Among responsible ones, a large concern some decades back was the clear need for the individual to be so educated that his/her own Christian conscience would guide, especially in those issues which the Bible writers saw no necessity to spell out. Turned out to be a challenge, to the GB. We know what happened to thoughtful Christian men like Ed Dunlap who valued the Bible over dogma.
In effect they too were put on a boat and shipped out as if for banishment, as was Lucaris. Yes, they were strangled. As The Watchtower says, "a sobering reminder of what happens when clergy-instigated intrigues stand in the way of freedom of thought and expression." Is there any wonder why the drop in publishers? Lack of zeal? Please!
A hierarchy has enmeshed itself inextricably in Talmudic dogma. Policy after policy, legalism after legalism. Can you imagine Paul or Peter ever condoning this kind of activity?
<One is the militant hardliner service department boys that are responsible for the hard-line articles in the Watchtower and one of moderates that write in the Awake.>
This statement is too simplistic and it is inaccurate. The author may not have been talking to insiders who know, or perhaps they have misinterpreted, or are speaking in generalities. Service has been highly influential organizationally but is not responsible for writing the Watchtower, although clearly Writing took a huge swipe at that department with this article. BTW With the changes in Service and the institution of the Branch committee, isn't Writing now handling Our Kingdom Ministry, previously the organ of Service?
Watch, elders, for letters that come your way from the new "Society," the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, with the signature Legal and Service Departments. That has implications which are very clear to those reading the tea leaves.
Look again at the 10/15/00 QFR with its picture of the couple reviewing the Bible over coffee, with "Questions To Ask Yourself." "Would my Bible-trained conscience be troubled if ...?" What scriptures are they reviewing? It's an inconsistent policy that NO ONE can really explain in Brooklyn.
Who wants to be viewed as "weak" in conscience? The average publisher thinks that there is only one answer to the questions posed in the box. At some future time, having given itself wiggle room, the Society will say, "We told you that you had a choice." They're hoping that a miraculous appearance of blood substitutes will bale them out in a few years.
The flock, however, are truly uneducated. Can they really go beyond three words? Most blur health issues with Scriptural issues over blood, and close their eyes to what no other readers of the Bible have concluded, saying: "What part of 'abstain from blood' don't you understand."
A dumbed-down TM School is the answer?
Better to read the Watchtower's comment in that QFR: "The Life-Giver urges all to trust in Jesus' shed blood."
How inconsistent can you get?
A friend of a Friend shared this with me: "By its deplorable action the Society has demonstrated that it is less concerned with the real and day-to-day interests of helpless and innocent children than it is with its own instrumentational viability. The internal strife and anger on this issue runs deep and it is heating up! The Society should have listened to its battery of lawyers years ago when they advised a uniform policy of reporting child abuse when protection and justice is reasonable expected.
"Why did the Society want its correspondence held in such strict confidence? Because they betray the Society’s self-interest gained at the expense of children and their families! In the end their interests will suffer over this and other issues.
"Just how deep the Society will yet mire itself in this sordid affair is yet to be seen, but what lies ahead will become even more untenable and nasty unless some major change is enacted by decision-makers at Brooklyn Bethel on a number of key issues into compliance with that which is sound and moral based upon the Bible, most importantly in those issues involving blood and child abuse."
Amen.