question for all who read CoC

by Realist 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  Gamaliel

  Just another opinion, of course, but saying that the GB couldn't believe what they were saying is like saying that we didn't believe what we were saying when we were JWs. I think most of us did believe, didn't we?

  As far as voting on doctrine etc., this was just the natural outgrowth of our JW beliefs about the Holy Spirit. If anyone heard a GB pray, they didn't have any different understanding of HS than the rest of us. I'd wager that no one on the GB could have distinguished HS from gas pains or delerium tremens, although maybe FWFranz and JFRutherford made the attempts, respectively. There was no belief that HS would literally guide anyone individually, or have some special power that could be recognized when it motivated you correctly. Except for the flowery language in a few excessive assembly prayers, most prayers were about as routine and meaningless as any of those "get-it-over-with" prayers we heard before a meal or when a meeting for field service was dismissed.

  Like the priest praying that God will correctly "nudge" the dice (Urim & Thummim), GB prayers for direction could not have been more than the vague idea that God's spirit will somehow "bear witness with their spirit" about the rightness or wrongness of a certain item up for discussion. In other words they might get a vague good or bad feeling or "vibe" about it. The real problem is that they thought they were supposed to abandon any personal involvement and work with a "groupthink" Theocratic arrangement, which is just another cold, bureaucratic reporting structure when you strip away the scripturo-linguistic camouflage.

  The idea of a "Theocratic" arrangement was the most anti-spiritual idea that Rutherford ever had, and it makes it easy for all elders to merely go along with a system. No one has to think, all they have to do is get a feeling that something didn't make sense in the overall existing arrangement.

  Getting a dozen men to vote on issues was probably just something that made sense to them, because they could rely on whether most of others also had the same feeling they probably had. Not much could change too drastically all at once, and this, of course, makes everyone comfortable that things are working smoothly, therefore correctly -- according to Jehovah's direction.

  Gamaliel
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  lv4fer

  You know how some people tell lies over and over so many times that they believe the lie to be the truth. As for the rest of them they were told the lie and believed it to be true therefore it is true to them. Unfortunately the rest of us fell for it. Either because of ignorance on our part and that was all we were ever told or we were just to lazy to really research the information when it was given to us in the first place. It sounded like a good line at first to me.
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  SpunkyChick

  I just finished ready COC today. What an eye-opener! Does anyone know if Raymond Franz is still alive? If so, where could I write him a letter of thanks?
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  blondie

  Yes, he and his wife Cynthia are still alive and making a difference. You can contact them here:

  http://www.commentarypress.com/
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  berylblue

  In such an event, given that Spirit leading is uniform, all votes would be identical.

  Francois, this is so true.

  Rosemarie
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  DanTheMan

  The GB thinks that "The Organization" is led by God. Page 335 of CofC 3rd edition accurately describes just what "The Organization" represents in the minds of the GB and the rest of JW's -

  I believe that for most of these Governing Body members, like the rest of Jehovah's Witnesses, "the organization" takes on a symbolic nature, something rather undefined, abstract, a concept rather than a concrete entity. Rather than the "mother church" it is the "mother organization." Perhaps because of such an illusory view of "the organization" a man can be a member of such a Body that has virtually unrestricted power and authority, and yet not feel a keen sense of personal responsibility for what the body does, for whatever hurt or misleading information and consequent misdirection results.
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  proplog2

  Ray Franz describes a discussion among the Governing Body where someone asked "What does the Society have to say about the situation ?" Ray Franz reminded them that they pretty much are the Society. They have totally projected their wishes and theories onto some imaginary thing they have always referred to as the Society. They are not aware of their projections putting themselves and everyone at the mercies of their ids.

  This is the same mechanism that makes patriotism such a dispicable mind set.
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  Maverick

  The vehicle to dispense spiritual food has become self aware. It is the one served now and not the server. The Governing Body built a corporation to aid them and now are its protectors and promoters. They are the high priests of their Corporate God! They drink its intoxicating brew and see visions! They turn their backs on the temple, (Jesus) and bow to it, (the organization) in secret....Written in the style of The Nations Shall Know. Except I used periods instead of commas. Maverick
• 

  Realist

  thank you for all the replies!

  truly a fascinating psychological question. perhaps the mind control element comes in all by itself and the GB members are just as much trapped in it as all the RF people. or there is one guy on top who actually leads the entire group fully aware of what he is doing.