10/15/08 WT - (Finally) seeing the light on out of context quotes? (page 2)

seek2find

I think what Blondie was saying, (correct me if I'm wrong Blondie) Was that the Society knew what was coming in internet technology and figured they better get something ready that would give their version of things that had mostly been covered up before. The strategy didn't work to good because they sanitized it so heavily, it left people wanting more, which they found once the internet took off. seek2find

sir82

I bow to your superior knowledge, sir82.

I claim no knowledge, superior or otherwise, I just thought it odd that any organization anywhere would develop something in the early 90's "in response to" information on the (then) primitive internet.

I was questioning, not asserting. Hope no offense was taken.

Anyways, back on track - what do you think? Why add a footnote here, after hundreds or thousands of missed opportunities to do so?

james_woods

I have a rather cynical suggestion - we have long known that there are both a "liberal" and a "conservative" block in Bethel, and has been for a long time. All the way back to Ray Franz or before.

Could it be possible that a certain liberal someone put that footnote in as a sly little editorial rebuke to the original conservative writer who just did not care if they took something out of context?

It seems that stranger things have happened in the Bethel writing circles. I even remember a late 70s or early 80s Watchtower which flirted with the idea that Jesus was actually the mediator of the Great Crowd, and hinted that the GC was a beneficiary of the New Covenant. Normal doctrine for any other Christian church I know of, but anathema maranatha to the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Dunlap brothers were contemptuous of it - I remember that they both said if the unknown writer had any guts, he would have spelled things out in the clear. I think that certainly Ed or Ray knew who was responsible, but there was so much strife right then that nobody was saying a word.

Maybe Ray will tell that story someday.

NewYork44M

Only the geekiest of the geeks were on the internet

Guilty as charged. I remember the good ole days surfing the internet from a C: prompt.

White Dove

I didn't know about the Internet until 2000. I was way behind times.

SusanHere

Only the geekiest of the geeks were on the internet

Guilty as charged. I remember the good ole days surfing the internet from a C: prompt. LOL -- Me, too! I was into computers in the '70s when they were really not much more than massive oversized calculators. The early '90s were really fun... finding good sites were like striking gold. Now there's a plethera of good sites, lots of good people, and all the info --- both good and bad -- that anyone would ever want to find is right at your fingertips. My grandchildren know their way around computers better than I ever will, but they missed out on the early years when it was all so new and anything was possible. SusanHere

AnneB

Before the 'net as most people know it today there were BBS. Lots of JW's, mostly males, were online back then.

10/15/08 WT - (Finally) seeing the light on out of context quotes?