Besides liking their money I think there are other reason. One of the reason I believe is that they don't want to draw attend to any of their weird ideas. Becoming a JW is a slow process much like the old story about boilng a frog. They don't want you to see the problem till it is too late. So to avoid the bad press that would follow if they df'd Serena Williams for participate in professional sports and running around with an American Flag they do nothing. To come down on her or any other high profile JWs would draw attention to their odd beliefs. If they treated these high profile JW's like regular JW the weird ideas they don't want anyone to know till their minds are pretty much under the control of the Watchtower would be all over the news.
Why does the Watchtower allow Celeb Dubs to Run Amuk
by I quit! 7 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
JeffT
I think you've answered your own question. My first thought on just seeing the thread title was 'because slapping them into line would be a PR nightmare."
-
WTWizard
Just imagine what would have happened if Michael Jackson would have been disfellowshipped (or Prince). Someone like that would have created embarrassing headlines--and, if they get treated like crap and turn apostate, they are more likely to spread the word that the religion was crap. Just imagine a CD full of music that bashes the Washtowel Slaveholdery and sells 10 million copies.
-
sir82
Not sure who you are referring to as a "celeb dub running amok".
Michael Jackson was DF'ed 20+ years ago.
Venus & Serena Williams are not JWs. They have never been baptized and thus cannot be disfellowshipped. They might think they are JWs, because they were raised that way & have family / friends who are, but the WTS has no "jurisdiction" over them, as they are not baptized.
There are a handful of other celebrity JWs (Larry Graham, Prince, a few ex-baseball players) but they (so far) have been much more subdued.
-
insearchoftruth
Venus & Serena Williams are not JWs. They have never been baptized
I thought they were baptized....sounds like an example of wanting the best of both worlds......
-
JeffT
Have the rules changed? It used to be that if some one was running around saying they were a JW, but they weren't, it would provoke an announcment that they weren't. Happened in a congregation I was in about 30 years ago. There was a whackjob young woman who had studied some, showed up at meetings once every two or three months, and lived like a whackjob worldly person. But she told everybody she was a JW. It wasn't that big a town and I think they got tired of having to explain to everybody that brought it up that she wasn't a real JW. So they made an announcement from the platform "so and so is not a JW."
-
Psychotic Parrot
"Just imagine a CD full of music that bashes the Washtowel Slaveholdery and sells 10 million copies."
I'm working on it
-
The Almighty Homer
Possibly because it gives the organization good publicity and wherever these so called JWS go to for meetings they most likely contribute huge amounts of cash,
so hence they get treated with kid gloves and perhaps visual blinders. The Truth