September 15th, 2011 Watchtower, page 28, paragraph 13:
"If a human overseer in God's organization provides you with instructions that seem extremely detailed, you might at times feel frustrated. Jehovah, however, is a perfect overseer who delegates generously and trusts his servants. When he gives many details, he does so for good reason. Take note, though, that Moses did not become irritated with Jehovah for giving that level of detail, as if Jehovah were demeaning him or stifling his creativity or freedom. Rather, Moses made sure that the workers "did just so" in following God's directions. (Ex. 39:32) What a humble course! Moses recognized that it was Jehovah's work and that he was just a tool used to get that work done."
Well, I'm glad we cleared that up. So Jehovah wants us to report how many hours, books, booklets, and return visits we made FOR A GOOD REASON! Even though the early Christians never did anything of the kind, and nowhere in the Bible is there a precedent for Christians to do that. Obviously there's no human reason to do that, right? And all those instructions in the publications are all there because, what, God gave the Governing Body a vision for what theocratic procedures should be followed? If you can't wear a beard, that's for a good reason! God decided there'd be no more beards! Jesus had to shave HIS up in heaven--seriously!
Also, just remember that you're a TOOL being USED to get the work done. Hey, I get it. Say no more!
But this kind of reasoning is a blank check for them to give literally any direction and for it to be perceived as coming from God rather than men. And they've certainly put that power to good use.
Pages 12-13 give a lovely tale of Jean-Claude, whose manager tells him to work on meeting nights or else. Naturally, the manager gets fired, which must be a sign from above that going to the meetings was the right choice. As opposed to the manager coincidentally stealing from the business or coming in late or something like that.
And hey, here's Andrew on pages 13-14, who quits his job because he's in a "nonneutral organization", even though he has a wife and two children. There's a good idea. But he saved up enough money to last a few months, apparently from his nonneutral job, so he managed, 'with Jehovah's help'. Wasn't he 'storing up treasures for himself' by doing that? Why not donate all that nonneutral money to the Society? I'm joking, they'd never encourage that... I do wonder how Jehovah helped him, exactly? Maybe it's in the article they reference in the footnote; I wonder if anyone in the congregation gave him money, paid his bills, so on? The anecdotes always leave a lot of blanks where the miraculous details should be.
Page 14, paragraph 14: "How do you react when Jehovah, the Source of spiritual enlightenment, sheds light on the 'deep things of God' found in the Bible?" They go into an example of how Peter reacted to Jesus' words in John chapter 6.
Then in paragraph 15: "Peter did not fully understand what Jesus said about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. But the apostle relied on God for spiritual enlightenment. When spiritual light on some matter gets brighter, do you try to understand the underlying Scriptural reasons for the adjustment? (Prov. 4:18) The first-century Beroeans received the word "with eagerness of mind, carefully examining the scriptures daily." (Acts 17:11)"
So there's a lot going on with this reasoning. The first and most obvious thing is that 'the faithful and discreet slave' is not even mentioned this time. God is the one referred to as giving spiritual enlightenment. Nice little sleight of hand, there. Since you're already assuming it's from God, then obviously it won't turn on any light bulbs, forgiving the expression, in your head at all.
Asking 'do you try to understand the Scriptural reasons for the adjustment?' is an underhanded way of saying once more, the adjustment can't be wrong, if anything it's just that you don't understand it.
Worst of all is the clever quote of Acts 17:11, where the Beroeans carefully examined the scriptures daily. Oh wait, that's not the entire verse. The rest of that sentence says "AS TO WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO." Why not include that part? Because YOU'RE not examining the scriptures as to whether these things are so! THEY ARE SO! WE SAID SO! You're just examining the scriptures to make sure YOU understand it the way WE TELL YOU to understand it. The only problem that could possibly arise here is a case of you, lame-brain, not understanding the deep, spiritual knowledge that GOD has given US to share with YOU! Oh, right, we're not in the equation in this article--it's from God, period. Dude, this generation overlaps with another generation that's decades older--it's RIGHT THERE in the Bible! The feet and toes mean nothing--it's RIGHT THERE! Don't you see it??
Page 15, paragraph 17 tells about a single sister whose unbelieving mom tries to convince her to marry just anyone who comes along. "I asked her if she wanted to be responsible if my marriage turned out badly. In time, she saw that I had a stable job, was taking care of myself, and was happy. She stopped pressuring me." Wow! She has a stable job and can take care of herself?? Where were all those sisters hiding in my area??? Anyway, how would her mother be responsible if HER marriage turned out badly? Isn't it YOUR job to maintain [or end] a marriage, not your parents' job? That's just dumb reasoning. It actually sounds passive-aggressive to me--a more direct response would've been, look, I don't like that guy and don't want to marry just anyone, I'll get married when I find someone that I feel is right for me. Maybe it's just me that sees it that way...
There are a few gems in the latest article, but I'm sure those who have a chance will toss them about quite soon. In closing, I quote the loving words of page 26, paragraph 8: "Marriage, having children, and good health are all natural and appropriate desires." Aww...see? They do care about us! And if you read the context of that paragraph, you'll get to appreciate that they're right! Apostates DO take their words out of context!!! AAAAAAAAAAH!! SSS!! SSS!! Back away, you son of the devil! You son of a rebellious MAID! Back away from me-e-e-e!!
So, any comments? It was actually kind of fun this time.
--sd-7
