JW Unity, Phony Questions, and The Watchtower Study

by VM44 4 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  VM44

  Here is an excellent page at Randy's freeminds site: http://www.freeminds.org/psych/boast.htm

  United in Christ?

  What To Say When Cults Boast of Their Unity

  "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment." - 1 Cor.1:10 (NASV)

  Daniel Taylor comments:

  "Legalistic authoritarianism shows itself in the confusion of the Christian principle of unity with the human insistence on unanimity. Unity is a profound, even mystical quality. It takes great effort to achieve, yet mere effort will never produce it; it is a source of great security, yet demands great risk.

  "Unanimity, on the other hand is very tidy. It can be measured, monitored, and enforced. It is largely external, whereas unity is essentially internal. Its primarily goal is correct behavior, while unity's is a right spirit. Unanimity insists on many orthodoxies in addition to those of belief and behavior, including orthodoxy of experience and vocabulary. That is, believers are expected to come to God in similar ways, to have similar experiences with God and to use accepted phrases in describing those experiences....

  "Ultimately, unanimity is impossible. It is brittle where unity is flexible and therefore strong. A single dissenter destroys it (so the dissenter may have to be dealt with harshly for the good of the group). For this reason, real questions are generally discouraged. Phony questions, however, where the answer is known by all, are part of pleasurable ritual. They are asked and answered in a wonderful nonthreatening confirmation of 'group think.'"

  -Daniel Taylor's The Myth of Certainty
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  VM44

  The JWs are very proud of the "unity" shown by the member's studying the same Watchtower articles worldwide every Sunday. Taylor writes: "real questions are generally discouraged. Phony questions, however, where the answer is known by all, are part of pleasurable ritual." Is that not EXACTLY what occurs at the Sunday Watchtower study? Phony questions, to be asked during the study, already printed at the bottom of each page in the study article. Taylor goes on in the next sentence, "They are [the questions] asked and answered in a wonderful nonthreatening confirmation of 'group think.'" So that is what the Watchtower Study really is, an exercise in indoctrinating propagandistic group think! The same is to be said for the Tuesday (or Thursday) night book study, more group thinking! Taylor writes a lot of profound statements in only a few sentences, particularly about the type of "Unity" The Watchtower promotes and enforces. "Ultimately, unanimity is impossible. It is brittle where unity is flexible and therefore strong." The Watchtower strives for Unanimity, not Unity, and then tries to measure it by counting hours spent in field service, number of magazine and books placed, and the attendance at meetings and conventions. And if someone disagrees with something published in The Watchtower? How would that affect Watchtower Unanimity? "A single dissenter destroys it (so the dissenter may have to be dealt with harshly for the good of the group)." A JW can be removed from the congregation just for asking too many of the wrong kind of questions. A very deeply profound book, I wonder if the rest of the book is as full of such insight. --VM44
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  stillAwitness

  So true! Randy is a genius. His site was one of the first ones I stumbled on when I started questioning the truth. The guy really makes you think.
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  stillAwitness

  i mean the TROOF. lol
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  Lilycurly

  Unity! Pff! I really thought they might really have the same teachings and same ideas all around, but they can't even agree in the same congo.

  My father asked the elders if he could still talk to me now that I'm DAed, and three said he couldn't while the one said he could, since I could be considered "close family circle". My dad had to write to the WT to ask, he is still waiting for an answer...