If My Dad Were To See The Watchtower Org Now

by pale.emperor 20 Replies latest jw experiences

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  pale.emperor

  As we all know, this org has metamorphosized from one ugly creature to another continuously since it's inception. But more so it seems in the last 30 years.

  I got to thinking what my dad would think if he were to be brought to life for 5 mins to see the way things are now. How would he even react?

  My dad died in 2004. One thing he was sure of (because, why wouldn't he be? It was printed in a Watchtower) was that "the new system™" would definitely be here before 2035 because "the bible says" some of the generation of 1914 will still be alive when the great tribulation starts.

  
  

  The King of the North was Satan.

  
  

  He was so glad to belong to a religion that doesn't advertise it's leaders - why, didn't even know their names! Surely this shows how humble they are.

  
  

  Look at those silly religions with not getting out there preaching. See the cowardly, lukewarm preaching styles they have like televangelism.

  
  

  And this religion has never asked him for money.

  
  

  And there's no logo for this religion!

  
  

  I think he'd be shocked to say the least that his beloved org has become something akin to a business model or an advertising company.

  
  
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  tiki

  Oh yes....my father was already pretty disgusted with some of the goings on...but had that attitude that its the truth no matter what. He died in 2003....I think of the way the religion was and think some of those old timers would roll over in their grave if they could see the travesty it has become. Not that it was right back in the day, but at least they tried to use their heads and understand doctrine and decency.....
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  Earthmeasured

  Jw means 10 plus 23 equal 33. Masonic maybe?
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  Atlantis

  pale.emperor:

  I have thought the very same thing and I know my mother and father would be sick to their stomach seeing what goes on in Kingdom Halls today. If they could only be alive for a few minutes.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QxDGtAsKFMAtlantis!
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  Amelia Ashton

  So much has changed in just 20 years.

  From Holy Spirit being only attainable from the printed page not digital to smart phones and the internet being tools of Satan all back tracked on.

  Armageddon was supposed to be before the 1914 generation died and within the 20th century.

  Spiritual food which was in abundance 5 times a week has been cut drastically and magazines not much more than pamphlets but for me 18,000 partakers of the emblems is laughable as when I last went declining partakers were a sign Armageddon was ever closer.

  All the GB were older than me when I got baptised in 1998 but now some are younger as 1935 is no longer the cut off date.

  Doctrines and beliefs we thought were set in stone the GB have been forced to change as time marched on showing them up to be false and how expressions used to convince us of supposed "facts" that "clearly" and "evidently" were just the imaginings of a bunch of manipulative control freaks in America and not true prophecies at all!
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  Ding

  How many JWs don't realize what a bait and switch the overlapping generations teaching is?

  How many of them don't even remember the earlier "truth"?

  This thread reminds me of the frog in the kettle analogy.

  If a frog touches a boiling pot, it will jump away.

  But if it starts out in a cool pot that slowly heats up, it will stay in until it boils to death because it experiences the temperature rise very slowly and doesn't get alarmed.

  If JWs who died years ago could come back and see all the changes at once, they would be shocked and realize they were had.

  But if they had lived on and experienced the changes one at a time, most of them would simply have adjusted.

  Like current JWs, most of them would probably even be grateful for the "new light" from "the slave."
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  steve2

  Had you father still been alive, he would have no doubt still believed it is "the truth"; like untold numbers of old-timers, he may have allowed himself a grumble or two, but he wouldn't have protested because most long-timers don't have it in them to do so. Besides, It's usually when you go away and later come back, that the enormity of the changes - and the crass self-advertising JW broadcasting - hit home. When you are in it, and the changes persistently happen little by little over time, their impact is less unsettling. I think of my maternal grandparents who joined in the mid-1920s and who died in the 1970s. They had already seen so many changes in the organization; in their first ten years in, it metamorphosed from a semi-loosely run "Russellite" sect to a tightly run autocratic business model, and then over succeeding decades, more and more changes were introduced. I'd love to know what my grandparents actually thought about all the changes they observed but I do know that even back then they had been expecting the end and it had not arrived by the time they reached their twilight years. And now more and more generations of JWs reach their twilight years and...still no end.
  
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  dogisgod

  I'm sure my mom would be gobsmacked. the GB being a real big thing instead of they have to be there for legal reasons. Less printed material, those stupid carts.....how you supposed to use all that knowledge you have studied and memorized when you don't talk to people. Throwing the Bethelites in the streets. The changing blood issue. Child abuse. She would not be happy.....not one little bit.
  
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  Pete Zahut

  I'm sure that back in 2004 your father (like most) would have scoffed at the idea of the1914 generation dying off and this "system of things" still being here in the year 2019 and beyond.

  They'd have viewed anyone who entertained such a notion as engaging in "dangerous speculation " or at the very least, they'd have considered such a person as "spiritually weak".

  Those older folks back then would have quoted articles in the publications and the scriptures sited in them, to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the "system" was as good as gone.
  
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  Ding

  Even many JWs who have a lot of doubts based on all the changes they've seen won't get out.

  They've invested their lives in the borg and don't want to admit to themselves it was a waste.

  Besides, there's always that residual thought, "What if they're right? Satan is trying to lead me astray. I have to endure faithful to the very end in order to be saved," etc.