2010 - Year of the Governing Body?

by lepermessiah 61 Replies latest jw friends

  • agonus
    agonus

    The GB have made cameos in at least a few of the more recent videos. Sam Herd and Jack Barr (I think) were in the last couple of "respect-our-authoritah" abominations - you know, the one about Moses (GB) and Korah (apostates) and the one about that nice Israelite guy that killed everybody who married foreign wives.

  • pirata
    pirata

    Definitely a trend to put more of a human face back into the leadership. The question is "why?"

  • agonus
    agonus

    ... maybe an attempt at rebuttal to the charge, "If these are the ONLY men on the planet that God speaks to, why in the hell doesn't anybody ever actually SEE them"?

  • Life is now
    Life is now

    Why would Jehovah direct an organisation to have a group of men voting and then spirit-direct them to a unanimous decision? Sounds like the height of stupidity to me. What a waste of men's time and energy. If God is going to direct them all to the same decision why not just direct one man in the first place.

  • St George of England
    St George of England
    WE HERE know FAR MORE than the average Dub about HIS OWN religion. Think about that. It's because we DO care about the details and DON'T submit to the phantom authority of the Borg.

    That is absolutely true Mad Sweeny. Here in my congregation the overwhelming majority still do not know about the Generation change as they have still not read the WT. They probably will not until the night before the study! Quick underline in 15min flat.

    George

  • Broken Promises
    Broken Promises

    Perhaps that’s what they’re counting on, George. A year from now Witnesses will saying, “what generation change?”

  • Paulapollos
    Paulapollos

    Isn't it funny that the Govening Body are going to end up doing exactly what they have accused the Catholic Church of - that of a ridiculous notion of infallability (albeit implicit in the WT literature), every time a "new flash of light" shines forth from Mount Brooklyn, and the increasing centralisation of power and authority into the Governing Body. I suppose the most intelligent thing the GB have done is to avoid the use of a single figurehead, like the Pope, because it would be far too obvious even to the average JW that there are far too many similarites between JW's and the Catholic Church to give the JW's any right to criticise the Catholics.

    That scripture in 2 Thessalonians is so apt - they really are acting like they are God, proclaiming themselves to have the power of life and death. What a joke

    PP

  • JWoods
    JWoods
    I suppose the most intelligent thing the GB have done is to avoid the use of a single figurehead, like the Pope, because it would be far too obvious even to the average JW that there are far too many similarites between JW's and the Catholic Church to give the JW's any right to criticise the Catholics.

    True, Paulapaulos: But they did exactly that for about 100 years - right up until Freddy Franz just got too crazy to be tolerated. Hence the Governing Body (much like the catholic high council of cardinals that elects the pope). And you might say they still have old Ted Jaracks.

    That scripture in 2 Thessalonians is so apt - they really are acting like they are God, proclaiming themselves to have the power of life and death. What a joke

    escpecially ridiculous in the light of the 2/3 vote...

    Your post did give me a horrible thought - is it possible that yet another JW strong leader could emerge - a personality like Rutherford who just legalistically takes over and reforms things into his own image???

  • Mad Sweeney
    Mad Sweeney

    is it possible that yet another JW strong leader could emerge - a personality like Rutherford who just legalistically takes over and reforms things into his own image???

    If it results in more than half of the Dubs quitting the borg like in Rutherford's day, I'm all for it!

  • Paulapollos
    Paulapollos

    Jwoods,

    that's a good point about the College of Cardinals, although there are major differences in the power structure, the fact is that the Pope is always reliant on the support of the Cardinals, hence the politicking and lobbying that goes on, as it does in the GB. The Governing Body has it's own political infighting and lobbying just like every other organisation - it is just kept more secret.

    I think the days of a coup d'etat are over. Someone like Losch would be hard pressed to garner enough support to become a more powerful figurehead - I think Herd would oppose him. The younger members of the GB would perhaps be more amenable to the idea, but i think the power-sharing idea is now so firmly entrenched as to be be preferred - the collective nature of the GB allows them to hide behind a form of anonymyity when things go wrong. I can't see anyone, even Losch, sticking his head too far above the parapet. Still, I could be totally wrong!!!

    PP

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