Infighting at the top?

by JeffT 37 Replies latest jw friends

  • Beth Sarim
    Beth Sarim

    It occurs to me a couple of years ago someone mentioned about an outside source helping the GB.

    It was about the time when all of this JW.org rebranding was taking place. Making the Borg a more contemporary Company for its time with multimedia broadcasts. You never know.

  • JeffT
    JeffT

    What Fisherman said is along the line of what I am thinking. It may not be a fight within the GB, but a turf war between various departments. I suspect the business decisions are being made by lawyers and accountants, and as Beth Sarim points out, consultants. I do think the GB is incompetent at all levels, they may well know that. This leaves them dependent on the advice they are given by competing advisers.

    I converted when Knorr and Franz ran the show (1973). One of the appeals of the organization was the appearance (at least) of depth in the literature and meeting parts. Those days are long gone, replaced by (as noted by previous entries in this thread) insipid music, inept videos, and dumbed down lectures. This will cost them their most loyal members, which is why I say there might be a schism.

  • cofty
    cofty
    One of the appeals of the organization was the appearance (at least) of depth in the literature and meeting parts ... This will cost them their most loyal members, which is why I say there might be a schism

    I think it is feasible. The old-school JWs who really believe and valued the bible studies might not go quietly.

    Social media makes grass-roots movements more likely.

  • lumberjack
    lumberjack

    I say lets not judge, and especially things we have not seen for ourselves.

    I got no warning for leaving my money here or there, why not divide them? I think what matters more is our motive. And God will certainly handle according to his prophecies.

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99

    There have been some very interesting thoughts posted here.

    What is 100% true is that there have been serious inter-department and inter-branch differences. For example, the design and construction teams being led out of NY and Germany have a history of not really working well together. This comes from two Bethel sources.

    What is also true is the use of commercially experienced third parties (some Witnesses and some not) to develop new strategies for the organisation. I have had this confirmed by the brother of one such person and others on here have confirmed similar accounts.

    They have also asked for "no idea is too stupid" input from Bethelites and had boxes where ideas could be posted anonymously. This was confirmed to me by a serving Bethelite.

    We have seen significant changes such as:

    • shift in the focus of the WTS away from published material to online
    • centralisation of funds (KH money grab)
    • realisation of property assets
    • downsizing
    • changes to hierarchy (no DOs, COs not having to go to Bethel to approve appointments)
    • more emotive and superficial teaching methods (videos, appeals to emotions)
    • changes to the meetings
    • high utilisation of Kingdom Halls
    • use of "special" and "international" conventions as glorified pep rallies with the welcoming of delegates, gift exchanges, crying and waving blah blah blah
    • consolidation and centralisation of some departments (e.g. Design and Construction becoming one global team led from NY)
    • JW.ORG rebrand

    These have come from such think tanks. More is on the way I am sure.

    My personal opinion is that the GB are generally united in pushing things forward however there may be some more sympathetic to the impact of such change on older ones and others more gung ho about taking the rank and file along with the changes.

    At the end of the day they do not expect any open rebellion. They expect the vast majority to embrace things or at the very least put up and shut up. Any who do dissent and leave the organisation are just a little bit of collateral damage.

  • LoveUniHateExams
    LoveUniHateExams

    I think there's plenty of infighting an clashes at the top, between GB members and between departments.

    If I'm right, we may see an actual schism at the top - TBH, I find this difficult to believe. I don't think any of the current GB wants to be the next Ray Franz.

    The scary thing is that the WT gets the dysfunctional to work, or at least tick over while the promise of panda-petting in a future paradise mollifies any issues JWs may have.

  • LoveUniHateExams
    LoveUniHateExams

    On the other hand, if any infighting at the top wakes up more bethelites than would have otherwise been the case then it's only a good thing ...

  • Half banana
    Half banana

    The finances of the WTBTS having gone off the 'gold standard' of large volume publishing has required a big reorganisation. With all the generous contributions still coming in from bequests and contributions as they are telling the faithful, why are they claiming to be so hard up? Whatever the matter is there is no doubt the GB are well and truly rattled.

    There are many possibilities. Letts seems to live in a nest in cloud cuckoo land (mouth open and always expecting food). His deliberation reassuring the true believers that there is more evidence for the Kingdom having come in 1914 than there is for electricity or gravity might be a clue. His statement is fatally flawed and here is my point; that many of the GB must know it is.

    If the GB are aware of the logical inconsistencies such as the 607 BCE date and the unsupportable 1919 year of divine approval, the eighty year failure of the generation who saw 1914 and the feebleness of the overlapping excuse...all demonstrate publicly that Jehovah's Witnesses are a complete failure in their preaching mission.

    If there are those in control who no longer believe but maintain the charade; this will soon bleed into the whole organisation and with the present vast number of conscious ones in their midst compounded with bad publicity and money troubles... the momentum of the JW org could stall.

    Let's look for dismissals and removals of GB members and others; it will be a sign of revolt and schism.

  • OneEyedJoe
    OneEyedJoe

    There are many possibilities. Letts seems to live in a nest in cloud cuckoo land (mouth open and always expecting food). His deliberation reassuring the true believers that there is more evidence for the Kingdom having come in 1914 than there is for electricity or gravity might be a clue. His statement is fatally flawed and here is my point; that many of the GB must know it is.

    To be fair, these were not necessarily Lett's words. At the convention I went to Losch said exactly the same thing when he gave the talk. Lett just happened to be the one that gave the talk that was recorded and distributed online.

  • sir82
    sir82

    boxes where ideas could be posted anonymously.

    Hoo boy, I'd love to have read some of those!

    I think every Kingdom Hall should have one! Can you imagine?

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