I believe Skyking is correct. You can be disfellowshipped for 'causing divisions'. It was over this 'technicality' that Bill Bowen was eventually disfellowshipped in 2002, if my memory serves me correctly.
NotBlind
JoinedPosts by NotBlind
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30
October Announcement Tid Bit
by Juniper inok, i dont know what it is either.
but i can tell you that it exists!
i know an ms who was talking to a bro from bethel who said that there was big stuff coming and big changes.
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13
The Awake Gets Worse, As Sycophants Rule ( 10/06)
by metatron insycophant n. a self serving servile flatterer.
you may remember that the watchtower society claimed that they dumped printing half the awake issues to .
put more emphasis on the bible.
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NotBlind
The more I think about it, the more I begin to believe that these letters are made up by the fanciful minds making up the Writing Department.
Seriously, have you ever written to the Society praising them on an article? Do you know anybody who ever wrote in praising them on an article? I know I don't.
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48
Was Simplification the Downfall of the Watchtower?
by NotBlind ina thought i had daydreaming while at the recent convention .
old timers in the organization often reminisce about the way the wts was many years ago.
attending a convention meant (a) getting hot meals, (b) orchestra music before and during sessions, and (c) two, three, or even four dramas.
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NotBlind
Slimboyfat compared 'simplification' to Perestroika in the old USSR. I never thought the similarities before, but the shoe certainly fits. Malaise and stagnation await the WT. Just wait till they start studying the Revelation book for a record 4th time.
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48
Was Simplification the Downfall of the Watchtower?
by NotBlind ina thought i had daydreaming while at the recent convention .
old timers in the organization often reminisce about the way the wts was many years ago.
attending a convention meant (a) getting hot meals, (b) orchestra music before and during sessions, and (c) two, three, or even four dramas.
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NotBlind
A thought I had daydreaming while at the recent convention –
‘Old timers’ in the organization often reminisce about the way the WTS was many years ago. Attending a convention meant (a) getting hot meals, (b) orchestra music before and during sessions, and (c) two, three, or even four dramas.
Huge numbers of Witnesses were required to staff such arrangements, and they invested thousands of hours just to prepare food, music, and drama ‘entertainment’ for these events. The time and effort investment was probably a reason for discontinuing these features of the assemblies, as I think they themselves said a few times.
Orchestra music and hot meals at conventions ended in 1978 in the USA, and the number of dramas were reduced one by one until each convention featured only one in 1991. Food service stopped altogether by 1995 in the USA.
Slowly, these and other characteristics of the organization began to be ‘simplified’ away.
Many JW’s who weren’t quite as zealous in the ‘preaching’ work served the cong in other ways – by cooking and selling food at assemblies, rehearsing and playing music (both at assemblies and at KH’s), acting in dramas, and other assembly-related work. I believe most of these JW’s rightly viewed such activities as part of their ‘worship’ and ‘sacred service’ to God. I imagine many of them volunteered for these activities so they didn’t have to sit and listen to the program for 4+ days, viewing it as a ‘worthy distraction.’
As time passed, though, and simplification sucked the life out of Witness activities, there was nothing else to do but sit and listen to the program. Witnesses who had been used to using their talents, at least to some extent, to serve their religion, now had nothing else to do but sit down, go out in service, listen to the canned music, eat the canned food, watch the canned dramas, and read the paperback novels.
I think much of this ‘simplification’, whether the WTS believed it or not, led to the malaise now glaringly obvious in the org.
Now, I'm not talking about the mass exodus of people from the org, thanks to the internet. I'm talking about the apathy of those still in the congregations.
Every convention is the same as the year before – different title, same schtick. Witnesses don’t even seem to get excited about the releases at the conventions anymore – routine applause, but you can’t really muster up any excitement over a paperback novel which is really just a revision of something they printed 20 or 30 years ago - a paperback novel which any reputable book publishing house would call a 'pamphlet'.
Simplification of the quality of books has been a blow to the pride of many JW’s in their organization. I remember that when the “Greatest Man” book was released in 1991, many boasted at how beautiful the book would look in their libraries, and its giftworthy appearance was a ‘selling point’ in the field. They said something similar about the “Proclaimers" book in 93. The content may have been questionable, but it sure did look nice on the shelf, right next to the 30-year collection of bound volumes inherited from dear old Aunt Louise.
When was the last time you saw a group of JW’s get excited over a new book or talk about the quality of the publication itself? Probably the best thing I can say about the Revelation book gathering dust on my bookshelf is that it withstood being studied three times at the book study. I certainly couldn’t say that about the new paperback Revelation books; half the pages will be falling out by the time they get to Chapter 5.
I guess my question is - Was this part of the internal downfall? I think the internet has brought many out of the WT. But did the 'oversimplification of everything' contribute to the apathy of those still in the org?
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9
CommonTruth JW Message Board
by sf inhttp://ctmessage.proboards82.com/
looks brand new.
have fun danny!.
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NotBlind
Yeah, kind of like this one...
http://jwcyberhall.proboards23.com
They both seem ripe for the picking...
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NotBlind
What disillusioned me most when I was a Witness was the fact that all those who made the 'rules', the GB members, the CO's, the DO's, the Bethel heavies, had absolutely NO idea what the average Witness had to deal with on a daily basis. We were told we had to read 3 or 4 magazines a month, daily text, Bible every day, in addition to service every week, plus giving up at least two evenings and one morning each day for the meetings. Oh, and don't forget preparing for all those meetings. Of course, the people telling us to do all that didn't have to worry about paying the bills, or much of anything else for that matter.
A few JW's have let me know that they are not happy with the recent crackdown on college/university. The blokes making the decisions in the org have absolutely no idea (or do not care) that going to college is a necessary fact of life for many, if not most students today.
I was constantly disillusioned by the constant complaining done by all the higher-ups in the org. Nothing is ever good enough. If we weren't going out in the field enough, we were criticized. If we weren't conducting enough studies, we were criticized. If we showed up late for the meeting, we were criticized. If we wanted to better ourselves and go get and education, we were REALLY criticized.
Most JW's I know today fall into two categories: 1) JW die-hards, and 2) floaters.
The die-hards will keep the org going for the next 100 years. Only rarely does one of the die-hards see the light about the org.
The floaters, on the other hand, really don't care anymore. Their bodies may still be in the org, but their hearts left long ago. The floaters have found that the only way to survive in this religion is to 'tune it all out'. They may still attend, go in the field service, and some of them may even be MS's and elders. But they don't really give a tinker's dam about the newest WT article or the offer for the month. They couldn't tell you what last year's assembly releases were. The floaters have nearly quit donating, too. Many of these floaters may never leave the org completely, due to family ties. But I see a greater percentage of JW's 'joining their ranks', to quote a phrase from the WT, over the next several years.
People are disillusioned with the constant carping of the WT, and they're learning to tune it out.
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10
Elders school
by blindersoff inanybody heard anything about the content of the current elder school?
the elders here went.
first one i have miissed for a long time.. i would just guess that it is built around the new organization book.. b
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NotBlind
Yep, that's pretty much it. There was a lot more, though, which I'll post later. I have a friend who's an elder in FL and is willing to share.
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8
Saturday Convention Talk (Return to the Shepherd)
by 95stormfront infrom the notes of "incognita".......... saturdays talk, return to the shepherd of your souls, was basically a 20 minute talk applied to those who've drifted or are drifting away; the basic jist was that we're all losers and that we'd better get reactivated and have a renewed vitality for the truth because without it, directly quoting "incognita", "our life is empty and meaningless and we'll have no joy".. inactive ones need the help of the elders because we're sinners and have lost our love for gee-hobah.
(so much for them not being able to read hearts.
) we have simply lost our zeal, and got carried away with the anxieties of life.
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NotBlind
Since when do the elders stop by with the newest convention releases? When I was going, the Bookroom Nazis made sure it was "one per attendee". IOW, no extra books for the inactive or fading. I'll keep that in mind if I stop by the bookroom for releases this year. I'll take 20 copies, please, for the inactive...
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15
2005 District convention???
by keeshah in.
anyone know the dates yet?
especially interested in kansas city or st. louis area.
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NotBlind
One Korean convention at the St. Louis assembly hall. I think they have 2 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO, though, usually in July. Don't know the exact dates, though.
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11
Less emphasis on 1914?
by richard ini'm not sure if this subject has been touched before but i noticed that since the turn of the millennium, the watchtower has paid less attention to "1914".
that is to say, when checking the frequency of the term '1914' in the watchtower from 1970-2003 through the wt-library 2003, there is a notable decrease after 1999. see the attached graph.
would that be a significant development or just statistical coincidence?
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NotBlind
<<<Really? How do you "firmly believe" a ficticious chronology?
<<<Kwin
Good question, Kwin...
You already answered it in your other post though...
<<<Because the R & F don't do any independant (sic) thinking
Amen to that.