so: the mystery has been clarified as to more "new light" / clarifications of decades old doctrine and procedure.
august watchtower has finally been leaked.
disfellowshipping?
DesirousOfChange- “…Most diehard JWs will follow tradition and shun dissenters…”
Sure, they would…
…but really, just how many diehards are actually left? And just how many left are actual diehards?
If we underestimated the number of PIMOs, it follows that we may be overestimating the number of PIMIs.
And I’m willing to bet that the Org’s higher-ups have considered this, too.
so: the mystery has been clarified as to more "new light" / clarifications of decades old doctrine and procedure.
august watchtower has finally been leaked.
disfellowshipping?
NotFormer - “…Genuinely loosening the reins wouldn't cost them too much…”
Unless…
…it would.
One of Covid’s more surprising takeaways was just how many used the break to fade… or rather, just how many PIMOs there actually were…
…and I’ve lost count of how often I’ve heard XJWs theorize that if the Org dropped shunning, the resulting exodus would cripple them.
Maybe there’s more to those theories than we thought.
but the entire congregation is not to be informed or mark the person.
the only repercussions are that the individual who is aware of it can decide to "mark" them and not go to the local club or bar with the individual, but they are still obligated to go door to door in the ministry with them, and even speak to them at the kn as if nothing is wrong and not feel obligated to tell anyone else?
this is crazy.. so they are also basically saying that a person can carry on a romantic (but none sexual) relationship with an unbeliever and still go out in service and participate in meetings?
Ten bucks says they’re changing this up ‘cause young single JW women outnumber JW men just way too much at this point, and (biology being what it is) end up hooking up with “worldly” guys, anyway.
At least this way, the Org might acquire some new blood (yeah, right).
so: the mystery has been clarified as to more "new light" / clarifications of decades old doctrine and procedure.
august watchtower has finally been leaked.
disfellowshipping?
WingCommander - “…really, this isn't exactly a course correction. It's a shell game…”
And not even a particularly good one…
…if they think any secular authority with half a brain is fooled, they’re naive.
WingCommander - “…Barbara Anderson famously made the proclamation years ago that the Legal Dept are truly the ones at the helm of WatchTower HQ…”
Know what’s really ironic?
Having lawyers trying to “reform” a religion who’s present-day form was - for all intents and purposes - forged by a lawyer.
😏
anyone besides my mom ever use this term for describing their husband, especially one that was not a “spiritual lead” in the family?.
this sounds like a term to use instead of the more truthful “i don’t really love him anymore, he is a disappointment to me, but as long as he brings in the money to pay the bills and puts food on the table for my children, i guess i will put up with it.”.
thoughts?.
The need for a hierarchal authority structure and deference to said authority are so deeply hardwired into some folks that it’s all but impossible to get them out of it.
from reddit.. a summary of changes: .
we are all sinners, so we have to be reasonable how we punish sinners.
if elders and congregation do not quickly help someone come to be reinstated they would be imitating satan the devil, not jehovah (yes that actually is what is said in the tagalog version in translation!
jonahstourguide - “…Obviously the lawyers are trying to remove toxic language that offended the Norwegian government…”
My biggest takeaway was that they haven’t budged an inch on Fred Franz’s old End-Times narrative.
We’d heard rumours they were overhauling it (as it was becoming increasingly implausible the further into the 21st Century we got), but it seems that’s not the case.
from reddit.. a summary of changes: .
we are all sinners, so we have to be reasonable how we punish sinners.
if elders and congregation do not quickly help someone come to be reinstated they would be imitating satan the devil, not jehovah (yes that actually is what is said in the tagalog version in translation!
On a semi-related note…
…according to this fellow, they’re pretty much doubling-down on everything else.
i was born in 1964, so, i was 10 when the buildup to 1975 was happening (and watched the subsequent failure of that).then, when i was a teenager, i got to see the fallour of the big apostacy events in the 1980s.during all of this, i was told by my parents and by people of my parents' peer group that "this old system won't last much longer, and won't the new system be great!
"it is now 2024. i am going to be 60 years old in a few months.
over half a century.my mom died two months after her 80th birthday last year, after suffering for years of chronic poor health (some of it brought on by a very sedentary lifestyle, but also plagued by emotional and mental issues and family drama which did not help overall.
I’ve come to suspect that Jaracz’s heavy-handed legacy is the Org’s real millstone, and the so-called “reforms” they’re trying to implement are like sticking more and more fingers into a dam’s holes.
Eventually they’re gonna run out of fingers.
I could be wrong.
from reddit.. a summary of changes: .
we are all sinners, so we have to be reasonable how we punish sinners.
if elders and congregation do not quickly help someone come to be reinstated they would be imitating satan the devil, not jehovah (yes that actually is what is said in the tagalog version in translation!
One thing’s for certain…
… they finally clued in (or, more likely, had to have it explained 🙄) that heavy-handed sentences make a DFed JW a lot less scared to take a look at “apostate” material on the net…
…which means the longer they stay away, the less likely they are to come back.
the ra is underway and there is a common thread through the first day.
they have a "presenter" who comes across as an educated historian handling early bible fragments and translations as if he knows what he's doing.
the impression given is that he is an unassailable font of all knowledge, with his rich scottish accent he prints himself as across as professor gravitas.. i find this disturbing, we have no idea who he is or what if any his qualifications are to speak such with authority.
Fragrant - “…they tend to promote the most slimy people to the highest positions…”
I don’t think it’s done on purpose.
Its just that if/when you spend decades alienating intelligent, conscientious folks with flawed, ideology-driven decisions…
…eventually, all you’ll be left with are monsters.
