The Current State of the Watchtower & The Cynicism of Soviet Communism

by cofty 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  neverendingjourney

  I don't buy into the GB-as-cynics theory. If this were true, why do they continue to deploy a free labor force of millions into a service that provides next to zero results (field service). If the GB were cynics and businessmen, wouldn't they deploy the labor force into projects like building kingdom/assembly halls or otherwise deploy that labor in a way that strengthens the bottom line?

  Now that being said, if they continue to beef up their online presence and show true business savvy in other ways, I might begin to change my opinion.
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  cofty

  wouldn't they deploy the labor force into projects like building kingdom/assembly halls

  They do.

  The FS is about keeping the R&F busy not about preaching let alone conversions. If they wanted to really preach the message with urgency they would employ radio and TV.
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  Giordano

  "what do you believe is the spirit that gives you inner satisfaction , true meaning & lasting fulfillment in your life ?"

  The first answer that came to me was....kindness. Being kind and generous of manner and deed, reassuring or helping someone to solve a problem gives me inner satisfaction.

  Lasting fulfillment is more problematical as I have made my share of mistakes along the way to my 7th decade. Not making the same mistakes over again helps. somewhat.
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  neverendingjourney

  Which is my point. They have a free labor source at their disposal. Any businessman with half a brain would put that force to use in ways that are financially renumerating. You could accomplish both goals at once: make money and keep the r&f busy.

  By maintaining the ineffective field service program in place, these guys act more like brainwashed buffoons who keep the status quo in place because that's what other "inspired" servants of god set up in their day and by gosh they're gonna keep doing god's will.
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  cofty

  My point is that they show no signs of being genuine believers any more. If they actually cared about preaching their message they would do it through the mass media.

  Just like Soviet Communism in the 70s/80s they have stopped believing or even caring about belief. All that matters is outward compliance and obedience.

  Maing fortunes is not the goal, maintining their status is all that counts.
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  neverendingjourney

  I think we're just using "cynic" in different ways. To me Benny Hinn is a cynic. The guy doesn't believe an ounce of what he's saying but he's acting in his self interest by using the gullible masses to line his pockets handsomely. Joel Osteen is a fantastic businessman. He get's what people are looking for in religion and he's supplying a product for that market.

  What you're describing, I think, is more of situation where religious truth has become irrelevant to the men who head the Jehovah's Witnesses today. That concern has been supplanted by the desire to maintain their authority and to preserve the structure that allowed them to ascend to such power in the first place. Perhaps they were once ardent believers, but they are now less concerned about truth and almost solely focused on maintaining power.

  The latter doesn't require that they be great businessmen or evangelizers and I hope they never become either. They're certainly not particularly good at it today.
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  cofty

  Cynicism is not synonymous with financial greed.
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  anonymouz

  It sounds like the US regime is a USSR clone, and Bethel shares the same DNA of impending collapse. It's all from the same central engineers supporting the main architectural development to guide it all there, (Rev13:11-15), thus the similarities cannot be coincidental, but by design. The US national finance system (and thier EU counerpart "union") will follow in that of the USSR, and in that wake Bethel will also sink.

  When in Germany we could already read the writing on the wall prior to 1990, and now in the US I can again see the same message - in fact it was getting clearer after 1990 as well. But atleast I have a piece of the Berlin Wall, lol. I wouldn't want a piece of Bethel, the next wall coming down. The overall US collapse will be guided and engineered for ojectives, not total dysfunction. Yet it will be tribulatory and it will spread globally.

  Bethel is simply and act now, like post 70s USSR, even at the WT annual meeting you can see those GB talking heads do not even believe themselves what they are saying. It looks dead pan, scripted, unenthusiastic, and backward, like they KNOW Bethel is going down, which they do know.

  Just so one knows, the USSR is a connected domino effect, not a stand or fall alone even if it took 20 or so years. In the US main tremor is when Bethel will start the two year sink to the bottom.
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  cofty

  When in Germany we could already read the writing on the wall prior to 1990

  I think that is wishful thinking. Nobody foresaw the events of '89

  Here is another quote that seems to reflect the GB's dilemma over failed prophecy.

  ---------------------------------------

  Over time, the basic flaws in the system became increasingly obvious. But although it had to change, it could not - for ideological and political reasons. The Party drew its authority fom the conviction that it was infalible, that the tide of history was on its side. Problems began to be compounded when events failed to follow the script laid down by the socialist visionaries.

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  Band on the Run

  I was in elementary school when the Berlin Wall went up. Every night the news in America showed the heroic efforts of people trying to escape. People climbed under cars. Some jumped from roofs to mattress padded sections of West Berlin. Others ran for it and were shot down. It was powerful. I may be cynical about American foreign policy during that era but the hunger for freedom and to escape before the wall was completed was so concrete. I would weep for those who could not escape. I never thought the Berlin Wall would come down.

  I watched TV constantly when the wall was breached. There are several prized possessions I have. One is a twig I picked up as a memento during John Lennon's service in Central Park. I refused to pay a dime on anything commercial. The city banned the sale of junk T shirts. It was the first Woodstock Nation event at which all these couples came with baby carriages and strollers. The fans, now parents, explained to them that John was a very special man. I cried harder. Another is a certified copy of the first free election in South Africa. I never thought I would see Mandela leave prison. We were dancing jigs in my building when East Germans and West GErmans breach the wall and met each other. I splurged on a certified copy of a piece of the Berlin Wall. It is ugly but so precious. Granted, it did come from a major auction house so it may be construction rubble from the Bronx. In my heart, it is the Berlin Wall piece.

  Cofty, I would be interested in your views on the status of the Russian Orthodox Church and Vladmir Putin today. It is funny bc WT art reminds me of Soviet art. Ugly. It reflects the organization itself. Nazi art was ugly as anything, too.