Good question. I think they are sending out mixed mesages a bit at the moment.

On the other hand, if you compare today's Witnesses with the rabid clegy baiting, politician hating, "fifth column" conspiracy theorist Jehovah's Witnesses Rutherford cultivated in the 1930s, then I would say the Witnesses have already become fairly mainstream actually, compared to what they were.

A big change I think was signalled in their flip flop over Romans 13. The governements are now seen as part of God's arrangement.

Read the old blue school brochure and notice how it was all geared up to how different Jehovah's Witnesses are and how they will not conform or compromise. Then compare that with the much more teacher friendly updated version where the emphasis is very much on how normal and eager to fit in Jehovah's Witnesses are despite their differences. I think that is one instance that signals a general change in attitude.

Another thing is how they changed from not cooperating with outside historians of the holocaust in researching Jehovah's Witnesses in the Nazi period in the 1980s, to actively engaging with the scholarly community in the 1990s.

Another thing is they began to seek recognition as a religious body under public law in Germany, a status that did not bother them before.

Over the short term small changes might be hard to discern in terms of impact and direction, but over the long term I think the trajectory toward the mainstream began a long time ago and has been steady.

Slim

Broadly agree SBF

It seems the WTS has worked out that politicking and lobbying if you like, is a more powerful way to work your own agenda than doing it all from outside the corridors of power and influence.

From a doctrinal standpoint though I think they may be working towards some significant 'new' ideas - yes/no?

One recent WT article referred to following instructions even if not sure of the reasons its more important to be obedient. For me (apart from the obvious cult overtones) this sounds like an article they may refer back to when introducing something significant that the rank and file may find difficult to digest.

As another message said, I think they are sending mixed messages right now as well. More and more they are giving "Christians" more room to make their own judgments on "matters of conscience". Some of these are things that they would have just said were just plain wrong in times past. Even with the removal of the book study they are reducing the number of weekly requirements of the Witnesse rank and file.

At the same time, they are coming down on colleges and universities with a ferocity that hasn't been seen since the late sixties and early seventies. I would hardly call encouraging ignorance mainstream.

I think this attack on education is pretty much a last ditch effort to stop the bleeding, the people draining away from the Organization as they find out that their brains are actually good for something other than memorizing scriptures like Psalms 83:18 and Revelation 21:3,4.

With the economy getting worse, with no sign of getting better any time in the next 5 years or so, I don't think this will work. JW parents will NOT discourage their kids from seeking higher education. The reasoning will be that they are not "seeking riches" but that their college kids are trying to be self-sufficient.

When this last tactic fails, and the remaining elders are too old or too burnt out to successfully maintain entire congregations, they will have no choice but to open the flood gates, so to speak. They will have to become at least a bit more mainstream and change more of their doctrines, possibly even reversing some. I think they know that they will lose many current members to the changes but might gain even more by appealing to the masses.

er

I think they are in an experimental phase right now.  They are testing the waters a little at a time.

I smell some dissention among factions within, but I don't think a quick conversion to mainstream Christianity

is going to take place.  The "members only" issue is throwing some things out there for the rank and file

to chew on a little bit at a time.  The WTS will hold back, analyze the response, then proceed cautiously.  They

will set the stage in advance with snippets of information for the r&f to ingest, then they will put the change out

there for full digestion.  Baby steps.  I think Legal is running the real show right now.