I think the questions should be: "Who authorizes the articles?" and "Who are the intended readers?"
I suggest it is likely that a power bloc within the GB might use articles to "put down" other members of the GB. In other words, theses guys are writing to one another and the average JW reader is like the dog who sits beneath the table waiting for the crumbs.
This would explain changes in doctrine with changes in leadership. Each change in the power bloc brings new "pet ideas" and the books and magazines are used to promote them and to give thmeselves power and legitimacy within the GB.
Doug
The hidden Watchtower writers.
by edmond dantes 23 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Doug Mason
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Narkissos
When I was in the French Bethel (translation dept.) in the early 80s there was a Writing dept. there which was not limited to "local" stories or Awake! folklore. It provided quite a few "theological" and historical articles as well, especially about Church Fathers (you can usually tell by the proportion of French references in the final stuff). As I have seen from later literature this has been going on into the 90s at least. (Raymond Franz and our own hillary step once were quite intimate with the "brother" in charge of that dept. )
However the writers would find out what had been made (and left) of their articles with the publication of the official English edition. Sometimes the translators would be handed the original French articles to save time and avoid retroversion mistakes, but generally fresh translation was in order...
Anonymity within a closed structure like the Watchtower is a very powerful tool of mind control: it makes everything look "official" and unanimous, while ideas and power struggle as Doug Mason described are certainly going on behind the scene.
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kurtbethel
Another thing that is very troubling about being anonymous is that is is associated with bearing false witness in the Bible.
Although the precise legal practice seen in the Old Testament relative to judging a true witness and punishing a false witness is now overshadowed by the present grace that is found in JESUS CHRIST, the basic principles that God has imparted through “the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12) are intact. Thus, we are always to bear witness to the truth and can never be found to sustain a lie. Indeed, in the final analysis we see that God will judge the world “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (II Thessalonians 2:10,11).
Because of the very legal nature of this process when God will ultimately judge men for the evil they have done, the Bible provides examples that demonstrate that the law and grace of God never allows an ANONYMOUS witness. For instance, in I Kings, we find an instructive story of stealth and intrigue where the notorious Jezebel is seen as the hidden architect of a false witness.
In this illustrative story, Jezebel and her husband Ahab have designs on the possessions of Naboth the Jezreelite. Jezebel schemes and not only bears a false witness, but she does it secretly as she writes letters in another person’s name. In this scriptural account, she is the hidden assassin that arranges matters to that Naboth is eventually destroyed and she can obtain her victim’s property. She also arranges to have other two men bare false witness to further her covetous plan (I Kings 21:8, 10)
So I ask, what credibility does an anonymous witness have? -
Alpaca
I think that the anonymity is a shield for their collective dishonesty. It has already been shown how the Art Department has stolen images from the popular press (notably Stern magazine) and blatantly used them in the publications.
It wouldn't surprise me if they use thinly veiled material from other creationist organizations and arguments from some of the mainstream theologians in academia. It has already been shown on some other threads that the publications have used Behe's arguments and other material from the Discovery Institute.
Bastards that they are!!!!
Alex