(reuters) the world of 7 million jehovah's witnesses took a horrific turn this morning when an aviation stunt went bad and claimed the lives of the seven members of the governing body of the watchtower bible and tract society.
the governing body directs both the spiritual and temporal lives of their followers, who believe their leadership speaks to them directly from god.
dead are samuel herd (age 75), geoffrey jackson (55), m. stephen lett (61), gerrit losch (69), anthony morris (60), guy h. pierce (76) and david h. splane (66).
Interesting that nobody's speculating this hypothetical being touted as a sure sign of the beginning of The End.
Also, if the GB is of such minor importance to the WTS that their complete loss would be like water off a duck, what's all the hoopla about?
(reuters) the world of 7 million jehovah's witnesses took a horrific turn this morning when an aviation stunt went bad and claimed the lives of the seven members of the governing body of the watchtower bible and tract society.
the governing body directs both the spiritual and temporal lives of their followers, who believe their leadership speaks to them directly from god.
dead are samuel herd (age 75), geoffrey jackson (55), m. stephen lett (61), gerrit losch (69), anthony morris (60), guy h. pierce (76) and david h. splane (66).
So far the best answer is elderelite's.
I'll bring a six pack, and the dip.
(reuters) the world of 7 million jehovah's witnesses took a horrific turn this morning when an aviation stunt went bad and claimed the lives of the seven members of the governing body of the watchtower bible and tract society.
the governing body directs both the spiritual and temporal lives of their followers, who believe their leadership speaks to them directly from god.
dead are samuel herd (age 75), geoffrey jackson (55), m. stephen lett (61), gerrit losch (69), anthony morris (60), guy h. pierce (76) and david h. splane (66).
(Reuters) The world of 7 million Jehovah's Witnesses took a horrific turn this morning when an aviation stunt went bad and claimed the lives of the seven members of the Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The Governing Body directs both the spiritual and temporal lives of their followers, who believe their leadership speaks to them directly from God. Dead are Samuel Herd (age 75), Geoffrey Jackson (55), M. Stephen Lett (61), Gerrit Lösch (69), Anthony Morris (60), Guy H. Pierce (76) and David H. Splane (66). The accident occurred when stunt pilot Freddie Mordemoi, also killed, was attempting an illegal aerobatics manoeuvre in his Grumman AgCat biplane and crashed into the upper floor of Watchtower headquarters on Brooklyn's East River where the Governing Body was meeting in its weekly closed session. According to sources close to the dead pilot, Mr. Mordemoi intended to perform as many as a dozen "loops" over and under the Brooklyn Bridge in the normally nimble aircraft while a so-far unidentified confederate on the ground took a video intended to be released on YouTube. At least a dozen people who witnessed the crash say the plane completed four or five loops when it suddenly veered out of control in a sweeping arc directly into the historic building and burst into flames. Another witness, who is also an experienced pilot, reports seeing the right upper wing of the doomed biplane skewed at an unnatural angle and speculates strut failure. Police are asking for anyone with information, or those who might have taken pictures or video of the incident, to come forward. No-one at the Watchtower headquarters could be reached for comment. ==================================================================================== Ok, so it's fantasy. But what do you think would happen next?
once upon a time, i invested in an electronics company that increased its profits by over 200% by reducing its customer base!
this counter-intuitive result came about because they realized that most of their revenue came from a few customers who needed more support.. fast forward to the watchtower: whether they admit it to themselves or not, change will come because they are piling up huge numbers of publishers that are almost useless.
worse, they eat up published resources without contributing for them...... and they drag the organization down in multiple ways and create more problems.. they have a "growing" problem - with increasingly useless growth.
If you are right, Giordano (and you very well might be) the class structure within the Society will be accentuated. When people are cut to improve the bottom line the survivors experience psychological side effects. Many become insecure, some become cynical, some feel guilty that they have not been affected while others have, and many will begin to see "management" in a less humanitarian light. People begin to leave in their own minds, even if fear and inertia keeps them physically inside. If the WTS goes the corporate downsizing route they will save a great deal of money, but there will be a heavy cost to its paternal, protective and loving image. That said, I hope you are right. It would be another foundation block hauled out from beneath the Watchtower.
recap.
non-jw man with jw wife.
she joined after we were married, against my wishes.
I understand what you are saying, Curtains. I ask myself sometimes if this thing is so important to me that I will sacrifice my happiness and my wife's happyness to it. It becomes a kind of chicken and egg thing. I am unhappy because she is so very committed to this Society that I perceive to be destroying lives and I am unhappy because my perceptions are making her unhappy, and because I am unhappy, she's unhappy. And the let's-pretend-nothing-is-wrong strategy is basically the one we've been following for 30+ years, and it's wearing thin. Still, your advice about persuing other interests is sound. The happiest we've ever been together has been when we're doing things that have nothing to do with the WTS.
My wife wishes my perspectives were different, GMJ. She knows I am sincere, that I'm not playing the hurt-me-hurt-you games some couples engage in, but that doesn't make it easier for her. I think reasonable means compromise. I am willing to compromise, but she is unable to. I have problems with the blood doctrine and the exposure, however remote, it manifests on her, our daughter and our grandson. I also have problems with the shunning of a family member. If there was compromise on these two things, I could turn a blind eye to a lot of other stuff, but there is no room for compromise on either front. Not because she doesn't want to but because she is forbidden to.
once upon a time, i invested in an electronics company that increased its profits by over 200% by reducing its customer base!
this counter-intuitive result came about because they realized that most of their revenue came from a few customers who needed more support.. fast forward to the watchtower: whether they admit it to themselves or not, change will come because they are piling up huge numbers of publishers that are almost useless.
worse, they eat up published resources without contributing for them...... and they drag the organization down in multiple ways and create more problems.. they have a "growing" problem - with increasingly useless growth.
Interesting thought, indeed. I did a lot of this sort of thing for a few years working on assignment with a management outfit called Mckinsey and Company and I am certain that you are directionally right. There must be millions of dollars in low hanging fruit in the Watchtower Corporation but capturing them may be beyond the Society's ability or determination. Mckinsey's formula is well tested and successful. They employ the brightest of the bright MBA grads from the best business schools, pay them very well and expect them to work their asses off. Their motto is "up or out", which means you either keep progressing and contributing or you have to leave. There are no sacred cows allowed. They go in, they find out what's wrong and then they fix it, sometimes leaving bodies in their wake. This is the kind of bloody minded determination and honest introspection it takes to turn big opportunities into cash and from what I see in the WTS they don't have it, and it is unlikely they'd bring in outside expertise to do it for them.
recap.
non-jw man with jw wife.
she joined after we were married, against my wishes.
30 years is a long time, but I'm not sure I would typify it as waiting. I was climbing the corporate ladder and my plate was always full. It was like we had about 50% of our lives together and the rest doing our own things. I took early retirement a couple of years ago and now have a whole lot of time on my hands that I didn't have before. But no, we haven't seen a marriage counselor because neither of us sees much chance in our marriage going south, although neither of us is completely happy about this disparity of perspective. I'm not sure it would do much good, anyway. If the counselor saw my side of things I would expect it would be brushed off as one more example of the world being wrong.
recap.
non-jw man with jw wife.
she joined after we were married, against my wishes.
This would get your wife put on the "contaminated by apostates" list. She would become a pariah at the KH, due to your vocal opposition to WT teachings. She knows this would happen, so it's all about keeping your ideas undercover from the elders.
Not a good tactical option I suppose, moshe?
recap.
non-jw man with jw wife.
she joined after we were married, against my wishes.
Have you said this to your wife?
Yes, Tammy.
Effective in waking up your wife? Time will tell.
And that's the rub, isn't it, om? Accomodations say "everything's ok", but everything's not ok.
recap.
non-jw man with jw wife.
she joined after we were married, against my wishes.
Recap. Non-JW man with JW wife. She joined after we were married, against my wishes. That was 33 years ago. We've gone over more than a few rough patches because of it. I'm trying in earnest to get her to see the truth about The Truth but progress is slow, maybe not even evident.
Because I love my wife I hate to see her unhappy, and unhappy is what she is when I challenge her faith in the WTS. Up until a couple of years ago, when one of my wife's nephews got himself DF'ed, I would allow accomodations. I was sufficiently indifferent about some things before I got a closeup view of how JWs will turn their backs on people they say they love. I don't give a tinker's damn about what people believe so long as they don't hurt others and once that line is crossed, it's crossed. So, the accomodations have stopped.
When my uber-JW BIL, or any another JW individual or couple or family member would come to dinner I would routinely ask them if they'd like to say a blessing, and the invitation was always routinely accepted. I don't do that anymore. The food gets served and I chow down while the others at the table are closing their eyes, bowing their heads and saying silent prayers to their Jehovah-God. We used to accept invitations to anniversary dinners, weddings and other social gatherings with JWs, now I do not. I like these people, but the conversation has gone over to the Watchtower too many times and I'm just not interested in hearing it any more, so I'm just not going to. I have told my wife if I am henceforth involved in a conversation about the Watchtower I will no longer hold back what I know, and this is sufficient to discourage her from accepting invitations on our behalf. I am civil, I am pleasant, I am friendly and respectful toward Jehovah's Witnesses but after three decades of compromise I'm not going to accomodate them any longer.
I'm a stubborn son of a bitch when I want to be, so I sometimes do the wrong thing. I want to get my wife out of the WTS, but I don't want to compromise my values and principles any longer and lend any credibility to an organisation I have come to despise. Am I being reasonable, or not?
