Thirdwitness -- An Agent of the Governing Body?

by AlanF 156 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  AuldSoul

  Watchtower Society: As a Bible-based organization, we must adhere to what the Scriptures say...

  ...except as it pertains to congregational handling of wrongdoing since we reject 1 Timothy 5:20, the introduction of new teachings since we reject Galatians 1:6-9, the teachings on pre-baptismal requirements and the meaning of baptism since we reject the book of Acts and the opinions of Paul and Peter, the scriptural teaching on "paradise" since we reject the direct statement in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 regarding the meaning of "paradise", the instruction to be actively involved in meeting the needs of those who are not Christians since we reject the lesson of the Samaritan aiding the Jew and we reject James 1:27, etcetera ad infinitum.
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  Pistoff

  (1) Don't really care about defending their doctrines on the net.
  
  Well, dozy, you either take them at their word, which is naive, or you side with them. It is obvious that they defend themselves on the net; look at the disinformation on the official website. They routinely scare the rank and file off the net. They care more about keeping the brainwashed ones in than they do about those who are interested.
  
  (2) Theologically are opposed to "debates" with apostates / ex-witnesses and would never sanction such an act (or even condone it , if it became known)
  
  Openly, no; but that is only because for decades they could control the debate by kicking out any who disagreed or even questioned their authority. The net is different; it can sponsor a long, ongoing debate of many issues that can be fact checked quickly. They are not in control any longer. Still, they must keep up the appearance of not debating OPENLY; thus the benefit of apologists, like yourself.
  
  (3) As the leadership are institutionalised and (by and large) elderly , have little comprehension of the challenge and opportunity that is presented online and would not wish to sponsor such activity.
  
  Perhaps not; but the reality is they can see declining membership and donations; it is not rocket science to see that the free flow of information is killing them, and it is coming from the net. To some extent, they know how to function as a corporation, and use information to their benefit.
  
  As for balance on the board, do you respect scholar's research? His argumentation? Is that balance, or just the lunatic fringe weighing in?
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  truthsetsonefree

  If this were the case it would actually make sense. (Of course WT doesn't make sense a lot of the time.) Consider that any operation should have some kind of way of learning about and dealing with the opposing side. On the other hand there are many elders who DO surf these sites and who have no qualms with saying things like "our policy" since their egos have been pumped up, leading them to believe that they are an integral part of "Jehovah's organization."
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  AuldSoul

  Pistoff: Perhaps not; but the reality is they can see declining membership and donations; it is not rocket science to see that the free flow of information is killing them, and it is coming from the net. To some extent, they know how to function as a corporation, and use information to their benefit.

  The reality is that many who are disfellowshipped for "immoral acts" begin their trek through the Internet. It is no accident that the WTS, for about a decade now, has been heavily cautioning the congregations against associating with those who begin to withdraw. They rightly state that such ones will eventually fall prey to "immorality" if they do not become reactivated.

  On what grounds is someone disfellowshipped who unrepentantly celebrates a holiday? What grounds are cited for disfellowshipping one who unrepentantly visits a different church?

  What is marked on the report to the society where someone becomes convinced that the standards of morality as imposed by the Watchtower Society are meaningless and, because of this conviction, they engage in Societally defined "gross wrongdoing"?

  Sadly, as much as the COs and DOs may think otherwise they have no effective means of measuring how much damage the Internet is doing to their organization. Once someone tastes freedom they can no longer stomach shackles, it is no surprise that many are disfellowshipped for things other than apostasy. I seriously doubt a high percentage of posters here were disfellowshipped for apostasy.

  But I would bet many were getting questions answered prior to committing the acts for which they were disfellowshipped.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
• 

  ozziepost

  The continued absence of thirdwitness and his failure to respond to AlanF's post can only lead to one conclusion - he's right.
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  TD

  The style and quality of argumentation is reminiscent of what has been coming out of Flemming's group for years
• 

  minimus

  AlanF makes some very interesting assertions. Sounds like he's right. When I toured the GB's office and the Writing Department's in the 80's, with a former Bethel elder, I noticed all the books in the library on spiritism, sexual advice, and literature that would be considered a no-no for a JW. Even the Satanic Bible was there! The truth is , the inner circle is not bound by the rules of the rank and file, as the UN debacle shows.
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  dilaceratus

  What is proposed here is that, either at their own behest, or under the instructions of a superior, the "character" of Thirdwitness was created by an agent of the WTBTS. This implies a level of intellectual organization and ability to define (and even laugh at) their own weaknesses that simply does not exist among fundamentalists (whose dogged literalism is what defines them). In this scenario one then has to imagine Ted/Karla resting his work-fevered, hairless cranium against the window as dawn approaches, his tired, hooded eyes suddenly sparkling with glee... his creation has found versimillitude with one single, master stroke: an unshakable faith in the never-rebuilt city of Tyre! "Check, and mate, you wiley poztate. Check and mate."
  
  On the other hand, is it not far more straightforward to suggest that, as world events have become less stable, that more disaffected, marginal Witnesses will come to the fore with their crackpot theories? That some of these might be brighter and occasionally more capable with English than Scholar is not exactly a statistical surprise. That some of these might even be former Bethelites is not impossible, but mimicing the style and logical merry-go-rounds of Watchtower publications requires only the heavy immersion in same-- it is possible to find such dreary examples of writing pretty much anywhere Witnesses or former Witnesses are to be found.
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  AuldSoul

  dilaceratus: In this scenario one then has to imagine Ted/Karla resting his work-fevered, hairless cranium against the window as dawn approaches, his tired, hooded eyes suddenly sparkling with glee... his creation has found versimillitude with one single, master stroke: an unshakable faith in the never-rebuilt city of Tyre!

  Um...I find your capacity to imagine sorely wanting if this is the only hypothesis you can come up with to explain the phenomenon we have witnessed from thirdwitness.

  Originally, I and many others noted distinct stylistic variations between posts and began to pick up on subtle cues that some of the posts were consistent with each other while being inconsistent with the whole body of thirdwitness' posts. When asked directly whether more than one person was using the same account, thirdwitness admitted it.

  To satisfy what we have seen, one need only imagine that the organizational "heavies" AT SOME LEVEL assigned a group of technophiles to covertly create Web sites designed to support the Watchtower Society dogma and publicly appear to address certain issues online which the Watchtower Society does not DARE address in Watchtower publications. It is not a stretch that these same defenders would be called on to direct attention to these created sites on apostate forums, engage in a bit of argumentation, but not too much argumentation from any one person, to avoid the possibility of original thoughts intruding.

  It is not coincidence that the sites to which thirdwitness directs attention are glitzy, modern, and all share the exact same incapability of interaction or feedback of any kind, not even allowing an email to the site's programmer. This incapacity is rarely, if EVER seen on a modern site, yet the official Watchtower site shares the same unique distinction.

  The Watchtower Society has surely discovered that when address issues directly in their publications they receive many inquiries about the issue they addressed. It must have (at some point) dawned on them that at least some of the people they respond to are dissatisfied with the responses and begin an independent search. The reasonable starting point for such a search is the Internet. This must be fought, in some way, to prevent the name of the Governing Body Jehovah from being sullied.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
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  Death to the Pixies

  AlanF:Given the above, I have a strong suspicion that thirdwitness and his collaborators are either Bethelites, or JWs with extremely close ties to Bethel, or both, all of whom have been given the green light by Watchtower officials to get on the Internet and do battle with JW critics.

  Broseph, you got to stop smoking crack... Thirwitness and his pals are defectors from the E-watchman cult.