My wife and I attended the morning session of the convention...(I'd have rather had a root canal while simultaneously being given a proctological exam) and we began discussing in whispers about 1914. The bro at our assembly did touch on this information, saying not to be date driven...he did not give the "in stone" comments, though. My wife is a JW....as smart as she is, I'll never understand THAT decision....so I use her thoughts to somewhat represent the "thinking" minority of JW's. She even stated that the whole 1914 thing was a place where the JW's really stepped in the doo-doo. She said that it's a mistake they'll never live down, all because men were impatient and wanted to start assigning dates and being prophets. I thought this was quite a statement for an active JW to make.
I guess right before the "new light" of '95, I kinda fell out of the loop. I have noticed that many from the platform are still trying to cling to the old ways, even when the WTS has tried to state a more moderate view. The WTS has stated before that the choosing of higher education is okay but up to the individual...but at the assembly, it was made out to be a sign of spiritual weakness and immaturity to pursue it. Most who are going to go to college probably really don't care if it's a "sign of weakness", but it does make life hard on them because of the endorsement from the platform of the idea that it's okay for the rest of the "bubbas", who today make up the majority of the recruits, to make life miserable for those that have what it takes to futher their education and expose themselves to a free exchange of ideas.
Just a few thoughts of my impression of the DC.
Coon
...OUTLAW