the new study article 28 watchtower that has just been published on jw.org is about apostate lies and introduces new concepts in their effort to compat apostasy in the congregations.
so despite the loosening of their recent disfellowshipping rules their fight against apostates is still raging hard.
according to the foreword of this article, they will concentrate on :.
"Soon the Devil will use powerful propaganda to mislead entire nations into taking sides against Jehovah."
Snarky reference to Norway, perhaps? And to inoculate JWs against future government crackdowns on WT excesses?
Powerful propaganda? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! 🤬
i read a comment somewhere that having a beard ( before such was allowed) was never a disfellowshippable offence.
but does that mean that no-one who grew a beard was ever eventually disfellowshipped?.
growing a beard when such was frowned upon would surely attract the attention of those with nothing better to do, and possibly lead to sniffing around to try and find things that the "disobedient" one was up to.
I read a comment somewhere that having a beard ( before such was allowed) was never a disfellowshippable offence. But does that mean that no-one who grew a beard was ever eventually disfellowshipped?
Growing a beard when such was frowned upon would surely attract the attention of those with nothing better to do, and possibly lead to sniffing around to try and find things that the "disobedient" one was up to. And I imagine that such "weak ones" were subject to "soft shunning" ; not officially shunned, but avoided anyway.
And it wouldn't be just be beards. It'd be all those areas that aren't rules, but you know for damned sure that they are rules. For example, LongHairGal suggests that her refusal to quit her job and further refusal to pioneer lowered her "worth" in the congregation. There'd be more examples. Women who refused to wear skirts in field service in Winter and so on.
So when is not disfellowshippable actually shunnable?
amazing new light in the latest morning worship by gary breaux.
the gb "never lie or deceive us.
we can have absolute trust in the governing body".. he then makes a very helpful point, so as to avoid being deceived and avoid lies.
They're doubling down. This can't be a good sign.
For all the talk of a kinder, gentler approach, it ain't gonna happen. Unaccountable people who consider themselves infallible rarely become nicer. They just keep telling you how much more you should be able to take, and keep ramping up the demands.
If that happens, say goodbye to their hope that some will come back. The harder they squeeze, the more who will leave.
holy nativity batman!
on jw broadcasting.
final song for this year's convention.
My contribution in song:
Let us gather to celebrate, upon this wint'ry morn,
The holy blessed day, Judge Rutherford was born,
The sheep were disobedient, God didn't hold a grudge,
Instead of Armageddon, Jehovah sent da Judge.
He winnowed out the chaff and sent them door to door,
He changed their name to publishers, from now 'til evermore,
God's work is now more business-like, professional and choice,
Jehovah took da Judge away, the sheep did much rejoice.
holy nativity batman!
on jw broadcasting.
final song for this year's convention.
"Is this a move towards mainstreaming?"
Possibly. If they start allowing JWs to attend Carols in the Domain, possibly have a choir of their own present their new Christmas song to the world, I'll be somewhat impressed. But seriously, doing something like that might gain them serious cachet in the broader community.
holy nativity batman!
on jw broadcasting.
final song for this year's convention.
Larry Norman had a song entitled "Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music". The WT probably wrote off "Christendom's" music as the Devil's music, but they've been trending lately to more Hillsong style choruses, I believe*.
I wonder what's driving the trend? WT music has been described as dirge-like, historically, but so what? The WT always had tight control over the sheep; it wasn't like they were allowed to go to other churches where the more upbeat songs made the WT versions sound like crap. So why bother with the change? If it's dull, but all you've ever known, you're hardly going to be champing at the bit for something else.
*From comments posted on this board
holy nativity batman!
on jw broadcasting.
final song for this year's convention.
"Glory in the heights above" doesn't have the same ring to it that "Gloria in excelsis Deo" does, but at least they're trying. 🙄
i’ve noticed a pattern where things don’t go the way i expect them to go and/or whenever i realise there is a trend and, i mentally adjust for the idea that the trend will continue, the trend stops in its tracks.
so on that basis, and given many people, including myself, and active jws, have been asking ‘what changes will the governing body make next?’ perhaps the (disappointing) answer is: ‘nothing much for a while to come’.
maybe they’ve made the changes they want for now, and will wait a while and see how it’s received.
Especially Treasury B'lites - they were not the brightest Bethel had to offer, but by god they were loyal.
Loyal versus capable: interesting trade-off. 😳
i stumbled, via a google search, upon a part of jw space that is usually heavily defended against outsiders like my good self.
in a discussion, someone started their post with "i (started doing x)... when the slave began to suggest doing so"*.
do pimis really talk that way?
I stumbled, via a Google search, upon a part of JW space that is usually heavily defended against outsiders like my good self. In a discussion, someone started their post with "I (started doing X)... when the Slave began to suggest doing so"*
Do PIMIs really talk that way? I assume that the person is referring to the GB/Bethel, when they say "the Slave". I realise that the GB use the term to describe themselves, kind of like the Royal third person, but I didn't think that the R&F would copy them and use it in general conversation.
*I'm being deliberately vague about the source
i thought of something during last weekend's wt study article, that made me think that perhaps we are on the wrong track on how the governing body is going to handle the whole 607-1914 thing.in paragraph 9 it referred to the the messianic kingdom rule as a period as called 'times of restoration of all things' taken from acts 3:21. this period of 'restoration', started in 1914 with jesus becoming king in heaven, and led to pure worship being restored 'soon after that'.and it was the last comment, that got me going.you see, in previous wt study articles (and i went through the 1990-2024 references) this term of 'times of restoration' was applied rather generally and more like a description of what jesus and jehovah was going to do during the messianic rule, rather than a formal title and a fulfillment of prophesy.however, what if the governing body keeps 1914 as jesus' invisible crowning ... but dumps 1918 as the date for the beginning of true worship?
firstly this paragraph reinforces the previously announced removal of russell being a part of the slave class, for obvious reasons.
but if 'true worship' had a soft start around the 1920s and making that the elastic part, then the embarrassment of his teachings and maybe even rutherford's, all of it could be excused as the speech of john the baptist.
nowwhat?, probably not. The recent raft of changes got a lot of people excited and speculating about possible future changes. Dropping 1914 is one of those things on a "Things I'd Like To See" wishlist
It'd probably make sense to do so, but very hard to do in reality.
That being said, although I'm sceptical about some of the suggested changes, I'll always be pleasantly surprised about any that do happen.
