Dec 2010 Awake: Recycled Well-to-Asians WT "Commentary"

by Red Piller 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Red Piller

  *** w94 12/15 pp. 3-4 What Does Christmas Mean to You? ***

  What Does Christmas Mean to You?

  Christmas has “undergone a process of striking . . .
  commercialization,” states The New Encyclopædia Britannica.
  Nowhere perhaps is this more true than in Japan.

  “The Japanese have dropped all pretense of religion and turned Christmas into a strictly commercial operation,”
  reports the Washington Daily Record. Christmas in Japan, it adds, is “
  a major celebration that’s heavy on the commercialism and rather light on the religious aspect.”

  *** w86 12/15 pp. 3-4 Christmas—A Time of Festivity for Orientals ***

  Christmas—A Time of Festivity for Orientals

  GIANT Christmas trees, bright lights, colorful banners—they are seen in every shopping center and department store.
  Strains of Christmas carols blare over loudspeakers, and announcements encourage people to buy more.
  Men and women clad in Santa Claus costumes stroll up and down the streets offering giveaways in a patronizing manner.

  Demeber 2010 Awake:
  In Japan most families now celebrate Christmas, not because
  of its religious significance, but purely as a festive occasion.
  In China Santa Claus’s cheery red face is plastered in shop
  windows in major cities,says TheWall Street Journal, adding:
  “Christmas fever is gripping China’s newly rising urban middle
  class as an excuse to shop, eat and party.
• 

  Markfromcali

  ... and then?
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  The number of topics the Borg writes about that are constantly recycled through the magazines probably numbers in the dozens. Someone with a lot of free time ought to compile the list.

  When's the last time you saw an article in one of the magazines that was on a topic you've never seen mentioned before? All they do is recycle. They have no original thoughts.
• 

  sd-7

  Good point. I was pretty stunned to see that there was an article about propaganda in the 2000 Awake that had a couple of paragraphs that were word-for-word identical to a 1976 article on the same subject. It looked like the writer of the 2000 article had just used a thesaurus and changed a few words. This Asians-now-celebrate-Christmas-without-religion stuff--isn't that done just about every year?

  But hey, if we're dealing with an Orwellian religion--and we are--should we expect to see anything that is different from the past? That past doesn't even exist for them. So...not too surprising.

  -sd-7
• 

  miseryloveselders

  I was thinking since the Japanese have removed all traces of religion from Christmas, does that mean that that Japanese Witnesses can follow their conscience and choose whether they wish to celebrate or not with no threat of punishment? I know, its a stupid question, just sayin.......
• 

  isaacaustin

  So if it lost all religious meaning, like pinantas, it should be up to the member's conscience.
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  miseryloveselders

  So if it lost all religious meaning, like pinantas, it should be up to the member's conscience.

  You would think, but that wouldn't stop the powers that be in WT-Land from using the "stay seperate from the world" argument, or the "greedy commerce" argument, etc..
• 

  undercover

  *** 'Awake!' 2003 9/22 p.24 The Piñata—An Ancient Tradition***
  
  A main concern is, not what the practice meant hundreds of years ago, but how it is viewed today in your area. Understandably, opinions may vary from one place to another. Hence, it is wise to avoid turning such matters into big issues. The Bible says: "Let each one keep seeking, not his own advantage, but that of the other person."—1 Corinthians 10:24.

  Per the WT's own admission that the Japanese don't attach any religious significance to xmas it should be okey-dokey to celebrate as they see fit.
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  Mad Sweeney

  By that same logic, I shouldn't get DFd for getting my family gifts this year, too.
• 

  MrMonroe

  James Penton in Apocalypse Delayed noted: "Numerous Witnesses who have visited the Writing Department at Brooklyn report that very often they have seen Watchtower writers research material for new articles by going back through old volumes of the society's official journal published in the 1920s and 1930s." (p.232).

  I became tired of attending meetings and conventions that recycled the same old material and gave up reading the magazines because it was the same old tripe. When I did go out to offer them, more than often I was asking them to take magazines I had no intention of reading myself.