"Ones"

by Joe Grundy 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Sugar Shane

  What always got me was their use of the term 'heart condition.' For example: "We need to be mindful of our heart condition towards Jehovah." Really?? Sounds like someone should call an ambulance!

  I'd always found it to mean some kind of heart related medical problem, NOT a reference to 'where the heart lies' emotionally. At first, I thought it was just the way this elder talked...but then I heard it from other people, when I visited my wife's KH. Maybe it's in print like this too, I dunno.

  Also...'worldly.' To me, it had always meant someone who is well traveled, or informed about the world. Visit JW-land and it has a WHOLE new meaning.
• 

  AnneB

  In the 'normal world' we would probably use the word 'people'.

  That's just the point, "Ones" is used to distance the speaker/listeners from the humanity of the persons being discussed. No "he", no "she", no "they"; only an unthinking, unfeeling, less than human "something" that the God-chosen dubbies are forced to deal with...so let it be at arm's length and best dealt with as an object.

  Google the phrase "one is glad to be of service" or watch the movie "Bicentennial Man" for a deeper understanding.
  
• 

  prologos

  The picture I get from that wt word interested --- "ones" is persons already detached from their former identity and singled out, meriting special attention, to be absorbed into the "fold".
• 

  sir82

  It also tends to de-personalize the people you are referring to.

  It is subconsciously easier for a JW's mind to accept shunning of disfellowshipped "ones", the imminent destruction of worldly "ones", mocking the faithlessness of educated "ones" and so on.

  If you refer to them as "persons" or "people", well, that sounds cruel and barbaric, which of course it is.

  Same principle with wartime propaganda - dehumanize your enemy so you don't think about his wife & kids & dear old mother, wondering when he'll return home.
  
• 

  compound complex

  As already stated, there is a certain awkwardness whenever the pronoun "one" becomes the subject of a sentence and, in formal structure, must be retained throughout:

  On such a lovely day as this, one thinks of happy times past, when one was doing what one wanted, with one's friends.

  A bit exaggerated, yes, but correct. Yet, who talks like this? The example above is most likely to be found in literary writing; a contemporary writer would, generally, avoid such a structure, employing a more reader-friendly format. If you were to use a "person" as subject, your follow through of a pronoun in apposition would be either "he" or "she," which could pose other difficulties for the purist, who would never say "they."

  Oh, btw, I believe it was noted as a peculiarity in the ARC commentary that the Society uses the term "lands" in place of "counties": i.e., 'Jehovah's Witnesses are found in over ### lands.'

  CC
• 

  Finkelstein

  " Ones who are faithfully dedicated "

  " Ones who are opposed to being faithfully dedicated "

  " Ones who are spiritually strong "

  " Ones who are spiritually weak "
  

  These all are identifiers used by JWS as implied means to distinguish "ones" own righteous identitying state or position.
  
• 

  sir82

  And in the case of applying "ones" in a positive aspect, sheeplike ones, humble ones, and so on...

  Well, regardless of the depth of friendship or the closeness of family bond, every JW must be prepared to instantly shun any other JW at literally a moment's notice. "XYZ is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses" and BAM! Shun the "one".

  If you depersonalize everyone, it is easier to shun them or pray for their execution by Jehovah, whether it happens now or years from now.
  
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  Finkelstein

  Good point Sir82
  
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  Joe Grundy

  Thanks for the comments.

  When I see the use of 'ones' in quotes from dub-lit it jars and flashes the dub-speak warning. I wonder a little whether dubs use it to try and sound more 'churchy' (or in dubs' case more KHly). Listen to ministers, pastors, vicars, etc., and some of them use uncommon phraseology which perhaps to their mind is what they SHOULD sound like.

  I'm sure that if I tried I could sound like a Methodist minister or a CofE Vicar (actually, now I recall, I have done in the past for work purposes). Don't know if I could 'do' a dub elder, though.
  
• 

  Island Man

  I think we should look at the literature. It may just be that the term was used by one of the more prolific writers in the writing department and so it entered the JW culture in that way. I don't think there's anything ulterior behind its use. I think it's just a word that has become part of JW culture.