C.O. Reports: JWs/WTS "Reach Critical Mass... (page 6)

Southland

To me, critical mass is when something has reached large enough proportions to actually have momentum.

A good definition on www.about.com is "The minimum mass of fissionable material that can sustain a chain reaction."

outoftheorg

Very interesting information! Glad it was brought back to our attention.

Critical mass as refered to in some settings is that point reached that then results in an explosion of disasterous energy.

As in atomic/nuclear bombs.

You can imagine my surprise to see this old thread resurrected. Looks like it may have been revived 2x, first by BitterTruth. It was interesting to reread that description of the conversation with my old friend and ex-CO. To be honest, I haven't heard a word from him or about him since that conversation.

I think he meant the idea of "critical mass" as explained above - that things had reached a point where one could expect explosive changes to take place.

Now, two years later, and with all that has happened with changes in WTS teachings, organizational structure, and public exposure of WTS flaws, are we seeing that explosion? I must say that while I've faded a bit from this and the old H2O board, there are dozens and dozens of new people here, all having left the Witnesses in the last year or two.

And Silentlambs has inferred that the request for 1000 to leave Bethel is just part of an attempt to get rid of troublemakers and liberal thinkers. Is all of this evidence of what my CO friend was saying? I would love to talk with him now, after the Dateline, NY Times and Connie Chung.

Thanks for bringing this back.

S4

Kagloo

Hiya,,,

Bear with me.... this is a first for me and I feel a little 'guilty' 'disloyal'.

I've been in the truth for 32 years.. min.serv.elder...all that kind of thing. Not in office any more... my choice.

I read the items about the society being in 'critical mass' and although I can't fault the facts I keep asking myself the same question over and over again... If Jesus Christ is the Head of the congregation why is there so much confusion and man-made rule making? Where I live one congregation has a rule that brothers can't have a beard - and in the same town the sister congregation says it's no problem!! Just a silly little thing I know... but where is the unity ?

Surely Jehovah wouldn't play 'games' with us... would he? There must be a reason why these things are going on... I know I have The Truth... it all makes sense,,, well the stuff in The Scriptures does... it's the Organisational stuff that I am having difficulty with...!

I don't know if that made sense .. but for the first time in my life I had to say it!

want to be loyal. I want to show Jehovah that I love everything that he has done for me over these years and yet I am so deeply troubled about the state of the congregations.. the arrogance of some of the elders, and the total disinterest of others.... What has happened to us? What is to become of us? The Truth is eternal...it is precious... so why are things getting to a state of critical mass?

I have no answers anymore... Just questions.

Room 215

Welcome aboard Kagloo,

The one reason I resurrected this thread is to elicit thoughts/comments from folks like you. Your comment about having questions brings to mind a famous quote; I believe it's attributed to the great Spanish writer Cervantes: ``I'd much rather go through life with questions I can't answer than with those I can't ask!''

cruzanheart

Dear Kagloo, Welcome! I so understand your feelings. Consider this: the first century congregation was kept alive by Jesus' hand-picked 12 apostles. When they died, apostasy set in. If a group of people who were so close to the Son of God that they had eyewitness accounts of his miracles could stray from the truth, why can't it happen to a bunch of people from the 20th and 21st centuries who are also a few thousand years further removed from perfection and common sense? Jehovah has kept his message alive through the ages in many ways, BUT an organized group has only been one way, and that only a couple of times in the history of the world. There was the nation of Israel and the Christian congregation. What about the in-between times? There were individuals like you and me and the people in this website (You Know excepted) trying their best to do the right thing, not entirely sure they were, making sometimes HUGE mistakes (remember Jonah - that was a whopper!) but Jehovah could see their heart was true. There are a lot of things troubling me about the organization these days - I see the Big Guys trying to keep tight control over what the flock thinks, talks about, or hears. Read the September Kingdom Ministry regarding the Internet. Sounds like watching the news is right out! We should get our news ONLY from the FDS and only when THEY think it's time for us to hear it. Um, sorry, guys, but I'd kind of like to hear what's happening in the world as it happens instead of two months later in an Awake! article.

*Sigh* - don't get me started. It's been a rough week and it's only Tuesday. Anyway, stay with it, listen to your feelings, pray about this, and make up your own mind (the one that Jehovah gave you to think with in the first place).

Lots of love,

Nina

RedhorseWoman

Kagloo, for a very long time I felt as you do....that the JWs had the "truth" but that there were problems with the management of the organization. I didn't see the love that was supposed to be evident amongst true Christians, I couldn't understand the hypocritical attitudes that you describe. There were just so many things that troubled me.

I went through a period of guilt for looking at the "imperfections of men" and tried to "correct my thinking". I found, though, that I simply could not deal with things as they were. This was almost 20 years ago. Things still haven't changed. Jehovah STILL hasn't corrected "His" organization. If anything, the problems are worse.

Oddly enough, the more I researched, the more I found that the "truth" I had been taught had many, many holes.

Seeker4

Kagloo and Cruzanheart,

Welcome. Kagloo, A few years ago I was where you are now. With time, my concerns were addressed, and my questions answered. For me, that meant leaving the Witnesses, after 35 years as an elder, etc. Your journey may be a different one.

Just be willing to take the journey, and have the courage to ask, and truthfully answer, the questions.

S4

MegaDude

I don't believe any SWEEPING changes will come about anytime soon. Mainly for just one reason. The CO's, DO's and elders don't want to risk their positions to airing complaints or pushing too forcefully for change. If they did, they would put their position or status as a JW in good standing at risk. People don't risk very easily when they might lose their livelihood and/or their families.

When I spoke with Colin Quackenbush, a Bethel biggie, the poor guy refused to admit whether he believed in the blood doctrines as the Watchtower taught them, but being an old man he felt he had no place left to go. The same attitude is held by the majority of people in a position of authority to rock The Society's boat, in my opinion.

Study the history of any christian church or dogma and you'll see that reform is the one thing that comes so painfully slow as to be a rare phenomenon. Look at the Catholic Church and their policy of child molesting priests. How *&^%$ long do you think they have been aware of that problem? Sweeping changes coming soon to the Watchtower? *Yawn.* Don't hold your breath. If the people running the Society had half the integrity they relentlessly preach about, they would have already made the necessary changes decades ago. They didn't. Because they have no integrity.

winsome

BT said:

In view of the recent "changes" in policies, officially, ask the G.B. to Resign or else...the threat is made they do this or the 1/3 take the message DIRECT TO THE FRIENDS and let them decide...the damage caused by this, could be incalculable...there may not exist an organization, after that more drastic move...this could be the "more effective" move.
The threat of hundreds and hundreds of highly respected brothers, leaders with the organization, going directly to the brothers and "telling it like it is..." Taking into consideration, the statue of these brothers, and the high "esteem" they are held by general rank and file brothers, this could be a devastating blow to the organization...will no doubt ATTRACT MEDIA ATTENTION, and probably bring about the overall "demise" of the organization itself...a serious break in the brotherhood on a worldwide scale, is totally unprecendented, totally unexplainable...for God's People to be engaged in total "civil war." A Break of this magnitude would be considered "sensation" to all concerned and wreak any who was thinking about starting a Bible Study with JWs...it would take many, many years for the organization to recover from this...many years.
This is a powerful threat...a sobering thought...
It would be interesting to see, how the G.B. would react to such a "threat."

I agree! If appropriately timed, this would be the proper move for the disenchanted "liberal" heavies in high station who have banded together against the Governing Body.

winsome

C.O. Reports: JWs/WTS "Reach Critical Mass...

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