Posted by Rick [Rick] on November 09, 1999 at 00:13:03 {4Hfg918T5g7mY4XD8K2cFMFBt36Xyc}:
In Reply to: *Greg posted an "apologia" posted by GregStafford on November 08, 1999 at 22:19:12:
I appreciate your posting an apology, and didn't want to convey that it was an absolute admission of guilt. As I quoted from Websters, this time with separate emphasis in bold, Websters states, "APOLOGY usually applies to an expression of regret for a mistake or wrong with implied admission of guilt or fault and with or without reference to palliating circumstances [said by way of apology that he would have met them if he could]."
I resented the tone that says someone positively has committed a wrong and in essence owes the board an apology.
Perhaps better would have been said that the "offending party" appears to have committed a wrong and in essence should care enough about the board to offer an explanation (or apologia).
Going above and beyond what is required is, then, magnanimous of you (the formal apology).
Perhaps in a subtle way, I was also trying to point out why the Watchtower Society explains major changes in teachings (and an explanation of a change where JWs formerly sacrificed greatly for abiding by the former teaching can in effect be defined as an apologia), and doesn't offer formal apologies. The saying I often hear "it would be nice if..." i.e., it would be nice if the Watchtower offered a formal apology for teaching organ transplants were wrong before its change in Questions from Readers in 1980, and other changes, doesn't take into account the implied guilt that can go with an apology. (However, as an aside, I cannot find any form of detailed apologia or explanation for the change other than the Questions from Readers in 1980 explaining that organ transplants are thereafter considered a conscience matter, without acknowledgment of the deaths that occurred in obedience to the former GB directives, but that is a separate discussion for another day.)
I appreciate your willingness to humble yourself by taking others feelings into account. You didn't have to offer a formal apology, having spent copious amounts of time giving an apologia but instead. But you did it anyway, because others felt it was right (whether they were technically right or wrong is beside the point). This gives you far greater integrity in my eyes that a few regulars who have repeatedly attacked and maligned others' character on H2O without to this day offering any form of apologia much less apologia.
Take care, and keep seeking the Kingdom first even if it means spending more time with your loved ones and less time on this site. Sometimes forums like this can consume all your time, if you're not determined to only invest X number of hours a week. That advice goes to all reading this post, whether they are a JW or not.
Time is more precious than money, so budget it wisely my friends out there! Invest a fixed portion of it in your families, congregations and local community, and Jehovah will find the opportune time to preach the Kingdom and defend the truth to those who drift hopelessly and aimlessly in the darkness of cyberspace.
Rick