by compound complex 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Greetings Friends:
This article, from June, is in today's God Discussion. I discovered it in connection with my Googling of Jehovah's Witnesses and the flurry of news currently posted on JWs and the Watchtower Society. It is quite a comprehensive commentary, which includes information about Ray Franz. I had no idea JWs were worried about 2014 and whatever that date portends to indicate for those weary of waiting ...
CoCo
Interesting article. I guess there would be some disillusionment among JWs becuase of these kinds of things.
No discussion of the overlapping generation???
My understanding from talking to some still attached to the organization is that talk of the approaching hundredth anniversary is generating considerable angst among many Jehovah's Witnesses. The Society itself is circumspect this time as opposed to its drum beating as 1975 approached. That doesn't mean the leadership is unaware of all the talk. Rather it appears that it hopes that by remaining silent, the buzz will die down and 2014 will come and go without any significant impact on growth and preaching.
I think that right now a siege mentality has taken hold in Brooklyn. The Governing Body is acting as if it is encircled by enemies. Its constant rantings and ravings against apostates and apostasy are like nothing I heard and read when I was an active and zealous publisher. Yes, the natives are growing restless and the response from the top has been classic as well as predictable. Haven't we seen this all before, especially in the political arena? A dictator faces calls for significant reforms, relaxation of controls, and a new direction for the country. His response is to crack down on dissent, jail opponents, drive other resisters into exile, and kill the more vocal and recalcitrant of his critics. The WTS and its Governing Body have done likewise, albeit in a metaphysical way.
Eventually, the dictator is overthrown despite his best efforts to remain in power. Sometimes he escapes with his life; but there are many instances in which he loses that violently. I don't know what will happen to the WTS leadership, but I believe that the organization is facing its greatest crisis since the death of Charles Taze Russell in 1916. Despite massive defections and the jailing of its Board of Directors that followed Russell's death, the organization not only survived, but thrived. It faced down the Nazi tyrants in Germany and outlasted the communist despots of the Soviet Union. It managed to overcome the bad publicity of its failed prophecies for the twentieth century to enter the twenty-first century intact.
What makes today's situation different, I believe, is that the current leadership is composed of men who do not have the qualities needed to navigate past the shoals and reefs the organization must negotiate to reach safer waters. Past leaders were charismatic, tough-minded, or great organizers. Nobody like that is in charge now. And there remains the simple fact that just as in the past, there is no divine backing for the Society's mission. Without the kind of leadership that served it so well in the past, the current Governing Body is ill-equipped to function in an environment that is as fluid, dynamic, and technilogically challenging as this one. Hence the falling back on the method of cracking down on dissent and the suppression of any kind of challenge.
Maybe the organization will manage to survive. But I think that what is more likely is that we will see some kind of collapse, particularly in the developed world. I won't speculate on what that will mean for the organization as a whole, but I don't think it can survive as it is presently constituted.
Quendi
I feel like these spectators watching the glacial WTS that will be for a long time yet, but for now a lot of remarkable things are happening!
The second time I went to Alaska I went with my best friend who was also a witness. It was my favorite vacation to date! I got out of the rental and we walked near it. That wasn't good enough for me. I had to climb on top of it and feel it. Next to the Northern Lights, it was the most beautiful thing in nature I have ever seen. That frosty blue color is equisite, and the majesty of it all is awe-inspiring.
I enjoyed the video..thanks
Not quite up to date if the author believes the WT still holds on to the 1914-generation teaching.
to be honest how many witnesses have missed the change in doctrine for the overlapping generation since the watchtower slipped it in.
Some may still be clinging to the 1914 date. to be honest if I hadn't been so well educated by this board I would probably have missed it since I rarely found time to study and spent alot of time in the back room with my son.
The "witness angst" is palpable. This is going to be some ride.
My mom is old guard-nearly 70. She still thinks there is something to the 1914 thing, but isn't quite sure what that is anymore. I think that a lot of her generation to mine are confused about what to make of it-the shame of it is, the next generation doesn't even really have THAT to question as they are generally clueless about the twisted nature of the entire thing.
