How would you assess the intelligence level of the individual GB members?

by Alfred 16 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Alfred

  I know there's really no way to tell who has the highest or lowest IQ of those on the current governing body or even who exhibits more thinking ability or more knowledge of WT BS. But many of you have heard talks from these clowns at district assemblies throughout the US and abroad over the years... others here have seen the 2010 DVD "Faith In Action" or have seen YouTube videos of GB members dispensing meat in due season... so I'm curious to know what your personal assessmenment is of the 7 stooges currently living in Brooklyn Heights...

  Here's my personal assessment... (from dumbest to least dumb)

  1. Guy Pierce (completely clueless)
  2. Anthony Morris
  3. Gerrit Lösch
  4. Stephen Lett
  5. Sam Herd
  6. Geoffrey Jackson
  7. David Splane (knows enough WT BS to hold his own)

  Again, I know this is a subjective assessment, but I would really like to know your opinion on who you believe has been dumbed down the most by the WT and who has been dumbed down the least...

  Thanks!
• 

  metatron

  Good Lord. How can anybody even make such a determination as to how dumb they are. I can remember a long term Bethelite describing Losch as 'not the sharpest knife in the drawer' and that back when some GB members were barely functional - or almost dead, as I think Sam Herd put it.

  metatron
• 

  JRK

  Steve Lett - Dumber than a box of rocks.

  Gerrit Losch - If he had as much brains as ego, he would be okay.

  JK
• 

  WontLeave

  It's very difficult to tell the difference between stupidity and willful rejection of the truth to further an agenda. We've probably all encountered the hard-headed resistance to cut-and-dry, slam-dunk proof from JWs, Mormons, holy-rolling faith-healing tongue speakers, etc. Some of these people may actually be quite intelligent, but sound very stupid on their belief system. It may be insanity, stupidity, ignorance, or outright lying. Does a fortune teller know she's a charlatan or is she convinced she has special powers? I guess it would depend on the fortune teller, but separating the degree of various motivations would be virtually - if not actually - impossible.

  If the GB realize they're con men, what is their motivation? Do they cling to the glory, the lifestyle, the power? Do they fear the alternative, because without being "prophets", they're not qualified to be Wal-Mart greeters? Did they just trip over their feet into their positions because they were popular with the right people or did they claw and scheme their way up the socio-political JW ladder? Are they simply figureheads of the Watchtower corporation (like the British royalty) or do they take an active role in asserting their position? Each one's reasons may be totally different than the others.

  There are too many variables that could contribute to boil it down to a single aspect.
• 

  Joliette

  I honestly could care less who is dumber or smart (which I dont think any of those guys are dumb at all), and no offense to the author of the thread, but what matters is that this group of elders know that familes are being affected by their decisions, yet they have this, well, you didnt listen to Jehovah type of attitude. I listened to a talk by Brother Splaine, and he said in the talk that its our responsiblity to return to Jehovah. We have nobody to blame but ourselves when we stray from the flock. I'm like I'm i hearing this shit correctly???

  And dont even get me started on Anthony Morris. I've listened to some of his talks and I felt like I wanted to gag!
• 

  JWStruggle

  Alfred - I am NOT an apologist for these guys in any way shape or form. They have allowed themselves to be "caught up in the concept" and ought to know better. They should grow the cajones to work for change and fix the things their predecessors bungled.

  That said, I knew Bro Pierce fairly well. He served our congregation when he was in the traveling work, and he taught my pioneer school so I talked with him every day for those two weeks. He is incredibly smart, has a great sense of humor, and was an outstanding public speaker. He had all of us totally lost when he was talking about how to calculate the memorial by simply watching the moon and stars- the "Guy" is sharp... or at least he was when I knew him.
• 

  Band on the Run

  I've been fortunate to be around some very bright people. Brightness and character don't automatically correlate. I'd rather have someone with decent character who was less sharp than someone very bright with no morals. All these men have to be deferential to be where they are. Will they stand up to each other? Some have to have more clout than others.
• 

  blondie

  Brightness and character don't automatically correlate

  Good point, BOTR
• 

  00DAD

  I've only have personal experience with three of the GB brothers. I heard two of the current GB speak at assemblies, Lösch and Lett, and Herd taught at an elder school I attended about 10ish years ago.

  Keeping in mind that at the time I heard all three of them I was still completely captive to the concept and believed the GB were everything they claimed to be, here is what was my take on these three at the time I heard them:

  • Lösch: I heard him at a Circuit Assembly in the late '80s or early '90s. He seemed pretty sharp and articulate, but his heavy accent sometimes made it hard to understand him. He came across as a "company man" through and through, no doubt about it. Nothing really too memorable about it, which ironically is pretty telling in and of itself. I'd like to think that if I ever heard Jesus, or Peter or the Apostle Paul speak I would have been able to recall every word, or at least significant portions of it. I'm sure that would have been a very memorable experience. Hearing Lösch speak was mostly forgettable. I have an excellent memory and can recall detailed points from scores of talks I heard in the 25 years I was a JW, but I can't remember a single think from Lösch's talk, not one. In fact, I probably wouldn't remember it at all it if weren't for the fact that he was a GB speaker. Very denouement.
  • Lett - He was the "star" speaker at a District Convention in Long Beach 5 - 10 years ago. What a disappointment. This guy is just plain goofy. There was a huge screen projection of him so we got to see every nuance of his speaking "style". Lett has the strangest mannerisms, I mean really off-the-charts odd, especially his facial expressions. I can forgive him his odd looks, I mean he can't help that. But when he would make, what he thought was, an important point, he would get the silliest look on his face. Seriously, it was so bizarre that I actually had to look away when he spoke. The only way I could listen was to keep my head down and focus on my notes. Also, his speaking style resembles a pre-school teacher, it's very childish. He apparently thinks the average JW is dumber than he is. He is obviously very impressed with his own intellectual abilities, which were clearly miniscule.
  • Herd - Sam was the leader at an elder school in Woodland Hills about a decade ago. Besides seeming old and tired he came across as extremely opinionated. There were many things that he said that clearly were NOT SCRIPTURAL but that we were obviously expected to accept just because he said it. One thing in particular that struck me as odd was some comments he made about lesbians. He spent what seemed like an inordinately long time trying to convince us that they were somehow worse than male homosexuals. In particular, he said "They will lie to you up one side and then down the other. Brothers, you can't believe a single word they say." Ok. Now I've only known a handful of women that I knew were lesbians, and in my personal experience they are no more dishonest than anyone else. For that matter, they're probably some of the nicer people I've known in my 50 trips around the sun. Pretty funny now that I know what liars the GB guys are to reflect on his comments. Maybe he's a closet lesbian!

  So in summary, my personal experience with 43% of the "Leaders of God's Visible Organization," which all were supposedly "anointed by Holy Spirit" and hand-picked by Jesus, we have:

  1. A largely forgettable personality,
  2. A completely strange, delusional man of below-average intellect, way below, and
  3. An opinionated old misogynist windbag that hates lesbians

  Hmmm, no way these guys are Christ's representatives on earth. No way!
• 

  00DAD

  Here's a vid of Stephen Lett speaking in Brazil earlier this year, February 13th, 1011.

  Watch from 3:03 to 3:11. That should be more than enough to prove the point!

  Stephen Lett: Just Like a Little Child