I can remember being embarrassed to use the name "Jesus" because we didin't want to resemble the born again christians. Look at them now.
I am wondering if they are trying to imitate the series, the Chosen.
WT CONVENTION RELEASE LIFE OF JESUS
by blondie 24 Replies latest jw friends
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Journeyman
For once the WTS is putting Jesus at the forefront. He has taken the back seat in the WTS teachings. I wonder if that is because so many jws have no real knowledge of what Jesus did and said.
While I agree it's good that the Org is focusing more on Jesus Christ himself (and this video series is not the only example of that), and that the Greatest Man book was one of the best JW publications, I have to disagree that JWs generally do not know what Jesus said and did. In fact, in my experience they are generally very familiar with Jesus' life and the Gospels.
The fact that the GM book was published and studied so many years ago and yet is still so beloved of Witnesses in fact disproves the idea that JWs are unfamiliar with Jesus' life. Also, more recently, a new equivalent of the GM book was printed and studied, called "Jesus - The Way" (although IMO it's inferior to the GM book, for the reasons blondie laid out about the chronological study and so on), so it's not true to say there's been little focus on Jesus in recent years.
Where most JWs do get it wrong is in not recognising how, in the rest of the New/Greek Testament, there is so much emphasis on Jesus as King, exemplar and head of the congregation and much less on God himself who comes across as a more distant figure, approached and seen more through one's relationship with, and imitation of, Christ.
My concern more broadly with this whole new emphasis on 'blockbuster' videos with the JW org stems from two things:
1) Their most recent films play fast and loose with the narrative and history, sometimes inserting whole characters or scenes that are completely speculative and have nothing to do with the actual Bible narrative - for example the convention video where they 'created' a theoretical 'sister' for Jonah, with whom he had conversations. If this were just some movie entertainment company like Disney or Pixar that wouldn't matter so much - there have been plenty of alternative interpretations of Bible stories released by Hollywood. But this Org is supposed to be so serious about the Bible being the actual word of God, and believes it's representing God and Jesus on earth so doing such things is effectively "adding to" the Scriptures, something Christians are warned NOT to do.
2) There is already a problem with Witnesses believing and talking as though the pictures in WT publications - artist's impressions or staged photographs - are 'real' historic scenes. This becomes even worse with these feature-length videos, where the R&F talk about them as if they were fly-on-the-wall documentaries. I heard one in a recent WT study relate a scene from a past video as if it was an event they personally witnessed.
Encouraging this kind of belief in what are really fictionalised re-imaginings of Bible accounts is presumably motivated by a desire to embed the GB's own interpretations in the R&F minds as fact and indivisible from the Bible's own narrative.
Given we live in a very visual society and culture anyway, where the majority of people are easily influenced by movies, advertising, and now internet memes and streamed media, this is an obvious way to get under the skin and into the minds of your followers, but it's very dangerous from a spiritual perspective.
I haven't yet seen this first part of the story of Jesus, but it will inevitably have made lots of assumptions in the filming, as there are simply not enough details in the Biblical narrative to reliably make feature-film length and Hollywood-style representations of the stories.
And really, is it desirable or necessary to do so? There is a danger that fancy visuals and sweeping musical or emotional arcs overwhelm or crowd out the essential meaning behind the accounts themselves. If one believes God has provided the Bible as a guide to life, then it is complete in itself - it does not need to be reimagined in 4K high-definition in a multi-million dollar studio! Most of us have the brains and the imagination to be able to read the narrative (or at least have it read to us) and put ourselves there without needing someone else to create their own version of the visuals for us. That's how it's worked for nearly 2,000 years so far!
As for the motive of why the current GB seem to be shifting more emphasis onto Jesus recently, I agree with NotFormer that it could well be linked to their increased push to elevate themselves to parity with Christ, with constant references to how they will become kings in heaven with him very soon, and so on. Again, also putting themselves on very presumptuous and dangerous ground spiritually. -
NotFormer
"Just gotta have a little patience. They’re new at it."
New at noticing Jesus?😳😱 You got that right!
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BluesBrother
I have only seen the 2 minute taster that Stephen Lett showed once. I remember that I was not very impressed.. Mary is told that she , a single girl is to become pregnant and she hardly reacted at all. I would have had some shock horror at the news … that she surely must have felt..
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blondie
I base my opinion on 30 years as a jw in several congregations in the US and Europe. They used to play bible games with scriptures citations and where they were found in the bible. History Pictionary of the bible...that was sad. And that were the elders and older jws. I know there are some jws that really do read their bible, look up the scriptures and read them while studying the WT publications. And a few others that have their own program of reading and study. But overall, jws are fairly ignorant of their history and what the bible actually says because of not engaging in much deeper thinking. I know people have busy schedules with family and children, the "preaching" work; meeting attendance, etc. I lived during those days too. But my personal experience with many congregations over the years in a variety of locations, seems to support my unhappy observations.
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Rattigan350
"What's the ulterior motive?"
Their motive is the Jesus video. They have it and they used it. It will bring people in and keep them focused and something to look forward to next year.
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NotFormer
"It will bring people in..."
Really? Film and television as media are dying in their own right. Furiosa and The Fall Guy are reputedly not particularly bad films, but bombed at the cinema. Dr Who and The Acolyte are failing dismally to attract audiences, despite those franchises previously having huge fanbases. Simply making a film or a TV episode is not going to draw crowds.
"Build it and they will come" isn't working for mainstream media. Why would it work for the JWs?
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Rattigan350
"But this Org is supposed to be so serious about the Bible being the actual word of God, and believes it's representing God and Jesus on earth so doing such things is effectively "adding to" the Scriptures, something Christians are warned NOT to do."
That's not true. That's not what Christians are warned not to do.
Rev 22:18 says " “I am bearing witness to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone makes an addition to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; and if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life and out of the holy city, things that are written about in this scroll."
It is specifically about the scroll of the prophesy.
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carla
Remember the disgust they had when Christians would always be talking and singing about Jesus? remember when they would say things like, "it's like they are in love with Jesus or something!"
They made fun of songs like 'Jesus Take the Wheel' or even children's songs like 'Jesus Loves Me'.
Jesus has always been a minor actor in their world. They aren't even allowed to talk (pray) to Jesus, their supposed King. I think this is all a ruse to look more mainstream because they are bleeding adherents lately. If you remember you can't fully know what the wt teaches until you join. That is what a few elders and my jw told me. You mean the wt doesn't actually say what it means? oh, kind of like a cult? or mlm scheme?
They use Jesus' name like a talisman at the end of a prayer, lip service is all.