Watchtower and printed material

by joelbear 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  joelbear

  Would Jehovah's Witnesses even exist today if they didn't have books and magazines to sell?

  Could they survive with just the Bible and their faith in God?

  Isn't it phenomenal how much of the material they print is simply repeated information?

  Joel
• 

  rekless

  I had been in them org. for 35 years and when I left that is one thing I realized ...What I had learned 35 years ago was the same thing I know today with the exception of issues that were flipped flopped the same ole light that now was new light which turned into old light . many antiquaited ideas such as heart transplant would cause you to take on the personality of the donor. blah blah blah...

  same stuff in a different package.
• 

  joelbear

  Here's a novel idea.

  Since the Bible never changes, why not just study that. Then you wouldnt need Bethel to print all that material.

  You wouldn't have to ask for donations from anyone at the door and congregations could cover their own expenses.

  Instead of structured question answer sessions, people could do personal bible study and share with others what they have learned at small informal groups for fellowship.

  People could invite their friends and neighbors to the meetings.

  Some of the older more experienced ones in the group could help those who are younger or who have problems.

  Of course, my ideas might be outdated. They haven't been used much since the 1st century.

  Joel
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  Mulan

  We have a friend, that left Bethel, after the Ray Franz incident, and stayed a dub and an elder, until the last 10 years, when he quietly withdrew. He was on their writing staff and wrote books many of you studied, as well as many WT and Awake articles. Recently, another friend showed him a WT article (he doesn't get them anymore) and he started to read it, and said "I wrote this article in 1977". It was identical........they are recycling their old articles.

  The KM's are interesting too. The months correspond each year. Same stuff every January, every February, every March, etc. Sometimes reworded, but the same.

  Marilyn (a.k.a. Mulan)
  
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  Room 215

  Hi Joel,

  AS Ray Franz explained in one of his books, a distinct pattern-- one of initial euphoria as the newly acquainted person is introduced by his JW to the key doctines, each carefully presented with a raft of supporting scriptures. Once the are mastered, a process of several week to a coupel of months, depending on the student's aptitude for learning, a period of stagnation sets in wherein these same concepts and the supporting scriptural texts are repeated ad infinitum.

  While the topical approach to Bible study -- arranging and reading scripture that relate to a specific topic on a subject-byt-subject basis, it's a method that's vulnerable to abuse if done in n the absence of a broader knowledge of context which only a page-by-page, front-to-back reading and study of the Bible can provide.
  
  The great failing of the JW approach to Bible study is hte over-reliance on the topical method. One of the most ignored injunctions is the advice to read the Bible cover-to-cover; in fact not infrequently, a JW will reidicule the suggestion. What he/she fails to realize is that the cover-to-cover approach is what the writers intended, and the the orginial texts of all the Bible books were not subdivided into chapters and verses. It was this division that gave rise to the abuses of topicalis.. JWs are the most prominent offender in this regard; they're hardly alone, however.

  So what consists of ``accurate knowledge'' for the average JW has is usually limited to a series of superficial mental outlines on four or five controversial topics -- soul, hellfire, trinity, and so forth, each with a handful of scriptures to lend support. The shame is that once the JW acquires mastery of this pattern, he/she deludes him/herself into complacency, seldom perceives the shallowness of such a mindset, and sees no need progress byeond this point. This process is exactly what we call INDOCTRINATION.

  So, the need to broaden and enrich one's spirituality knowledge with continued research and reading, including the cosideration of alternative viewpoints, they fail to appreciate -- nor are they particularly encouraged to do so by their leaders, whatever the lkip service paid to study.
  
  So Joel, I guess this is simply a verbose way of answering ``No'' to your question...
• 

  Seeker4

  Hey Joel,

  Be careful!! I think your "novel idea" of simple Bible study in groups without WTS literature was what got poor Ray into trouble at Bethel!

  S4
• 

  Frenchy

  Joel, you have the right idea. (It must be because that’s how I feel! Seriously, thought, that would seem to be the logical way to do it. However, where your (and my) system ‘fails’ is that it does not provide for an elite few to gain power over the entire group.

  “The shame is that once the JW acquires mastery of this pattern, he/she deludes him/herself into complacency, seldom perceives the shallowness of such a mindset, and sees no need progress byeond this point. “ –Room

  Very well put. I made a comment along those lines at the WT study this Sunday. (Yes, they still let me comment.) I said that one of the greatest impediment to learning was cultivating the illusion that we already know all that we need to know. Of course, perhaps only two or three (those who are familiar with how I really feel about things) actually understood what I was saying.

  Sad to say, witnesses are guilty of the very thing they accuse persons ‘of the world’ of being…complacent.
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  joelbear

  Frenchy,

  I agree wholeheartedly. In the end, its all about power. A group cannot have power over the Bible itself, since it is a commodity, basically available free to anyone anywhere.

  Thus, to attract people to a group, one must add other things that necessitate being acceptable, other than a desire of knowledge from the bible which one could get from reading it.

  Seems as though since it is god's message, he would probably arrange it pretty much they way he wanted it to be read.

  Joel
• 

  alliwannadoislive

  jolebare ...

  nah - would be too anti-confusing ... how could they replace 'questions from readers' because there would be nothing to print them in and how else would new light be transmitted ?

  ps - i'm still upset about the 'new understanding' of the image of the beast falling into and ascending back out of the abyss - roman empire / third reich - cor that was page turning stuff of paperback proportions ...
• 

  ISP

  I think the WTS would do better if they didn't print such material every two weeks. Its an embarrassment to them now! If it was word of mouth it would be better for them!

  ISP