one reason for the dumbing down of the org

by Magnum 91 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Magnum

  donuthole - I agree with everything you said. For example,

  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.

  So true. I noticed the same thing about the minor prophets book. That's also true about the new Jeremiah book and the Acts book. No more commentary type pseudo-intellectual analysis. They, too, both focused on the topics you mentioned - topics having to do more with JW conduct - topics like materialism, meeting attendance, etc. They were both major bores and wastes of time.
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  Vidiot

  Crazyguy - "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."

  Are you saying that they're wrong when they ignore certain Biblical things because they claim to be following the Bible?

  Or that they're wrong when they follow certain Biblical things, because science, history, etc. has demonstrated that these aspects of the Bible are wrong?
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  westiebilly11

  ed dunlap. I stand corrected..thank you...still a great book..written without filler.
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  Magnum

  Vidiot - when I read what Crazyguy wrote, I thought he was saying that the org now veers away from deeper Bible teachings and analysis because they know if they do, there's less chance they can be found to be wrong. It's safer. It's kind of like the less you say, the less you can be wrong.

  All of their old, deeper, more analytical publications are now an embarassment and thorn in their sides. That's why they're trying to make them all disappear.
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  AlphaMan

  Freddie Franz was the Steven King of bat-shit crazy religious commentry. Few JW's know that the old wacko talked to his old shoes.
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  Magnum

  Alphaman-

  I agree with what you say about Freddy. However, at the time, he was accepted as the JW guru, so he was unchallenged. It reminds me of an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies I once saw. Ellie-Mae and Jethro got sucked into a commune of hippies, and eventually Granny joined. In this commune was some skinny, shaggy-looking little hippie punk that basically just slept on a cot all day. Every once in a while he would wake up, raise his head up, and say something mundane like "I need to go to the bathroom". All the hippies would then excitedly try to figure out the "deep" meaning of his words, as if they were profound. He was their guru, and whatever he said was unchallenged, accepted, revered even though he was just a skinny little punk who basically slept all day.

  That, to me, is the way it was with Freddy. He was nothing special, but he was the JW guru, and whatever he said must have been profound and deep. JWs waited eagerly for the next words to come from his mouth of his pen. However, he was just a social misfit with decent intelligence and education, and he was perhaps delusional.
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  steve2

  I am a little embarrassed to admit it, but I actually liked the crisp and clear writing style of the old blue "bombshell" Bible study book, The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life - that compact little book had well-argued confidence. Of course, they later airbrushed out the specific references to the end and, from today's perspective, it's strongly deluded content irks - but in its day, it packed a meaningful punch in bringing people into the organization.

  I understand that Ray Franz wrote most of it, including that lovely and timeless chapter, Why it Is Wise To Examine Your Religion - required reading still for people of all religious persuasions, especially the Witnesses themselves!
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  Magnum

  steve2 - don't be embarassed. The quality was better then; it was crisp and clear. The org has gone downhill.
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  compound complex

  He was the Oracle. [emphasis CC]

  He made his own rules and everyone accepted it with "Well, that's Freddy".

  I was there in Yankee Stadium for his 20 min. prayer.

  minimus

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/172332/1/Fred-Franz-the-Weird-Speaker-from-Brooklyn#.U6nLREZ3ztA
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "The Daniel book and the two-volume Isaiah's Prophecy books seemed to close out the era of studying the "deeper things"."

  donuthole and Magnum reminded me of comments I heard when I was in bethel. The Daniel book was fairly well received, but there was a lot of disappointment that no predictions for the future were made for things like King of the North. It was more of a historical review rather than something motivating. And for the two Isaiah books, there were a lot of complaints from publishers and book study conductors. These things were so painfully slow, boring, and repetitious that I know our congregation saw new lows in attendance for CBS.

  And as noted, the "deeper" WT studies tended to require "new light". I think it was the last WT I ever conducted that was about several of Jesus illustrations. The lessons required explaining what WT used to teach and then the nulite that they should believe now. One of them was the illustration about the leaven in the loaf not meaning christendom anymore, but now the "invisible growth" in the JWs. Something like that. It was all rather confusing. The writing was haphazard and the sheeples wouldn't remember a word of it unless they had the WT right in front of their faces.

  In case anyone hasn't seen these, it's a pretty accurate example of the "dumbing down" of the meetings:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHcdCYf0Xo0

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeidZmxHLiY