You're exactly right, sir82. Ray Franz put it as "we all became victims of victims." The people at the top now had their free will stripped, followed orders, didn't think for themselves, and did as they were told until they made it to the top....and they know absolutely nothing except for what the watchtowers they grew up reading said. And now grossly ill equipped to lead millions into a new age, they simply do what was done to them; Point to the magazine and say "do this." Russel may have been insane, Rutherford may have been a con man, and Knorr may have been a tyrant, but they were all men of intelligence and vision (however insane those visions may have been). The people left now aren't intelligent or scholarly, they are just lapdogs whos masters died.
JW leadership vacuum - explained!
by sir82 32 Replies latest jw friends
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stillin
what's the problem? things are exactly as they were in the first century christian congregation! 19 year-olds try thier best to dress, groom, and conduct themselves as though they were 50 or, better yet, 60. This creates a warm, fuzzy place somewhere in the dark bowels of the elders, and "advancement" is imminent!
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scotoma
Creativity and innovation went out the window with the initiation of the "elder" arrangement. This may be too subtle if you weren't around under the old arrangement. Some may think that the introduction of a body of "equal elders" would expose local leaders to some original thinking. Not so.
The problem with "bodies" is that they have no "head". Leadership throughout the organization was decapitated. Action based on committee is free of responsibility and risk. A Steve Jobs could never fit into a democracy. Democracy is a formula for mediocrity.
The elders are imbued with the idea that they are all equal. The main difference between the overseer and ministerial servants is that overseers are qualified to teach. Under the old arrangement (Pre-1972) the presiding overseer was usually the best communicator in the congregation. People who are excellent at motivational speaking posess a cluster of psychological traits that are associated with "openness" and creativity.
If you have a creative idea in the current structure who are you going to present it to? Ultimately any idea has to be considered by the "headless body". If you don't have a head you don't need a neck and therefore no one is going to stick their neck out.
Under the old arrangement anyone could approach the Presiding Overseer with an idea. There was no risk. Quite often the overseer was disposed to listen to ideas because his job was always up for grabs. I never had a problem presenting a somewhat novel approach to a presiding overseer. I heard of congregations where there were some ruthless PO's but when the complaints to the Circuit Overseer about these individuals piled up they would be removed. And there was always someone in a nearby congregation that would step in and be glad to take the lead.
Jehovah's Witnesses vilified all those old Presiding Overseers as if they were power mad. But things got done. And JW's had their greatest increases under that old arrangement.
The old circuit assemblies used to be exciting and motivational because the cream was allowed to rise to the top. Under the present system the plain ordinary "elders" feel threatened when someone in their midst is really an excellent teacher. They find ways to knock him down so they can all feel equal. That's why the most gifted among the JW's have become inactive and drifted away.
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ziddina
Excellent opening post and thread, Sir82!!
Marking to keep track of the discussion...
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baltar447
Great post, sir82.
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flipper
Another example of how we know that the WT society promoting Jehovah's Witnesses is a mind control cult. The more rank & file members rebel- the tighter and more stringent the control measures become from the top down . All mind control cults do this when they get desperate in not losing members to the changing winds of the world around them. I feel we will continue to see even more tightening of the screws of control over JW's as the years progress. It's the nature of the WT beast
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facebeauty
yup, great point.
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compound complex
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
R.W. Emerson
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MrDarkKnight
@Sir82...This is the premise of the book, "The Peter Principle", that people are promoted to their level of imcompetence. I read this book when I was a young 23 year old at Bethel. A fellwo Bethelite and I were rather cynical and used to joke about the fact that the more incompetent you were the higher you seemed to rise. I talked to him recently. We are both out of Bethel but we both have still have copies of this book.
I had no idea that 22 years later I would see this at the highest levels of the organization. The most incompetent people truly have risen to the top!
Great post!
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Quendi
There are other factors than the damning of curiosity, receding initiative, and freezing of caste that have stymied the WTS. I hope this thread will bring them up as well. I'm looking forward to more discussion.
Quendi