Infighting at the top?

by JeffT 37 Replies latest jw friends

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  JeffT

  We've all been trying to decipher what is going on at the top of the Watchtower organization. Clearly, the game's afoot, we just don't know what game we're playing.

  Item: the constant harping about money and donations

  Item: the seizure of local assets

  Item: major changes in field service (the carts and use of computers)

  Item: changes in meetings and stuff like the new songs coming out

  Item: videos of people dancing (!?!?!?) in Kingdom Halls and the like.

  What does this add up to? Given the complete lack of transparency, we don't know. But I've suspected for some time that there is a major power struggle at the top of the pyramid. These recent changes seem more and more like splits I've seen in secular businesses when owners/managers can't agree on the next course of action.

  To me, the fight in Watchtower land is starting to look like a fight between old hard-liner conservative "company men" and younger, more liberal "reformers." The first group wants to keep it the way its always been, the second may be trying to present a more mainstream face to the world. I've said this before, but I'm more convinced of it now, this would explain the schizophrenic nature of the changes.

  I think the money talk and grabbing may be about controlling the assets, rather than some actual shortage of funds. It's possible that the money is ending up in different parts of the organization, under the control of different individuals.

  If I'm right, we may see an actual schism at the top. That would create a real headache for the R&F.
• 

  sowhatnow

  what I wonder is what the writers of the magazines and books and the creators of these videos are thinking inside.

  who is instructing them as to what to research and write, so that they have written such contradictory statements.

  if there is a power struggle, whos ideas get printed in what lesson?
  

  who , I wonder agrees with these new 'electronic lessons' in the kingdom halls and who is loosing?

  How can anyone sit at meetings, and not question the sneaky financial changes ?
  

  how can one even be an elder and not be on zoloft?

  perhaps, the older group of senile G.B. men are in lala land and the younger ones are being sneaky and influencing them. who knows,

  but man, what a show.
  
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  stuckinarut2

  Sowhatnow : how can one even be an elder and not be on zoloft?

  Love that comment!

  How true! The Cognitive Disonance must be in overdrive for so many!
• 

  Ignoranceisbliss

  Great post Jeff!!! I have wondered the same. It is telling to me that no new GB have been added. It is now down to 7. There could be some discension against any new GB knowing that as older ones die off they will have a bigger piece of the power pie.
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  careful

  You're right about being in the dark alright! This post makes me think of so many others here based entirely on conjecture, the same thing we all saw when we were in among the Witness R&F and elders!

  So who "at the top" is involved? In one sense the GB is like any other elder body. They undoubtedly have their differences in closed meeting sessions, but must present a unified front outside their meetings, as many of us have witnessed and even participated in while we were in our local congos. But you would have to delineate just who is who on the GB, who the liberals and hard liners are, who the weak pushovers and who the alpha dogs are. Do you have some insight here?

  Clearly Tony Morris and David Splane are the top dogs. But where do the others fit in? I have heard that Jackson is somewhat liberal and Sanderson too, but I don't know if that's substantial. Herd seems rather a beta than an alpha type. Lett, well, who knows? A loose canon, but probably harmless and easily controlled by the alphas. Lösch, I dunno... maybe the wannabe as someone here said once...

  So where here is the power struggle? If you postulate a power grab by those below the GB, as some here really really want to believe, then you have some serious issues with their forced acceptance of the GB's power and the fact that if they are ever found out, they can easily be axed, especially in the current climate of Bethel dismissals. Hmm...

  Finally, as you yourself recognize, any appearance of disunity at the top would be devastating to the R&F. As daft as the GB are most of the time, they are bright enough to recognize that fact as well, and they would likely do whatever they need to do to avoid such a perception by the R&F.
  
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  stuckinarut2

  Well, when their whole basis for power rests on 2 tenuously applied scripture verses in Matthew, then they have to tread carefully.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/267990001/only-basis-power-control-parable-faithful-discreet-slave
  
• 

  JW_Rogue

  Could a power struggle be going on? Yes, but it could be simpler than that. It could be that they want to make changes that will externally make them look more progressive and liberal. At the same time they want to tighten control over members who are already in and centralize the finances. Or it could be that they feel they need to rebrand because they aren't growing and are in a financial hole. They may realize that they will lose some members but feel that in the long run they will grow.
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  smiddy

  If there is a power struggle going on within the G.B.with the resultant changes & the G.B. are prepared to lose some members during this transitional stage ,by all accounts it seems the ones they are losing are the ones they can least afford to lose , like Elders , MS , Pioneers , etc., the average R&F member is just simply not up to the task to step in and do the work , with the dumbing down of the religion in recent decades , it`s a complete joke that they refer to themselves as Bible Students .

  smiddy
• 

  joe134cd

  Just wondering who is the president of the watchtower now.
• 

  Fisherman

  We've all been trying to decipher what is going on at the top of the Watchtower organization.

  The era of the charismatic GB is gone. The beloved and respected and awed old timers are no more. It appears that the new generation of leaders at the very top just do not have the same influence over their fellow contemporary subordinates and JW pubs in general as the beloved old timer heavies that are gone once did. And it does not seem that JWS want to gear up for another couple of hundred years of invisible rule and preaching and developing the org. which seems to be the case. It was a very strategical move for JW to sell all the high profile expensive properties ( or risk loosing them ) and lay low upstate.
  

  It is a new era in JW history ( a century+ after 1914 ) and the JW leaders want people to move on from the past and have a new frame of mind but a lot of people wanted the status quo as still do as they wait for the end to realize, and not to move on with all of the implemented changes.There should be disagreement at the very top between the younger anointed leaders and same age and older subordinate non anointed leaders because the awe from such non anointed leaders is not there.

  Change is not new with the WT. Lots of changes through out the years. But these new changes are monumental. Changing the music and the meetings also changes the experience of worship one felt and related to. .