I was really puzzled when I opened this edition of the WT magazine at the above “study”. What on earth has this picture at the top of page 13 got to do with Christian watchfulness? I Wasn’t making a connection at all. I thought of the early 60s movie “The Music Man” with Robert Preston and the rousing musical piece....
Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten coronets close at hand.
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos,
The dream of ev’ry famous band.
But Hollywood is nothing to do with this “study” article. Then I began to look more closely. I noticed the brother in the foreground manipulating his cellphone. Ah! Ha! Maybe he’s being watchful by checking his news app to discern world news events. Nope! Then there are the three brothers and two sisters who made the effort to attend this convention on time so that they could enjoy some wholesome and up building association! After all, the literature of the GBoJW always extols attendance at their arrangements partly for that purpose. But I thought again – nope! That can’t be it. Wholesome and up building association is fine and good, but this “study” professes to be about watchfulness. So I’m still not getting it! Oh dear! Am I getting slow or what? Then I looked at the solitary fellow on the platform sitting on his chorus and verse. Ah! Ha! It’s beginning to click. This picture is suggesting that we should all be like him when the music starts at the convention. We should all be seated on our chorus and verses, be still, and be silent. That’s what the GBoJW is really getting at! But then again, that has nothing whatever to do with Christian watchfulness!
Then I began to realize that this is just another appalling attempt of the GBoJW to try and influence folks to sit down and shut up for the 10 minutes of music at each day of the convention. So why do they have to control people so? Maybe they are trying to elevate the status of their musical compositions in the minds of JW’s rather like they have been elevating the importance of their literature – almost having the same authority as scripture! What an outrage I then began to say to myself. The enigma had departed from my mind and I realized that this was another “Theocratic direction”!
Yet, even if I took the claimed authority and status of the GBoJW as it is portrayed, it is still outrageous. They claim to be the Faithful & Discreet Slave, despite Hebrews 1:1,2 stating that God “spoke on many occasions and in many ways to our forefathers by means of the prophets” but “at the end of these days spoken to us by means of a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things...” So this scripture states that it is God’s Son who is the personage through whom God communicates. No intermediary such as a FDS here. Similarly, 1 Cor 11:3 states that “... the head of every an is the Christ" and so there’s no room for an intermediary here either! But even if the Bible is wrong and the GBoJW is right, then how does telling people to sit down and shut up during 10 minutes of music fall within their claimed remit to “give ... food at the proper time...” (Matt 24:45) There is a difference between giving food (literally or metaphorically) and telling people to be seated and shut up (arrogant control). So they exceed their own claimed mandate! What a damned cheek!
Well, this article has started so badly that I can hardly bear to read the rest of it! I’ll just wait and hear what the brothers and sisters have to say on Sunday. One thing I do know is that the brothers and sisters in my and neighbouring congregations exemplify those in the foreground of the photo. Having a nice chat, enjoying each others’ company, messaging, enjoying wholesome and up building conversation. This “kill joy” paradigm of the GBoJW may be just the catalyst for others to see the GBoJW and their “helpers” for what they really are!