by snugglebunny 34 Replies latest jw friends
add one more observation to your list, Splash:
The end has still not come despite it constantly being near, so very near.
Imagine if you could go back in time and talk to that kid slumped in the seat and tell him to keep chiling out because he'll grow up and then grow old in this system and be looking his own mortality in the face. He'd be about my now-deceased JW father's age.
Boy, wouldn't his priorities change! Who knows - maybe they did. It would be interesting to konw where he is now.
What would the folks in the pictures think of JW TV, assuming they didn't live long enough to see it for themselves?
Actually, neverendingjourney, I think they would have embraced the TV channel just as enthusiastically as they embraced the WTS' use of technology then.
At the very same assemblies that many of the above photographs were taken, the WTS was promoting their phonograph campaign.
And they trained the early Caleb and Sophie prototypes back then in the use of their 'ipads', too:
Not much has changed. The technology has, but the JWs themselves haven't. The Watchtower has just resurrected older proven marketing strategies.
Just replace the current ipad with the phonograph in the following quote and you will see the similarities. Back in the day it was a phonograph. Today it is the ipad.
The release of a new model of phonographs is described in the 1941 Assembly Report:
Trim and streamlined, resembling a handsome piece of luggage, the new, pebbled gray phonograph is an improved instrument for the use of His witnesses to magnify Jehovah's name and to proclaim His King and His Theocratic Kingdom. Although specially designed for doorstep setups, the vertical-type machine is equally efficient for back-calls and model studies, as proved by hundreds of conventioners who were able to secure this equipment in St. Louis.Equipped with a lock and key, also a complete set of instructions for its operation, each one of the new lightweight models was borne triumphantly away by a witness who counted himself fortunate in acquiring the instrument and eager to put it into Theocratic use. About 300 of the machines had been taken to The Arena, and they were disposed of with a rapidity that was suggestive of the proverbial hot cakes.It was difficult to turn them out fast enough, as each had to be assembled by experts from Society headquarters, then tested, all of which required time. They were apportioned over a period of three days and meanwhile demonstrations were carried on with a special cutaway model showing the working mechanism within. The Lord's people, after all are at heart only children; hence it was with childish interest they watched, fascinated while the demonstrator model was put through its paces, and when the sound of Judge Rutherford's voice issued therefrom as the machine was held in one's hand in an upright position, there were no bounds to their enthusiasm. In their mind's eye they could picture themselves making doorstep setups with such a handy machine.Each machine is also equipped with a package of chromium needles of the required length that must be used each needle being recommended for 25 playings. Full instructions for operating the machine also include an explanation of how to work the volume control. the shutter may be left almost closed for use in apartment houses, while outdoors it may be opened to give full volume.One advantage which entranced the friends was the book compartment, the upper part of which may be used to hold two books and a number of booklets while below may be carried copies of Watchtower, Consolation, Kingdom News, and additional booklets. Or, in case of getting ready to hold a model study, sufficient bound books, Bible etc., for references may be safely stowed away in the double compartment along with Model Study booklet eliminating the necessity of carrying another witnessing case. Two records - four sides - the maximum number usually desired for a model study of one hour's length may be carried on the turntable when the machine is closed.Those who have read the instructions given with each machine value highly the detailed outline of how to arrange and carry out the doorstep setup even to the statement the witness makes in introducing the playing of the record; also advice on adjusting and care of the phonograph.The new phonograph weighs but 8 3/4 pounds empty. One may imagine its intricate and devious workings when it is remembered that each machine contains 215 parts. The "insides" of a typical machine were displayed on a board at the phonograph counter, at St. Louis, the same being a revelation even to the mechanically-minded. Moulds, dies and tools for construction of the new model were made under the direction of the Society. Production will be continued as rapidly as possible, so that more machines may be put into the possession of witnesses as rapidly as possible.Surely the Lord has again shown His goodness to His people by placing such an efficient instrument in their hands and they will show their gratitude by wielding it as effectively and accurately as Ehud used his dagger on fat old Eglon.
I wonder how many ipads they can boast about now?
Recorded Bible discourses had a prominent role in the witnessing work during the 1930s and early 1940s The phonographs used by Kingdom publishers themselves underwent change with the passing of time. About 1934, when this work first started, there was a strong compact model with a spring-wound motor and carrying space for several discs. With 6 discs, it weighed twenty-one pounds. When this work first started the phonograph was so heavy that the brothers kept it in their automobile or left it at a convenient place until they found people who were willing to listen to a recorded Bible discourse.
A few years later, at an assembly in Columbus. Ohio, on September 15-20. 1937, the work using the portable phonograph on the doorstep was introduced. Formerly the Witnesses had been carrying the phonograph in the service but had only played it when invited inside. Now it was played on every doorstep. The procedure was simple: After stating that he had an important Bible message. the publisher would put the needle on the record and let it do the talking.
As of 1940. more than 40,000 phonographs were being used.
That's a good point about technology. They even had a radio station back then.
I guess from my vantage point I look at JW TV as a symbol of everything that's changed in the past 10 years, but I see your point. While it may be something completely new to today's Witnesses, it would be consistent with the general outlook they had in the 40s.
I posted this on another thread, but it is definitely worth reposting. This is a brother in Canada very "excited" to baptize some famous model that I have never heard of. It looks like he is jacking off underneath the water while he looks at her! Haha!
The description reads "CANADA - AUGUST 12: Model Dedicates Life to Jehovah; Fashion model Heather Farrar prepares for baptism as convert to the Jehovah's Witnesses during annual Watchtower convention yesterday. She is helped by Fred Holder; left; and Larry Sikorski in special pool set up at Woodbine Racetrack. Miss Farrar; one of more than 100 people baptized; said; I want to dedicate myself to Jehovah God. Convention; which started Thursday and ends tomorrow; has attracted 12;000. The immersion ceremony was one of the highlights. (Photo by Graham Bezant/Toronto Star via Getty Images)" Source
Magwitch - Is your cousin the sorrowful little boy at the bottom of the pic?
Is he a JW now or what is/was his status in the Borg? Cute pic though!
Hey Wild_Thing! At least he wasn't taking a picture like this brother:
startingover: Does anyone know how these phonographs were acquired? Did they have to pay for them, or qualify is some way to receive one? I have one in my possession but my parents who I got it from are now gone so i have no one to ask.
The phonographs were, of course, purchased by the JWs themselves. I have always been curious how much they sold for but have never been able to find that information as there was one in my family. My maternal grandparents would have purchased it as poor rural farmers in rural Canada during that time - the 30s or 40s. I would imagine it would have been a hardship for them to acquire it.
It was in our basement and us kids would play with it on rainy days. I still remember the day that my grandmother was over and she and my mother hauled out all the old Rutherford books and the phonograph, and the records, and burned them in the burning barrel. That would have been in the early 60s. My mother hated the sound of Rutherford's voice.
I can close my eyes and the smell of that old phonograph and records is still there. And the scratch of the needle. And the flames coming up whooshing over the side of the barrel...throwing sparks while that old box burned and the records melted!
