Thanks, Terry.
Eden
Trivia about the history of the beloved Governing Body
by Terry 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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fiddler
This has been a very interesting read for me especially when I consider my own family history on my dad's side. Ever since I was little my memories of my grandfather were that he was treated like an outcast; an apostate actually as I learned later. He died when I was around 8 years old but my aunts never had much good to say about him. What little I remember of him was that he was a nice old granddaddy and as a shy little girl I wasn't at all afraid of him. I never could understand the vitriol spouted against him even calling him a Satanist.
Of my dad's siblings only one out of the 9 was never a JW. She was the oldest. So last year I finally got to sit and talk with her. She's 90 years old but absolutely on the ball and active......one very cool and wise lady! I enjoyed my conversation with her so much but one thing came out that surprised me. I brought up her dad not expecting HER to be against him and she said in an irritated way, "he's the reason our family got caught up in that religion". She blamed him.
I said, "but he wasn't one of Jehovah's witnesses. The JW's in the family treated him terribly"
She didn't have much more to say on that except to reconfirm that HE was to blame. He introduced the religion to my grandmother and the rest was history.
So now I think I know............he was a Russlelite originally and one of the 75% that fell away. My grandmother, aunts and my dear old hard nosed father that chose to shun me completely when he was dying were of that 'tough, feisty and cocksure' bunch.
That explains a lot. Thanks for that information!
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Terry
It is an amazing process to observe from the outside...that is, once you have departed and can look back at a safe distance.
A group of people embrace you, welcome you, lavish you with loving instructions from a heavenly father (whose name you learn for the first time) who wants the best for you.
Then, when you question the things which don't make sense a small thread of doubt unravels a garment stitched by lies and cover-ups.
The entire fabric of this religion is held in place by the tension of SECRETS KEPT. Each JW family holds secrets it dare not speak aloud.
If those secret discoveries were spoken aloud every member would wake from their slumber with a startled fear: IT IS ALL LIES!
Oh that moment of awakening!! Such pain of discovery that breaks the heart only to kindle an anger at the wasted years and silent suppression
of everyone knew all along yet would never acknowledge: my brothers and my sisters are living in a conspiracy of self-deceit!
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Old Goat
Good post. Rose Ball wasn't one of the original directors, though that claim is made online. The original charter lists the directors as
Charles T. Russell
William I. Mann
Maria F. Fussell
William C. McMillan
Simon O. Blunden
J. B. Adamson
Joseph F. Smith
Mann was an engineer and manger for some of the most important Steel Mills and had the reputation of being well educated and well spoken; W. C. MacMillan was college graduate and a phramcist; S. O. Blunden owned a fancy goods shop (women's wear) and later traveled for a large wholesale house; J. B. Adamson was a businessman turned evangelist; J. F. Smith was a partner in a prominent Merchant Tailor business and had realestate and printing interests. Rosa Ball didn't become a director until some years later.
You will find some information here: http://truthhistory.blogspot.com/ . Not available without invitation is a long essay on some of these men found on a private blog. Ask the owner of truthhistory for access, but be prepared to be turned down. I understand that the first volume of their new book is coming out in March? next year. It will be the most authoritative Watch Tower movement history ever published.
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Terry
As I've said elsewhere, the test of the Faithful and Discreet slave in the incarnation of GOVERNING BODY
is twofold:
1. Feeding the flock spiritual food
2. Doing it at a time which is "proper"
We can look back at all the publications for the last hundred years and ask ourselves how much of it was really ever FOOD worthy?
Next, we can ask how those crazy false dates could be "Proper" when they failed again and again.
If you FLUNK both descriptions of your job you can't call yourself THE faithful or THE discreet slave!
But, you can call yourself an IMPOSTER.
The fact that so many good people have been made to keep track of how much actual time they've WASTED each month
is salt rubbed in the wounds!
What if all those precious HOURS each month were spent ELSEWHERE such as visiting the sick, caring for widows and orphans, visiting prisons and providing for the needs of the elderly???
As yourself those questions and the scales must fall from your eyes!
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Old Goat
I remember the "sales charts" that used to hang in the front of the Hall, with a month by month report on hours, "back calls" and various placements and number of bible studies. It was a very "sales" oriented culture. I don't see the apostles keeping charts.
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Nathan Natas
Listener posted an interesting quote:
"Note, however, that the word “slave” in Jesus’ illustration is singular, indicating that this is a composite slave." Watchtower 7/15/13
So a new grammatical rule is discovered - if the Bible uses a singular noun, it is to be understood as a plural singular, i.e. a "composite."
How many units make up "God"?
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Nathan Natas
OLD GOAT, I have dim memories (I was jusy a small child) of those sales charts also - that was way back in the 1950s, wasn't it?
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Old Goat
Nathan as I recall it they were using the large wall charts when I was baptized (1948). They used them up to 1967 I think, switiching to a small paper chart for the information board. They dropped that soon thereafter. I'm going by memory here. As you can see from my baptismal date, I'm getting a bit old. My memory isn't all that good sometimes.
As I remember it, there is a photo of a hall showing the chart in a Consolation magazine. I didn't go looking for it. But I might later.