Do we blame the Governing Body too much?

by no-zombie 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Magnum

  I don't think we blame the governing body too much; I think they deserve all the blame we give them. However, I do agree with your point in that I think we should blame the rank and file more. I actually do place a lot of blame on them.

  JWdom has changed drastically as most of us know. There are growing mountains of evidence against it now. Its history of failed major predictions (over 100 years long) looks more and more wrong with every passing day. Hell, it's almost 20-damned-24. The religion is no longer scholarly and analytical as it at least once seemed to be. The org and individual JWs are now cowards; they fear and run from challenges and deeper questions. The religion has become shallow and corny and televangelist-like. Their writings are now few and those few are dumbed down. JWs claim to be lovers of light, yet, in reality they run from it. The great light the internet brought to the world exposed JWdom for what it really is. JWs are, in reality, lovers of darkness. They don't want analysis; they don't want a light to be shown on them. The religion is weakening; the preaching work seems almost dead.

  I just don't see how a level-headed person who loves truth and has decent intelligence and powers of reason and comprehension and discernment could remain a JW today. In the old days, yes, but not now. I cannot comprehend how my family members could still be in. I blame them. I blame all JWs who still support the org. Even though I don't think we blame the GB too much, I think the rank and file should be blamed. If they'd all leave, the GB would be powerless, whining little nobodies.

  And I not only talk the talk, I walk the walk. I was a reg pio & prominent elder with major dist conv parts every year. I was the real deal. I lived the religion and loved it and would have died for it. However, I was also honest and loved truth and I had good discernment. I was constantly questioning and analyzing. I finally determined that JWdom wasn't what I thought it was for decades and I left our Kingdom Hall after a Sunday meeting and never set foot in one again.

  I now blame those who remain and support the GB. They are lacking something... Honesty? Discernment? Common sense? Well-rounded intelligence*? A combnation of such things? I don't know, but, something's wrong. They won't reason. They want to point out the wrongs of the beliefs of others, but they won't let anybody show them the wrongs of their beliefs. How could they be so confident that they're right, yet, so fearful of challenge? Yeah, I blame them.

  * I say well-rounded intelligence because I agree that some have intelligence in some ways, but I just don't see how one with well-rounded intelligence could remain a JW unless he's just dishonest and does so for selfish reasons. I have a JW relative who has a degree from a major science/engineering university. He is the only person I know inside and outside of JW land with whom I can talk about deeper, more technical things like math, physics, chemistry, and advanced grammar and know that he will understand. However, he can be a real dumbass in some ways. He has good intelligence in some ways, but is lacking in others. I don't consider him to have well-rounded intelligence.
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  enoughisenough

  Magnum, I think the word honesty is the key. The see and know ( or at lease get a questioning unease ) about some of the doctrines that don't fit the scriptures, and they choose to believe the lie.
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  joey jojo

  Magnum
  I now blame those who remain and support the GB. They are lacking something... Honesty? Discernment? Common sense? Well-rounded intelligence*? A combnation of such things? I don't know, but, something's wrong. They won't reason.

  The Zizek trilemma:

  One cannot but recall here a witty formula of life under a hard Communist regime: Of the three features—personal honesty, sincere support of the regime and intelligence—it was possible to combine only two, never all three. If one were honest and supportive, one was not very bright; if one were bright and supportive, one was not honest; if one were honest and bright, one was not supportive.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilemma#:~:text=communism%20over%20democracy).-,The%20%C5%BDi%C5%BEek%20trilemma,also%20being%20honest%20and%20intelligent.

  In other words, if you have average intelligence, in order to remain loyal, you have to be dishonest.

  This helps explain why most JW's wont debate. When they drill down, their final response will always be, 'leave it Jehovah', or something similar. There is nothing solid.
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  Diogenesister

  An excellent question. Id say yes. We do blame them too much. Its convenient, isn't it? How many of us cheerfully accepted the idea that billions of innocent people (either through youth or not having ever been informed of watchtower) were going to be unfairly murdered so that we could have our "happy ever after"? Not all of us were comfortable with it - which is why many of us are here - but millions clearly are and thats a pretty awful thought, isnt it?

  N.B. ExpimaBethelite thats one of the best posts ive read of yours, by the way ;)
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  no-zombie

  I started this thought because I was reading about North Korea.

  You see North Korea has only been a totalitarian state for a relatively short period of time, from the 1950s as I understand. This means that there are people still alive in that country who still remember the time when it was quite free. However, despite the DPRKs incredibly repressive nature, its physical control over ever facet of human life, there has been NO acts of rebellion by its people, ever. Which I found rather strange.

  Conversely in Ukraine, its people protested against its Russian backed government, kicking them out of power in 2013 in what was later called the Revolution of Dignity, despite the fact that over 100 demonstrating Ukrainians were killed by police snipers.

  With this in mind, think about the following for a minute.

  Say by some freak of bad luck, every Governing Body member and Helper suddenly died of food poisoning, leaving only one candidate to take over ... Donald J. Trump.

  How long would it take before his antics caused a revolution amongst the Brotherhood? Or what if Stalin, Idi Amin and Poll Pot were at the helm at Warwick HQ? Of course the whole religion would collapse overnight because every single Jehovah's Witness would disassociate themselves from the faith. And while this is a hyperbola, the point I'm making is that there is a actually really narrow tolerance, people have for their leaders and there is a definite tipping point when political misconduct causes revolution.

  This being the case, when we think back to North Korea, we have to ask why haven't the North Korean's rebelled when the Ukrainians did ... clearly its because their system is tolerable to the collective Korean mindset. Where as the threshold for Ukrainians was a lot, lot lower despite the high cost they had to endure to get change.

  So, if we go back of our situation, I believe we (the general Brotherhood) have a Governing Body in it current form, because they are in our collective band of tolerance, as are their teachings. As a direct consequence, SOME responsibly of the actions of the Governing Body must fall on our shoulders, because of our support of them or allowing them to remain a part of our lives. After all we all thought that the Truth was great at some point, and you can only get disfellowshiped, if you've previously agreed to their rules and been baptized as a Jehovah's Witness.

  These facts are the basis of the term 'collective responsibility'. And it was due to this clear ethical principle that every individual German was punished (financially, technically and socially) at the end of WW2 because of their 'collective' support of Hitler and the Nazi party, independent what they did during the war.

  Yes, there are many victims of the Society (and some have been hurt very badly) however constantly 'playing the victim' and denying ALL responsibility after leaving, isn't psychologically helpful either ... because as any good psychiatrist will tell you, the only power someone has over you, is the power you give to them.
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  NotFormer

  Er, how did Trump get on the GB? 🤔
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  LongHairGal

  JOEY JOJO:

  You are absolutely right about the JW organization acting like a totalitarian government!

  When I read the book ‘Crisis of Conscience’ by Ray Franz, I was struck by all the similarities to what I read about what happened in Cuba. In the JWs they had secret witnesses snitching on people and the accused who were interrogated were never told by who, etc. In totalitarian governments we saw the same thing happen.

  MAGNUM:

  I agree with you and blame the rank & file Witnesses as well. When I was a young working woman, it was these older hypocrites (collecting pensions, no less) who criticized me and made sure I was hardly invited anywhere! I’m just thankful I never listened to them.
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  Foolednomore

  I somewhat blame the GB because they are the leaders. But they too are or could be Misguided like the rest of the Jw's.
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  Rivergang

  No Zombie,

  North Korea was never “free”. Before the Communist regime was installed after WWII, all of Korea was under Japanese rule. The Empire of Japan was many things, but one thing it wasn’t was “free”.