2010 - Year of the Governing Body? (page 5)

jehovahsheep

hopefully jesus will plague the wts soon to rescue the ones that truly love him.

thetrueone

I believe that the Governing Body is stepping up efforts to emphasize their unconditional ridership.

Could it be because their worried about losing it.

The information about the doings of the leadership of the WTS. has been pasted all over the inter-net now for some time.

I believe this is putting cracks in the foundational structure of the Watchtower itself.

There seems to be some varied paranoia going on in headquarters these days.

The inter-net is doing a good job of exposing and revealing the BS of this disingenuous religious publishing company...Thank god

And maybe they're just figuring out that in protecting themselves from legal liability by giving up control of the corporations that they've severely limited their own power. Authority to boss around the rank and file with idiotic rules and incomprehensible doctrine is literally all they have left. If the rank and file stop obeying them, they're left with absolutely nothing.

yknot

.....I can't help but recall the joy my 'good' Elders expressed back when the GB assumed power.....

How disappointed they would be if they could have forseen this power grab (dismissal of older bethelites- many who claimed anointed, and centralization of power via elevation) in a bid to become full-on Pharisees.

Apostolic 12 has been rumored before (Spain), the Mormons have 12 plus a president (granted the 'presidency claims one living prophet and two counselors)..... I am sure it will be somewhere in between the Pope and LDS when the dust settles.

I think most of us discerned the evolution was nearing.... The difference being that unlike WTS-Leaders before them...... they have very little delusions that the end will come anytime soon..........forsight will be a priority.

I wonder how long it will take before the transiton away from 'end is near' to 'living ready'....... lessening the ministry work (think LDS 2yr assignments) and forcusing more on shoring up loyalties and building up communities similar to the LDS.

They will be able to drastically reduce Bethel staff, making service more exclusive and for shorter amounts of time. This allows the future Bethelites spiritual cred.....but also gets them out before they learn too much. I see some theocratic families receiving better than others......afterall keeping things exclusive to just a few is a great way to keep everyone on the same page- same goal----- less reason to rock the boat.

All in all I always have to ask myself why the WTS-Legal would be allowing this written 'liability'.........the answer is easy, because it will be changed. massaged and rebranded by the end of the transformation.......they are content to allow the extemist to drown everyone in koolaid...loyalist will float and those who aren't will sink (fade away-leave-DA- or be DFd)

I don't see this direction being 'enough' to create a 'Knorr'........times and people are different, education and availablity of knowledge is too great.

JWoods

It is ironic how this "most holy" thing of JW doctrine, the Governing Body, is really just a legalistic mechanism - complete with silly voting rules.

I was also struck by this statement by Mad Sweeney -

Part of the answer to why they're doing this is because appeal to authority is just about all they have in the case of many doctrines. Too many people know too much to buy into an old fashioned Freddy-style book of prophecy anymore.

That is exactly right - you could not imagine a new "Babylon the Great has Fallen" book in today's dumbed down witnesses. So now, the "rule of law from Governing Body" is replacing the old Freddy Franz-style mysticism. A perfect example of the doctrinal emptiness is the "generation" nonsense. Only by a heavy handed "obey the GB" program can you make stuff like that stick.

metatron

Again, why do they feel a threat to their authority? There will never be any groundswell of popular rebellion by Witlesses - at best, we have passive-aggressive foot dragging by publishers but open "apostacy" is unthinkable.

I think the answer is that they have trouble believing their own fictions. The 'generation of 1914' died, Armageddon never came , there is no 'faithful slave class' to speak of and the living history of the modern day organization has almost totally been buried in the grave while young Witlesses drift away.

At some point in the future, we also need to discuss the possibility that they have encountered "Pastor Russell's curse" - they can't get enough money from donations to fund the preaching work.

metatron

agonus

You know your religion is in trouble when it makes you nostalgic for the "vision" and "leadership" of somebody like Fred Franz.

Mad Sweeney

they have trouble believing their own fictions

I have to think this is true for the majority of the GB members. No way the entire younger generation can possibly believe they're led by any sort of holy spirit. Maybe a guy like Barr might but I can't see a 2/3 majority of them believing it. I gotta think that Losch has some big plans in mind for when Jaracz and Barr finally pass on. He'll be the senior member then.

I wonder how many of the rank and file realize that if Barr and Jaracz go this year, then EVERY GB member left will have fewer than 15 years on the body. Talk about a completely new guard in charge.

agonus

Better a cult of personality than a cult of absolutely no personality at all, I guess...

Mad Sweeney

I was frankly surprised to see Ted Jaracz on the Creation DVD released last year, especially the caption:

"Theodore Jaracz - Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses"

I had not seen a public display of a GB member like that ever. Closest thing I can recall is when Fred Franz would come to an area, the local congregations would rent a huge hall, and he'd ramble for a couple hours on his interpretation of Bible prophecy. HUGE crowds would come out for it.

2010 - Year of the Governing Body?

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