This link details the original meaning of "privilege" and evidences that the WT use of it reveals their arrogance (among other things......
Nicholaus Kopernicus
JoinedPosts by Nicholaus Kopernicus
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The Retractable Dangling Carrot
by TMS insome scattered thoughts about the granting or denial of privileges of service as a control mechanism:.
this method of persuasion involving reward or punishment is so deeply ingrained in watchtower function, it is second nature.
although sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant, everyone from new bible study to traveling overseer is subconsciously aware of the possible limiting of his official opportunities to serve god and his brothers.. .
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How far will they go?
by careful ini've been drawing back lately and looking at the big picture going on in the org, somewhat like slimboyfat has also been doing, but i am wondering about different possibilities.
so the current gb has modernized recently in various ways.
they have done a strong and sudden about-face regarding the electronic world, from viewing the whole thing suspiciously and condemning bros. use tablets from the platform to suddenly embracing them and causing the r&f to do so to such a degree that old ones are spending hundreds of dollars to buy devices that they have no clue how to use; they have heavily embraced this media for their message, very much like the churches have been doing for years, especially with their jw broadcasting and their caleb and sophia animations.
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
I was thinking about the technology scenario. Budgeting for such falls to the congregation and individual. The changes strongly suggest downward pressure on costs as does elimination of DO's SP's and reduction of Bethelites.
My congregation was visited by a relatively new and young CO. However, he sounds so institutionalised, bland, repetitive. He was very disparaging of higher education and use of web dating services. He drives a nice new car. Were I in his shoes, I might be somewhat anxious re the security of the CO role bearing in mind the retraction in other personnel grades. After all, CO's do represent a significant cost. Maybe their elimination could be the next cost saving feature. If so, no tears on my part!
I recollect this possibility on another thread with speculation that the role msy be filled by "loyal" and "capable" elders.
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
My favourite is the Voice Bible by the Ecclesia Bible Society. -
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Galling Meeting Today! Truly Nauseating!
by Nicholaus Kopernicus infirst scripture used by the public speaker was jeremiah 31:34 - "and they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, know jehovah!
for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them, is the utterance of jehovah.
for i shall forgive their error, and their sin i shall remember no more.immediately, i was distracted.
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
Yes WO - they have it backwards.
Yesterday, in discussion with an awake friend, we were discussing how most of the elders whom we know are far removed from the role of "shepherds". Rather, they tend to mimic the Saudi Matawa - policing thoughts on the part of the sheep and summoning them to JC's upon even a weak prima facie case. Thus, we view them with considerable caution. But as for child molesters, the training of elders is quite unsuited. In another blog, I highlighted the training given to professionals in the UK, which has 4 levels depending on the nature of the professional role. WT elders do not access this training. The WTBTS sees its own resources (being a "sperate from the world" organisation mind you) as quit sufficient. Thus, elders are not competent to handle this issue, and nor is the combination of elders and the branch legal desk competent. So the issue is systemic and has the effect of protecting the perpetrators to a large extent, and exacerbating the mal-experience of victims.
In paragraph 15 of the WT study article cited in this thread, it is stated:
"...when a man named Nathanael heard that Jesus had come from Nazareth, he said: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) Based on that comment, how might you have labeled Nathanael? Critical? Prejudiced? Faithless? Jesus exercised insight and looked for the good in Nathanael."
This is another galling paradox, for the WTBTS / GBoJW is indeed critical, prejudiced, and faithless (with the exception of FDS promotion / veneration). They are highly critical of anyone who disagrees with them even a little, and regardless of the point of disagreement having the authority of scripture. They are most definitely prejudiced against many institutions (charities and NGO's) in today's world which otherwise do a good job. I would go as far a saying that they are quite sectarian (anti-catholic especially) despite them paying the RC Church the highest of compliments by emulating some of their practices (the Magesterium, clergy/laity distinctions, elevation and veneration of some individuals). Yet their policies do have the effect of protecting child molesters. The elder who receives a report of such abuse from a victim or the victim's parents and who recommends contacting the police \ child protection services (those with the appropriate skill mix), that elder will at the very least have his "qualifications" reviewed and may have to relinquish his role. This rather like elders who would be supportive of their youngs ones having a university education.
So we do really have a paradox in that innocent but dissenting ones are pursued but responses to child molesters are misguided / protected from the law. The meeting I mentioned was galling and nauseating. The content of the meeting and written material was poor. Then again, what more can be expected from today's WTBTS / GBoJW? the maxim is indeed true, that "they who expect nothing, shall not be disappointed!"
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Galling Meeting Today! Truly Nauseating!
by Nicholaus Kopernicus infirst scripture used by the public speaker was jeremiah 31:34 - "and they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, know jehovah!
for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them, is the utterance of jehovah.
for i shall forgive their error, and their sin i shall remember no more.immediately, i was distracted.
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
Yes nicolaou - family is the only rationale for my continuance. I am shunned to an extent as I'm no longer "exemplary" an can cope with that. However, I won't totally desist from attending meetings until family become conscious too. The video shown last year about the Philippines' typoon gave rise to some questions on the part of family as has the Australian commission of enquiry. But there's a long way to go as yet. -
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Galling Meeting Today! Truly Nauseating!
by Nicholaus Kopernicus infirst scripture used by the public speaker was jeremiah 31:34 - "and they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, know jehovah!
for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them, is the utterance of jehovah.
for i shall forgive their error, and their sin i shall remember no more.immediately, i was distracted.
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
First scripture used by the public speaker was Jeremiah 31:34 - "“And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, ‘KNOW Jehovah!’ for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.”
Immediately, I was distracted. I started asking myself quietly...- How long is your name kept on the specialized shepherding list if you are DF, DA, or publicly reproved?
- How much time has to lapse from DA / DF before you can be considered for regular pioneering, RBC, etc?
- To be considered as a volunteer at Bethel or on an international project, why do they ask you if you've been reinstated by a judcial committee within dthe last five years?
Then the WT study made it even worse. Paragraph 9 stated: "Humbly acknowledge your limitations and admit your mistakes". How can they print and recommend that to others when they do not practice it themselves. Their strategy is denial, denial, denial. I imagined myself on a flight and reaching out to the seat in front to retreive the vomit bag. What an almighty cheek for those authors to print such a suggestion when they flout it themselves! I asked myself, who are they to write these articles on parenting? Just more Peter Principle on their part! The quality of talks and WT "studies" will engender the irregular and non-attendance which they are trying to assuage!
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HIGHER EDUCATION, THE BIBLE, AND THE WTBTS / GBoJW
by Nicholaus Kopernicus inthe disdain which the wtbts / gbojw has for higher education is well known among jw's and jw dissenters.
the specious rationale for such disdain is also well known.
however, it is a fact that there is no scriptural authority for..... a) prohibiting education at any level for another person.
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
The disdain which the WTBTS / GBoJW has for higher education is well known among JW's and JW dissenters. The specious rationale for such disdain is also well known. However, it is a fact that there is no scriptural authority for....
- a) prohibiting education at any level for another person
- b) taking it upon oneself to decide the limits of another individual's education
In that the WTBTS has made its position increasingly clear in recent years, looking at their published literature to gain independent and impartial advice for a youngster who may be considering university as an option may be ill advised. Yet is is readily possible to examine the Bible itself for examples of individuals whose education went beyond the norm and which education did not in any way detract from or compromise their relationship with God nor attenuate their spirituality. Further, it is readily possible to examine non-WT literature to discern what authors may have gained from the Bible in terms of how they see its portrayal of advanced education - far removed from the nihilism of the WTBTS I should add here right at the outset. The Bible characters considered here in this context are Luke, Moses, and Daniel and his three friends Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael.
The Insight volume published by the WTBTS states "That Luke was well educated is apparent from his writings. Also, his background as a doctor is noticeable in his use of medical terms.—Lu 4:38; Ac 28:8.
Luke joined Paul in sending greetings to Christians at Colossae when Paul wrote to them from Rome (c. 60-61 C.E.), and the apostle identified him as “the beloved physician.” (Col 4:14) In writing to Philemon from Rome (c. 60-61 C.E.), Paul included greetings from Luke (Lucas, KJ), referring to him as one of his “fellow workers.” (Phm 24) That Luke stuck close to Paul and was with him shortly before the apostle’s martyrdom is evident from Paul’s remark, “Luke alone is with me.”—2Ti 4:11.
From the above, we can see that the WTS acknowledges that Luke was well educated and was a doctor. There is no mention however, of his education being the equivalent in its day, of a university education! He was highly respected. His education served to encourage others as "followers of the way" and did not lead to him falling victim to any of the pitfalls which the WTBTS opine may befall graduates.
The Insight volume also considers Moses. It relates that "As a member of Pharaoh’s household, he was “instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” becoming “powerful in his words and deeds,” undoubtedly powerful in both mental and physical capabilities.—Ex 2:1-10; Ac 7:20-22."
Again, no acknowledgement that Moses' education would have been the equivalent of a university education at that time. After all, the Egyptians were such formidable civil engineers and would have needed an advanced education system to train their engineers. Indeed, so complex was their output that their architecture is studiously examined with awe by graduates today. Yet despite Moses having been "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians", none of his peers accused him of having wasted time which could have better been spent in what the accuser might have seen as service to God. He too, did not fall victim to any of the pitfalls so alarmingly portrayed by the WTBTS / GBoJW.ABEDNEGO (AZARIAH)In Babylon he, along with Daniel, Hananiah, and Mishael, passed, with high honors, a three-year training course and a regal examination personally conducted by Nebuchadnezzar, after having first demonstrated religious integrity in matters of food and drink. (Da 1:4, 5, 8-20) Later, at Daniel’s request, the king made Azariah and his two companions administrators over the jurisdictional district of Babylon.—Da 2:49.
MESHACH (MISHAEL)Mishael, Azariah, Hananiah, and Daniel were then put through a three-year training course by the Babylonian royalty, at the end of which they proved superior even to the king’s counselors. (2Ki 24:1, 6, 8, 12-16; Da 1:1-7, 17-20) During this time these four remained firm in their devotion to God, even refusing to pollute themselves with the king’s delicacies.—Da 1:8-16.
SHADRACH (HANANIAH)By the end of three years’ study, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were found to be ten times better than the wise men of Babylon. Certainly they had Jehovah’s blessing, which in turn, no doubt, was partly due to their steadfast refusal to pollute themselves with the Babylonian delicacies. (Da 1:3-20) Their next-recorded appointment was to the administration of the jurisdictional district of Babylon. (Da 2:49)
- undertook three years study
- passed with high honours
- proved superior to their contemporaries (WT says ten times better!)
- remained faithful to God
- and enjoyed good employment prospects!
Well well well! What on earth is all the fuss about on the part of the WTS / GBoJW today? There are no leadership entities in evidence in the Bible which showed the antipathy towards higher\advanced education which the WTBTS shows today. If anything, everyone then valued and esteemed such an education! Notably here too, no acknowledgement by the WTBTS / GBoJW of Daniel's three friends having undertaken an education equivalent to that of university level. In this example too, the education they gained did not represent a hazard.
Ch 5 - pg57
"Daniel tells us that the elite students like himself and his friends were trained for three years in a broad curriculum, involving the languages and literature of the Babylonians. No expense was spared by the government and, since Babylonian culture put a high premium on physical image, the students were given the bery best of food - in fact the same food that was served to the emperor himself. Students being students, such food was a great perk of being selected for the course. It is certain that these four captives from a city brought to its knees by an impoverishing siege had never seen anything like this quality of food before: it was beyond the dreams of those used to war rations.
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. (Daniel 1:8.)"
pg62
"Libraries and education institutions in particular were closely attached to temples in major cities of the empire. According to the archaeologists, Babylon had temples galore at the time - over a thousand of them. In contemporary, secular England most colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge still have a Latin grace said at meals by a scholar or fellow of the college. It would surely be almost incredible if the University of Babylon, permeated as it was with idolatry, did not have pagan rituals at meal times. There would have been constant offerings and toasts to the gods.""We should take careful note, however, that Daniel did not protest against the education in the University of Babylon as such. He clearly devoted himself to it, and we can well imagine that he enjoyed his university course. He and his friends put such energy into the learning of the languages, literature, philosophy, science, economic, history, and so on, that they were star pupils and ended up with the top distinctions, far ahead of the rest. Daniel did not protest as an observer outside the system: he protested as a participant.
It is important to bear this in mind, not least when we hear the term 'apocalyptic literature' being used in connection with the book of Daniel. This description tends to conjure up the idea of some wild and irrational prophet of doom, warning people to flee society, barricade themselves like monks or hermits against the world and await the imminent, all-engulfing cataclysm that marks the end of history. Well, if that is what 'apocalyptic' means, it clearly does not apply to Daniel or his friends. We do not deny that Daniel has much to say about the future in his book, some of it bleak in its implications. But, far from leading him to run away from society and responsibility, the revelation he had of the future led him to live a very full professional life at the highest levels of administration in the empire. Daniel's understanding of God did not lead to his developing a ghetto mentality but to taking a full and prominent part in the life of Babylon."
So Professor Lennox does not have a problem in seeing the education of Daniel and his friends as being the equivalent of higher education and in describing their then educational institution of learning as the University of Babylon. It has been argued by the GBoJW that modern day higher education represents a hazard to the individual. Yet such hazards did not befall any of the Bible characters aforementioned, and the times in which Daniel and his three friends lived were especially hazardous.
As the literature of the WTBTS is so often saying, there are "scriptural principles" which can guide us where the Bible does not directly address an issue - such as that of pursuing "higher education". One such principle is Jeremiah 10:23. This scripture is mentioned a lot in WTS literature. It says that "It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." In that this is so, with copious human history to evidence the truth of the scripture, then why should anyone decide how another human being should "direct his step" - GBoJW or otherwise? Why should an individual exempt himself from the counsel of 1 Thess 4:11 - "...make it YOUR aim to live quietly and to mind YOUR own business" and additionally, ignore the counsel of 1 Peter 4:15 - "...let none of YOU suffer as a .... busybody in other people’s matters." So scriptural principle seems to be offering the guidance that whether or not to pursue a higher education is one's "own business" and directing others in the matter is the characteristic of a "busybody". Therefore, in that these few scriptures are being ignored by the GBoJW in the context of educational options, what else might they be ignoring in scripture which has value and merit for those who (presume to) lead? Why don't they simply advise reflecting on the experiences of Luke, Moses, Daniel and his three friends, and let the individual come to his own decision? An individual is absolutely free to make his or her own decision as to the level of education to be pursued. After all, the scripture tells us: "Now Jehovah is the Spirit; and where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom." (2 Cor. 3:17)
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Reasons for Stagnation in Growth. AKA YearBook Numbers!
by ttdtt inso why has the growth flatlined?
why is less time spent in the ministry?
why have aux pios droped by 1/3rd?.
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
A significant factor could well be the environment shaped by the GB and their officers. The meetings, literature, and JW websites are hardly the positive and "uplifting" environments which their authors believe them to be. The study WT has especially deteriorated markedly in recent years. I now more readily understand why the WT statement of purpose on the inside front cover disappeared without announcement from the Jan 2013 study edition onwards.
Additionally, the WTS seems to have enterred into an era of capriciousness and is therefore an "unsteady" ship where individuals can easily loose their footing and "stumble". (I for my part, cannot give a reposte to those who opine the ship is sinking.)
Further, those providing "leadership" locally are most likely doing so poorly as their minds are held somewhat captive to the "legalism" of the GB rather than the refreshment of the Christian message.
The path they are following cannot lead to other than progressively poor outcomes.
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Little "oops" in today's WT Study article.
by stillin inparagraph 12 recommends that we meditate on the weekly reading for the theocratic ministry school.
ok, i'm splitting hairs here.
but there will be no more tms in a week.. somebody isn't keeping up with jehovah's celestial chariot..
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
I'm 99% convinces the rearrangement of these deck chairs for the mid-week meeting were simply to get the name "school" out of the program, thus an end-around any governmental authority.
I think you've got something there Lostgeneration. There was only a matter of several weeks between the new Jan 2016 arrangement being announced (no more TMS - at least in name) when items about illegal/unregistered schooling started appearing in UK news items. These items mostly referred to Madrasses and Jewish schools - with OfSTED (government schools inspectorate) undertaking investigations. So I'm guessing that someone in JW HQ received advanced legal advice and they made the changes accordingly. So the reasons given by the WTBTS / GBoJW may well be false, as they were for the "simplified arrangement" years ago, and for other changes embarked upon more recently.
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Little "oops" in today's WT Study article.
by stillin inparagraph 12 recommends that we meditate on the weekly reading for the theocratic ministry school.
ok, i'm splitting hairs here.
but there will be no more tms in a week.. somebody isn't keeping up with jehovah's celestial chariot..
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Nicholaus Kopernicus
I noticed that too. It gives us a little window into the capricious state of "the organisation". If one were able to calculate from the time the article was authored until the time of the letter being released about the elimination of the TMS, then we could see how rapidly they can change when it suits them. No change however on DF'ing or blood transfusion abstinance - things which are really important to many.
You mentioned the celestial chariot. An elder in my congregation stated from behind the lectern that it is getting difficult to keep up with the chariot. So their rapidity of change - doctrinal, financial, structural, may have the beneficial effect of helping some individuals to see what the leadership of "the organisation" is truly like.