the point of the letter was how many are feeling disappointed these days.. no circuit assembly, convention, how we can't fellowship at the k.h.
disappointed we might have had a love one die, etc etc.
he then goes on to write about how disappointed jehovah must have felt when his first human creation rebelled.
nowwhat? - "The point of the letter was how many are feeling disappointed these days...."
Don't kid yourself.
Ten bucks says that, deep down, the vast majority of rank-and-file JWs aren't really feeling all that disappointed.
The point of the letter is to remind them to feel guilty about not feeling disappointed.
romans 13 ,1-7 contrast with 2 cor.4 : 3-6 ,on the one hand the faithful are to be obedient to the superior authorities ,worldly government ,law enforcement ,etc, as its gods arrangement and to go against it is to go against god ?.
then 2 cor .4 : 3-6 states that the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one satan the devil and if you are obedient to that you are supporting satan`s system of things and going against gods arrangement ?.
what sort of mental gymnastics do you need to acquire to accept both of these scriptures and keep your sanity ?.
smiddy3 - "What sort of mental gymnastics do you need to acquire to accept both of these scriptures and keep your sanity?"
The same kind that involves knowing something is wrong...
...but believing it's "true"...
...at the same time.
so we've all been locked down and there's only so much netflix / prime / disney / hbo you can watch and computer games you can play.
what has everyone been doing to pass the time?.
when you're completely stuck inside and working from home it can get a bit boring staring at the same walls all day and then in the evening as well.
I've been working down my backlog of model kits, helping my aging Mom with handyman stuff, and reading novels.
Plus watching movies, marathonning TV shows, and playing Xbox with my kids..
sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.
for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.
i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.
"...'How can we make converts when we cannot preach?'..."
That's too funny. 
last thursday poyner spruill, a prominent north carolina law firm, announced a victory in a pro bono case involving religious freedom of incarcerated jehovah's witnesses.
the poyner team was appointed by the u.s. district court for the western district of north carolina to represent an inmate challenging the state’s policy governing how and when jehovah’s witnesses can worship in prison.
the state’s policy classified jehovah’s witnesses as a subset of christian protestants and, on that basis, prohibited separate jehovah’s witness meetings—an infringement on religious freedom under the first amendment.
You gotta love it when criminals and convicts make a public fuss about their beliefs...
...it almost can't help but cast their religions in an embarrassing and unfavorable light.
as many know, african languages have for decades been given their own alternate cover with black people.
their cover for the 2020 wt#3 also includes a bearded man.
this can not be a coincidence.
Facial hair is an almost integral component of many African and Middle Eastern cultures.
If you want new recruits in those parts of the world, it's probably best not to rock that boat too much.
sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.
for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.
i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.
Also, don't forget...
...more and more of us suspect that deep down, the WT leadership actually wants to downsize the membership - similar to the asset closures and liquidations - to a more manageable size of loyalists (and rich folks, of course).
Not to mention that transitioning to a predominantly online presence also - theoretically - mitigates the accusation that "pedophiles are knocking on your doors trying to recruit your kids" without them having to publicly admit the problem exists. ('cause I guarantee you, the Org's lawyers have advised them that their pedo-related court problems are not going away any time soon).
It really comes down to which option is most likely to enable the WTS to survive...
...the old way, or the now one.
IMO, the Covid pandemic and shutdown almost seems tailor-made to facilitate the new one.
sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.
for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.
i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.
BluesBrother - "...the G/Body may not be bright but they are not that stupid..."
Never underestimate the degree of foolish decisions you can make when you're convinced God whispers in your ear, you have authority over millions, and you surround yourself solely with people who are never allowed to disagree with you.
i'm a born and raised witness.
i was an elder for almost 20 years.
almost the same in fulltime service.
Sometimes quietly moving without leaving a forwarding address works.
"if by 30 june 2020 an institution has failed to signify their intention to join the scheme, they will be immediately publicly identified by the scheme in accordance with scheme legislation and jurisdictions will consider other appropriate action.
this may include financial sanctions applied by state, territory or commonwealth governments, and changes to an organisation's charitable status.
naming institutions is necessary to ensure that people wanting to access the scheme know the status of relevant institutions.".
The WTS will never sign up, nor were they ever going to...
...(capitulating to any pressure from "Satan's World" this close to the End notwithstanding), to do so would be tantamount to admitting there was/is a problem and that they are culpable... and they'd rather gargle with battery acid.
They'll try and spin public shaming (of failure to join) as martyrdom and the loyalists will probably buy it, but that's to be expected... anyone with half a brain will realize that it doesn't even come close to, say, arrest and imprisonment for their convictions (i.e. the real deal).
There's no guarantee that financial sanctions will be effective, since WTHQ had the bulk the Aussie savings transferred out of the country a couple years back (super-likely in anticipation of this very issue, which indicates that they never intended to join the redress scheme from the beginning)...
...but...
...loss of tax-exemption?
That might actually make things difficult, in no small part because...
a) ... I strongly suspect that the Org's business model has become highly dependent on it's charity status, and...
b) ...how the fuck do you spin "paying back Caesar's things to Caesar" as "persecution"?
