Do JWs Really Say This?

by NotFormer 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  FedUpJW

  I didn't think that the R&F would copy them and use it in general conversation.

  Where I am located everyone seemed to use that term like some kind of verbal talisman. It was always "The Slave" this, and "The Slave" that. Before I walked away from the hamster wheel I would always correct them, just to piss them off and say, "You mean the governing body!" They hated that because it reinforced they were lower than a slave (servant) and obedient to a governing body of rule makers, not being looked after by some mysterious "slave".
  
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  Vidiot

  “The Society”… “The Branch”… “The Slave”.

  They do like their euphemisms.

  And yes, I think “The Slave” is the most popular, specifically because its inherent implications of humility distract the brain from the uncomfy fact that the men who comprise The Slave are, in fact, The Masters.
  
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  DesirousOfChange

  the men who comprise The Slave are, in fact, The Masters

  DAMN RIGHT! Do not ever say or convey that you doubt that!
  
  
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  Nikolaus

  A JW once said to me:

  „I’d rather take a beating together with the Slave than hit the Slave myself.“
  

  
  
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  3rdgen

  When I was a little girl in the 1950s The ENTIRE group of JWs "anointed remnant" and "other sheep" including all of the leadership called themselves the "New World Society". IOW Every JW, man, woman, and child, was part of the "Society". The Entire Remnant of the 144.000 was called "The Faithful and Discrete Slave."

  At this time Bethel produced 2 films each lasting at least an hour. One was called "Happiness in the New World Society". The second was called "The New World Society in Action" These films attempted to show the worldwide brotherhood and work done by JWs. I remember because my father had both films and narrated and showed them to many congregations up to the early 1960s.

  My point is that at that time Terms used by JWs were more inclusive to the whole group. As time went on "The Society" referred only to the leadership throughout the world and effectively discarded the rest of JWs

  When the Elder arrangement started in 1972 control continued to tighten up and so did the terms used. Later the Governing Body" started to call THEMSELVES the "Faithful and Discrete Slave" thus discarding the rest of the "Anointed Remnant". from the title.

  I say all this to outline how over the years the JW leadership has gradually demoted its believers to lower and lower importance while, at the same time, elevating the Governing Body above Jesus himself.
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  Vidiot

  Yup.

  Doubling down over and over again in the face of evidence they were wrong, because course-correction would threaten the all-or-nothing premise they’d spent decades reinforcing…

  …and decades later, you can’t help but end up with a group of guys who can’t even handle being wrong, and will go to any length to avoid having to acknowledge it even to themselves.
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  blondie

  Now many tend to say "the Society" but the WTS officially has complained about this.

  1952

  The Society says that children should be taken to the congregational meetings because the Bible says so.

  1981

  • “My two sons are both away from home, serving at the headquarters of the Watchtower Society,” she says proudly.

    The WTS has also counseled not the say "the paragraph says" either.

    or 1998

    In order to avoid misunderstandings, Jehovah’s Witnesses try to be careful about how they express themselves. Instead of saying, “the Society teaches,” many Witnesses prefer to use such expressions as, “the Bible says” or, “I understand the Bible to teach.”
    
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  road to nowhere

  Blonde

  But we know it is the society who says

  And the society who is served
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  blondie

  RTN, yes, the inference is there. I always like when someone would answer, "the paragraph says" instead of the "bible says." Yes, that jw knew whose words they had to pay attention to....