What is watchtower's official position on .. (page 2)

mkr32208

What a bunch of touch holes... Maybe if those GB idiots would pull their heads out of their butts and stop playing grab ass with all the new boys then this 'religion' could just get wrapped up and everyone could move on...

RebelWife

Per Wikipedia: "A watchtower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military, and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure."

Merry Magdalene

"John Huss, . . . when in prison, deplored his having played at chess, whereby he had lost time and run the risk of being subject to violent passions."

I had to look this up. Yes, John Huss/Jan Hus repented in 1405 of having lost his self-control at the chess table and in 1414, before leaving for the Council of Constance to answer heresy charges, wrote encouragement and advice to a friend not to waste time as he had with frivolities like chess.

If they're going to reach that far back (quoting a 15th century religious reformer mentioned in an 1833 Encyclopedia), I think they should have used something with more shock value which would also complement their view of birthday celebrations nicely, like:

In 1495 the Inquisition saw victims of persecutions stand in as figures in a game of living chess. The game was played by two blind players. Each time the captured piece was taken, the person representing that piece was put to death.

And here is our own Red Queen (the WTBTS) and Alice (a soon-to-be ex-JW) from Through the Looking Glass:

`Now! Now!' cried the Queen. `Faster! Faster!' And they went so fast that at last they seemed to skim through the air, hardly touching the ground with their feet, till suddenly, just as Alice was getting quite exhausted, they stopped, and she found herself sitting on the ground, breathless and giddy.
The Queen propped her up against a tree, and said kindly, `You may rest a little now.'
Alice looked round her in great surprise. `Why, I do believe we've been under this tree the whole time! Everything's just as it was!'
`Of course it is,' said the Queen, `what would you have it?'
`Well, in our country,' said Alice, still panting a little, `you'd generally get to somewhere else -- if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing.'
`A slow sort of country!' said the Queen. `Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!'

~Merry

orangefatcat

This is an interesting post. I recollect how it was frowned upon very much. I never played or owned a chess set, but have seen them in witnesses homes. I wondered why in light of what the Watchtower literature stated.

It was a good point about games and being competative. I know many witnesses who would have a game night, my parents often attended these groups. It got to the point where it had to be stopped as literally fights would erupt when someone felt that they were right about a certain move and it did get nasty from time to time. Eventually they all stopped playing games as a result of thier stupidity. They were worse than children.

my dear friend and I play scrabble and backgammon. most of the time when we play scrabble I win and when we play backgammon my friend wins. Funny how that is. But I gather I am better with words while she sees the moves better in back gammon then I do. We have never fought about either. We love have a great time and enjoy each others company.

orangefatcat

Homerovah the Almighty

The reason why they disdain chess is because they are not of the intellect to understand it .

But thats the problem with this religion no intellect and no education

stillajwexelder

It is also competitive - BTW I have a chess set and play often

chickpea

there was an on again/ off again elder ( appointed and deleted at least 3 times in the 18+ yrs i was active...... he was a BS conductor at one point at the bible study mtg we hosted in our home for over 10 yrs......

that little blighter one time was "inspecting" our living room before a saturday sevice mtg ( snooping around) and saw that we had a chess game as well as "stratego".... and called my husband in to CORRECT me for teaching chess to my home schooled kids!!! what an overbearing and manipulative bunch !

guess what? my kids all play chess.... and NONE of them would set foot in a KH to save their lives!!!

What is watchtower's official position on ..