Watchtower's Competitive Disadvantage

by metatron 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  metatron

  Joe is a network administrator for Our Lady of Perpetual Motion.
  He gets hired and paid for doing competent work. If he gets divorced,
  it's nobody's business. If he leaves, they hire somebody else and the
  church's business goes on. Even if someone skilled (like a priest)
  get into trouble, the church has a standing infrastructure to take
  care of business and parishioners.

  A different Joe is a computer administrator for the Watchtower.
  He's a volunteer, so the WTS 'takes what they can get'. In severe
  cases, they might send someone out to COLLEGE to qualify as a tech
  worker, lawyer, etc. Once trained, if Joe decides to leave and
  'go materialistic', the WTS is outta luck.(Now, why do you think
  they need a Paterson Country Club to survive?). Similarily, if Joe
  decides to divorce Sister Joe so he can chase a hot young Hispanic
  sister half his age, he must be 'kicked out', dropping critical
  work behind him.

  On the other hand, if Witness Joe commits some adultery or 'turns gay',
  there is strong pressure to keep things quiet and cover it up to
  protect the facade of a 'spiritual paradise' and retain skilled workers. The Society may
  go to great lengths to preserve a phoney image - as they did years
  ago when the Kings County (Bethel) congregation was ordered by Br.
  Knorr to be a "model congregation"!!!!! It took years of burned out
  Bethelites to change this pretention.

  Anyhow, it does make you wonder how anything gets done
  or how the Watchtower has survived so long without making
  the kind of SEVERE CUTS and DOWNSIZING that it now faces.

  metatron
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  obiefernandez

  hey metatron, please email me at [email protected]

  thanks!
• 

  AMNESIAN

  Now, why do you think they need a Paterson Country Club to survive?

  I note repeated veiled references on this forum to the "Patterson Country Club." What exactly does this mean? Why is what the Society refers to as an "education center" alluded to here as its "country club"???

  AMNESIAN... in the dark
• 

  DanTheMan

  Amnesian:

  PCC was only partially completed when I visted there (around 96 or so), but what I saw was VERY nice (but sterile, of course, after all, this is the WTS we're talking about). Everybody who I was touring with was like, wow, they're not sparing any expense here, are they.
• 

  metatron

  I'm old school when the Society treated brothers like slaves
  in a sweatshop. Over the years, they finally discovered ( it took
  them a few DECADES) that if you treat people like dirt in Bethel,
  they get embittered and leave and can be difficult to replace.

  As more years passed, the Society came to need more and more
  skilled workers - who could pack up and leave if things got too
  harsh. The 'volunteer' nature of Bethel service gradually changed
  to become less 'volunteer'.

  So, this is the genesis of Paterson, which by contrast with their
  harsh past, looks like a country club. I continue to argue that
  they have set themselves up for subtle blackmail because they
  depend so heavily on certain experienced individuals. If you
  know the Society's critical secrets, how can they punish you?
  Keep in mind that they planned to DF Ray Franz from the minute
  he decided to resign from the GB - to shut him up (admission
  by Swingle). The stakes get HIGHER when dangerous LEGAL secrets
  are in the possession of individuals.

  Notice how certain brothers can freely lie to the public with
  absolute impunity and not a care in the world from any judicial
  committee. The blood issue, in particular, may have given a few
  brothers absolute immunity from any punishment or control because
  the whole thing could blow up in their faces with a few public
  admissions and documents.

  I'm reminded of the failing rulership of Ish-Bosheth, Saul's
  son and how Abner responded when questioned. I suspect the Society
  will find itself in a similar position.

  metatron
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  AMNESIAN

  Ah so, ved-dy enlightening. Thanks dan and met---I get the picture.

  AMNESIAN