The Watchtower's Great Game of "Jenga" and Exposure

by metatron 39 Replies latest jw friends

  • metatron
    metatron

    Jenga is a simple game in which wooden blocks are neatly piled up - and then removed, one by one, until one person ( the person who loses

    the game) makes the pile collapse.

    It is tempting to see the organization in the same way - making small but significant "removals" over time. They pull out food service

    at assemblies, subscriptions, most hard bound literature, layoffs and downsizing at Bethel, and reduced Awake distribution - and weaken

    themselves thereby. Even the hardest stone can be worn away by ceaslessly dripping water.

    Another important element - that slowly 'pulls blocks out' is the continuing exposure of the Watchtower. The recent "big news" about blood

    in particular, is yet another step in pulling out elements of support both internal and external to the organization. Over time,

    the exposure of Watchtower missteps serves to pressure anyone left in the organization who still has thinking ability or a caring heart,

    to leave.

    Little by little, we are succeeding in encouraging the image of Jehovah's Witnesses as ignorant fanatics who criticize college

    education, who break up families with shunning, who throw away their lives because of an irrelevant 'blood' issue, who hypocritically

    hide child sexual abuse and so on. Aiding our cause are many Witnesses themselves, who often damage their own image by foolishness

    such as the recent "hot cross buns" story ( Paganism! Paganism!). It's called 'shooting yourself in the foot' - and they do a lot of it!

    It maybe that some day, if the Society's cash flow runs out, that you could witness a "Jenga" style collapse of the organization,

    once it has been sufficiently weakened at every joint. Alternatively, I'm certain that the Governing Body worries about the next generation

    of Witness kids growing up while feeling ashamed of being Witnesses! Given their deepening image troubles and lack of support

    for young Witnesses, this may spell doom for them as well, although not as precipitously.

    metatron

  • drew sagan
    drew sagan

    I see where you are coming from on this. The society has been making lost of changes to compensate for what only can be seen as a "slowing down" of their organization.

    some of the things you mentioned:

    Awake once a month
    no more subscriptions
    Bethel Downsizing
    Books produced more cheaply (they are even releasing a soft cover Bible this year)

    In addition to these growing trends

    Small growth in developed countries
    Lowest worldwide service report in decades
    Reading level of the literature lowering to appeal to the only people left that will listen, the third world.
    Emphesis on "foreign speaking" territories, the only place they are growing at good numbers (for obvious reasons)
    Lowering the service time requirement for some to 15 minutes so they can keep the publisher numbers up.
    Lowering the pioneer hour requirements.

    They are starting to loose it. It may take years, but I to think a major shift in the religion is taking place, little by little.

  • RunningMan
    RunningMan

    Lower contributions. Tax assessments. Lawsuits from every direction. Bad publicity. Prophetic failure and lack of any compelling chronology. Increasingly vocal critics.

    I'm glad I don't run the place.

  • metatron
    metatron

    One of the most profound changes in the organization - that often goes unnoticed - is the evaporation of any intellectual rigor

    in Watchtower doctrine. While the organization has always been anti-intellectual, if anything, the fact remains that their efforts at

    "simplification" have resulted in an almost complete absence of depth in defending doctrines peculiar to the Watchtower.

    Anything they've recently published on creation, pales in comparison to the "Evolution" books they used to print ( whether factual

    or not!). Yet, evolution has not diminished as a threat - far from it!

    Sites like this one used to have long heated threads about blood, prophecy, chronology and the like - No More!

    Shall we study any book on Revelation? - No More!

    Witnesses are impelling themselves into superficiality concerning their own scheme of doctrine. Instead, the Society is

    depending on programmed habit and mind control to maintain stability while stepping away from a more reasoned faith.

    metatron

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot

    The sand that the Watchtower Society was built upon has indeed shifted. Let the (Jenga) game continue!

    Excellent post, Metatron.

    hugs,

    Annie

  • MuadDib
    MuadDib

    Some good points here. I think what is most bemusing is the total lack of any sort of creative or self-analytical approach to solving these problems. Instead of creating dynamic new programs to reach out to, say, young people or educated people, the organization is just retreating onto the same core philosophies with which we are all too, too familiar - go to meetings, go out in service, personal study, the end is near. The ordinary Witness is essentially being blamed for all these problems and is now patronized to by an obviously panicky set of leaders with no contingency plan and no ability to reverse the trends.

    A pretty spineless, wishy-washy group they must be to have set up such a monumental house of cards with no thought of what to do when the wind starts blowing.

  • greendawn
    greendawn

    It's the hurt they cause to people that's undermining them on a daily basis, and there are good signs that they are in terminal decline. After all none of the promises they made to their followers over a period of 120 years have ever been realised.

  • Dune
    Dune

    The WTBS will NOT survive the next generation of witness children. I doubt any of them will care about any of this by the time they reach their teens.

    I think the world's apathy towards religion will help too.

  • silentWatcher
    silentWatcher

    pales in comparison to the "Evolution" books they used to print -------------------------------------------------------------------- how about the Trinity brochure? Doubt anyone left in Crooklyn who could write another doozy like that.... -silent

  • Gill
    Gill

    Another ten years should see the numbers in developed countrys fall dramatically.

    But then, I already think the figures they present are fixed any way to look far better than they are.

    The youngsters of today are far more 'au fait' with what's going on in the world than we were. All that holds them in is the rope of shunning. They don 't want to lose their parents, relatives etc to the bOrg.

    However, as they grow and hopefully become more independent, they will decide that they must start the fade, following in the footsteps of a lots of us, but hopefully, many years younger that some of us.

    They are definitely playing Jenga. I'm just waiting for the first signs of serious collapse and hope that it will be very soon.

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