he answered. 'If the great tribulation interrupts our plans, that will be wonderful, absolutely wonderful!'”
From my perspective as an outsider, stating that the coming of any sort of -tribulation- would be -wonderful-, indicates a mental problem.
GB: "We don't know if Jehovah wants us to build new headquarters, but we're doing it anyway..."
by cedars 73 Replies latest watchtower bible
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InterestedOne
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cofty
"Although we are not yet certain of Jehovah’s will regarding Warwick"
Is this code for disagreements within the GB about current plans?
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00DAD
They admit that they're not certain of Jehovah's will on the matter, but they expect UNQUESTIONING SUPPORT AND OBEDIENCE from their followers.
Does anyone else notice a problem with this?
Of course WE do, but how many Still-In do?
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Leolaia
1943: "The Lord breaks down our organization instructions further and makes them more practicable by further instructing us through his 'faithful and wise servant.' .... The Lord through his 'faithful and wise servant' now states to us, 'Let us cover our territory four times in six months.' That becomes our organization instructions and has the same binding force on us that his statement to the Logos had when he said, 'Let us make man in our image.' It is our duty to accept this additional instruction and obey it" (1 July 1943 Watchtower, p. 203).
1955: "The structure of the organization ... functions from Jehovah down, the earthly part of it from the board of directors of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society through the branches to the districts, circuits, congregations and then the individuals" (1 June 1955 Watchtower, p. 330)
1956: "Jehovah is the source of all knowledge. When he speaks, all should listen and learn. And how does he speak? Through his appointed channel of communication -- his collective congregation of anointed ones.... As servants of Jehovah we desire to serve along with this channel of communication and aid in dispensing this information to others. During January we shall do this by extending to all the opportunity to subscribe for the Watchtower magazine, the main instrument to dispense Jehovah's communications" (Informant, January 1956, p. 1).
1959: "Christ, the Head, employs the organization that is his body to carry out his assigned work. His orders reach the whole of the organization on earth through the governing body, and on down through the Branches to the congregations.... To hold to the headship of Christ, it is therefore necessary to obey the organization that he is personally directing. Doing what the organization says is to do what he says. Resisting the organization is to resist him" (1 May 1959 Watchtower, p. 269).
1967: "From the governing body to the servants in the local congregation, all were your spiritual brothers interested in getting Jehovah’s will accomplished in the best way and making sure that all received of the spiritual benefits that Jehovah is progressively giving to his people. Every publication, every branch office, every factory, every school, every meeting, every preaching campaign was designed to get 'the good news preached in all the world as a witness' (15 September 1967 Watchtower, p. 564).
1984: "Loyal Witnesses do not lean toward democratic attitudes and procedures. They are awake to the fact that they serve in a theocratic organization, an organization in which God’s will is ascertained and then carried out" (15 May 1984 Watchtower, p. 16).
1991: "That faithful and discreet slave is represented today by the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which has as its publicity agent the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Most appropriately, that faithful and discreet slave has also been called God's channel of communication" (1 September 1991 Watchtower, p. 18).
2012: "Although we are not yet certain of Jehovah’s will regarding Warwick,' said Brother Pierce, 'we are proceeding to develop the site [anyway] with the intention of relocating the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses there.' (15 August 2012 Watchtower).
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james_woods
cofty:
Is this code for disagreements within the GB about current plans?
This is exactly what I thought when I first read the original post...or, perhaps - disagreements between the GB as a whole and the legal/service departments?
It was a horribly dumb thing to print in the literature in any case.
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cofty
If there was unanimity within the corridors of power about selling off the family silver they would present it as god's clear direction and give theocratic sounding reasons. I am sure Pierce's comment is evidence of tension.
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cedars
cofty - I've thought about this myself. Pierce making an unguarded remark that reveals tensions within the Governing Body is one thing - allowing this to go into print and circulation is quite another. It would take unbridled stupidity and lax editing, but nothing would surprise me anymore!
Cedars
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ziddina
Hah!!!
The way they're trying to weasel around the "Armageddon is just around the corner, but we're building new headquarters anyway" conflict, strongly indicates that they've been reading "apostate" [GASP!! ] websites...
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james_woods
Lax editing - to the MAX!!!
Don't they have ANYBODY who could have read this and realized it was a direct admission that they have NO CLUE what "Jehovah wants them to do"?