The JWs don't like Chess

mickbobcat

I can remember when I joined the Chess class in middle school. My mother brought out an older Watchtower article about how Chess is a game of war. Since I left the cult in 95 I have slowly lost any connection to the cult. So I don't keep up with the day to day goings on. If they don't like Chess they must hate most video games. What is the latest on video games and Chess?

road to nowhere

Video games teach violence. And waste time you could study. And promote living in a fantasy world.

Actually blue light and inactivity are a concern.

Chess is beyond the mental capacity of most.

FFGhost

Nothing written about chess for decades. That negative article you remember was written in the 60s or 70s.

They are neutral toward video games, except those they consider to be violent or immoral. They rail against those vehemently and regularly.

Oh, and they also ramble about spending "too much time" on video games. You'd be better off reading the Bible or "preaching", which these days consists of writing letters than no one ever reads (a slight improvement over knocking on doors that no one ever answers).

Overrated

As a Jw child, I was very limited to what I could play or even do. If it was not door knocking or Jw bs it just didn't happen. Now I'm an adult, no hold bars.

waton

Chess is beyond the mental capacity of most. rdn:

but not all. there is a case of one who was not satisfied with the mental torture of the board game, so he invented 3 Dimensional chess. mate.

shadowclone

Played chess all the time at bethel

minimus

I was a teenager when the chess is war article came out and put a very negative spin on the game. However I was a very good chess player and in high school I belonged to a chess club and I actually beat someone who would later be a grandmaster. I kept the chess playing under the radar so that I could become a Pioneer and Ministerial Servant and then become an elder.🤭

waton

could become a Pioneer and Ministerial Servant and then become an elder.🤭

m: strategy learned well.

WTWizard

Playing chess demands too much brain power. And, if you start getting better, it can't not improve your thinking process. Which, in turn, would make you more vulnerable to finding out the truth about the whole religion. This would lead to becoming apostate. Plus, like any other entertainment, it "wastes" time that "should" be spent doing the grand working to get that messiah to appear and enslave the whole world--that is, studying that stupid bible, praying to jesus (donating your energy), and spreading that cancer to the world.

BluesBrother

Not the case nowadays though. Just six years after the negative article was published , the Awake 1979 said this in an article on indoor games

"Contributing to backgammon’s popularity is the fact that it is easy to learn, yet is very difficult to master. And, of course, chess is another board game that has long provided many persons much pleasure."

No further comments were made. You would be hard pressed these days to find a dub that objected to a game of chess. ( I never could get the hang of it myself)

The JWs don't like Chess

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