The Giant Ferris Wheel of Jehovah's Organization
Imagine a huge Ferris wheel that is constantly turning. This is no ordinary Ferris wheel though. Each car is a wheel in itself. You are the passenger.
There are seven million of these gondolas, all turning, within the giant wheel called Jehovah's Organization. This larger wheel began turning in 1879 and has not ceased.
Every day, seven million pairs of legs run to keep their wheels turning in the race for life. Any number of activities will keep this wheel running, but the wheel must maintain the same speed as the organizational wheel.
Meetings, assemblies, conventions, ministry, pre-study, personal study and prayer provide the energy to maintain the wheel's momentum.
The more activities you participate in, the faster your wheel spins. If you stop one or more of these activities, your wheel begins to slow. This is known as slowing down in Jehovah's organization, because while your wheel is running at reduced speed, the organization wheel is not.
Each wheel cannot spin faster than the organization wheel because if this were to happen, you would be running ahead of Jehovah's organization.
The cars on a Ferris wheel usually have windows where you can see other cars. Using our analogy of wheels within a wheel, it is possible to observe the speed of other wheels. An observer in his wheel would notice that some wheels are running at breakneck speed, keeping up with the wheel of Jehovah's Organization.
Some wheels which started off at high speed are slowing down. The witnesses in this wheel are tired of their spiritual routine and are making their wheel run slower. Remember, the more organizational sponsored activities you engage in, the faster your wheel.
Other wheels have not only slowed down but have stopped moving altogether. Their wheel has now become inactive; the occupants have found other things to do. The wheel of Jehovah's Organization knows when some of these wheels become inactive. A repairman or elder is sent to fix the problem. This usually gets the wheel moving again.
Sometimes the wheel cannot be fixed and the occupants are shown the door. This is a dead wheel.
An observer may note that there are wheels which are running in the opposite direction. This is where the occupant is working against the organization. The occupants in the other wheels know that this wheel's occupant is running to the things left behind.
Sometimes the organizational wheel reverses course obligating each witness to run in the opposite direction. Are they able to keep up with Jehovah's Organization?
If you've ever been on a Ferris wheel you will know that while it is possible to see the people above and below you, the structure of the wheel means it is impossible to look directly inside their car, and so it is with our analogy of the organization Ferris wheel. We cannot look into other people’s wheels and see the reasons that their wheel has slowing down or stopped spinning altogether.
Then there are those wheels which have not only stopped but are empty. These witnesses have left not only their wheel, but the wheel of the organization.
And now it's our turn. We begin to learn things about the organization that have been hidden from us for so long. New light, changing doctrines, child abuse and our own personal experiences within the organization make our own wheel begin to slow down.
We start leading a double life - so that none of the other occupants can see our wheel slowing too much to attract attention, we redouble our efforts to keep our wheel moving with all the other wheels. This is a problem in itself. You see, while keeping up with the organization wheel is an effort in itself, it takes double the effort to maintain speed because we no longer have the desire to keep up with this wheel.
Eventually a repair crew is sent to our car or wheel but they cannot fix the problem.
For those occupants who have been thrown out from their place or wheel in the organization wheel arrangement, an announcement is made that Brother or Sister's wheel is no longer working and is out of order. We are not to look at their wheel, speak to its former occupants or question why an announcement was made concerning their wheel.
The same eventually happens to us. Either we voluntarily decide to leave our wheel and the wheel of Jehovah's Organization or we are forcibly removed from it.
A strange thing happens though. All the time we were in the wheel of Jehovah's Organization, we were constantly running, maintaining speed and doing our best not to slow down. We were unaware of anything happening outside of our wheel - in fact, we were told not to look outside of our wheel as this could distract us, slowing us down.
Now we are on the outside looking at the huge wheel of the organization. There are the seven million wheels all turning at various speeds. And there is our empty wheel. The sign on it reads "out of order." We are looking from the outside in.
The interesting thing about the organization wheel is that we were told it was always moving ahead. The reality is that the wheel of Jehovah's Organization is that it is going nowhere, but round and round and round. And so it is with the witnesses in their individual wheels. They are not going anywhere, though they are told otherwise.
The only time you can really look inside the car on a Ferris wheel is when you are waiting in line to get on. And so it is with us, though we are not getting on, we can look inside a wheel.
What do we see? Happiness? Joy? Or fatigue and a bored expression on the wheel's occupants as they try to keep their wheel spinning.
Outside, people are moving about in their own direction and at their own pace. This movement is not possible in our former, tightly enclosed and directionless wheel of spiritual activity.
As we walk away from this giant Ferris wheel, the organization which seems to be in perpetual motion and its seven million wheels all spinning at different speeds; we recognize that we are actually moving somewhere while they are moving no where.