i thought this was an interesting response to the question.
"being faithful and loyal to god implies or includes.
being faithful to your spouse (hebrews 13:4),.
They equate Jehovah and "Jehovah's organization."
In Crisis of Conscience, Ray Franz said that even the GB members themselves seemed to think of the organization as if it were a separate entity from themselves, as though "Jehovah's organization" made decisions and set policies, and they only administered them.
a sister said the other day at the ministry group “”what is all this talk that the end is still some way off” she said she has been waiting for decades and she was told there is no way it would take this long.
some others said in an annoyed kind of way yes they would have made different decisions decades ago if they knew the end still would not have come by 2023.. how will the majority react in a few more decades time when the end still hasn’t come?.
why all that talk of sense of urgency decades ago?.
They think:
1. I would have made different decisions if I knew the old system would still be here in 2023.
2. Surely now Armageddon is CLOSER THAN EVER.
3. I can't waver now and throw away everything I've worked for my whole life.
4. I must maintain my integrity and stay loyal to Jehovah and his organization.
5. I'll just keep my mouth shut and stay the course.
6. After all, where else can I go?
the belief was jehovah/god is not the organisation when you are a member of the organisation .
when you disassociate or leave the organisation, the belief becomes jehovah/god is the organisation.
someone somewhere will tell you return to jehovah or hand you a publication that has the title return to jehovah.. .
Quite ironic, given that Russell wrote, "Beware of organization. It is wholly unnecessary."
Some take it seriously. Some don't.
I think they took it really seriously right before 1975.
When that came to nothing, many became really subdued, just putting in time.
That said, there has probably always been launderette "witnessing" and "the pioneer shuffle" going door to door.
It's all about hours, not results.
.......you will experience a fate worse than death!
you have been warned - don't come crying to me if you don't go.
you've got one month to change your mind.
If everyone were released from his or her sins at death, wouldn't that mean that all would be resurrected and make it into the millennial kingdom?
But that's not what the Watchtower teaches...
.
well i think this pyramidion (a capstone to a pyramid ) looks a lot like the remembrance stone of charles taze russell, the watchtower president ,they may have taken and hidden his stone away but those of us who can remember it, it says a lot about russells belief in his version of prophecy based on egyptian pyramids holding gods secret of false prophecy..
Interesting how "God's Stone Witness" (Russell) became "Satan's Bible" (Rutherford)...
That's "new light" for you...
june 2023 study watchtower p. 13, par 15 - “we will not be fooled if we “make sure of or, “test” all things.”...we need to test what we hear or what we read to determine whether it is genuine.....instead of naively accepting what others the org say, we use our thinking ability to compare what we read or what we hear with what the bible and jehovah’s organization say.”.
To most JWs, "make sure of all things" = find out what the GB currently says about it.
we all know that despite many scriptures to the contrary, jw's believe that when they die, their consciousness will cease.
my question is this: what will be the likely reaction of jw's if they find themselves conscious after death?.
Panic
my late grandfather believed he was one of the anointed.
that aside when asked about whether the jw organisation would last, he would pull out the attached wt magazine (the second edition) and say "if the day ever comes when the organisation asks for money outright, it will be proof that jehovah is not it's backer.
" that's how convinced he was that such a thing would never happen.. i often wonder what my grandfather would make of the modern organisation today..
I didn't know him, of course, but I wonder if he would say that the GB had no choice because brothers and sisters today seem to have lost their zeal for Jehovah.
Blame the JWs, not the organization!
now covid restrictions are over, they're pushing on with watchtower museums at many locations through out the world.. looks to me as if they'll be pretty boring.
a few old bibles and photos of the witnessing work from way back when.. one things for sure is they won't include anything relating to constantly changing doctrines or have libraries full of old publications that have since been swept under the carpet..
