Why Do They Bother?

by Stephanus 12 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Stephanus

  On another thread, I was struck with a thought. Someone mentioned how brainwashed the R&F were to accept the drivel pumped out of Bethel and it suddenly dawned on me that the 'Tower and the Awake! and all the other literature are irrelevant. No-one becomes a 'Tower adherent by reading the stuff on their own; even if they decided that the WBTS was the visible org of God, they'd still have to go through the 6 month indoctrination process. There is the urban myth about the garbage man who stumbles upon the 'Tower in a bin (kinda symbolic, I feel!) and becomes a dub (that's an urban myth which is over a hundred years old in mainstream Christendom. In that version a page of the Bible blows overboard from a ship and onto a nearby island where the natives then convert to Christianity), but we all know that he went through the "free Bible study" route before he got baptised.

  So again I ask the question, why on Earth do they print this stuff???
• 

  Gopher

  Why do they print this stuff? I have a couple guesses.

  1. To keep the worldwide printing empire going.

  2. To drill the same ideas (propaganda) into the minds of the publishers. The rank-and-file JW's have come to expect a new dose of the magazines 4 times per month. It's become self-perpetuating.

  This is not to say that most publishers actually read all the magazines as they get published.
  edited for spelling

  GopherEven if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
  Will Rogers (1879-1935)
• 

  nytelecom1

  the watchtower and awake help keep us focused on Jehovahs kingdom. and help us better understand scritptures that I am to lazy to look up myself.
• 

  bboyneko

  Hey anyone hear the one about the burglar who, when the family of the house he is burglarizing comes home unexpectadly, hides under the childresn bed. Then the dub family read their kids my book of bible bull..i mean stories and then the burglar, after listening decides to turn himself in and become a JW. :)

  -Dan
• 

  nytelecom1

  and he steals the bible and gives it back at an assembley..
• 

  Gopher

  Dan and nytelecom1,

  As far as I know, that is a true experience. It was in the outline of a public talk I gave (back when I was a JW, you know), "Serve Jehovah With a Joyful Heart". The thief took the Bible, and as the story goes it was his last theft. He did return the Bible to the family at a later assembly.

  GopherEven if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
  Will Rogers (1879-1935)
• 

  ChuckD

  The society has often adopted urban legends as true if they serve their purposes, and this one has urban legend written all over it. The hidden thief, the danger to the family, the change of heart, the final punchline (the bible returned at the assembly) are all classic themes in UL's.

  While it makes for a nice story from the platform, I would look for more evidence than it being in a talk outline for verification of its accuracy. Let's face it, the society may have published a few other "facts" which don't stand up to scrutiny as well.
• 

  Farkel

  : Let's face it, the society may have published a few other "facts" which don't stand up to scrutiny as well.

  There's no "may" about it: they definitely have!

  Farkel
• 

  nytelecom1

  urban legend......prob not...

  should the society start publishing all experiences with contact info?
• 

  ChuckD

  I am surprised that you don't think this is a UL; it certainly has all of the hallmarks of one. I am going to do a bit of research into this one, and see if there is another UL on record from which it may have come. It sounds very familiar.

  cd