Governing body deceiving members on purpose? (page 6)

jhine

I,m back to my black and white again I know , but leaving changing doctrine and teaching behind , what about the deliberate misquoting and lying about their own history . Do they convince themselves that these false statements and lie are true ?

Jan

John Aquila

CalebInFloroda
If the leadership is just out to take some type of advantage of the followers, the leadership will exit at the first sign of trouble. It is clear that they are not doing that, and that is a sign they are lost in their own web.

The leadership is not backing down, more than likely they will start printing study articles explaining this as an attack by Satan and his hordes. They will probably encourage the rank and file that in order to be approved by Jehovah in the great universal issue of Universal Sovereignty, they must be willing to go to prison or even accept death to make it into the paradise earth.

done4good

Sir82 - They are either evilly deceptive or mind-bogglingly stupid. Either way it's not good.

Actually a third option, (and I believe the most likely), is they are both.

d4g

Vidiot

CalebInFlorida - "They will either self-destruct or push somebody too far that will push them back to their doom or they will assimilate to the point that they will become mainstream like the Worldwide Church of God."

Either way, where's the incentive to stay?

Vidiot

CalebInFlorida - "In the eyes of the Japanese the impossible happened: their 'gospel', kamikaze, was declared false by the emperor himself when he announced the unconditional surrender of the Japanese on national radio, thus dissolving Shinto from a god-worshipping cult into a shell of mere customs that it has become today."

This brings to mind a hypothetical scenario with the GB...

...that (in the possible wake of lost tax-exempt status), lower-ranked whistleblowers give the Justice Department what they need (in exchange for immunity from prosecution) to bring formal federal charges against the GB (RICO racketeering, criminal conspiracy, that kind of thing...), who are subsequently offered a deal...

...public apology and renunciation of Watchtower ideology as conditions for the dropping of criminal charges against them.

I can't help but wonder how many would take that deal.

StrongHaiku

The OP's question keeps popping up and I think it is possible that the latest scandal (e.g. the hearings in Australia) may be able to provide a clue as to whether the GB is delusional or con men. If the history of cults is any indication, and If they are delusional, they are likely to become more draconian, insular and settle for a smaller number of JWs that are COMPLETELY committed no matter what and will follow the "God Inspired" GB to the very end. If, however, they are con men, I can imagine that they are likely to bend and flex a bit more to accommodate the authorities and keep the game running.

However, no matter which path they choose, they will suffer. If they become more draconian, insular, etc. they will likely loose a younger demographic. If they flex and bend to accommodate the authorities, they risk loosing the older demographic which may see this as a weakness that maybe shake their confidence in the GB.

Can't wait to see how the GB counter-punches this last scandal. That should say a lot.

steve2

Those who subscribe to "truths" based on invisible things, beings and events are highly susceptible to delusions.

Flatter them by appointing them to positions of power and authority and watch their delusions become even stronger. Self-delusion is perhaps the most enticing kind of delusion.

We can be crystal clear about this: Delusion is what membership in religious organizations is all about anyway. It's a breeze to be given power and authority to breathe energy into those delusions..

never a jw

The governing body is composed of mindless puppets. Therefore, they are innocent deluded people. I think the evil come from the people with power. Follow the money trail

megaboy

I wonder how many people were going through the motions and really believing it? Can people really not think for themselves to a responsible or adult like extent to make decent judgements of situations?

I think they have this idea that they are the chosen mouth peice. That concept is held above absolutely everything. Even the scriptures. So only scriptures that can be somewhat morphed into that view will be highlighted and focused on. Major contradictions do not matter, they are ignored and if presented in their path, explained away with some ambiguous rhetoric, which is what makes up the entirety of WT writing.

Now, I get being trapped, but I don't know if I can excuse this cowardice, if I had family inside I would just gather the facts, tell them the org is wrong, if they want to keep up the games or stay in the org I can't stop them, but personally, I'm out. It's that simple.

The internet has really become a goldmine though. I think back a few years ago, you couldn't easily trash an org like this. "Where would one go?" Is surely what people would ask. You simply go where the research leads you. With all the endless rabbit holes of doctrines and scholarship (which can also be viewed as a religion to some extent) it would discgourage the weak willed to actually look for answers themselves.

Now with the internet in full force, you can find out who created what doctrines, when they were created, how and what purposes. You can look up the name of someone who taught a "science" if they are worthy of regarding as factual etc.

Really, I see no need to stumble around in a frying pan on the stove. Get out and pace around and figure things out from a better position.

Governing body deceiving members on purpose?

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