by slimboyfat 82 Replies latest jw friends
How accountable do you think they will allow themselves to be ?
They will act like a new bunch of executives in a Corporation, blame the old bunch for all the mistakes.
I do wonder though if anything gets to be tested in Court as to their present accontability, how they will wriggle out ?
p.s Anyone got a recording ? Cantleave needs it.
I wish I took a recording. I could have done it with my phone.
With power comes responsibility. JW leaders have been quick to assume power over people's lives, but slow about accepting responsibility, whether it be over setting dates for Armageddon then claiming dashed hopes were due to unwarranted "speculation", or using the best years of young people at bethel, but assuming no responsibility to look after these people when they get old or sick.
"Jehovah is the best retirement fund" Splane said. But that depends on what position you hold in the organisation or who you know. Jehovah's done alright by old Splaney; others less so.
Twenty years from now, there is going to be large numbers of people who begin to wake up and realize just how wrong the GB’s stance was on college. Being stuck in exhausting, low paying work with little satisfaction and few options - while still waiting on Jehovah - will move people to begin to seriously question the “wisdom” that they put their faith in.
Twenty years from now my @$$!!!!!!!!!!
That is not some future development -- it is reality today!
Doc
It just occurred to me that there was not much reference to how near Armageddon is in this talk.
When discussing retirement funds Witnesses used to say they didn't need any because Armageddon was coming any minute. Now they say Jehovah is the best retirement fund. Is that a tacit admission that the end might not be that close, but to trust in Jehovah to provide "in this system of things"?
When talking about education they used to say, what's the point Armageddon will be here soon so why make a career in this system? Now they say don't take higher education because it will take you away from "the truth". Again no mention of Armageddon.
No doubt they still drum on about Armageddon often. But it strikes me that they are developing and relying on other arguments for their restrictive rules more and more. Maybe the nearness of Armageddon is just getting too incredible an idea to rely on exclusively any more.
Interesting - at our latest circuit assembly there was virtually no mention of "armageddon" or "soon" or anything like that.
They do seem to be de-emphasizing it.
Perhps they are laying the foundtion for more "noo light"? Preparing the way for more of a mainstream position, less apocalyptic?
Going back a few posts to the idea of the specificity of GB = FDS, I'm reminded of the lawsuit brought by Steven Unthank in Australia approximately a year ago. In his complaint he names the Faithful and Discreet Slave as a defendant. A WTS lawyer assigned to answer the complaint asserted that the Faithful and Discreet Slave is a "theological concept" and not an actual entity that can be sued. That defense wouldn't fly today. The "new light" has increased their exposure to lawsuits as well.
Moses Unedited - "Rank and file Witnesses are not shielded from the evolving global economy in the way that the Watchtower leadership is."
That's an astute observation about the GB that a some of us tend to forget, I think.
It certainly helps explain a lot of their "WTF were they thinking?" policy decisions; they simply cannot grasp how the real world functions.
slimboyfat - "That's a good point about the GB now making themselves solely responsible for policies as the F&DS. There is no one else to blame now when they get stuff wrong."
Or when lives are seriously and/or irreparably damaged.
It's funny (strange, not ha-ha); the past decade or so, they gave the impression they were taking steps to distance themselves from congregations to decrease their degree of liability (for acts committed by individual R&F JWs). Now, however, it seems like they've reversed that policy and deliberately taken on an increase of liability.
It's a matter of public record that recently (during the brief period the GB tried legally distancing themselves) some congregations "got uppity" and acted to keep ownership of the KHs for themselves (to keep the WTS from selling them out from under them), and/or fully up and broke off their afilliation to the WTS entirely.
The WTS has always been about proctecting its assets, and real estate holdings are their biggest. They may have guaged the risks of taking on more liability verses the risks of losing property investments and chose the former over the latter as the lesser of two evils.
Another reason could be deduced by examining the recent history of Herbert Armstrong's Assembly of God. When Armstrong kicked and the AOG heirarchy went orthodox, the previously huge and largely unified Church association splintered like a frozen pine in a stiff wind. In the information-saturated environment of the 21st Century, I can well imagine that the GB would be f**king terrified of that happening to the WTS.
It would be the end of their way of life.
The way I see it, the GB - by "making themselves solely responsible for policies as the F&DS" - are, in effect, "doubling down" in what's become a high-stakes poker game.
I could be wrong.
The GB is the only segment of the JW population currently living in a "paradise" like situation. EVERYTHING is taken care of for them and they have millions of dollars and potentially billions in other assets available to them. They carry on (and even expanded) the tradition that J.F. Rutherford began as second president of the WBTS. The extensive legal and service departments serve as "bodyguards" for these men. The GB gives attention and favor to the powerful (usually wealthy) individuals in the worldwide organization. All the while the average publisher gives their time and money - all they can scrape together.
These guys are in for the long haul. New construction of facilities (headquarters, assembly halls and kingdom halls) is full steam ahead. They have no plan to "simplify" their lives. They're looking forward to living out their days in the lap of luxury.
“Phizzy”:
“Eight men whose twisted DFing policy causes immense suffering and even suicide.”
“I do wonder though if anything gets to be tested in Court as to their present accountability, how they will wriggle out?”
I have often wondered just how the WBTS can continue to get away with enforcing their destructive policies, especially the one about blood transfusions (especially involving infant children who are too young to decide/fend for themselves), as well as the public shunning thing, and even the recent ridiculous instructions about not calling “9-1-1” yourself at district conventions if someone is having a heart attack but, instead, telling an attendant, who is supposed to let the first aid department know so they can come and assess the person and then call the paramedics . . . hopefully before the person dies, etc., etc. – I keep wondering just how they can get away with all of that legally without a government agency stepping in to enforce some kind of mandatory control in the public interest over these things. (Look what happened to Warren Jeffs for his forced kiddy marriage ring. Where is he now?)
It makes me think back to the time when the U.S. government did, in fact, put President Rutherford, along with his main supporters (henchmen), in prison when he was going around suggesting to people that they not join the army (bad idea during a time of a world war). It did happen back then (although they managed to somehow get released on a legal technicality; i.e., not exoneration).
With all of the problems the Society is having, including broken up families, covered over child molestation, not to mention the plethora of dead children thanks to the blood “issue” (the work of another idiot, Hayden C. Covington) – I keep asking myself, As push comes to shove with all of this, when might we see this happen again – i.e., the old New York octopus getting their asses into a federal courtroom to be taken to task for continuing to foment such unwarranted and needless suffering. Yes. When is their turn?
