Awake Moving To Monthly Publishing

by Valis 98 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  RunningMan

  Steve: Armstrong's magazine was called "The Plain Truth". Notice how every idea that is in doubt seems to call itself "the truth".

  Anyway, after he retired, his son took over, and thereafter fell victim to numerous scandals of the sexual and financial nature. The organization has since gone mainstream, eliminating most of the goofy doctrines foisted upon them old Herbert W. (whose teachings interestingly mirrored the Society's very closely). They have now lost around 85% of their members, but are a fairly normal Christian group. If they can survive in the short term, they will be OK for a long time.
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  steve2

  Armstrong's magazine was called "The Plain Truth". Notice how every idea that is in doubt seems to call itself "the truth".

  Anyway, after he retired, his son took over, and thereafter fell victim to numerous scandals of the sexual and financial nature. The organization has since gone mainstream, eliminating most of the goofy doctrines foisted upon them old Herbert W. (whose teachings interestingly mirrored the Society's very closely). They have now lost around 85% of their members, but are a fairly normal Christian group. If they can survive in the short term, they will be OK for a long time.

  hey thanks running man. How could I forget that amusingly overly-emphatic magazine (crammed as it was with italicised important points and dogmatic assertions)?

  I notice that being "true" to a fundamentalist end-times doctrine and remaining "on the scene" as an organised religion are two totally different things. I dare say that the watchtower will definitely keep going in one form or another, but whether it remains as crankily anti-world is another story altogether.

  I agreed with Justickledpink: In Westernised countries so much information is so readily available and education levels are generally higher than elsewhere. Any religion's "cranky" and "irritable" claims can so easily be challenged. steve2
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  mkr32208

  I'll believe this when I see it in the KM! This would be to me a pretty major crack in the facade if it were true...
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  acsot

  Just heard from the dub here at work. At their pioneer meeting the elders hold once a year one of the elders said that it'll be in the March KM. As of January, 2006, the Awake will be published once a month.

  I also mentioned to my dub "friend" that the Organized book will be updated and a new one published and given out at the special March 20th meeting. This dub (ex-missionary, friends of GB members, still very much in and true believers) said to me:

  "How can it be kept up to date if they keep changing things all the time?" She was less than impressed at the news.

  The part about the Awake, however, floored her.
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  Elsewhere

  "How can it be kept up to date if they keep changing things all the time?" She was less than impressed at the news.

  Maybe they need to keep the book on a website and sent out "Change Notification" emails. This is how they handle the ever changeing finance laws and regulations where I work.
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  RunningMan

  Maybe instead of binding the book, they could put it in a binder, and just send out new pages whenever something changes. Or better yet, print it in disappearing ink. That way, anything that is more than a year or two old would just expire automatically.
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  JustTickledPink

  That's a great idea.

  Page 121 issued on Jan 26th, 2005 now supercedes page 121 issued on Jan 12th, 2000.

  You would just rip the page out, put in the new and VOILA a new book!
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  Elsewhere

  That's a great idea.

  Page 121 issued on Jan 26th, 2005 now supercedes page 121 issued on Jan 12th, 2000.

  You would just rip the page out, put in the new and VOILA a new book!

  There ya go! Just like an updated technical manual!
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  metatron

  Jeff, that's an interesting theory .. but I don't see how they can pull it off.

  The Awake is a marginal product ( Truth-Lite) in large measure because they just don't know what to say anymore.

  They avoid most doctrinal issues of any depth because they can't mount an effective intellectual defense. The "truth"

  is all about superficiality now. Changing the Watchtower to an internal publication won't work either because of the growing

  ranks of the discontented stuck in the organization - look at the KM! We 'apostates' are better informed than the

  rank and file.

  They're stuck - rather like Armstrong's church - with a huge pile of inherited doctrine they can barely explain or defend.

  Making the Awake into a well-thought out piece of attractive propaganda is likely to be beyond the feeble talents

  of a Writing staff that can't even do basic research accurately.

  metatron
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  steve2

  That's a great idea.

  Page 121 issued on Jan 26th, 2005 now supercedes page 121 issued on Jan 12th, 2000.

  You would just rip the page out, put in the new and VOILA a new book!

  There ya go! Just like an updated technical manual!

  Trouble is, when you've built up a vast printing empire, you kind of need to keep printing new books, to make it economically viable. So the binder solution would really slow down the numbers of completely new books printed.

  On another issue, if the witnesses are to receive their "meat in due season", how come apostates receive it first? We hear about it long before the JWs do! That's a real blow to the grisly old chefs in Brooklyn, isn't it?