Awake 1973 banned Witnesses playing Chess..why?

by Witness 007 26 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Witness 007
    Witness 007

    Are all articles from Jehovahs thoughts or do personal biased views poison the Watchtower articles? Imagine a brother who hates Chess observing in discust two bethelites playing chess...would it be right to use Jehovahs "spiritual food" to push your own warped view....YES!!

    Awake 1973 3/22 p.12 CHESS- "...the spirit of compitition between players can lead to unplesant circumstances...most families can keep comfrontations to the chess board...but for some the tension lingers long past checkmate...chess has been a game of war since its origin...a play substitute for the art of war...there is a danger of "stirring up compitition with one another" even developing hostility towards one another, something the bible warns christians to avoid..What effect does playing chess have apoun one? Is it a wholesome effect? Questions regarding it that each one should consider..."

    I guess Monopoly encouraged materialism...Hungry hippos was greedy...and playing cards leads to gambling!! This is an example of abusing our spiritual food to vent personal views....Jehovah did not aprove this message...bethel did.

  • minimus
    minimus

    I played chess and was in a chess club. When the article came out we played chess --- quietly and made no mention of it to others for fear of stumbling.

  • Londo111
    Londo111

    It wasn't banned. It was frowned upon by some...like my father. Still, I taught myself on my computer and he didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't notice.

  • insidetheKH
    insidetheKH

    i learned to play chess in the 70's with the help of several brothers, one of them was an elder. Chess was not banned at all

  • Witness 007
    Witness 007

    So why do some brothers not take note of this article and throw the chess set away....our articles help us be better Witnesses its not optional to defy advice...

  • Splash
    Splash

    Witness 007 So why do some brothers not take note of this article and throw the chess set away....our articles help us be better Witnesses its not optional to defy advice...

    It's because the advice from 1973 was reversed in 1979 so that chess was acceptable once again.

    Oh, but in 1994 it was unacceptable once more when it was deemed to be "violent".

    Aha, but we're all ok again in 1996 when it's listed as something we can do "at a gathering".

    Clear?
    If they can't make their minds up on something as trivial as playing chess, it's a good job they don't hold sway over people when it comes to life and death matters, hey.

    Splash.

  • AndDontCallMeShirley
    AndDontCallMeShirley

    Because WT has an opinion on everything and that opinion will change frequently as it goes through its mood swings.

    Essentially it boils down to this: whatever brings a person even a small measure of happiness, even something as pedestrian as chess, WT will find a way to suck the life right out of it.

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    It depends who is writing that particular article as to whether an item is noted as right or wrong

  • watson
    watson

    If it detracts from time spent in "the field", or personal study, you must give serious thought to where your priorities are!

  • Terry
    Terry

    I think a simple process--psychiatric and psychological--had been set in motion long before that article.

    In the real world (factual and provable) we look for consistency patterns to discover truth.

    In the world of delusionals, all you need is to assert a fact as a declared fact---you don't need to test it.

    The end of the Viet Nam War came in 1974 (if memory serves).

    The Watch Tower Society had a secret policy concerning Military Service which had been in force for a long time.

    That policy had been tested by brothers (such as myself) going before Draft Boards and Juries.

    We "neutral" Christian JW's had to convince rational people of things which were merely ASSERTIONS.**

    I think the "Chess" article was a continuation of a delusional quest for consistency--but--NOT IN THE REAL WORLD!

    JW's live in an ALTERNATE reality!

    The GB seeks to control the boundaries and parameters of the ALTERNATE reality.

    It is a soap bubble of assertion requiring consistency and enforcement of belief TO MAINTAIN the fake existence.

    Now is that too hard to understand?

    The theology of JW's is a mass delusion reinforced by threats and promises.

    The more consistent (faux-logical) they can make it the better.

    ** (I Wept by the Rivers of Babylon--A Prisoner of Conscience in a Time of War) available on Amazon.com)

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