by Farkel 52 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
The reason the Witnesses are so eager to hear "New Light" is that the "Old Light" is served, and reserved, over and over and over again in the publications and the talks. You can see it at the meetings how people are bored sitting there hearing the same thing from the platform year in and year out.
No wonder they are eager at the conventions to hear something new!
--VM44
If a book or article was impossible to follow and understand, Franz wrote it. If it denigrated and ridiculed women and their place in dub society, Franz wrote it. If it used the expressions "modern day type", Bible Rule?", "lunar calendar", "CLASS", "confidently expect" or involved any chronology, Franz wrote it. If it took a serious dose of drugs to understand any of it, Franz wrote it.
You got that right Farkel....and add his talks to that description too. I'm so glad to hear someone else say this, as for years I thought there was something wrong with me for not being able to follow his talks or stay interested enough to pay attention even though I was in awe of his very presence at the assemblies. Now I ask myself WHY??? He was a mere mortal man but as you said:
He was arrogant while appearing modest.....He wielded immense power without having a powerful position or formal title.
A well-done expose' of all the "leaders" many of us considered to be "directed by God to guide and direct us". Enlightening for sure!!
Had Enough
Thank you Farkel and VM44
Ok. I cannot decipher what it is that I am feeling. I feel like heaving. I was DF'ed and have come to the conclusion that the JW's are full of it because of the hypocracy and all the actions that they preach about being so far from what they do. It is like they are the people having the "wool pulled over the eyes." I can hear myself saying that years ago (That phrase) and here I sit and yet again.. I still have had a hard time thinking that it is such a blatant misleading. Now I see these and want to stand in front of them for myself (pyramid). I am actually a bit ashamed that It was not based on any factual evidence that I left. See I just did not like what I saw. I am having a hard time with the fact that my brother and sisters who actually paid atttention at the meetings did not see any of this. I am a bit embarrassed that I did not look any further.
Things like this keep me humble. I will have to ponder on this a bit. Still feeling naseous.
Farkel,
Yes, I bought into the cult of personality surrounding the last two men on your list. Most of the stories, urban legends about Knorr portrayed him as a straight-shooting, no-nonsense disciplinarian, a so-called brilliant organizer who could have taken most any company to the top of the Fortune 500. Let me just reference the Richard Burton plane story, the brother caught tape-recording a Bethel teaching session story, the Nebraska meeting of congregation servants story.
With respect to Fred Franz, I have no doubt that his academic background was overstated. In retrospect it's funny that Rhodes' credentials would mean anything to the higher-education-eschewing JW's, but such was/is our double standard. Franz was no doofus, however. His dissertation on freedom in "Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God" was carefully reasoned. Franz urban legends always started with a smile, so different he was. He was our Einstein. His heavily accented speech mesmorized us with its rythmic crescendo leading to our thunderous applause.
Just to illustrate the hero worship, one circuit overseer in the 80's used a tape of Franz a capella singing of a kingdom song as his concluding talk. This was supposed to move the audience to a similar life of self-sacrifice.
Face it bros & sisters, we worshipped these men just as modern Catholics sigh and clutch their heart as their current feeble pope endeavors to move his lips to form a word.
betrayed1
Excellent post
I don't think many existing dubs know of the influence Ted Jaracz has in the GB. The personalities are played down now but the heirarchy still works in the same way. I've heard that in GB meetings where new articles, rules etc are decided it's the person with the loudest voice and the most forceful personality who gets their way. It's neither a democratic or spiritual process at all.
I remember my grandma used to bless all the members of the GB by name in her prayers like they were saints or something.
There's also a good a article on Rutherfords influence on the org here - http://www.freeminds.org/history/rutherfd.htm
Blondie has taken Farkel?s long pass and run it in for a touchdown.
Farkel your a gifted writer. Just a comment about the usual response of "the men are imperfect but the organization is perfect", it's simply a reflection of the masked contempt or disappointment many feel about certain elders or others in the organization muted by fear of being perceived as apostate.
Thanks, Farkel!
bttt
I really enjoyed this Farkel.
I know...I have been a major "fluff" person. Possibly cause I was tired of all those years studying useless books at the meetings!!! Reading WT and Awakes that I could barely read because they were so off the wall and a lot of the writing had NO style and then have to make them some how palitable in "our door to door work". sigh
I have read COC and ISOCF...Which helped greatly with realizing what was behind the WTBS. The Proclaimers Book just doesn't cough up the real truth about its beginnings.
Being raised in the JW religion, we take it for granted it is the truth(tm)....until something tells us we can't be blind to the red flags we have been noticing over the years...
Such as: hypocrisy...Dateline May 2002...I only saw the last 10 minutes where it exposed the pedophile problem within the WTBS...
That was a "defining moment" for me...realizing what I had invested my life in wasn't what I thought it was...They were NO different than ANY religion, in fact, possibly more harmful. (example: prove I was "spiritual I had to give up college and music scholarships!!!) My therapist claim it is the worse religion for us women.....(we never become anything then baby makers and door knockers)
I wish more JW's could read the "real history of the JW's, WTBS"....Of course we know, that the only way they will explore it, is when their "rose colored glasses" become cracked...when the red flags are glarring in their faces.
CodeBlue
