The Watchtower Defeat No One Notices

metatron

If a great change is difficult to quantify, it can pass unnoticed. The greatest defeat
the Watchtower has suffered to date falls into this category. Specifically, the Watchtower
has been systematically defeated as a coherent scheme of doctrine.

I can remember hot, lengthy debates on the internet about every teaching unique to Jehovah's
Witnesses - no more. There's nothing to debate and no one to take up the fight.
There are now countless sites offering indepth refutations of any significant Watchtower
teaching you'd care to name - and most importantly, there is no reasoned, well thought
out response from the Society.

This suspension of defense has been increasing since Fred Franz died - not surprizingly,
since they have little talent that can pick up where he left off.

Has it been nearly twenty years since Olaf Johnson was disfellowshipped for refuting
the 'Gentile Times'? Has any indepth defense been mounted to disprove his work, by anyone
official in the Watchtower Society?

Why is it necessary for someone like Greg Stafford to mount an unofficial defense of
Witness teachings? And even that together with doubts attached? Why is it presently
impossible to have a pro-Witness web site that defends in depth?

As things stand now, the organization is becoming a kind of doctrinal 'ad-hocracy'
where a simple committee meeting - or urgent demand from the Legal dept. - can revise
supposedly 'eternal' truth. Even old timers and GB members can't always keep up with
subtle changes made to the body of what Witnesses are told to believe.

Mostly, the growing doubts are well hidden behind a facade of platitudes and vacuity
that mask the fact that the Watchtower Society really can't defend much of anything
with any depth - they can't figure it out themselves - and many journeys into research
only result in embarrassing misquotes and inaccuracies. ( like info on flag salute )

Where will this great 'levitation act' crash to earth? As long as tired Witnesses
are willing to shut off their thinking abilities, the Society is safe. The old timers
keep their mouths shut until death and the younger generation ignores it all anyway.

Long before the Soviet Union collapsed, it's arrangement of doctrine quietly fell
apart. Eventually, even the greatest monoliths get worn away by exposure.

I sometimes wonder who the last Witness will be - to die for the blood issue.
It's a little like the plot to "All quiet On the Western Front" in which the main
character gets shot after an armistice is signed ........

metatron

Pleasuredome

ahhhh....i havent seen that film yet!!!! you've just ruined it for me.

Hmmm

Good post, Metatron.

I was thinking the same thing just the other day. I remember my own Internet-Dub days spent defending WT doctrine against atheists, evangelicals, and slathering apostates. I think those days are pretty much gone.

Today's JW apologist is much more likely to be a Fred Hall, who would sooner call you an 'asshole' than offer up a cogent defense of a specific WT teaching; or a pseudo-JW troll like comforter/dunscott; or a nutcase like YouKnow, whose sole delvings into WT dogma are his own going-ahead-of-the-chariot delusions.

JW 'fellowship' boards have the same atmosphere as a Kingdom Hall during the COs visit; everyone is focused on being "encouraging" to one another, with no true spiritual discussions allowed beyond quoting what was in the latest Watchtower study.

I think you summed it up very well, Metatron: The old-timers are silently hoping against hope that their secret doubts will prove groundless, and the younger JWs aren't interested enough to even stay up on current doctrine, let alone examine/debate it.

It's a little like the plot to "All quiet On the Western Front" in which the main
character gets shot after an armistice is signed ........

Oh great, ruin the plot for me! ;)

Hmmm

[Edit: I see Pleasuredome posted the same lame joke while I was typing. I should be ashamed... if I'm not going to be funny, I should at least be original!]

Edited by - hmmm on 10 December 2002 11:52:48

Farkel

metatron,

Great observations, as usual. Here's something I did recently along the same lines for new ones to muse over:

The Glory Days Aver Over

Farkel

JeffT

I've noticed an interesting change in the magazines I still see from time to time. When I became a dub in 1973 the printing output was full of prophetic intrepretations, and esoteric arguments about doctrine etc. It had a vibrant feel to it. The problem was that they never have had an systemic method of intrepretation that was used on whatever part of the Bible happened to be under discussion. This house of cards fell down after 1975, and the followup attempts at damage control.

What I've seen of watchtower publications now seems to be endless repetition of about four themes: we are God's organization, do as your told, keep your nose clean, and go out in service more. That's it. This is "meat in do season?" No it's the spiritual equivalent of a frozen pizza.

The hope is that some day they will all wake up to the fact that the "organization" is an empty shell.

Big Tex

Metatron

I think you're analogy of the Soviet Union is spot on. Toward the end of Communism, there was no debate any longer between the merits of Marxism/Leninism and capitalism. The Soviet Union was kept together by an iron fist. The people did not rise up in revolt because it was all they knew and to protest meant expulsion to Siberia or death.

So it is with the Witnesses. They hold their little kingdom together through fear, not love. People stay not because they believe but because they don't know anything else. They're afraid to leave and afraid to protest. Time and again the GB has had the opportunity to reform and be easier on their people. Instead they've chosen to squeeze harder. People are being stretched to the breaking point on a physical and emotional level. Ten or 15 years from now, after the current leadership has died off, will the Witnesses look different? Probably not. I hope at least they change the blood doctrine. To die needlessly for an incorrect interpretation is sad.

NameWithheld

Absolutely! The lack of anything of substance is a huge tell. I noticed this as I faded in the mid-90's - every meeting was a mind-numbing marathon of nothing more than tired old Clichs and demands for more more more FS, meetings, donations. FS was nothing more than driving to empty houses, leaving mags/tracts in doors, or the few people you'd meet a 20 sec canned 'please buy these mags they explain the bible' presentation.

And it's getting worse rapidly, now there are no JWs visible in the community, at least I never see them. And from reports here the 'new' preaching consists of setting up a table in public and waiting for people to come up asd ask for mags (which really, in today's world, is going to be pretty much nobody). So much for this 'zealously proclaiming Jehovah's kingdom'. If I were a normal person, I would have NO IDEA what JWs beleive, probably not even be very aware that they even existed. Much less 'realize' that my eternal life depended on joining their little cult.

I really think that most of the JW's of today are there out of routine and habit.

Xander

The parallel with a communist nation is striking, indeed.

But, keep in mind in what state China still is.

It doesn't take a leap of logic to see where even Russia would be today if Gorbachev had not come along.

So, who will be the society's Gorbachev?

reubenfine

Nice thread. I saw one of those tables set up at Arizona State University. There were other tables with books and people were checking out each one except the witness table was COMPLETELY avoided. The faceless witnesses sat there with blank looks. So much for "witnessing." It was pathetic, but 4 people were counting time.

acsot

Metatron and Farkel: Thanks for these posts! You've described what I've been feeling/observing but wasn't able to put it into words. Now I understand the reason(s) behind the mind-numbing boredom of current talks and Watchtowers and book studies and assemblies and ... on and on

The Watchtower Defeat No One Notices

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