one reason for the dumbing down of the org

by Magnum 91 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Vidiot

  nugget - "The last book of "substance" was the Revelation book. The amount of times they have revised it is beyond ridiculous since their interpretation was proved to be inaccurate."

  Thing is, it's still (technically) WT "canon"; Franz left no protege, so they're sorta stuck with it.

  Unfortunately for them, the more time passes since the fifties and sixties, the Cold War, and the 20th Century in general...

  ...the more untenable, implausible, and downright impossible the geopolitical scenarios outlined in Franz's script become.

  I mean, the UN Security Council marshalling a planetary campaign to suppress religious freedom when it can't even defend it? (and that's just one example)
• 

  Oubliette

  Freddy was crazy, but at least he has some interesting ideas.

  Now we have "theology" by a bunch of uneducated yahoos that have been weaned on failed prophecies and unfullfilled expectations.

  All that being said, I think you're right, Magnum, about the idea of "doctrine by committee" can only lead to bland, insipid, uninteresting and most of all ... (wait for it) ... uninspired ideas!
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  Old Goat

  Oh, I think there are Witnesses with "brain power." They live in fear of using it. They compartmentalize. It's okay for them to use it when they teach or as a lawyer or engineer. It's not okay to develop a thological interest or to question the Watchtower's conclusions.

  Witnesses used to appeal to the middle class. Now they appeal to the under eduated, nearlly illiterate. It is easier to write for those with a fourth grade education than for intellectual adults.
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  WingCommander

  Old Goat just nailed it. The last meeting I attended, probably 10 years or so ago now, it was so stupid that my mind felt like it was going numb from the sheer boredom and and the stupidity of the WT study. As an adult I thought, "Why parrot the answers? This is nothing more than an exercise in recitation, not a public discourse." I'd been to college, and had seen what a real "public discourse" was, and the WatchTower study was nothing more than regurgitating and parroting answers, not asking questions or having an in-depth, educated, theological discussion. I do believe the nail in that coffin was pounded in with the elimination of the in-home book studies a few years back. All non-sanctioned thought has now been eliminated. Now it's all, "Listen, Obey, and be Blessed." This cult has really gone downhill.

  - Wing Commander
• 

  donuthole

  The Daniel book and the two-volume Isaiah's Prophecy books seemed to close out the era of studying the "deeper things". We studied those books as I was waking up and on the way out. I recall the publishers grumbling about how hard it was to understand.
  
  The turning point came when they released the book on the minor-prophets. It was a different take that moved away from psuedo-intellectual examination of history, types, and antitypes. Instead, it focused on applying the writings of the minor prophets to things like meeting attendence, dress, personal study, education, entertainment, materialism ... basically the hot topics the organization always harps on.
  
  Another way this is manifested is in how new light is introduced. Now the GB doesn't go to great lengths to explain changes. Like when "overlapping generations" was roled out it in a couple of paragraphs as what Jesus "evidently meant". There was very little proof offered compared to the past. With "listen, obey, and be blessed" becoming their new anthem, the GB seems to want people that can just accept whatever they teach without question.
  
  As a side-note, I recently picked up an Awake! "magazine" at the laundry mat and was shocked to see how the quality of writing has dropped in the last decade. The "articles" reminded me of Power Point presentations, with just simply worded bullet points.
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  JustVisting

  Television networks produce tv shows based on the "lowest common denominator" principle, that is, shows must appeal to the "dumbest" members of the target audience. The same is true of the WT literature of late in that it is interesting to the less intelligent members of the target population which, as mentioned above is the third world and immigrant population.
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  Vidiot

  JustVisiting - "Television networks produce tv shows based on the 'lowest common denominator' principle, that is, shows must appeal to the 'dumbest' members of the target audience."

  Does that mean the current WT literature is the religious equivalent of Jerry Springer and Honey Boo-Boo?
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  Does that mean the current WT literature is the religious equivalent of Jerry Springer and Honey Boo-Boo?

  I see it more as the religious equivalent of "Clifford the Big Red Dog"
• 

  Crazyguy

  One of the former members of the writing department told me that the ones thier now just don't have the bible knowledge. I also think that's if you don't say or teach to much from the bible then there's less info that can be found to be wrong. They hate us apostates showing them up by showing were thier wrong biblically all the time.
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  Magnum

  Many have pointed out on this thread that one of the reasons (if not the main reason) for the dumbing down has to do with a desire to appeal to the target audience. The org knows that its days of attracting the educated and well-read are over, so it's targeting the less educated and the less informed. Therefore, the literature is now designed so it will appeal to them and can be understood by them. I agree that that's a major reason, if not the main reason.

  However, I still feel there are other reasons. For one, as I've already said, the org has to be more careful now. They've been busted too many times with their failed doctrine and prophecy. They know they can be torn to shreds by many educated, knowledgeable people if they venture into territory they once did in their literature. Also, as I've already mentioned, it's harder to get deeper, technical type material out now because it has to have the approval of too many individuals, not just one in the case of the Freddy days, and that many people won't all agree (Oubliette - I like your phrase - "doctine by committee"). Thirdly, as I've already mentioned, there is not enough brain power in the org. Somebody in an above post disagreed with that saying, for example, that the org has engineers, lawyers, etc. However, there are different kinds of smarts. One's being an engineer or lawyer does not necessarily mean he has the brain power and/or ability and/or talent to analyze somewhat obscure Bible passages with understanding and be able to effectively communicate his findings to others. I know some engineers and lawyers who are not very smart. Knorr was probably somewhat smart, but if he was, it was in a different way from Freddy. I don't think Knorr could have done what Freddy did; for one thing, I don't think he was as interested in it as Freddy was. (Just want to make it clear that I don't think Freddy was all that smart. He just had the passion and the interest and enough intelligence to appear at the time to be a guru.)

  Believe me, I can tell from the org's writing that there ain't no smarts up there. I have vast lists of examples of their poor grammar, faulty logic, and just outright bad writing. I've even seen bad writing and bad grammar in material coming from the legal dept.

  So I think there are a number of reasons, and the desire to appeal to the target audience may be the main one.