Ray Franz had the right idea. He new that many would not takehis word for it if he said something contraversial, so he made sure he told readers where they could go to check what he told them in his two books.
Is it normal to quote without naming the source like WT does?
by InterestedOne 39 Replies latest watchtower bible
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aSphereisnotaCircle
When my oldest was in grade school she learned how to do research and cite references. They were required to do this on all there essays.
It was a big eye opener for me, that sort of thing never came to my attention before and i quickly realized the society never did it, they lost a lot of respect in my eyes at that point.
Anyone who wants to be taken seriously will cite there references.
Anyone who doesn't do it, is just trying to fool you.... period
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metatron
Rank deception, period.
They used to cite their references and they stopped doing so. Why?
Because they had so much trouble with people complaining about out of context, deceptive quotations, that they stopped.
metatron
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pirata
It is normal when you have something to hide.
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Alfred
Not normal...
The Society has a long standing practice of not naming their sources... and whenever they do, they usually take quotes completely out of context to fit their doctrine. For example, their "Trinity brochure" is thoroughly loaded with quotes from encylopedias and dictionaries that are completely taken out of context to prove that the Bible doesn't teach the Trinity doctrine. But the WTBTS doesn't care about this at all because they know the rank and file will always trust the Writing Committee as if they get information directly from God. They also know that no one really goes through the trouble of looking up any of their quotes...
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NewChapter
If I ever did that in my college papers, I would be failed or worse. It's considered plagiarism. And aside from that, it is just poor writing. You always want to build confidence in the source of such quotes---
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MrFreeze
In school you must ALWAYS cite your sources, no matter how much you quote. Then again the WT doesn't believe in schooling.
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bafh
I asked a muckety muck one time why they didn't include references at the end of articles, and he said "do the popular magazines do it that way?" Well, no. But when they quote experts, they usually at least give the name of the person they are quoting. He did say that if a person wanted the references, they could write the writing department and get them. I'm tempted to start writing and asking for the references on EVERY article they write and see what happens.
The only book where they put an actual section for references was the blue Evolution book...and that was because it was aimed at science minded people. In the paperback Creator book, they also adequetly referenced the people quoted. But those are the ONLY two times I can think of where they did that. Although, as I am writing, I do remember in the begining of the Babylon book, the section about how Nimrod, and Marduk and the cross were all related that they quoted generously bible scholars by name.
Other than that...they don't do it on purpose I believe. First, they are appealing to an uneducated crowd who a) don't question it because they don't know that something is missing and b) aren't curious enough to question who said what. Second, if someone were to research their research, they might come to a different conclusion....and THAT of course would be a bummer.
bafh
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bigmac
its just typical of the arrogance of the watchtower society--they believe they are infallable & directly plugged into god.
the publications are aimed primarily at their trapped audience, who are only too happy to lap it all up, without the need to bother to check if any of "the truth" is , in fact , true.
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Black Sheep
My immediate reaction is to ask myself why they didn't provide the specific source of the quote - author, publication, page #, etc.
Don't ask yourself that.
Ask your study conductor to provide the source.
Don't forget to ask for them every time he visits until he gives them to you. They have a bad habit of hoping you will forget, or give up asking, knowing that once you are totally under their control, that it won't matter to you any more, or, if it does, you will be so afraid of their Killer god, or being shunned by your new 'friends' that you will just drop it.