So many good posts! I am always struck by how many times the 1995 generation change gets posted as a change [in doctrine] that had significant impact on JWs around then. I see so how many times posted use the expression pre-1995 generation and post 1995 generation changes. There is no doubt that that change in WTS teaching GREATLY affected many people - including me! It was the start to opening my eyes, although it took years to fully see the "truth" about "the [so-called] Truth". The pedophile issue - including the Dateline airing - was what really started me to open my mind and eyes. All of this - the 1995 generation change, the pedophilia mis-handling/coverup/etc. - ran parallel with the birth of the Internet. And, of course, it's the internet that allowed JWs world-wide to learn TTATT! So many who are left in this religion use it as a social club - many even act one way at the meetings, but sound like ordinary worldlings outside the perimeter of the meetings/service/etc. (And some JWs act even worse then the average worldling!) It's not looking good for the religion of the WTS. The Governing Body change seems to have gone completely over the head of most JWs! (btw: I couldn't believe the initial post where the wife didn't even know that the 144,000 used to be called the F&DS! How NEW a JW is she? Or, was/is she one of those born-ins who never learned the tenets of their own religion - boy, there are a bunch of those around!!! I know many of you have commented about the ignorance of born-ins!)
Do JWs Really Still care about the "Truth"?
by XBEHERE 25 Replies latest jw friends
-
Pterist
******Do JWs really care about the truth******
Unfortuanetly, as a JW, the "TRUTH" I was thought was Bibical facts, some right, some wrong, and "TRUTH" eventually was and is for a JW, whatever is currently being thought by the GB.
John 17:3 states "Now this is Eternal Life that they may KNOW YOU the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent.
The NWT states "Taking in KNOWLEDGE of YOU" !!!!
I have Knowledge and facts about Elvis, however, "I never KNEW him......
Knowledge and "KNOWING" personally is completely different and THAT'S THE TRUTH !!!
Shalom
-
ÁrbolesdeArabia
No, the majority of elders were unable to keep up with all the study material each week brought. If the elders who are under obligation are having issues keeping up with all the spiritual food, the rank and file are suffering too. Proof-texts don't work in this age of instant information, how can you prove the "truth is the Truth" if the journey could lead to disfellowshiping? Double tongued, "keep proving this is the truth" but don't read anything online that might cast a doubt on your truth!
-
Vidiot
2+2=5 - " The GB will have to lower the standards for MS and elder requirements."
Oh, they've been steadily doing that for some time, now.
In some cases, they're really scraping the bottom of the WT barrel.
-
Apognophos
I second much of what has been said here, but wanted to mention that the change in the definition of the F&DS seems more abrupt to an ex-JW than a current JW. I can totally understand the fuzziness in a JW's understanding of what was changed, because the way the "slave" has been referred to in the literature has been increasingly seeming to refer to the source of the literature and teachings rather than all the anointed. Sure, one might find an occasional restatement in recent literature of the old light, but very little textual recognition was being given to the anointed remnant as part of the slave. The new understanding just codifies what was already being implied. Without even realizing it, the Witnesses were picking up on these cues over the years, and so all but the most doctrinally-obsessed already believed the GB was 'basically' the F&DS by the time the "domestics" new light was announced.
-
Phizzy
You are right Apo, they have used the trickle down method for many a year, so that the unquestioning R&F absorb the "Noo Lite" by a kind of osmosis.
Back in the old days 1950's/60's changes were less frequent, but in the Congregations I was associated with you always had certain ones who were really on the ball as to the latest thinking, so you looked silly if you did not keep up.
Now it seems that few care and few take any real notice of changes, we XJW types know more about what they used to teach and when, and what they teach now, than nearly all of today's active JW's.
What is an interesting exercise is to observe what they are quietly dropping, and from that surmise where they are going, as another Thread on here, about the 1914 rubbish, did.
When I first left the WT I examined other religions, looking for the "true" one I suppose, I was interested in the Christadelphians, they hold similar beliefs to JW's in many areas, but have not changed their beliefs for over 100 YEARS ! I e-mailed one of the top guys in the U.K and asked him ( among other things) if they were likely to feel the need to change some beliefs, his reply was "I doubt it very much, we feel that truth does not change". He also said it would be difficult to get Christadelphians to change as each congregation is autonomous. How different !
So, it boils down to what has been expressed above, JW's have never and still do not care about the real truth, and they don't care about the "truth" they are supposed to believe in.
Can they really go on much longer ?