Sometimes the GB do end runs around each other, as when Freddie Franz didn't agree with the whole Governing Body concept and spoke against it at the Gilead Graduation. Could this video/demonstration at the Service meeting tonight on why they believe in 1914 and how to explain it to others be an effort to bolster that belief because there is a challange coming against it by factions within? I guess we can't really tell but I wouldn't put it past the boneheads running the Society. Have you seen this sort of infighting in local congregations or are you aware of other examples of this sort of end run by GB on other ocassions? Historians, ex Bethelites c'mon down! Of course we have JF and his reading rainbow obliterating Russell, what else?
is the big show on 1914 at Service Meeting evidence of factions in the GB?
by Wasanelder Once 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Londo111
I suppose this would be the domain of the Teaching Committee? If so, who oversees it?
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nicolaou
I can't answer your question Wasanelder but I know this; there are NO sacred cows when it comes to Watchtower doctrine, it's all up for grabs. The ONLY thing they care about is maintaining their perceived authority, so long as that isn't challenged then 1914, 607 or even blood policy can be 'updated' as necessary . .
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OneEyedJoe
It seems possible, but my theory is that they're pushing 1914 (and the "100 year aniversary") so hard as a positive thing to keep people from realizing that it's been 100 years of nothing but failed predictions and bad medical advice.
I think after this they'll stop talking about 1914 for a while. Then they'll go one of two ways, either start to draw the parallel between Noah's 120 year preaching and the "last days" and start to imply that 2034 will be armageddon. If they don't do that, then they'll somehow shelve 1914 once all the people who remember the days of "1914: The generation that will not pass away" and the like have died off. I don't see them officially noo-liting it out of existance, they'll probably just go to a differernt definition of generation that gets rid of the deadlines, perhaps using other bible passages to imply certain future dates.
By the time they're rid of 1914, they'll have finished the transition to a fully emotion-based message. Gone will be the days of deep study and pseudo-logic. It'll all be about the love in the org and staying away from the evil worldlies.
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sir82
"Factions within the GB" seems to be kind of a stretch.
My best guess is "We the Service Dept. think the rank & file are utterly moronic and can't be trusted not to botch the demo, so we (eye-roll & dismissive sigh) will have to do it for them."
The service dept. sets the agenda for the service meetings.
The service dept. has utter contempt for the congregations, the elders, the rank & file - pretty much everybody. Think of the most vile, mean, nasty, old-school JW you can think of - and then imagine several dozen of them. That's the service dept.
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bigmac
Think of the most vile, mean, nasty, old-school JW you can think of -
oooh god--no---thats my first mother-in-law.------she haunts my dreams
i'm sure she would have eaten one of rutherfords turds in a soft baguette.
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Island Man
" My best guess is "We the Service Dept. think the rank & file are utterly moronic and can't be trusted not to botch the demo, so we (eye-roll & dismissive sigh) will have to do it for them."
I don't think so. If it was as you say, then the letter would have been addressed to all elders (in all districts worldwide). But instead the letter about the video demo is addressed to elders in the US district. That means the video demo is not going to be done in all branch districts. So my guess is that this video demo seeks to accomplish two things:
1. Encourage congregations in the US to fork out money to install video equipment without outright telling them to. The GB doesn't want to send out a letter to all congregations telling them to fork out money to install TV equipment. Instead they're subtly enticing bodies of elders to do so by showing them how they stand to benefit if they have such equipment installed. Their hope is that BOEs will then take the initiative to table resolutions at cong. meetings for such equipment. That way, any possible 'heat' from rank and file members about having to donate more money falls on the backs of the elders and not the GB.
2. Serve as a test run of how video from the organization can be used to supplement the meetings and perhaps reduce dependence on the need for qualified brothers to deliver meeting parts at the local level. Remember that the org is suffering from a need for more qualified men to serve as elders. If meeting parts can be pre-recorded by qualified brothers at headquarters, then that reduces/alleviates the need for qualified brothers to give talks, at the local level. And then there's the added benefit of the GB being able to present their talk outlines exactly as they want it, with greater control.
I think Watchtower is moving in the direction of greater control over meeting parts by having them prerecorded from headquarters and piped into local kingdom halls as video. They're using the US as a test case perhaps because the US is widely seen as a developed country where congs will be more likely to be able to afford installing video equiment.
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William Penwell
If they don't keep pushing the 1914 or end of days message, what else is left? Then what reason do the average rank and file members have to keep going to the meetings and banging on doors? As an adventist religion it is very important to keep setting dates to keep the rank and file in line. Otherwise the religion (cult) will fall apart.
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William Penwell
2. Serve as a test run of how video from the organization can be used to supplement the meetings and perhaps reduce dependence on the need for qualified brothers at the local level. Remember that the org is suffering from a need for more qualified men to serve as elders. If meeting parts can be pre-recorded by qualified brothers at headquarters, then that reduces/alleviates the need for qualified brothers to give talks, at the local level.
I noticed a video monitor mounted up on the stage the other day when I was in a Kingdum Hall. Makes sense that more and more they will use a pre recorded video feed from the mother organization thus cutting out the middle men elders and the sheep will get the "spiritual food" direct from the GB. More controls from the GB. Like someone else mentioned on here it reminds me of George Orwell's " Nineteen Eighty-Four ".
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NewYork44M
They still kinda need 1914. In 20 years it will be as irrelevant as say 1925, but now as long as the r&f that grew up with 1914 as the focus of their lives remain alive - they gotta keep 1914. One strategy that may be is that this is the last time anyone ever talks about 1914. If I were a betting man, my money will be on - this is the last you will ever hear of this asinine idea.