by BoogerMan 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
....despite the cult's denials.
w51
6/15 p. 378 par. 23 The Spirit, the Organization, and the Word - His
theocratic organization recognizes your
authority from his Word, the Bible. So it uses you as one of its
representatives in the field and it co-operates
with you, supplies your needs, and renders you assistance.
Not legally.
Back in the 1960's or even later, we had "Identification Cards" that we always carried to identify us as representatives of the WT.
We were then told to destroy them, I cannot remember the year though. Maybe someone will be able to remember. Probably too much of a liability for the Society.
George
There was something written on this in recent years, I don't remember if it was a letter to the elders or some other tome. I recall that it was telling the dubs that they were not representatives of the Watch Tower or the local congregation but engaged in the preaching work as a function of their own volunteerism.
I recall when reading the info that I thought they are sure afraid of getting sued these days.
Maybe someone will dig up a quote. I looked but didn't find it on first go around.
The GB wants to micromanage JWs' lives but escape responsibility for anything they do.
we had "Identification Cards" that we always carried to identify us as representatives of the WT
Even when I was first associating in the 1990s we still had those, but they disappeared not long after. I was surprised at the time as I thought it was a good idea, making us more "legit" and "official" to householders, just as any service approaching people door-to-door such as gas and electric engineers, plumbers, police, etc, have ID cards to prove their origin. But now I realised the org wanted to cut the potential legal commitment and implications they brought.
As for the OP's comment that "R&F JW's ARE agents of the org" - that's now "old light". The article you quote is over 70 years old! The GB 2.0 have made it abundantly clear that you're on your own these days when it comes to anything like:
The removal of the publisher ID card was another step to cutting any apparent 'official' authorisation from the org.
Even the revised second baptism question says "Do you understand that your baptism identifies you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with Jehovah’s organization?" - note, not "as a member of", but just "in association with" - a weasel-phrase which could be interpreted as loosely as possible when it suits.
There has been some legal decisions in the recent past both in various countries that JW elders etc are indeed agents of the organization. Just because they’re volunteers or don’t have certain rights within the corporation, doesn’t mean they’re not part of it, if you participate in something the corporation organized and you follow within their rules and regulations of such enterprise, you are by definition an agent.
On the other hand, just because you visit a church, doesn’t make you an agent of the church, but once you get into being responsible for running the events, you can be viewed as doing things with either explicit or implicit authorization of the church.
It is how for example RICO cases are pursued in the US, just because you’re not an employee of the mafia, doesn’t mean you’re not functioning as an agent for it nor does it shield them from liability for the requests made by the organization.
Specifically going back to the earlier post:
You are not necessarily an agent of the WTBTS when you participate in these activities. However the group leader may be considered as such, especially if they use the Kingdom Hall or WTBTS instructions (such as the old ‘brown brother’ - reasoning from the scriptures) which is basically a manual on how to do it in a WTBTS-approved way. Hence why they got rid of such associations. Likewise keeping track of return visits on organization-printed official papers, is an organized and sanctioned activity by the WTBTS so in that function you are an agent. However, if you then go and murder a householder, that obviously does not mean that you were doing so as an agent of the WTBTS but the regular day-to-day activity of organizing, leading and keeping track is (or was, since they’ve gotten rid of much of that).
That’s very clear, the trolleys aren’t purchased by the volunteers because they think it will perform or assist a specific function of their volunteerism (something like a handbag or briefcase would perform that function). They are purchased and stocked by the WTBTS (and/or the local congregation) with a function the WTBTS desires it to have. Given the ownership is not by the volunteer, if the cart were to fall and hurt someone (including but not limited to the volunteer), the congregation and/or WTBTS could be liable. Again, if someone were to shove the cart into an old lady with the purpose to hurt them, that falls outside the WTBTS’ foreseeable use case and liability (unless of course, they instruct the user to do this).
Again, less clear. It all depends on who, how and where. That’s why the WTBTS gives clear instructions that this is voluntary and not sanctioned and gives guidance to make sure that they don’t get involved. But if someone were to say put the Kingdom Hall address on there, or organizes it IN a Kingdom Hall, and it is known and sanctioned or remains uncorrected by the ‘agents’ (elders) despite their full knowledge, that changes the things.
As with the writing activities, it depends on who, how and where. Many parties in JW-land requires sanctioning or chaperoning by the elders and sometimes even higher ups get involved (when it comes to larger/younger parties). At the point it becomes a requirement to have a JW official (in the US, the presiding overseer, secretary and treasurer, but also circuit overseers and others are at the very least corporate agents) present, it becomes a sanctioned activity and part of the WTBTS legal liability.
And yes, the WTBTS will claim and fight to make this otherwise, but these are legal standards with some fuzzy boundaries. In some jurisdictions these borders are clearer than others and in some jurisdictions, liability can be shared between parties. But places like the US, the liability may be (rightfully) inherited solely by association. Hence why becoming an elder is fraught with risks, you are an agent to the organization and share in its culpability.
Good points, Anony Mous.
One of the significant differences between the JW org and other churches is that most other religious organisations do not require every member to actively preach to the public, providing specific tools, direction and training for this express purpose. In doing so, the JW org effectively makes 'publishers' agents of the org, and that's especially true of pioneers, elders, Bethel volunteers and others who go even further in acting on behalf of Watch Tower in their locality.
However, I think the OP's use of a 1951 WT reference to try and highlight the association is flawed due to its age making it less relevant. More relevant would be similar quotes in the current Organised book (I'm not sure if there are any off the top of my head). I would suspect that most damning for establishing an inference of congregation members acting as agents of the WTBTS are recent branch letters to COs and bodies of elders, and the contents of the Shepherd the Flock book. These show clearly that there are procedures, direct instructions and lines of communication from the top of the org down to local levels which are expected to be followed without question or local reinterpretation.
Journeyman, I agree that 1951 is going back too far for most jws to view as valid. What I do is see what has been said later, as current as possible, so jws don't say there is a new view on it. Not that elders haven't used that on me, and then I would point out that this had been discussed in an article just a few months ago. I got silence after that. Probably to busy to read their own "spiritual" guidance from the GB.
