Is the Watchtower so assured of its members' loyalty it can do and say as it pleases?

by truthseeker 26 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  bats in the belfry

  truthseeker > Most non-JWs, if pointed out the inconsistencies, would see the folly of this latest understanding, yet the rank and file swallow it, hook, line and sinker.

  truthseeker, ...therein lies the big problem: With most JWS you will have to shove their faces right to the points in question. Many of them will just flip through the pages of a new magazine, glance for a while at the illustrations, pictures, or charts, and then fold up the magazine for good.
  
  The next step will be when they pull the magazine out of the bag, either in the D2D ministry or at the KH for the study routine. - Not much reading and thinking required.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  TRUTHSEEKER: What about the overlapping generations? Most non-JWs, if pointed out the inconsistencies, would see the folly of this latest understanding, yet the rank and file swallow it, hook, line and sinker.

  BLACKSHEEP: The ones I've talked to lately still have a loyal facade, but they're not keen on supporting the overlapping generation doctrine.

  They are frightened of the consequences of admitting exchanging lifetimes as good christians or athiests for lifetimes of religious bigotry and deliberate dishonesty.

  Ditto Blacksheep. Yes, most are "loyal". But there has never before been such doubting. They mumble "the end is near", but they both work, build bigger homes, send the kiddos to college (as they realize their mistake in not going), and save for their retirement.

  They "talk the talk", but no one is "walking the walk". No one downsizing to pioneer. The only downsizing is the result of lost jobs and the awful economy. Then those folks "spin it" to look good if they are smart.

  It's not loyalty. I'ts FEAR and PRIDE. Fear of losing family and friends. Pride of looking like stupid, gullible assholes to the worldly friends & relatives.

  DOC
• 

  metatron

  This a good question to debate.

  I think they must cope with Witnesses effectively going deaf and tuning them out. This moves them towards becoming ever more strident in tone. They have to manage an organization that is passive-aggressive, almost beyond belief. They will fanatically report field service and attend meetings but not donate. They will blindly defend the organization but violate ethical principles privately.

  I've met Witnesses who act puzzled when I ask about sending their kid to college, as if they don't know what I'm talking about.

  Many (most?) have no idea about the overlapping generations. The GB is going to have to confront the issue of 'OK, you've got 7 million people together but what good are they?". In fact, over time, I think that's what's happening, as they sell off Halls and cut back on stuff.

  metatron
• 

  Terry

  Here is how I think about it.

  If I were studying a Foreign Language and my instructor was telling me what things meant what.......my "trust" and confidence in what

  I was being taught comes rather automatically. The AUTHORITY of the teacher is a "given".

  So, it would not be a question of Loyalty to doubt.

  I would not KNOW ENOUGH on my own in order to have a BASIS for doubt.

  You see what I'm saying?

  The AUTHORITY of the Watchtower has a strongly implied imbalance of power: THEY KNOW and YOU DON'T.

  Who are you to question them?

  Consequently, the very act of challenging the pronouncements of the Governing Body = insubordination!

  The minute you question a teaching you automatically become the student impudently smarting off to the Professor.
• 

  Quandry

  Pretty much.

  When I was "in" and they announced "new light," I assumed I was spiritually weak if I didn't understand it, and of course couldn't give voice to my concerns-rather like acknowledging the Emperor had no clothes.

  I though that mindlessly "running with the celestial chariot" and that "all the research has been done for you" was the only thing I could do. Notice how many " "s I have to use for the WT jargon.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  I believe they have never been LESS assured of their memebers' loyalty, especially as the 100th anniversary of gods kingdom comes rolling along and NOTHING HAPPENS. I think the next 5-10 years in WT Land are going to be some of the most interesting and heartbreaking in the history of the religion.
• 

  bigmac

  aussie oz----"tins of GB shit"

  brilliant---ha ha ha ha ha------excellent. good on yer mate
• 

  thetrueone

  The WTS. own power structure was created by the people who were the leading editorial writers of the publishing organization

  as means of self validation. This set up belief system propagated to the public was supported mostly upon fear, Armageddon is close,

  judgment day is at hand, either be saved or be killed, but will show you how to be saved. Terry's analogy of of teacher and student is correct

  in that whatever the WTS. (teacher) teaches it will eventually save your life. The WTS. own postulating identity of god's only earthly organization

  establishes its own certification to be (the) teacher that has this special capability.

  Its really quite elementary of a structured concept when one reflects in how the organization attracts people to it, to be further exploited

  as a means to support the organization.

  Fear and ignorance being the catalyst that binds people to the organization, whatever the teacher teaches.
• 

  fresh prince of ohio

  Never underestimate how agonizing the existential crisis is that inevitably comes upon any person confronting a lifetime, or several years or decades at least, of indoctrination that tells them, over and over and over again:

  1) They will never have to experience death!

  2) They are among the awesomely priveleged members of a chosen, clean, and righteous group of people, who have been imparted special, exclusive knowledge from a supernatural source. And everyone else in the world is going to die a horrible, inglorious death at Armageddon, which is going to happen any day now!!!!

  3) There is something severely, SATANICALLY wrong with them if they doubt anything that comes from the FDS.

  Yes, the WTS has got things to where they can say just about anything without risk of losing the earnest believers, if for no other reason than it is an incredible mental hurdle for a person to honestly realize, admit, accept that they're JUST A CHUMP WHO'S GONNA DIE, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, and that a good portion, if not all of their lives has been spent in a fantasy world.

  And for the non-earnest JW's, meh, they barely pay attention anyway. And for the power players, it's all good - whatever tactic works to keep the rickety old ship afloat.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  FRESH PRINCE - I think you worded it perfectly :" it is an incredible mental hurdle for a person to honestly realize, admit, accept that they're JUST A CHUMP WHO'S GONNA DIE, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE"

  That is a tough pill to swallow, especially after years of delusion. That is why most will accept whatever crap the WT sends their way, to keep the delusion alive and real.