20 years ago (we refuse blood and are consicentious objectors; that's about it.
    By far most of the magazines we print are thrown into the trash, a tragic waste of resources. You know he mass media, television especially, is an effective means to get out any message, otherwise you wouldn't produce those sickeningly idealized VHS tapes.
    You claim that your message is the most crucial thjat humankind will ever hear, yet you insist on archaic methods to distribute it, in the interest of keeping the rank and file occupied.
    Come on guys, get with it! It's no secret that Bethelites are not exactly the greatest door knockers and meeting attenders in the world. Come, share the wealth of sporadic meeting attendance and field service slacking that you've perfected to an art with us locals!

  • metatron
    metatron

    Didn't somebody call them "followers of followers"?
    No amount of logic will move them to do anything. With everything
    run by committee, who is responsible? If someone should do
    something, who is that someone? You achieve rank in this cult
    by abject subservience to the bozos above you. How does that
    translate into any kind of inspired leadership?

    I've about given up hoping for any kind of ethical motivation
    to move the gerontocrats responsible for this mess. At least
    we can take some solace that the organization is being inexorably
    'chipped away' - it's slow but steady.

    metatron

  • RationalWitness
    RationalWitness

    Metatron and Room 215,

    I believe it was Ray Franz who used the expression "victims of victims," and I believe it was in reference to the GB themselves. (Ray is pretty forgiving when it comes to those guys, perhaps because he was once one of them.) However, "followers of followers" seems very apropos of the congregation dwellers, who unquestioningly follow the elders, who
    unquestioningly follow the circuit overseers, who unquestioningly follow the district overseers, who unquestioningly follow ... Unfortunately, this chain never reaches any higher than the Governing Body, who (by their own admission) are not inspired and cannot be held accountable for anything they say or do.

    You are probably right about lack of inspired leadership or ethical motivation leading to significant reform anytime soon. Since September 11, the Organization has been given another reprieve ... the confused political state of affairs lends itself to inevitable speculation--including the U.N. outlawing Islam (and all other religion, of course), eventual cries of 'peace and security', and a looming Armageddon. This buys the GB more time and shifts focus away from the numerous embarassments they are dealing with currently. And it's given JWs another mirage on the horizon, one toward which they will crawl hopefully and inexorably, only to discover that taste in their mouths is the sand from another generation of life stories in The Watchtower.

    Cheers,
    Rational

  • Room 215
    Room 215

    Hi Meta, Rational,

    Well put, thank you both. It's astonishing to me how little the Society's credibility with the rank and file has been diminished by the bankruptcy of the chronology on which it anchors its authority.

  • nytelecom1
    nytelecom1

    any changes in the teaching programmed should be
    addressed to the Teaching Committee and the Service
    Committee. addressing it to bethel serves little or no
    purpose

  • NeonMadman
    NeonMadman

    to Nytelecom1

    In the company I work for, anything having to do with sales is routed to me because I am the Sales Manager; everybody who is in a position to handle correspondence knows that. It sounds to me like you're saying that the Society has become such an inefficient tangle of bureaucracy that they can't even route a communication internally to the department that ought to be concerned with it. Or is it just that you enjoy picking nits?

    Tom
    "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan

  • Amazing
    Amazing

    Hi RW: Actually, I recall that Ray Franz said both, "victims of victims and followers of followers" in his book, Crisis of Conscience. That phrase stuck in my head, because it is so very true. - Amaing

  • ozziepost
    ozziepost

    G'day all,

    Thanks for your thoughts - very interesting and so true. The "rule by committee" can be compared to a communist state where the elite control thoughts but is itself bound by lethargy. I see those in the lead as being as much bound by the same system as the R&F. When one considers that this same leadership claims for itself unquestioning obedience, we have a recipe for stagnation, if not disaster. We have seen all too clearly the stagnation. Is the disaster approaching?

    Cheers,
    Ozzie

    "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
    Anonymous

  • metatron
    metatron

    the Soviets ran outta money, tried to save what they had
    and collapsed.

    Unfortunately, it's hard to find any reason for WTS collapse
    as long as ignorant zombies keep supporting it. I don't think
    any amount of child molesting or lying or false prophecy
    will wreck them - facts don't matter. On the other hand,
    it would be interesting to know more about their rumored
    money laundering activities - if you can take away their $,
    they're history.

  • nytelecom1
    nytelecom1
    In the company I work for, anything having to do with sales is routed to me because I am the Sales Manager; everybody who is in a position to handle correspondence knows that

    its not a company...

    the post is like asking the mayor to change a traffic signal and adressing it "hello ny"

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