Few JW leader have children

by slimboyfat 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  HereIam60

  I well remember a talk given in the 1980's called "Responsible Childbearing in the Time Of The End". With the end " so close" upon us., we were reminded that Noah's sons and their wives evidently did not have children so as not to distract them from helping build the ark, and that the children of the wicked perished with them in the Flood, that Jesus said it would be harder for those with young children to flee to the mountains for safety, and that some of the besieged in Jerusalem ate their own children! I remember this caused quite a stir at the assembly I attended with people gathering together in the back of the auditorium and asking "Are they really saying NOT to have children?". The material later appeared as a Watchtower study article.

  At present, having a family does not seem to be actually discouraged, but there still is a major pitch for young people to remain " free" for full time service, less the pioneer ministry anymore, and more on working in construction projects.

  I'm sure Anthony Morris III's sons are still in. He said once, in a talk, and his printed life story that his sons "make us look good...". I've thought that one (of several) reasons for his deparure was his frank admission in an annual meeting talk, that interestingly was retained in the JW Broadcasting version, that when older ones in the 1970s told his sons they would not finish school in this system, and they asked him about this, he told then they needed to keep on the watch, as this system could go on many more years, mentioning 2020...
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  joey jojo

  If a JW is serious about their faith, it is extremely difficult to reconcile bringing children into this world.

  Ive always wondered how any JW can preach about how sick the world is and how close to the end we are, and then proceed to increase the population with their own offspring.
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  Sea Breeze

  Russell had a failed marriage.

  Rutherford had a failed marriage

  Knorr was not married for the first 9 years of being WT president. Then his new wife complained to other sisters that he never consummated the union.

  Fred Franz never married.

  WT leadership have not been what you would call "family men". They have created the greatest family killing machine ever devised. They were all weirdos.

  The produced the joke book - "Family Life". How dumb can people be?
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  Journeyman

  slim has hit on an interesting issue here.

  Yes the WT Org has always had an awkward relationship with the idea of families and raising children.

  For married couples, having children was often portrayed as a distraction, preventing them from serving more fully in the ministry.

  And for those couples with the children, the children are usually shown as only of real "value" to the extent they remain associated with the congregation, growing up as little publishers (witnessing with tracts at school, etc) and then going on to - yes, you guessed it - fulltime service, Bethel or other "spiritual activity" as soon as they are old enough.

  Likewise, the org as a whole has never known what to do with children in congregations. Unlike most other churches, there is no Sunday school or separate Bible training/schooling arrangement for "young ones". In fact, until the past 10-20 years or so, there was never even much in the way of different material for young ones compared to adults - children were expected to wade through the same kind of dense, complex scriptural material their parents did, in Watchtowers and Book studies!

  For over a century, childhood has been treated by the WT org as if it's just an inconvenient phase between birth and becoming a fully baptised "full time servant" of Jehovah! And any children who don't end up like that are "erased" from the record.

  It does also indeed explain why their "practical" advice to young people and their families has become increasingly out of touch and out of step with reality.

  You never hear of any "exemplary" JW parents at assemblies or on videos commenting positively on anything their grown-up children have done if it doesn't involve "reaching out" in "kingdom service"! Even if they had kids who had just got on with life but stayed as JWs in their local congregation - that's not enough! They had to have done something much more "notable" like missionary work or Bethel service!
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  LongHairGal

  JOURNEYMAN:

  You hit the nail on the head.

  These childless, clueless men in the religion had NO business giving any advice to people with families and I am sorry for anybody who ever listened to a word they said - not just in child rearing but in other areas as well!👎