I took 1 semester of psychology in High School. My professional opinions is " They want to be the boss of you. " Well, my common sense tells me to apply what I know of individual behavior to collective behavior. We all know a jerk who wants to be your boss, and has control issues. They are always projecting their views on to other people. If they have personal issues with, let's say over-eating, they always mention what everyone else is eating. They can't help but look around the restaraunt and mentally count calories going into everyone elses mouth. Secretly...secretly...they want to eat everything they tell you not to eat! They cannot control themselves so... they try to control others. If you get enough people with that type of personality together, you have a collective of controlling jerks. The only way to move up the ladder is to be controlling like them or let them be the boss of you. If you don't play ball you get " marked " as a rebel. We now have an organization filled with controlling bosses, and those they boss around. It sucks.. No one wants to be around people who behave that way. It can take years to accept parts of yourself that may be dark. I agree with Jung, you must on some level acknowledge your " shadow " even though you don't have to give in to it.
Psychoanalyzing the Governing Body as a Collective Body by what they cause to be written in literature and private letters:
by frankiespeakin 147 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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MC RubberMallet
*** w89 9/15 p. 23 par. 13 Be Obedient to Those Taking the Lead ***
13 In the world, there is a tendency to reject leadership. As one lecturer said: “The rising education level has improved the talent pool such that followers have become so critical that they are almost impossible to lead.” But a spirit of independent thinking does not prevail in God’s organization, and we have sound reasons for confidence in the men taking the lead among us. For instance, only those meeting Scriptural requirements are appointed as elders. (1 Timothy 3:1-7) They are trained to be kind, loving, and helpful, yet firm in upholding Jehovah’s righteous standards. The elders adhere to Scriptural truth, ‘holding firmly to the faithful word, that they may be able to exhort by healthful teaching.’ (Titus 1:5-9) Of course, we should not magnify their human imperfections, for all of us are imperfect. (1 Kings 8:46; Romans 5:12) Instead of feeling frustrated by their limitations and treating their counsel lightly, let us appreciate and accept the Bible-based direction of the elders as coming from God .
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ziddina
Good points, Data-dog!!
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Cagefighter
This is a good topic. Yes, I have done my own arm chair analysis of Russell and Rutherford
Russel- I think Russel was INFP/ENFP type. He had strong faith and was shaped by events like the civil war and WWI as many others. He did not create the milleanilist or restoration movements. They were in swing as he grew up, but they addressed the sense of urgnecy and uncertainity that people felt after the civil war and leading up to WWI. Imagine the way people felt after 9/11 times a million.
Russel's subconcious motivation for writing was to sift out the religious dogma and replace with a more scriputal understanding of God and spirituality. This was exciting because it was now becoming possible to read and study things like never before. More people were becoming literate and the industrial revolution gave people more free time and access to printed materials. Imagine how the internet changed our own lives!
Russel conciously felt obligated to spread knowledge like a professor, spouting off provactive theories and inciting debate. Russell basically created a mail order bible study supply co. He traveled and wrote a lot of sermons that were carried in syndication by newspapers. He accurately saw himself as a commentator on religion and the bible most of the time.
I think for the time, Russel was making valid points. The pulpit was hyper-political and local religous leaders were being used motivate the voters and public for political purposes as they had been for thousands of years. But times had changed and the local preacher was no longer the only person one knew that could read or had access to other opinions. This helped Russel expose a lot of the hypocrisy he saw.
Russel was now in a position where he had to reconcile the hypocrisy with his own spiritual faith. This is how we got "religion is a snare and a racket" along with only a few select go to heaven which is a form Calvinism he was raised with as a Presbyterian. He was also exposed to the congregationalist (descended from the puritans) which is were we get KH's small bland worship houses with no religious icons. He also was interested int the seven day adventists who give us the door-to-door work among other things. I believe the 7th days and the Congregationalists are the basis for the way KH's have traditionally worked and appeared. Read the crucible by Aurthur Miller to see how closely the JW's are culturally to the Puritans.
I do not believe Russel ever saw himself as the ultimate authority like the GB does today. He wasn't a Joseph Smith as far as I can tell. Even though he did get wrapped up in prophecy a bit he saw himself as a scientest or archaeologist finding the truth through the testing of hypothesis. The truth was out there, we just had to discover it as opposed to simply creating it.
I believe his main purpose in life was to get people to wake up and start studying scripture on their own and challenging the hypocrites. As the bible study groups grew and became congregations I think he was proud but never really felt ownership or authoirty over them. I believe he really saw himself as a servant to the people he inspired to think for themselves. He saw his job as to provide the study materials and aids but not necessarily the answers like a good teacher would do.
I am sure it didn't hurt that his publications were the main source of these study materials which financially supported him...
NEXT, here comes Judge Rutherford.
I am very cyncial about Judge Rutherford. He was more of the ETSJ type. These are the take-charge and dominate types. Judge Rutherford was a lawyer (big surprise) that saw a huge monetary opportunity with what Rusell had created. Rutherford saw that if the JW's were more tightly organized it could become a real religion because the "bible students" had become so dependent on Russell's teachings. Under Rutherford the current WTBS corp was actually formed and the KH's became very organized and controlled from Brooklyn like never before. This the period where holidays, birthdays, crosses, were being banned not as a matter of scriputal suggestion but as policy under threat of being a heretic. Rutherford basically made the JW's the JW's we know today.
I know the source of some practices like neutrality, avoiding worldy friends and family, shunning, etc... were not all necessarily Rutherford's ideas but he made them policy or dogma. Before I would say these ideas were popular and even practiced but now it was "company policy". Rutherford had to make the GB and WTBS the ultimate authority and not just the prophet or teacher for the next phase: Making the JW's his army unpaid magazine salesmen.
As with any good company you need a structure of managers to make sure everyone is doing their job (selling more of Rusell's magazines). This is when COs, Elders, MS, Pioneers, etc.. were created as well as the door-to-door work becoming mandatory and reporting time. Also, any good sales organization stages regular training sessions like the TMS. Conventions are also important for building up morale and generating excitement withing the organization and the public for the latest product. The JW's just became a sales organization under Rutherford and he made a killing during the depression while the rest of America was starving.
Rutherford in his mind was just doing what needed to be done he didn't question it as right or wrong. He took the haphazard mess that Russell created and made it a lean and mean magazine sales machine in his mind. Keep in mind there was no TV and Radios were the size of night stands, magazines, comic books, and novels were the most portable form of information and entertainment for their time. Magazines were the ipads of their day. There was money to be made and Rutherford's mind would only see at as wasteful to not organize the JW's in such a manner. The fire was built by Russell, Rutherford just had to light the match.
Russell was definitely the philospher, writer, type. Believed in what he said and was a big thinker. Valued free thought, intellectual discussion.
Rutherford was the CEO, organizer type. Valued rules, order, productivity even at the cost of freedom or intellectual honesty.
As far as current GB, who knows. They don't really do anything but maintain what is and adjust to knew realities to maintain. Most of them have been born-in or converted in a time when they were not exposed to the interenet.
What will be interesing is to see what types the GB attracts after this generation passes. If the JW's still exist they will probably get more of the Rutherford types or Dwight Schrute (from the office) types that will try and gain position and then tighten up again. They might even challenge or change theology radically to do this and create a smaller but more intense fire.
That's my arm chair analysis.
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moshe
The GB today, just pushes a critical decison into the future and hope something works out, without a plan. Did the GB contemplate the trouble their 1984 WT cover - "1914 the generation that will not pass away", would pose, if those elderly JWs on the cover all died and Armageddon didn't arrive on schedule? Nope, not a concern, they just put out good entertainment each year for the brothers and let tomorrow take care of itself. Consequently, the present convoluted WT dogmas are the result of rule by a committee of mentally lazy geezers.
The real thinkers in Bethel, like Ray Franz were all run out of town over 25 years ago, leaving the dimwits in charge. The WT Corp can't field enough quasi-scholars to even attempt a work like the 40 year old, Aid to Bible Understanding. I don't consider them truly evil men, but they do try hard to provide the JWs what they want the most- continuing proof that Armageddon is just around the corner and their preachimg will soon pay off = eternal life on a paradise Earth. All religions do this= they preach the message that the congregants want to hear.
added- they have from time to time given the JWs legal notice that their doctrines are puffery, not factual. Back in the early 90's they removed the 1914 promise from the inside front cover of the Awake magazine. They pulled the rug out from under the JWs- no more promised paradise, but if you want to continue soldiering on like stooges, then we won't stop you. The overlapping generation was another slap to the other cheek for JWs- Yup, they end is still a long ways off- but you can keep on working for us for like dopes- and we will even accept your kid's inheritances and your life insurance and the deed to your house- but don't say we didn't give you fair notice it was all a charade.
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ziddina
"He had strong faith and was shaped by events like the civil war and WWI ..." Cagefighter, page 1, comment #1231
Uh, Cagefighter, Russell died in 1916 - October 31st, 1916, if I remember correctly...
He died before WWI ended.
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Cagefighter
Zid,
The millenialist and restoration movements were really charged up by the civil war. People really had a smaller world view so Americans really thought it was the break down of civilzation and the beginning of the great tribulation leading up to some sort of rapture. The millerrites were a real popular group that sprung up and were typical but not the only ones.
WWI kicked off in 1914, which by Rusell's calculations was a significant date. Which came firstthe war or his assertation the 1914 was crucial, I am not sure. I would guess the war. He had two years to spread his ideas through the his publications, sermons, and columns. He did not die in a nursing home, he was actually on a train between sermons. He had an loyal audience that would have helped spread his claim of 1914 and with the unprecedented event of WWI the public would have listened. He was also quite well known like Rick Warren today. Imagine a promiment preacher saying the rapture was coming in 2002 the day after 9/11. People stopped and listened to the logic if you said it was in the bible.
That is what I meant by saying Russells theology and life was shapped by those two major wars.
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ziddina
Cagefighter, Russell eventually considered 1914 as the beginning of Christ's presence - but originally he thought Christ's presence began in 1874 and 1914 would be the beginning of "Armageddon". He came up with these beliefs, influenced by Adventist beliefs that supposed a similar timeline, around 1876.
So his original beliefs had nothing to do with WWI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses
"...In January 1876 Russell read an issue of Herald of the Morning, a periodical edited by Adventist preacher Nelson H. Barbour of Rochester, New York, but which had almost ceased publication because of dwindling subscriptions.[12] Barbour, like other Adventists, had earlier applied the biblical time prophecies of Miller and Wendell to calculate that Christ would return in 1874 to bring a "bonfire";[17] when this failed to eventuate he and co-writer J.H. Paton had concluded that though their calculations of the timing of Christ's return were correct, they had erred about its manner. They subsequently decided that Christ's return, or parousia, was invisible, and that Christ had therefore been present since 1874.[12][18][19] Russell "rejoiced" to find that others had reached the same conclusion on the parousia and decided their application of Adventist time prophecies - which he said he had "so long despised" - merited further examination. He met Barbour, accepted his detailed and complex arguments on prophetic chronology[20] and provided him with funds to write a book that combined their views.[12]
The book, Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World,[21] was published in early 1877.[22] It articulated ideas that remained the teachings of Russell's associates for the next 40 years, many of which are still embraced by Jehovah's Witnesses: it identified a 2520-year-long era called "the Gentile Times", which would end in 1914..." -
ziddina
But yes, the outbreak of WWI must have thrilled Russell and the International Bible Students, because it would have appeared to have fulfilled their interpretation of bible prophecy...
As it still thrills JWs to this day. It's the ONLY time they've gotten any prophecy "right"...
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Cagefighter
Well Russell and just about anyone else with a 3rd grade education and good speaking voice were making all kinds of predictions from the civil war (which raged during Russell's youth) on up to WWI. Russell's dates (and their meaning) kept changing over and over. His original partner Barbour actually split with him after one failed prediction. It was the same thing as today, one date fails so we recalculate and find a new one.
It wasn't necessarily solid logic but Russell was "scholarly" enough that it caputred people's attention. By todays standards his scholary research is pretty shoddy, but I think deep down he always believed it or at least that he was on the right trail. Kind of like a treasure hunter that dies looking for that buried treasure that he just knows is out there. If only he can read the clues right or interpret the dusty old map.
In my most cyncial thoughts about Russell: I would say he wanted to be famous for accurately predicting the second coming. He also seemed to ignore anything that did not support his predicitions or that did not validate his opinions. He would also sue ya in a heart beat for libel or slander if you tried to disparage his character. I think he was obsessed with predicting the end and it was crucial that he was taken seriously.
Had there been Prozac or Xanex back then the JW's might not exist, LOL. He's actually the kind of guy that I would find interesting, full of ideas and passion. Rutherford would just be a boaring stiff suit. I'd probably end up kicking him in the nuts five minutes after meeting him.