by woodland 14 Replies latest jw experiences
My Mum always says that she is an imperfect person within a perfect organisation. Now, what I do not understand is by her own admission she is imperfect, in fact, we all are. So, how can imperfect humans create a perfect organisation? Also, she says that this system of things is ran by Satan, in which case we are all in submission to Satan. None of us has the power to go head-to head with Satan, so what?s the point in trying?
Thoughts?
Ask her if the Jewish system of Jesus' day was perfect...According to the WTS it was God's organization until 33 CE. and totally destroyed in 70 CE with the destruction of the temple and temple records.
Ask her if the Jewish system of Jeremiah's day was perfect..According to the WTS it was destroyed by Babylon with God's permission.
Ask her what seems to happen to God's organizations when they deliberately disregard God's requirements.
Taking Blondie's comment one step further, you might want to ask your mom, in view their frequent sinnings, the unfaithfulness of at least 28 of Israel's and Judah's 43 kings, and ultimately God's rejection of it, how His first attempt at Theocracy on earth could not be judged a failure by any reasonable standard?
Good points Blondie and Room215.
One reason that many jws feel that way (or, actually, are conditioned to think that way) is so that when push comes to shove, they'll blame themselves when things go wrong, rather than blaming the "Organization".
What happens too is that this "Organization" becomes a kind of entity, but without a human face. The tendency is to idealize it, and also personalize it, and yet, because it is an organization and not thought of as a person or persons, it is seldom held accountable. Instead, people within it feel that only they themselves are accountable for failings.
This can be illustrated with what happened in 1995 when the "Generation" teaching changed. The organization said that "some of Jehovah's people" were given to speculation about dates, when in fact it was with the organization that speculation and the teachings it was based on originated. I recall vividly sitting there during that Watchtower study, trying to accept culpability for something that I, and anyone in that Kingdom Hall, had nothing to do with. Better that than blame the "Organization", I thought. But then I realized it was they that came up with such teachings not me.
Hi Woodland,
here is a sight you may fine interesting.
blondie wrote:
Ask her what seems to happen to God's organizations when they deliberately disregard God's requirements
This has been an issue with me for many years. The WT finds primary and secondary fulfillments in nearly every prophecy in the Bible, but when it comes to Jehovah punishing the wayward nation, there is NO modern day fulfillment. Oh, please, don't give me the 1918 stuff; "we weren't publishing the good news strongly enough." Right.
How about:
Fraud "We are a charitable organization"
Corruption The UN is the beast "We needed a library card"
Uneven application of standards (Mexico vs. Malawi)
Lying blood issue, sex abuse issue.........you could go on and on.
I asked brother True Believer about this years ago; he said that nothing he read indicated that there would be any large scale apostasy or problems with the org. in the modern day.
Shame on me for putting up with this for so long.
All the people I knew said it was not a perfect organization.
Woodland:
Jehovah's Witnesses often blur the distinction between "God's heavenly organization" and his "earthly organization." But in recent years, the Watchtower has admitted that it is not a "perfect" organization and has made errors. Your mother may have in mind "Jehovah's heavenly organization" when she speaks.
Rocketman makes an excellent point. The organization always escapes any personal responsibility. So it remains pure and unadulterated in the eyes of Jehovah's Witnesses. Individuals or members are blamed for its errors. But the organization is, in fact, made up of these very individuals. The Governing Body and other leading men at Bethel are the organization.
When i was in, i too, over the years, heard the expression.
SS
Ask your mother "Who or what is the organization?"
There is no person or place accountable as being "the organisation" because i t really is only the collective spirit of jws - and a few snakes egging them on.
It?s handy that the average jw is 'imperfect' because if someone needs to become accountable, there's certainly a large supply of "blameworthies" all ready for the using.
On occasion though the average jw simply can't be made accountable - so then there's those "zealous brothers" - who? you know - the ones that we're talking about - who?
Last, but no least, there's always 'jwspiritgod'.
For jwism, when it really comes down to it, the case is, "we're just doing what 'god' told us" See him about it.
So, who or what is "the organisation"? The what? who?
One thing you can be assured of - it's always someone else.
