Leadership Change in WTS?

by metatron 9 Replies latest jw friends

  • metatron
    metatron

    I've written about this before but recent events bring it up again.

    Is the Watchtower attempting to 'decouple' the identity of the 'faithful and discreet'
    slave from the pretense of being 'anointed'?

    Basically, this would mean that whoever is in charge is collectively the 'faithful'
    slave regardless of what old geezer partakes at the memorial. It would clear the way
    for more enlightened leadership - possibly branch committees - and away from the senile
    and sociopathic (the 'Boss') direction of the Governing Body.

    I note that at a (Gilead?) GB meeting, Loesch gave a talk re-emphasing the anointed/faithful
    slave identity - as if he was reacting to a doubt or threat.

    I note too the publishing of a U.S. Branch Committee picture in the new yearbook,
    seemingly confirming what Maximus predicted about their emergence.

    You gotta wonder about hidden frustrations and, perhaps, even transient discomfort
    in whatever individual consciences remain amoung the leadership, watching the organization's
    public image decay - along with loss of contributions and young people.

    What kind of person could take pride in controlling such a mass of self-deceived
    and simple-minded people, as Witnesses strive to be? What kind of future would you see
    for your life's work in the organization while it quietly downsizes? Why would you
    find satisfaction in endlessly exploiting people's ignorant fears and lurid Armageddon
    fantasies?

    or maybe anyone with such ethical concerns left long ago.....
    It'll be interesting to watch.

    metatron

  • belbab
    belbab

    Metratron,

    Your comment about Loesch reminds me of the talk that Fred Franz gave at a I think a Gilead graduation where he gave a convulted talk about the slave when the change went from individuals like Knorr and himself losing control to a governing body. I believe it is documented in Raymond Franz book or elsewhere. It would be good to bring it up here and compare the similarities. It seem the Gilead graduation is a good place for dissenting opinions to be presented.

    belbab

  • AlanF
    AlanF

    Good observations, Metatron.

    I think that a great many Bethelites in leadership positions know that the organization is in serious trouble. The problem with the entire leadership, though (except for Ted Jaracz, 'The Boss'), is that to have gotten into their positions they have had to practice compromising their principles and shutting their mouths to the point where they no longer know how to do anything else. In other words, because of the strong-man rules of Rutherford, Knorr, Franz and now Jaracz, they have no clue how to lead, nor can they even champion courses of action that go contrary to what the current strong-man wants. Bethel culture follows a saying about Japanese society: "The nail that sticks out will be hammered down." This is not simply a mild rule -- it is the basic rule of action for Bethelites. No Bethelite wants to take a chance on bucking the prevailing winds of opinion, and losing his hard-won position and perks. So they simply go along with whatever nonsense that comes down from the strong-man and tell themselves that it's compromising for "God organization". They have far too much to lose by admitting that the evil deeds done by the strong-man are proof that their organization has nothing to do with God. They don't realize that by passively or actively supporting evil deeds, they're just as guilty as the strong-man.

    AlanF

  • metatron
    metatron

    This is starting to look like The Caine Mutiny - without mutineers!

    or the Soviet Union without Gorbachev.

    Rot? change nothing!

    Decline? change nothing!

    Doctrines exposed as nonsense? change nothing!

    Getting sued? Wait!.... call Legal! Respond immediately!

    They seem to have been running on autopilot for about two decades now and haven't had
    an original thought since Freddy died. Can a whole organization go senile?
    Maybe so!

    metatron

  • AlanF
    AlanF

    : Can a whole organization go senile?

    Look at the JW organization for an answer.

    An organization is composed of individuals. If they all go senile in lockstep, then the organization will reflect that. Today's GB is led by a man over 80 years old, who is a religious fanatic to boot. The organization's actions perfectly reflect the attitudes of very old men.

    Jaracz completely believes that Armageddon is coming Real Soon Now. Obviously he thinks that it will save him and his organization from having to pay the piper. It will be entertaining to watch their antics as reality sinks in.

    AlanF

  • onacruse
    onacruse

    metatron: I suspect that the Society will have very little trouble making this change. After all, it wasn't until the 40s that they even instituted the "only anointed ones can be on the governing body" standard. Of course, there were a lot more of the "anointed" then, and so this rule didn't constrain the leadership gene-pool. But there was no essential and incontrovertible Scriptural reason associated with that shift. Similar to the shift from a "body of elders" to "one elder" in the 40s, and then back again to a body of elders in the 70s. The Scriptures can be taken either way.

    belbab: I think the [1975] Gilead talk you are referring to is documented in COC pp. 90-98. And it illustrates my point above. Fred was quite able to demonstrate the influence of and power struggle between the Antioch and Jerusalem congregations. In this case, Fred was only arguing for a new distinction between the GB and the WTBTS, but those very distinctions and decentralizations that he so deftly demonstrated could be used in tomorrow's Watchtower to justify distributing authority across the board.

    Alan:

    "The nail that sticks out will be hammered down."

    As a correlary, I might add (from my personal experience in construction ):

    The nail that isn't hammered down will pierce the foot.

    I suspect that so many "nails" are sticking out that the Society's "hammer" can't pound them all. The dynamic of human social development is inexorable.

    Craig

  • metatron
    metatron

    Imagine the Boss living another 15 years - surrounded by loyal cronies and sycophants - little different from

    Saddam Hussein or Kim IL Jong - dragging everything slowly down with him, year after passing year.

    This would be calcified, entrenched, sclerotic leadership BEYOND anything the world could produce - since

    such ordinary dictators get overthrown or shot - but not these Theocrats!

    The Watchtower Society - the polar opposite of Christianity's original dynamism

    metatron

  • og
    og

    Alan mentions Jaracz's true believer fanaticism... is there any useful speculation about the rest of the GB, and other top men? How wide and deep is the cynicism?

  • Nathan Natas
    Nathan Natas

    Isn't Henshel still a GB member?

    Isn't he now about as far out to lunch as a person can be?

    I'm not suggesting that he is at all cynical - just senile.

    I'll be he answers, "JEHOVAH!" to every question at the book study.

    The GB is far from being any kind of "think tank" or "brain trust." They're a bunch of leaky old fruit bags.

  • MacHislopp
    MacHislopp

    Hello metatron,

    excellent post, including the comment about the Bethel Committee.

    I do believe that the WTBS keen interest , at the

    moment is receiving fund for the

    "poor " Holocaust victims.

    Main agents James Pellecchia and

    Jolene Chu.

    See what else we can find about it.

    Here we go:

    1) Agenda - [ Translate this page ] ... de 05 a 30 de abril de 2003 De Segunda a Domingo das 10h ... das Testemunhas de Jeov
    como Modelo de Resistncia Espiritual JAMES N. PELLECHIA EDITOR ASSOCIADO ...
    www.triangulosroxos.org.br/agenda.htm - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

    2) Beyond Camps and Forced Labour Conference <<Back. Thursday 30 January 2003. 10.00-10.30 Coffee. 10.30-12.30 Panels. ... USA)
    Witnesses to the Holocaust then and now. JAMES N. PELLECHIA (Jehovah's Witness ...
    www.iwm.org.uk/conference/prog2.htm - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

    PANEL 15 / 14.00-15.30 / Room 3Jehovah's Witnesses Chair: MIKE DENNIS (University of Wolverhampton / UK)

    JOLENE CHU (Jehovah's Witness Holocaust-Era Survivors Fund / USA)
    Witnesses to the Holocaust then and now

    JAMES N. PELLECHIA (Jehovah's Witness Holocaust-Era Survivor Fund / USA)
    Faith-based ideology of Jehovah's Witnesses during the Nazi era: Past and present

    PDF] Conference Programme (draft) File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
    Page 1. 1 PANEL 15: Jehovah's Witnesses J OLENE C HU (Jehovah's Witness
    Holocaust-Era Survivors Fund, Inc. / USA) "Witnesses to

    the ...
    www.iwm.org.uk/conference/downloads/abstracts15.pdf - Similar pages

    3) POST-HOLOCAUST Global Terrorism... He is a board member and vice-president of Jehovah's Witness Holocaust-EraSurvivors Fund, Inc. Robert Ringel Purdue Professor of Audiology ...www.worldserver.com/glhrc/bios.html - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

    James N. Pellechia is Associate Editor of Watch Tower Publications at the international offices of the Watch Tower Society; he is the producer of feature and documentary films, including the award winning film Jehovah's Witnesses Stand Firm Against Nazi Assault; lecturer on modern history of Jehovah's Witnesses. Pellechia has presented at international academic conferences, university seminars and research institutions, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. His publications include The Spirit and the Sword--Jehovah's Witnesses Expose the Third Reich. He is a board member and vice-president of Jehovah's Witness Holocaust-Era Survivors Fund, Inc.

    4) Who may file ... of any potential payment that would have been awarded to a ... Jehovah's Witness HolocaustEra Survivors Fund Inc., New York, USA, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania ...
    www.compensation-for-forced-labour.org/ English/who.html - 54k - Cached - Similar pages

    Global:

    Service Provider

    Location

    Activity(ies)

    Number of beneficiaries

    Jehovah's Witness Holocaust Era Survivors Fund Inc., New York, USA

    Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova

    Food, medical, home care, winter assistance, emergency financial support and social

    2000

    Greetings to all,

    James Charles MacHislopp

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