by Gorb 6 Replies latest jw friends
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/watchtower-study-november-2023/Hulda-Reached-Her-Goal/
What about this Watchtower article? In my JW time I felt not comfortable about this kind of "devine education".
Poor sister works above her self to get a device.
Jw.org hypocrisy for going full digital.
G.
Mrs. Hulda, all honor. Not everyone can smash so many rocks with a hammer that several trucks have to haul it away! If he ever picks up a hammer afterwards, he must see rocks everywhere. ✌️😁
On the other hand, I'd say she violated God's warning not to let anyone make an "image" of God in the form of silicon, plastic, copper, tin and steel when she says "it helps her in her service (to God)"... I suspect the tablet has become "God" to her that she has sacrificed so much to it. She must have hit herself once or twice with a hammer on the finger; as a woman, she may have carried heavy loads, which she might not have done elsewhere in a proper job; a piece of stone may have gone into her eye...
To me, she is a symbol of religious heroism, which is, of course, completely unnecessary...
The JW went from discouraging electronic devises to practically coersion to have them. I remember trying to figure out the least expensive way I could have a "device" to have at the meetings. I did it with kicking and screaming because I resented that I felt the need for it. Getting the tablet was a serious burden for me at the time, and I didn't want to become reliant on the devices. I watched a youtube where an ex jw went to check out convention with a Bible and was "out of touch" with the rest of the people there. ( He had not kept up with the chariot. ) I wonder why they have pushed the devices so much now. To save money on paper/printing, tto just click on the isolated scriptures and maybe not notice context? I did notice this in one scrpture I looked up and you see the "diamond" and you can get more info about the scrpture- the explanation twisted what the scripture meant ...-so they make good use fo this electronic world to help spread the (un)truth . II understand why she wanted the device. The JW push having them. The fact that there is such an article is emotional blackmail ...r and f are made to feel like they had better get with the program and get the electronics or they aren't really properly equipped for service and meeting. The message is, this sister sacrificed to get said, device and if that is what you have to do, just do it. ( they don't care that many need the money just to feed themselves.)
@enoughisenough
As you write: there is pressure.
But there could also be her own motivation: the sister wanted to see all the Tony Morris videos... and now they've deleted it ✌️😁 No, end of sarcasm.
However, a more likely scenario would be that a person with such energy and desire to change something (like her) will sooner or later "break" the JW-stone to gravel too...
If, as an ex-JW, she stays with Christianity, and endures the taunts of her surroundings and the hatred of JWs, then she will be a true heroine.
In terms of salvation, I think Christ will save her, and one day tell her: everything you thought when you read the Bible was true. What you just accepted, you know it wasn't about me and from me....
The change from paper to digital must have been huge to most JWs. Is there a thread about it from the time it was implemented?
@NotFormer: yea, you can go back about a decade and find various threads about this. At that point they said print would remain available for the elderly and poor, it seems more and more they want to go digital only and save money.
As I said before, you can run this org with a skeleton crew of 100-200 people in New York and a dozen or so in every country, altogether maybe 1000 people. Their entire website is already ran by a third party, lots of the video production as well. Now they have 1000s still dedicated to print and distribution, get rid of that and it doesn’t matter they’re losing half the people, they just need a core of 1M or so people donating just $10/month to stay solvent.
That's an interesting point. In Rutherford's day, when the whole org was being weaponised into a door to door sales business, all the paperwork would have been literally on paper and would have needed an army of clerks to administer it. Hence the large Bethel presence and the farms to support them.
I imagine there has been resistance to downsizing by the old guard because they would remember the glory days of a huge Bethel workforce which is indeed, as you say, just not warranted these days. They would probably rather be surrounded by a large, bloated group of Yes Men, than a small but efficient one.
Do the farms still exist in any form?
I'd say that your thoughts on the matter are sound. If they thoroughly analysed where they want to be and the manpower requirement for that goal, a much smaller administrative staff would probably suffice. But the GB probably still hankers for the good old days...
