Posts by TerryWalstrom

11

LEFTOVERS and STOLEN LIGHT (An historical look at Watchtower laziness and misadventure)

by TerryWalstrom in

should the chosen mouthpiece (gb) be a voice or merely an imitative echo?.

is new light original (because it is coming direct from jehovah) or is it leftover from the minds of men?.

watchtower magazine failed to release new light first, before any other religious person or body.

TerryWalstrom

Well, didn't Prometheus do that very thing? :)

24

A MODERN FICTION: the lie which became a GOVERNING BODY

by TerryWalstrom in

safe to say, if you walked up to any of the 8 million jehovah's witnesses on earth today and told them the.

governing body was a fiction, not only would they refuse to believe you--they'd consider you their immediate enemy!.

what if i told you jw's embrace a mental construct which is at odds with history?.

Thanks Blondie, believe it or not, I sat down to write this at about ten in the morning and about eight hours later I was still knee-deep. I was initially going to ratchet down to a microscopic level of inspection. I'm glad I stopped when I did. Very hard to get people to read a looooooooong article on the best of days.

I remember when I suddenly realized the whole idea of governing body in Jerusalem was a figment of the imagination. I was stunned. Maybe I still am :)

35

DOES BELIEF IN THE BIBLE DESTROY ONE'S INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY?

by TerryWalstrom in

based on information to be found at: http://www.csicop.org/si/show/when_dont_the_highly_educated_believe_in_evolution_the_bible_believers_effe/.

the bible-believers effect.

those who believe the bible is the word of god (bible believers) and those who dont believe the bible is the word of god (bible nonbelievers) differ in their beliefs that humans evolved from earlier species of animals.

TerryWalstrom

I struggle with the automatic status of "good person" accorded to a profession of faith.

What we hold to be true inside our widdle bwain is often at odds with reality. How many Mafia

members were devout in their Catholicism?

How many despicable millionaires have given lavishly to charity?

What makes us BAD is not what we believe--it is what we are willing to do and willing to accept from others

as necessary which tells the tale.

It seems to me, Faith is no guarantee of justice, kindness or benevolence any more than anti-theistic conviction is a guarantor of depravity.

24

A MODERN FICTION: the lie which became a GOVERNING BODY

by TerryWalstrom in

safe to say, if you walked up to any of the 8 million jehovah's witnesses on earth today and told them the.

governing body was a fiction, not only would they refuse to believe you--they'd consider you their immediate enemy!.

what if i told you jw's embrace a mental construct which is at odds with history?.

TerryWalstrom

I often face the quandary of whether or not more blame rests with those who chose to believe

what the GB/ FDS coughs up out of their imagination--or--just lay all the blame on the febrile brains

of the mad folk who run the whole operation.

"Captives" of their own concepts, for sure.

But, to lie about what they teach and why is a strong indication of total depravity.

I don't know if Russell was a sociopath. I do think Rutherford was. Knorr seems to me like a simple, uneducated bureaucrat, out of his depth and totally reliant on Freddy Franz, whom he must have believed was a genius.
When the backroom boys began tearing it all apart and refitting the parts--I can't understand why Franz didn't threaten to unplug from his oracular catbird seat rather than submit to the demands for an "enlarged" understanding of leadership. My guess is, he was given a promise and full assurance that he would be the only candidate for President in the event of Knorr's health deterioration.

24

A MODERN FICTION: the lie which became a GOVERNING BODY

by TerryWalstrom in

safe to say, if you walked up to any of the 8 million jehovah's witnesses on earth today and told them the.

governing body was a fiction, not only would they refuse to believe you--they'd consider you their immediate enemy!.

what if i told you jw's embrace a mental construct which is at odds with history?.

TerryWalstrom

Safe to say, if you walked up to any of the 8 million Jehovah's Witnesses on earth today and told them the

Governing Body was a fiction, not only would they refuse to believe you--they'd consider you their immediate enemy!

What if I told you JW's embrace a mental construct which is at odds with history?

What if you learned it was a trick of semantics imposed like a magician's magic trick?

How difficult would such a demonstration be to carry off? Shall we try?

LET'S BEGIN at the BEGINNING.

_________________________

Here is an outline of the path we are going to travel to get to our end conclusion. Review it ahead of time and

familiarize yourself with it.

1, Under the Watch Tower's founder, Charles T. Russell, a loose federation of independent Bible Students began reading and embracing his topical explanation of the entire Bible. It was called STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES.

2. Russell, largely through use of his personal family fortune, published and distributed an amalgamation of End Times sermons, exegesis, and opinions suggesting (as William Miller's Adventist followers had done) his current generation of Christians would live to experience the return or Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

3. Gradually, especially with the help of his wife, Maria, Russell took on an international celebrity charisma. He was increasingly looked upon as a kind of latter-day, final Prophet like Daniel.

4. Self-aggrandizement warped Russell's personality. He rebuffed his wife's affections, divided fellow believers with various crackpot declarations, and began experiencing blowback in the form of criticism, rebellion, lawsuits and public exposure as a kind of fraud.

5. Before his death, a hard core of devout followers (Russellites) swallowed his End Times chronological claims that Jesus had returned (invisibly) in 1874, the resurrection of the dead had occurred in 1878, and the final Armageddon was due in 1914. All of the above was predicted with absolute confidence, and with the help of charts, pyramid measurements, and speechifying.

6. As each of Russell's preachments was laid bare by circumstance as unreliable, more and greater dishonesty became necessary for he and his followers to prop up his reputation as well as any credibility for his predictions.

7. After his death, 1916, attorney J.F. (Judge) Rutherford jumped in and seized control of whatever remained of the Watch Tower Corporation. The Judge sought to unify the stragglers any way possible.

8. Rutherford had ghost writers trump up a "posthumous final volume" of Studies in the Scripture under the title, The Finished Mystery. The vicious, anti-patriotic rhetoric landed Rutherford and directors of the Watchtower in Federal Prison until the end of the war.

9. A Writ of Error freed the Directors and President of the Watchtower Society. He immediately began consolidating the remainder of the Bible Students with bold sermons in large venues, MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE. This hinged on a brand new False Prophecy with an end date of 1925 in mind.

10. Each dramatic scheme Judge Rutherford concocted alienated more and more of the original following Russell had acquired, so--he turned to extreme measures and maintained an iron grip on the remaining extremists.

11. Rutherford attempted to lure Russellites into the fold by reassuring them Pastor Russell was editing the Watchtower magazine from heaven! He continued to promote the Great Pyramid and use the Studies in the Scriptures. As each flourish was met with skepticism and ridicule, Rutherford radicalized and turned more angry and absolutist.

12. When 1925 proved an embarrassing failure, the Judge went off the deep end. He became a tyrant with sweeping changes instituted solidifying his central authority. He began by sending representatives to all the independent congregations with "help" in organizing their study methods. Gradually he replaced the democratically elected leaders with his own puppets. Finally, he demanded every Bible student become a door-to-door book salesman with hourly quotas to fulfill, and various pressure techniques to ensure compliance.

At this point in Watchtower history, we will now begin examination of how Maria Russell's application of a parable about the "faithful and discreet slave" was used as a latter-day prophecy transferred to Rutherford, and eventually to an actual "governing body" within the organization.

___________________________________

__EVOLUTION_____OF _______A _____GOVERNING____BODY___________

The Watchtower magazine's FIRST mention of a governing body came 2 years AFTER the death of President Joseph Franklin Rutherford.

"In the year 1944 the Watchtower magazine began to speak about the governing body of the Christian congregation."

The Watchtower, December 15, 1971, page 755
“A Governing Body as Different from a Legal Corporation”

_________________________________

STOP RIGHT THERE!

A Jehovah's Witness of today (2015) might wonder about such a late date as 1944.

Hold that thought. We'll come back to it.

_____________________________

Give close scrutiny to the use of "evidently," the Watchtower's favorite weasel word!

"How did this governing body make its appearance in recent times? Evidently under the direction of Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ."

_________________________

OH, really?

_________________________

Back to the article:

"In the first century, a group of older men in Jerusalem made up a governing body that had oversight of the congregations and of the Kingdom preaching activity in general. The same pattern is followed within Jehovah’s organization today."

_______________________

(Notice please: "governing body" is written in lower case letters, not capitalized as Governing Body. Over the years, as self-importance grew, the lower case became the upper.)

________________________

Let us ask: "IS THAT TRUE?" Did Jerusalem have 'oversight'of everything?

Was Jerusalem's leadership the only official and central authority back in the First Century?
Paul didn't think so!
He converted to Christianity and went off preaching to Gentiles for 3 years on his own. He sought no consultation with Jerusalem.

Fourteen years after a first visit, Jerusalem had caused problems in Antioch which caused him to have to straighten out their errors of understanding regarding Gentiles. In this instance, the so-called governing body in Jerusalem was dead wrong! This is not much of a winning argument to support the Watchtower contention above, is it?

______________________________________________________________

Now, back to the 1940's and we find ourselves 2 years later, after the FIRST mention of the "governing body."

Watchtower Nov.14,1946 p.330 "Let God Prove to be True."

These are policy statements about the governing body.

The article itself was written by Fred Franz, Watchtower vice-president.

Please make careful note of the thesis argument Fred Franz is building. His subject concerns the Authority of Jehovah's Witness governing body leaders. He wants to create a strong contrast between Catholics and Protestants Vs. Jehovah's governing body leadership and authority.

_____________________________

STOP!

To fully appreciate what you have just read, I need to make you aware of an important blunder in the scripture citation above.

Look closely: Romans 13:1. "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God."

A special “New Light” interpretation of the meaning of Romans 13:1, Superior Authorities was in full force at this time. Judge Rutherford had taken it upon himself to change the historic meaning from civil authority of state and government to Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. This false interpretation began in 1929 and ended in 1962.

In ’62, the Watchtower flipped the script back to the original “Old Light” interpretation which Christendom had held for over 2,000 years.

This meant the “New Light” in 1962 restored the “Old light”! For 33 years, the Watchtower had obviously taught error!

Before we move forward, let us pause and reflect.

______________________________________________

RECAP: The introduction of the governing body took place in 1944. This was at a time when Watchtower leadership was solely vested in the Presidency. After Rutherford--Nathan Knorr shared responsibility with the so-called "oracle" Fred Franz. The two of them wielded monarchical control over doctrines and policies.

Fred Franz claimed the Watchtower Corp. and Jehovah's Witnesses were NOT being run as a hierarchy. The Bible was held out as the validating force rather than the human leaders acting as an interpreting body. Bottom line: nobody within the organization was superior to any member. The only "head" of the organization, it was claimed, were Jehovah and Jesus.

[Concerning Jerusalem's council in Acts 15, Barnes Notes, page 235 tells us:]

________________________________________

The Watchtower, December 15,1971 page 754, “Theocratic Organization with Which to Move Forward Now, “says:

“The ‘faithful and discreet slave’ class of today has been appointed over all the Kingdom interests belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

When the above words were published, this was taught and believed. But why? There is only one reason. Worldwide, Jehovah's Witnesses were obligated to believe whatever the FDS told them was "Truth."

The FDS, at that time, was considered to be ALL anointed and not just the few who were Society's officers.

Remarkably, the elect and elite anointed were fooling themselves! None of this was actually true.

How do we know? 44 years later all the previous revealed/ channeled "truth" was wiped out.

Yet another flash of "New Light" made garbage out of the "oracle's" previous writings.

________________________________

HISTORICAL SUMMARY

In the July 15, 1906 (p.229) issue of Zion’s Watch Tower, Pastor C.T. Russell’s wife, Maria took the step of “identifying” her husband as the object of Jesus’ parable of the faithful and discreet slave.

______________

March 1, 1923, Watch Tower quotes Russell as saying that some spoke of him as the “faithful and wise servant” and others spoke of the Society as such. The magazine then adds: Both statements were true; for Brother Russell was in fact the Society in the most absolute sense, in this, that he directed the policy and course of the Society without regard to any other person on earth. In fact, a biographical issue of the Watch Tower published after his death on October 16, 1916, stated: Thousands of the readers of Pastor Russel’s writings believe that he filled the office of “that faithful and wise servant,” and that his great work was giving to the household of faith meat in due season. His modesty and humility precluded him from openly claiming this title, but he admitted as much in private conversation."

_____________

In 1931, J.F. Rutherford renamed the Bible Students, Jehovah's Witnesses single-handedly.

In 1932, Rutherford eliminated the bodies of elders (then elected by the congregations), stating that the arrangement was “not according to the principles of the great Theocrat, who rules his sanctuary from the top down.

1938 all congregations worldwide were invited to adopt an agreement authorizing the Brooklyn headquarters to appoint any and all persons serving in responsible positions in the congregations.

The term “Theocratic organization” has been used since the December 1, 1939 Watchtower in particular.

Repeatedly, all were urged to submit to “Theocratic order,” which in actuality meant to accept what came from the headquarters as if it came from God.

_____________
We already learned "governing body" appeared in 1944.

_________________________________

1986 court testimony: Jehovah's Witnesses are admitted to be a hierarchy.

______________________________

Crisis of Conscience, by Raymond Franz, demonstrates the official transformation from individual to group for Governing Body:

_____________________________

THE PARABLE had become PROPHECY, and the FDS had been co-opted as a GOVERNING Body.

As such, they took over the role of Jesus Christ toward humanity, as MEDIATOR.

1 Timothy 2:5-6New King James Version (NKJV)

5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time

COMPARE WITH:

"Consequently, 1 Timothy 2:5, 6 is not using "mediator" in the broad sense common in many languages. It is not saying that Jesus is a mediator between God and all mankind." Watchtower 1989 Aug 15 pp.30-31

_________________________________________

35

DOES BELIEF IN THE BIBLE DESTROY ONE'S INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY?

by TerryWalstrom in

based on information to be found at: http://www.csicop.org/si/show/when_dont_the_highly_educated_believe_in_evolution_the_bible_believers_effe/.

the bible-believers effect.

those who believe the bible is the word of god (bible believers) and those who dont believe the bible is the word of god (bible nonbelievers) differ in their beliefs that humans evolved from earlier species of animals.

TerryWalstrom

Simply put: we can't learn what we won't learn.

6

Scientology is a template of ultimate Mind Control: Here are some books exposing the methods and madness

by TerryWalstrom in

pdf links to anti-scientology books.

http://exscientologistsireland.org/wp/about-the-scientology-organisation/books/.

it was 1950, in the early, heady days of dianetics, soon after l. ron hubbard opened the doors of his first organization to the clamoring crowd.

TerryWalstrom

I did see THE MASTER. Had I not expected (for some reason) a takedown of Lafayette Ron Hubbard, I would have loved it.
Hoffman is never less than dazzling.
It was certainly a very odd film and extremely interesting.

13

LET'S EXPLORE A LITTLE THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

by TerryWalstrom in

over here on the left we have a governing body which is inspired directly by jehovah to receive his instructions for how to worship and interpret the bible accurately.. on the other hand, on the right we have a governing body which isn't inspired nor directed by jehovah, but which is making the best guesses they can make as mere humans as to proper worship and bible interpretation.. here is our thought experiment.. what differences would we see or would have seen in the last 100 years of jw teaching in each instance, .

and how would they differ?.

TerryWalstrom

I watched a video on YouTube in which a fellow goes before a judicial committee concerning Apostacy.

In the course of the interrogation, a rather admirable elder who really seems to care about the fellow he's interrogating, speaks up and simplifies the entire discussion by saying this:

"It really comes down to this. What other religion comes closer to the accurate teaching--even though they get some of it wrong? If it is some other group---go there! If not--stay here and wait on Jehovah to polish what we have into a spotless gleam of true light."

At first blush, this argument is a clever false dichotomy or false dilemma. But, really--what's going on is something deeper, darker and more fundamentally skewed.

The Watchtower religion has a thesis. They were selected by Jehovah for His own reasons, and whatever their faults, mistakes, or short-comings, they are ALL WE'VE GOT until the real thing comes along.

Why isn't this a winning argument?

1. The real choice isn't EITHER/ OR

2. The "choice" contains a false premise which, if accepted without debate, allows the black and white context to proceed.

3. Historical Christianity began as the Catholic Church down to the 16th century. The Protestant Reformation brought about a division in Christianity. That division didn't simply present the choice of: EITHER Protestant OR Catholic hierarchy. No, It was the fragmentation into denominations VS denominations VS Catholicism.

4. One of the many choices was Sola Scriptura: you and your Bible alone assisted by the Holy Spirit.

5. The 40,000 Christian denominations is the result of that principle! IN OTHER WORDS: their is no testable, provable unity possible relying on the Bible.

The Elder making the offer of JW-dom or the highway had fallen into a trap himself. He bought the premise of Watchtower's thesis hook-line-and sinker.

If Jehovah selected Bible Students under Rutherford for his own personal reasons--there is nothing we can do about that except cry out: WHAT ABOUT THE FALSE PROPHECIES??
If Jehovah is willing to let that pass without comment--who are we to complain?

6

Scientology is a template of ultimate Mind Control: Here are some books exposing the methods and madness

by TerryWalstrom in

pdf links to anti-scientology books.

http://exscientologistsireland.org/wp/about-the-scientology-organisation/books/.

it was 1950, in the early, heady days of dianetics, soon after l. ron hubbard opened the doors of his first organization to the clamoring crowd.

TerryWalstrom

Thank you, pepperheart

I have been listening to podcasts in which former Scientologists talk about what went on in their past

as an active member of Scientology. My take-away from these confessionals is this: MIND CONTROL is so very tragic and real--and. . . I was once a victim of it.

11

LEFTOVERS and STOLEN LIGHT (An historical look at Watchtower laziness and misadventure)

by TerryWalstrom in

should the chosen mouthpiece (gb) be a voice or merely an imitative echo?.

is new light original (because it is coming direct from jehovah) or is it leftover from the minds of men?.

watchtower magazine failed to release new light first, before any other religious person or body.

TerryWalstrom

Two cans and a string!