Why the Watchtower Has Embraced Cowardice

by metatron 6 Replies latest jw friends

  • metatron
    metatron

    There have been some acts of personal bravery in this organization. Martin Poetzinger

    endured a death camp. Rutherford gave speeches before violent opposers who could

    have easily shot him. I recall that Henschel may have been beaten and Sydlik may

    have risked his safety visiting in other nations where Witnesses were banned.

    With this history in hand, why has the Watchtower Society embraced cowardice?

    Please consider how their cowardly nature is made manifest by the practice of

    amibiguity, deliberate deception - and lies.

    They wish to gain the advantages of citizenship but will not explicitly say if

    voting is wrong or forbidden. They don't like bad press about the blood issue but

    won't explicitly say if Witnesses will be shunned or not for taking blood. They write

    vague replies about new blood products without ever simply saying "it's up to your

    conscience AND THAT'S IT - we're staying out of it!". They drop new blood cards

    and omit the issue from new publications but won't admit they are backing away

    from the issue. They want to curry the favor of international agencies but SCURRY

    into the obscure darkness like cockroaches when their U.N. alliance is exposed.

    Pastor Russell once said that if hellfire was true, Christendom should never stop

    preaching it. They should emphasize it above every other consideration to prevent

    anyone from being condemned to eternal torment. Fred Franz used to quote

    Titus 3:8 "...concerning these things I desire you to make firm assertions constantly

    in order that those who have believed God may keep their minds on maintaining

    fine works."

    Well, are these issues that the Society treats with such ambiguity VITAL for

    SALVATION or not? Clearly, if they cannot say plainly "this will get you destroyed

    at Armageddon", then they have lost faith in their own doctrines and are playing

    a cowardly game of arcane pronouncements while cravenly hiding behind a

    gang of lawyers. Nor does it show anything but cowardice when they dissemble,

    deceive, and lie to the media when they get caught covering up child molesters.

    I guess "John the Baptist" has "left the building!"

    Finally, what spirit is manifested when they try to bully people into remaining

    silent about child abuse? what spirit is manifested when trying to bully and

    bankrupt a loving father trying to save his daughter's life? It certainly isn't

    bravery!

    How can anyone feel anything but contempt for an organization

    that refuses to say what they mean and mean what they say - and

    that bullies the weak and disadvantaged?

    metatron

  • Reborn2002
    Reborn2002

    How can anyone feel anything but contempt for an organization that refuses to say what they mean and mean what they say - and that bullies the weak and disadvantaged?

    Amen metatron. Preach on brother.

    But to answer that question, it is very simple. The same reason that most active Jehovah's Witnesses REMAIN Jehovah's Witnesses and support the organization.

    DENIAL

    MIND CONTROL

    FEAR

  • Sam Beli
    Sam Beli

    Preach on Brother, and Amen and Amen.

  • DanTheMan
    DanTheMan

    Yeah, it's shameful what they've become. A bunch of lawyers and spinsters, masters of evasive wordplay.

    Now that the 'revolutionary' days are over with, they've descended into their dark age.

  • larc
    larc

    Interesting essay, Metarnon. Here is my take on the situation. With Russell, Rutherford, Knorr, and Franz, there was strong leaderhip and a sense of direction. Near the end of Franz's reign committee goverence (GB) was instituted, and it all went down hill from there. As the GB gets older and less effective, the organization is more influenced by attorneys, who are known for their caution, not for their leadership. I think the organization is floundering, and they don't know what to do out it.

  • garybuss
    garybuss

    Good job! Thanks!

    gb

  • abbagail
    abbagail

    Well said, Metatron, and good reading! I, too, used to get really fired up (thrilling) to read about the forefathers of the org and all they stood up to, and stood up for ("JWs and the Divine Purpose" - old dark-green book, was one of my favorite Thrillers, along with the Yearbooks). "Why, If THEY could do it, so could I!" I always thought. But all this wishy-washy, mamsy-pamsy stuff going on.... it truly is disheartening, and would make one feel "weak at the knees" (Heb.12:12) due to lack of vision and leadership. One day I got out all the WT's from the past decade with "new light" which I had missed... and the first thought/emotion I had was the scripture at Ephesians 6:4:

    "And you, fathers, do NOT be irritating your children..."

    Sidenote: The NWT Reference Bible says regarding the word "irritating": Literally: "not be you PROVOKING TO WRATH." -- How about THEM apples, eh? But that's the first thing I felt in my gut, was, "Hey! You are not being CONSISTENT with the children, irritating us to pieces by always changing everything around... Cut it out, will ya?!!!" (Didn't the Society always say, in explanation of that scripture, that parents should be CONSISTENT in their teaching/training of their children, so as not to irritate them?)

    I agree with you who said the lawyers have taken over... the zig-zag of the explanations and wording of things... wasn't it legal-beagles who invented circular-reasoning? ;) When I began trying to play 'catch up' with the WT-world (after having not paid attention for about 9 years), my OTHER first gut reaction was, "The Lawyers Have Taken Over..." (maybe due to my having worked for attorneys for over a decade during the same years I was a JW)... It just "felt" like everything the WT was saying was like they are trying purposely to NOT say anything, just to "cover their tail;" and who else would advise them to speak such legalese except the Mouthpieces? Whether they WANT this kind of "legal" guidance or not, it almost sometimes seems like they have been "overtaken"... like, who really IS running the show? The spiritual men or the legal-heads?

    And why would they be "chickening out" now, after all this time, and sucking up to governments, brown-nosing the UN, etc.? Sounds like motives far from spiritual ones... more like, "Let's make sure our own butts are safe, come what may..." Who knows better how to cover their own tails than attorneys? Have you ever noticed how that Marino guy or the other one, I forget his name, how they have been quoted in magazine articles, using words like "screwed up", and stuff like that? Aren't these attorneys also JWs? They come across as harsh and heartless... definitely not spiritual sounding to me. I would be embarrassed for my former (attorney) boss to have to know all these things, as he really respected my position as a JW (when I WAS a JW, that is...)

    Is it that the leadership got too old to write articles, and therefore, so many DIFFERENT ones are writing articles/opinions they are all putting their own thoughts in the literature? This one thinks this... That one thinks that... Maybe they are playing "Musical Chairs" up there in HQ, i.e., whoever has the pen-in-hand this week WINS and gets to write the latest new light...?

    Sorry for the rambling.... I got carried away in the spirit of irritation... ;)

    Regards/GRITS

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