Barbara Anderson's attention was called to the thread about the differences in policy of Great Britain and the US regarding child abuse; as you know she has championed a change in that policy. Another post caught her eye, and she expressed the desire to share some thoughts with you.
I'm delighted to share her first post, which I know you will find riveting. She tells it like it truly is.
Maximus
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I would like to share some insight about the now infamous statement in the
Watchtower 1/1/89, p. 12, end of par. 8: "The apostle Paul was spearheading the Christian missionary activity. He was also laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our 20th century."
Such information is be considered by all to be the "food at the proper time" dispensed by the faithful and discreet slave. Now that we are in the year 2001 it is seen to be patently ridiculous, of course.
This statement got its human author into a heap of trouble. This is the same writer who was responsible for the ridiculous Nethinim "given ones" article in the W 4/15/92, and Questions From Readers, Watchtower of June 15, and the Oct. 15, 2000 purposely misleading directives on blood. By the way, everybody in the Writing Department knows who he is.
The Governing Body had vowed never to use dates for the "end" again after the 1975 fiasco, and here was another statement making only more trouble for them to deal with. Many people were phoning and writing the Society. You will notice in the Watchtower bound volume for that year, as one poster pointed out, the statement was changed to "He was also laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our day."
Why the blatant change? Because they couldn't allow the original statement to add even more to their reputation as "false prophets" when it comes to date-setting. This crackpot writer really got read the riot act because of his prophetic insightful words.
Some of you might wonder how the gaffe slipped by the editors of the Watchtower. Well, Governing Body members Brothers Barry, Barr, and Kline were old, tired men, some of whom suffered exhaustion and jet lag from many zone trips, etc. It was no wonder as they quickly read through drafts of articles that such problematic statements could be missed.
Only Barry was college educated O so long ago, and he was ill and exhausted
most of the time. His mind was divided between putting out fires that were flaring up here and there within the earthly Kingdom he and his fellow GB members ruled, getting through his daily routine and assignments, moving from his room when the walls needed washing, etc.
So the poor man couldn't help but be under pressure. (Once he told me he
couldn't wipe the supper dishes and the counter to his wife's satisfaction.) Unquestionably, if articles passed through the anointed hands of these three men without red marks, they easily passed editors next in line pro forma. When the "20th century" statement passed without being red marked by the three GB members, all the other readers in the Writing Department, including the proofreaders, accepted that it was okay to state "in our 20th century."
After egregious blunders like this, the idea of assistants to the GB in Writing who would do the editing work for the GB sounded like an excellent idea. As to the unfortunate writer, to any reasonable person it would seem that someone would be removed from his position who came up with such "new light" (Nethinim, the teaching that was a hoax), and seemingly highly educated medical information on blood ("four components"), which in reality showed the height of ignorance.
That, however, was not to be so at the top of "God's organization," where blockheads are never in short supply. Remember, a person makes it to the top not because of education or intelligence, but because of one’s obedience and loyalty--and don't forget "seniority" or partiality to the "good ole boy" network. Our particular writer under discussion has been in Bethel since the 50’s and was famous for his insidious, obsequious behavior (brown-nosing, to be blunt). In fact, he was rewarded for his blunders by being made one of the assistants to the GB.
Stay at Bethel long enough and you're sure to be a big cheese some day. It
also helps if you know somebody. There are exceptions to the rule, of
course. That's so particularly in the technical area. It doesn't take long to be moved to a really important department if you have needed skills, but that doesn't mean you will be an overseer.
Overseers are usually men who are unskilled, but they lord it over the people in their departments who have the skills. Overseers are in their position mainly for showing obedience to organization rules. Writers in Bethel, with but a few exceptions, are not trained nor especially gifted. If you can write material a twelve-year-old can understand, you can be a writer; that is, if chance and circumstance have anything to do with it.
Now maybe you, dear reader, can understand why all the contradictions, changes, blunders, and drivel that appear in the Society's literature. This doesn't mean that all articles appearing in the magazines are written by inept people. Some senior writers are excellent writers, but they can not express any new and different ideas, only the party line.
Pedantic or precise people quickly learn the art of being non-controversial. Also, senior writers can accept and put through under their own name, very interesting and well written articles from certain people who are not in Bethel. Would the above be considered "new light" or maybe "present light" as C.T. Russell liked to call his cornucopia of non-inspired writings? I hope so.
Money is not what drives men at Bethel, so what does?
It's the three P’s: Power, Pride, and Position.
What drives women in Bethel? For sure it's not the three P’s.
It's called survival of the fittest!
Barbara