Sir82 ... I was of the opinion the Book Study arrangement was dropped for control reasons. Renegade elders and sheep have accountablilty in front of the entire body, no independent thinking offered in full congregation setting.
Why Will the WT Ultimately Fail
by Kum Vulcan 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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besty
Education is their enemy
Revolving door retention is their friend.
It appears to be a net-net wash, but there is a slow "circling of the drains".
Think what their options will be in 20 years with 15 million members mainly low income Latins and Africans. Operating out of several compounds in upstate NY the Brooklyn cash is long gone and "buying books for real cash" will be a humerous anachronism from a byegone era.
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metatron
The challenge facing the organization may seem almost unbelievable to some of you - and it is this: what would happen if the Watchtower leadership found the publishers to be a growing burden?
Sounds almost ridiculous, doesn't it? And yet, it is the key truth to understanding the future of the Watchtower organization. To put it simply, they are stuck with a huge international mob of fantasy- driven, passive- aggressive , tight- fisted hypocrites.
Does that sound too harsh? Let's break it down: fantasy-driven because they pay no attention to a technologically advancing world that is passing them and their endless promises by. Passive-aggressive because no amount of malfeasance, injustice or rank lies by the Watchtower will ever get them to openly rebel. Tight-fisted because the Society is caught in a death spiral of cut, cut, cut, ..... trim, trim, trim and layoff, layoff in response to lean donations.
And hypocrites because, as the original meaning of the Greek term suggests, they are largely 'playing' at being honest, generous or loving. There is a difference between 'playing doctor' and being a doctor. They will claim "love" motivates their "ministry" while dreaming whose house they will own after Armageddon slaughters the present inhabitants ( Yeah, I KNOW about this!). They endlessly prate on about love and family while deliberately breaking up friends and families. Need I go on?
So, what does the Watchtower do? They cut magazines, subscriptions, layoff Bethelites, sell off property. They reduce meetings because men won't serve as elders. They avoid discussing specific problems openly - as they used to do - at assemblies because it would tend to 'break the spell' of maintaining a mythical 'spiritual paradise' - actually filled with jealousy, divorce, family breakdown and depression.
The most amazing reductions in the organization will come about, not because publishers rebel, but because the Watchtower Society cannot cope with the frustration of an organization firmly obsessed with useless and unprofitable pretense.
metatron
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besty
One more thought on this:
If the WTS correctly adjusts its expenses to its income it can live forever on a paradise earth.
Think about the three souces of income:
1 - Jehovah's Witnesses - the classic cult 'front organization' - the publically visible piece - book sellers, book buyers, wills, donations, free labor, convention parking and accomodation scams etc
2 - property - the alchemy of tax free money + free labor + time is alive and well
3 - investment income
You cannot have source 2 without first having source 1, and you cannot have source 3 without first having source 2.
I suspect the WTS is breaking even or running a loss on source 1. They don't care, because they have moved a long time ago to source 2 and source 3 income and profit streams. Source 2 assets (property) are currently being liquidated - Brooklyn/Madrid and probably others. This is to ease a short term liquidity problem caused by a failure to adjust to new financial realities quickly enough after the 'paid for publications' model was scrapped for tax reasons, ironically.
Strategically they will survive on a reduced cost model at HQ - modern cost efficient compound in the NY backwoods, cheap or non-existent literature (PDF anyone?) and low-cost everything they can find. Look forward to yet more simplification. And prime real estate to be sold - Mill Hill London - start thinking about moving house!
BUT - source3 income - pure investment strategy for maximising returns on liquid assets will perpetuate the organization indefinitely. Relatively simple and barring massive strategic errors will allow them to live forever.
Just my 0.02 - tax paid of course.
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Scott77
Wannabefree speaks about 'drinking Cool Aid' without background check, OnWayOut mentions of possibilities of money-hungry attorneys out to grab a chance of winning more $ on behalf of sexual abuse victims from the Watchtower based on precedents, Mad Sweeney laments on the WTS's tipping point on no further growth in developed countries, Sir82 reveals about the WTS's morbid fear of elders as being extiction species, LongHairGal mentions of the WTS as mass circulating the world with literature stuff, and mores from posters. OMG! this is a good thread. After five years, we will revisit it to see where the WTS will be standing. Keep on watching pals and gals.
Scott77
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SouthCentral
Despite the high turnover rate, the witnesses will always thrive. As mentioned, a religion with over a million will not go down.. Remember, they have slave labor and low cost medical. If you get sick, they send you home.
People get the light and leave, but new ones come in. We are replaceable spokes in a wheel.
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mkr32208
Can you name one religion of any size - over 1 million people- that has gone out of business?
Hmm Yes? I can in fact name HUNDREDS! See a lot of Baal worshipers running around!? I almost can't go out on a sunday without throngs of zeus devotees running me over or the followers of Apollo! In fact the vast majority of religions eventually fade. Christianity will be no different.
Now as to this splinter of a splinter of a splinter, A) They don't have as much money as you think, they are land well off not rich but extremely cash poor. And don't give me that oh they have 100 million in real estate. Even if it was true (and it's not) Who cares? 100 million is NOTHING to a religion they could piss that away in 2 years easy if donations dried up. When I was the accounts servants helper we would take in between 30-50 on a sunday per box that's not exactly tearing it up. Wed nights we would be lucky to break 20 on any box. So yeah going bankrupt is a HUGE concern for these guys. When you push the majority of your followers to stay on the bottom rung of society? Well that's where they stay and they can't afford to buy you an ivory throne.
I think the bottom line in their actual fall will be worker bee fatigue and history catching up to them. Think about it they are stagnant. The few who are left 7 million is 'few' are exhausted. I had some come up to me the other day while I was working outside they talked for a few minutes, never once mentioned religion in any way and then trudged off... I actually felt really bad for them! And anyone who does have even a scrap of interest is going to google them and end up here (or similar) and that will be the end of that!
Think about it those of you that came in via a study if you had seen this site FIRST would you have joined? Hell no! And a very small percentage of born In's stay in so what happens? Eventually it falls, I think 2014-2020 is going to see them fall as an organized single religion, maybe not but that where my $5 is.