by metatron 47 Replies latest jw friends
Spot on comments..The oldsters that I know who remember the more barnstorming days will roll their eyes and say the same things .
Family members complain that now they have no group study to bond with. If they miss the midweek 3 in one meeting , it is a week between going..It is just like going to church on Sundays , like all other religions
To add to Metratrons's list, I've noticed that comparatively few JWs know what a concordance is anymore or that there's no nee to reprint the Kingdom Interlinear version of the Greek Scriptuires... these used to be mainstream publications for them. Then too, at the WT study: if in theory, all are prepared and have studied, how many hands would one expect to go up in a congregation with real interest in the subject under consideration? one half? one quarter? Usually, the conductor has to wait and is lucky if he can elicit or two comments, and then they're usually rote answers, often reading directly from the magazine.. Clearly, the majority are coasting.
And then, consider how may use the Reasoning book as a crutch, rather than study to answer any and all challenges to their beliefs with only the Bible in hand; that was the rule 40-50 yearas ago? no longer. This book has reduced them to ventriloquist dummies; you gotta wonder just what their personal convictions are or whether they really know what they're supposed to believe.
I agree with others: 'decaying' describes the Witchtower more accurately than the term "mainstreaming'.
While I agree that they've made changes, many changes in fact, I don't see any of these pointing at a mainstreaming process, but more at a money-saving process.
If we're talking about the mainstreaming that the Worldwide Church of God went through, then the WTS would have to start opening up the new covenant, for example, be a bit less prissy/hostile towards the Trinity etc.
As we get closer to 2014, I think we can see them being less mainstream and more controlling.
OT observation;
few JWs know what a concordance is anymore or that there's no nee to reprint the Kingdom Interlinear version of the Greek Scriptuires
Most JWs I know aren't students of the Bible. 1) they have no time, 2) they have no inclination.
The PO of the local congregation proudly told me that he once read the whole of the book of Ephesians. Why study the Bible when you can pop a CD into your computer and have all the answers at a few clicks/keystrokes?
Why study the Bible when you've been politely told that the Bible wasn't actually written for you, but rather for the 144,000?
And when does a JW have time to study, anyway? Sure, there are less meetings, but they've still got virtually the same grind of material to study, very little of which is the Bible.
Many world religions started off the way that JW's did - as a single church, and as an insular community. Insofar as the Roman Catholic Church claim to be God's organization, they are much like the JW's, except they have more political power, and in latter centuries have been having less control over the lives of its members. There was a Christian organization ("The World Church of God"?) who embraced mainstream Christianity after one of its founders died. With new people in the Governing Body, and an ageing church who is becoming more Third World and poorer, this really is possible. Sometimes showing weakness has the opposite effect to what was intended, and I think some members will think along the lines, if the Tuesday bookstudy wasn't important after all, what about all the other meetings and field service?
I've noticed this too.
I remember all those assemblies where they would constantly drone that we have to do everything "all the more-so" as the end is drawing closer.
Whatever happened to "all the more-so"?
there are so many who only go for family reasons
Most JWs I know aren't students of the Bible. 1) they have no time, 2) they have no inclination.
JWs are indirectly encouraged NOT to think for themselves. As such, Bible knowledge/Bible study is of little value.
Painstakingly, the literature makes it clear that making decisions for yourself is rebelious and dangerous. If any real question arise, let the elders explain to you your options.
So, in REALITY, the average JW simply needs to appear to be following the RULES and vaguely familiar with the latest WT Study article.
In David Reed's book, Blood on the Altar, he tells the story of how he and his wife exited an assembly and saw an "apostate" holding a sign which read, "Read the Bible, not the Watchtower". This sign motivated them to do just that -- read the Bible. Quickly, they realized something was wrong with the organization.
Also, more than a few atheists have credited reading the Bible with their becoming atheists. Needless to say, reading the Bible with your brain in the ON setting is not good for cult membership.
@leavingWT - I agree, reading the Bible is dangerous for a JW. When we started reading the Bible - without the WTS filter - we left the Org in within a couple of months.
I'm sure that's why the WTS goes to great lengths to have something to say about virtually every verse of the Bible; that means that a JW doesn't have to engage their brain and think for themselves. We were told by two elders that if the WTS doesn't have a comment to make on the CD Rom about a verse in the Bible, Jehovah doesn't view that verse as being relevant.
While an elder, I was asked by a young MS about a verse in the Bible he was struggling to understand. I asked him if he'd prayed for understanding from God from the Holy Spirit. At this a sister who'd been eavesdropping piped up that he should also 'go to the faithful and discreet slave'.
JWs are told that the main spiritual meal of the week isn't the 3 or 4 assigned chapters of the Bible, but the Watchtower study.
Not long before I left the Org, I mentioned to another elder that I was encouraged to read in a WT article the Org encouraging the flock to do in-depth study of God's Word with an open and receptive mind (one of the few times you'll see that being recommended in the WT, btw). His reply was, "we do that when we study the Watchtower". This just illustrates that JWs don't actually need the Bible; they need the WTS telling them what the Bible says. In our old congregation it was very popular to sit with a print-out of all of the cited verses in that week's WT study. Bibles were closed and in book bags/on the floor.
Why do you think the WTS have ceased printing the "Would You Like to Know More About the Bible?" tract (a tract I loved using in the ministry)? They've replaced it with "Would You Like to Know the Truth?". A JW's role in the ministry isn't to discuss the Bible with people but rather to peddle the 'unique beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses'. And it doesn't take long to discover that those unique beliefs aren't actually in the Bible...
