Quendi said:
Relating all of this to JWs and the WTS, I can only fall back on what a now departed friend once told me. “Organizations cannot love people. Only people can love other people. The problem many Witnesses have is that they expect a faceless organization to act like a real human being and that is something it is quite incapable of.”
The organization promotes this false thinking with the way it portrays itself. “Faithful and discreet slave”, “spiritual mother”, “Jehovah’s wife” and other images give believers the idea that they can have a personal relationship with the hierarchy and by extension with God himself. That’s because these terms give the image of a real person who is divinely sanctioned. So Witnesses believe their own individual circumstances will be understood and accommodated in the same way another person would. That can’t happen because even appointed overseers have a rulebook they must adhere to which allows little room for individuality. None of the images the organization wants to project are the truth.
The situation is aggravated when grossly unqualified men are appointed to positions of leadership. Given no training in even the rudiments of psychology and counseling, they can’t perform the needed tasks. Overseers buy into the lie that the holy spirit is behind them and so “worldly” knowledge isn’t necessary to be a good shepherd, and that holy spirit will “fill in the blanks” and overcome any deficiencies. The result is the arrogance, stupidity, abuse and mistreatment that characterize so many dealings between overseers and individual Witnesses.
Quendi, these are very good points. I can see that my family thinks this way and perhaps, that was my view also. This view greatly distorts the relationship between the
members of the organization and the GB. The "MOTHER" organiztion is supposed to nurture you and love you in the same way as Jesus loves his sheep. The reality is
not only do they not know or love you, they don't give a damn about you. You, the members, are a number, an unknown slave that is required to follow the rules without
asking questions or complaining or the "Mother" org throws you out with the bathwater. And talk about "unqualified men!" These men are ususally not educated in anything but
jw dogma and they have the gall to judge and tell others how to conduct themselves, what is right and what is wrong. It reminds me of the song by Jonathan Edwards "
Sunshine", 'He can't even run his own life, I"ll be damned if he'll run mine." Although, the borg proclaims love in all their dealings, there is only control, loss of freedom to run
your own life and they don't acknowledge any boundries, all bets are off as far as that is concerened.
