WT Now actively encouraging Education Awake Oct 8th

by stillajwexelder 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  stillajwexelder

  Take a look at Awake October 8th Page 11 --- bullet point "Try to get some education" "the wise are the ones that treasure up knowledge," says Proverbs 10:14. While it is especially true of Bible knowledge, it is also true of secular education. You need to develop the necessary skills to make a living ---------

  --------- Nicole was later able to get training to support herself as a paralegal. -------- Study courses by correspondence may prove practical.

  The article is about teenage pregnancy/motherhood --- but to me this is part of an ongoing trend that started a few years ago with the WTBTS not condemning education
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  new light

  It's about time. Let's face it, pioneers really don't accomplish much of anything for all the time they spend in the field, at least in developed countries. An average publisher who makes sizable donations is of much more value to the cause. Besides, even the most brainwashed JWs are realizing the necessity of a degree to make even a modest living. Where was this article when I was sleeping through school, thinking that none of it mattered?
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  ozziepost

  Don't believe everything you read, even if it is in the "Awake!" !!!!!

  For some years now the WTS have been speaking out of both sides of their mouth. From one side they publish nice sounding words like that contained in the Oct 8th Awake!

  But "Buyer Beware ! ", for out of the other side, Service Department have intructions to maintain the status quo. How do they do it? Because Service have their own way of communicating apart from the magazines. They use their networked computers to disseminate information. So when a publisher writes to the Societty with a question, they may receive a reply that quotes the "Watchtower" or "Awake!" magazine but the underlying thrust of the reply comes straight from Ted Jarasz Service Department in NY.

  Cheers, Ozzie
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  dh

  the shit they come out with makes you sick, eventually they will print it in the watchtower, and everyone will say it's new light and it's okay. when i was a kid they were outright condemning education, it was all about pioneering.
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  Scully

  The Awake! magazine is notorious for offering this kind of Advice? as a kind of platitude to potential converts. How many unwed mothers are there at the KHs who aren't DFd, whose priorities are anything other than trying their damnedest to get Reinstated? so they can have a relationship with their families again?

  This article is targetted to Worldly? unwed mothers, people who are vulnerable to getting sucked in to high control groups. I personally think it's a clever way to lure them in - advise them to go to school before they become JWs - get them Studying? with JWs when they're in a state of flux (I've heard that some colleges in the US allows JWs to set up literature counters to attract students) - let them graduate and get a job that supports their family. Then when they become JWs, they won't be a financial burden on the congregation! Sneaky, eh?

  Love, Scully
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  blondie

  The Awake! magazine is notorious for offering this kind of Advice? as a kind of platitude to potential converts

  I agree Scully and Ozziepost.

  The Awake is designed for the general public and sometimes for governmental authorities to see how normal the WTS is.

  The real test of what is the WTS policy is what is in the study articles of the WT and what you hear coming from the mouth of the CO/DO and Bethel speakers at the conventions.

  Blondie
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  willyloman

  The Awake is designed for the general public and sometimes for governmental authorities to see how normal the WTS is.

  The real test of what is the WTS policy is what is in the study articles of the WT and what you hear coming from the mouth of the CO/DO and Bethel speakers at the conventions.

  Totally true. Just a few months ago in a congo not far from here, a talk in the service meeting castigated those who would waste their time getting a secular education when "so many opportunities of service" were available to "our youth" through the congo and the WTS. The audience included a handful of "youths" who were enrolled in a local college. After the meeting, one of these students learned that the son of one of the elders had just enrolled in a four year university so he could become an engineer!

  There continues to be this huge "disconnect" on education within the non-ivy-covered walls of the WTS. The liberals at Bethyl manage to sneak in a conciliatory remark now and then in some obscure Awake article. The hardliners, however, control the study articles, the kingdom ministry, and the manuscripts for delivery at conventions. Couple that with the penchant for dispursing private opinion in public that a lot of power-trip elders have, and you get conflicting information on a regular basis.
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  Farkel

  I'm in agreement with all the naysayers on this thread: it is not in the interests of the WTS to have an educated membership except for their most elite rulers. They have to have a "dumbed down" membership to survive. Why? The average educated person will see right through their bullshit. Just seeing all the facts that are presented in only ONE class proving evolution is enough for a young dub to discover the WTS doesn't know what it is talking about.
  
  Even if it were true that the WTS is encouraging people to get a good education, that's still doesn't relieve them of their responsibility for ruining so many countless futures for their three generations of members who've lived over the last 75 years.
  
  Farkel
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  Cicatrix

  "Nicole was later able to get training to support herself as a paralegal. -------- Study courses by correspondence may prove practical."
  
  Notice that the example given was that of pursuing paralegal certification. That usually takes two years at most, and if you can manage it by correspondence and stay away from all those "worldly" people, how much more the better.
  
  Technical training and any certification program that aren't over about two years in duration are tolerated, but the elders will ride you about your field service time and personal study time the whole duration. I watched someone get dropped from a nursing program because they couldn't find enough time to do the necessary study, due to "theocratic" activities.This person had two small kids to support, but Jehovah had to come first.
  
  Four year degrees, or graduate school are absolutely looked down upon. Some who are prominent in the congregaton manage to go without too much flack, but if you are already considered "weak" you will be game for becoming "bad association" really quickly.Especially if you are a serious student and refuse to give up your study time.
  
  Been there, did that, lol.
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  Scully

  cicatrix writes:

  I watched someone get dropped from a nursing program because they couldn't find enough time to do the necessary study, due to "theocratic" activities.

  This is really so sad. Being a nurse has brought me so much joy and personal satisfaction; moreso than anything I ever experienced as a JW. I wouldn't dream of jeopardizing my career for anything JW-related. I've got way too much invested to consider throwing it away.

  Four year degrees, or graduate school are absolutely looked down upon. Some who are prominent in the congregaton manage to go without too much flack, but if you are already considered "weak" you will be game for becoming "bad association" really quickly.Especially if you are a serious student and refuse to give up your study time.
  
  Been there, did that, lol.

  Even nursing school is looked down upon - I got comments about it being a complete waste of time, because Armageddon? is Right Around The Corner?. Like everything else in my life: finishing high school, getting married, having children, none of those things were supposed to happen in The Old System of Things?. I figured I had pretty good odds of finishing Nursing School too and achieving a few more milestones along the way, so I asked these Well Intended? JWs if they were going to help me put a roof over my head and feed and clothe my children if my husband dropped dead before Armageddon? came and I had no means of supporting them. It really had an amazing effect: they shut up!!

  Love, Scully