by cedars 184 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Also, notice how the chairs get progressively worse the further down the ladder you go...
Governing Body - plush padded leather executive chairs
Branch Committee - office swivel chairs
Body of Elders - school canteen chairs
It seems the higher up in God's organization you are, the more padding your arse deserves.
Cedars
I can't help noticing how the farmer's shirt and hat are impeccable. And I'm so sloppy when I work in my garden. I should learn something from this picture....
Eden
I see the chairs get less comfortable the further 'down' you go
I think there was a massive debate about which picture to include in that loving article full of rich abundant Spiritual Food.
Sadly, this was the runner-up!
The white man is in control. Obey us you lesser races, for we are your superiors.
And what are all those angels doing? With annual growth stalling at less than 1% - not much! They are just hovering around in formation.
And what's Jesus cooking in the microwave? Oh no! He's left the aluminium foil on! Silly Jesus.
But the most disturbing thing is hierarchical aspect. Know your place lowly publisher. Do what we say - for it is us, the gb, who talk to god and he to us and only us. Was there ever a more convincing piece of evidence for the watchtower being a cult?
Actually the most disturbing thing is that all those lowly publishers at the very bottom of the pile will simply accept this garbage without a moment's reflection.
I laughed saw much when jgnat did the seat pics. I imagined outlaw spittin his coffee beaten to the draw
no.5 is the sales meeting
Cedars, you are starting to get really paronoid. The picture is about the EARTHLY part of Jehovah's Organisation. It does not matter what the heavenly part of the picture shows. It is not about that. And deciding that the gov body have better chairs is frankly stupid. In some lands the elders chairs are cheap and chearful in other lands they would be top quality. It varies obviously from country to country. In the 1970s I visited a kingdom Hall in Denmark. They had an area with a 3 piece suite, totally unheard of in UK.
Also do you really think the society put a picture of Africa on purpose, after just publishing the service report about which countries are doing well and those that are not. You are giving them far to much credit. I can guarrantee that not 1 JW in a 1000 would even look at the map or care about it. It simply shows the JW structure of things. End of.
Some interesting quotes...
In contrast with many religious groups in Christendom, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not decide for themselves the form of spiritual government under which they operate. These sincere Christians endeavor to stick to Jehovah’s standards. Overseers among them are not put into office by some congregational, hierarchical, or presbyterian form of church government. (w01 1/15 p13)
Sadly, over the centuries this elevated, selfless concept of ministers as self-sacrificing preachers and teachers was distorted. What began as the Christian ministry evolved into a formal, hierarchical institution. Orders and ranks were formed, and they were invested with prestige and power and often accumulated great wealth. This created divisions. (g00 7/8 p27)
There was the question of who should serve as elders and deacons in the congregations. To get away from the hierarchical structure prevalent in Christendom, it was concluded that these should be elected democratically by the vote of the members of each congregation. (w95 5/15 p22)
As time went by, the number of those claiming to be Christians rose to the millions and then to the hundreds of millions. They developed different kinds of church government, such as hierarchical, presbyterian, and congregational. However, neither the conduct nor the beliefs of these churches reflected the rulership of Jehovah. They were not theocracies! (w94 1/15 p14)
Especially since 1919, the enthroned King Jesus Christ has developed a fine condition amid his followers on earth. He has placed among them “princes” (Hebrew, sarim) who do indeed furnish just and loving oversight. In contrast with the oppressive and self-serving rulers so general throughout the world, the King in God’s organization has raised up responsible men who are not revered as hierarchical “princes of the church,” or the like. (w84 5/15 p16)
This fading of Christian watchfulness prompted apostate Christians to organize themselves into a well-structured church whose eyes were no longer fixed on the coming parousia, or presence, of Christ but, rather, on dominating its members and, if possible, the world. The New Encyclopædia Britannica states: “The [apparent] delay of the Parousia resulted in a weakening of the imminent expectation in the early church. In this process of ‘de-eschatologizing,’ [weakening of the teaching on the “Last Things”] the institutional church increasingly replaced the expected Kingdom of God. The formation of the Catholic Church as a hierarchical institution is directly connected with the declining of the imminent expectation.” (w84 12/1 p6)
In the latter part of the 19th century, the Bible Students had a democratic way of governing their congregations; they wanted to get away from an autocratic hierarchical system. (w81 12/1 p25)
One’s qualifying as an “elder” or “overseer” was not a matter of ascending a hierarchical ladder, starting with the lowest rung. Catholic theologian Legrand writes: “The ordained ministry is not a cursus honorum [race for honors] to be run like climbing the rungs of a hierarchical ladder. In fact, the word hierarchy is not to be found in the Bible. (g76 9/8 p27)
The above-mentioned Thascius Caecilius Cyprian was the bishop of the church in Carthage, Africa. He was born about 200 C.E. and died in 258 C.E. He was a clergyman, called here “the father of the hierarchical system,” one of the body of clergy that existed not much more than a century after the death of Christ’s apostles and their close associates. From that time on, throughout the “Dark Ages,” into the time of the Reformation and the beginning of the Protestant Churches, and down to the present, this clergy-laity distinction has existed in Christendom. (w75 4/1 p202)
What wonder, then, that intelligent persons of today who are informed on the kind of rule that prevailed during the time of the popish “theocracy” cannot stomach the thought of God’s rule being about to come, if God’s rule means the restoration of such a hierarchical rule! (w68 10/15 p618)
Who, then, is doing the discipling work today? There can be no doubt of this. It is the Christian witnesses of Jehovah. The revival of the work of making disciples is to be found in that organization in these last days. They have freed themselves from the constricting creeds and contaminating false doctrines of the nominal churches. They have freed themselves from the hierarchical, congregational and all other forms of church rule that are unscriptural and they are governed by theocratic rule. (w66 4/1 p205)
Interesting is the fact that, though forced to meet underground, those primitive Christians by no means kept their light hidden there. As Christ had commanded, they lifted it high on “lampstands” by a work of public testimony. Though this drew the infuriated malice of many, it introduced untold hope to others who proceeded to associate with the Christian community. Charles Maitland, in The Church in the Catacombs, singles out this proselytizing nature of the Christians as the greatest aggravating factor of their persecution, because of which other charges were trumped up by the authorities. Their harmlessness can be seen in that for the mere reason of secretly celebrating the Lord’s Supper they suffered an official ban. From what can be told by the ancient inscriptions those Christians scorned the hierarchical structure which papal Rome copied from pagan Rome. (w51 8/15 p486)
With such a breadth of meaning and variety of application of the Hebrew word sar we can appreciate how the heavenly King reigning in righteousness could have his visible servants on the earth during this perilous time and how these would occupy the position corresponding with what Isaiah 32:1 speaks of as princes (sarím). They would not hold such princely office inside the political systems of this world, because, although they are in the world, they are no part of the world. Neither would they have any such combined political, hierarchical offices such as the higher clergy of the Roman Catholic religious system hold, so that they are called “princes of the church”. (w51 12/1 p721)
Cedars
alanv
Surely you agree that depicting Jehovah and the cherubs and the angels and NOT DEPICTING JESUS, the leader of the congregation, isn't disturbing? Regardless if the focus of the picture is the earthly part of the organization? Something is wrong, or at least, something is changing.
Eden
