by jwfacts 74 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I wish the Internet had been around when I felt the cold embrace of their tentacles I can tell you. Lol
It will probably work for those who are prepared to accept their message uncritically but for anyone with even a modest inclination to do some research I suspect it will be a big problem for them. Apropos the remark made earlier about google - once those already in are advised to make more use of the Internet who knows what they will dig up unless theY also produce some type of JWnetnanny.
My take is that the only reason they are directing Witnesses to the internet is so they will print out their own copies of the WT (and KM, until they get the bright idea to include the KM in the last 4 pages of the study WT). It's all driven by cost. I think the Society is really hurting for cash.
Watchtower's use of the internet to gain growth may backfire.
For Witnesses that are already internet savvy, I feel that many of them will take the change as a sign that the internet is ok after all, and begin searching religious sites other than the Society's official website. As a result they will be exposed to sites like JWN, JWfacts, Freeminds, and others, and learn a lot about Watchtower that they never knew.
For the Witnesses that have held back from using the internet because the Society has demonized it, they will embrace it to view the Society's literature online, and they too will come across information that will open some of their eyes.
Watchtower is of course very crafty and controlling; it will use the internet to it's advantage, but at the same time try to keep opposing information from the eyes of it's dedicated followers and newly interested people, a very difficult task. The Society is at a cross roads: it can't beat the internet, so it will try to join it, and the result of joining may be even worse than before.
(This reminds me of the mid-90s when a College education was given the ok, but several years later was banned again because of negative results for the organization.)
Thanks for the comments. Each comment has really been spot on. I am glad the rest of you are skeptical of any benefits to Watchtower growth. A couple of comments worth expanding on.
dropoffyourkeylee - My take is that the only reason they are directing Witnesses to the internet is so they will print out their own copies of the WT
Yes, maybe this is only to save money, and not something they will market beyond active JWs.
Phizzy - They have some crafty writers who can make it sound credible, but marketing your brand of whatever is a about a lot more than a good bit of prose.
That is part of my concern. The watchtower site does present well and not as in your face as many Christian sites.
MP - Religion is dying
Overall the internet is not helping religion. Most that research are going to come to an understanding of the commonality of religion and that religion is a product of your birthplace, not that it is the true one. Genesis is easily proven to be mythology. The internet does not necessarily destroy a persons spirituality, but does affect the dominance of accepting a single organisation as the one God is using.
Billy - How has the Internet helped any religions?
I look at Camping, and how the internet made him incredibly famous. However, did that translate to long term followers and lots of money. Not really. The internet creates flash-in-the-pan fame, but probably not long term sustainable growth.
In my mind someone ‘taking in knowledge of the WT’ via the internet will be like walking through a field of land minds. Chances are real slim that WT will realize any sort of growth due to the vast amount of anti JW material that newly interested ones will come across as they navigate their way to the JW.Org site. JWN, Youtube and other such ‘land minds’ are gonna kill the chances for sure of any new JW converts. Yepeeee! Yahoooooo!
This a powerful example of 'deceivers being deceived'!
How many times have we seen or heard of wishful thinking being substituted for solid, critical thinking abilities in this dull witted organization?
'no more subscriptions so they'll have to pick up the magazines at the Kingdom Hall .....AND that'll increase meeting attendance!'
'the voluntary donation arrangement will increase donations because publishers and the public will both contribute'
Funny isn't it, how until recently they demonized the internet - and now think of it as their salvation.
metatron
In my opinion encouraging the use of the inter-net is going to create more situations where people will stumble upon
informative web site such as this one, of the WTS's fraudulent commercialized doctrines.
They might be shooting themselves in the foot in the long run.
Playing with fire might be the appropriate phrase.
For the Witnesses that have held back from using the internet because the Society has demonized it, they will embrace it to view the Society's literature online, and they too will come across information that will open some of their eyes.
Ed: "Whao, Martha, what is this? When I touched the keys for the Watchtower Society website to gain some healthful spiritual food at the proper time, many non-authorized sites appeared along with the faithful slave's site. How can this be?"
Martha: "Ed, can it be that Satan the Devil has infected our internet? No wonder the slave told us that the internet could be bad. We must not touch the unclean thing...but wait....there are so many.....how can it be? What could they possibly say against the Organization? Click on this one, Ed."
As long as schools avoid the uncomfortable topic of how to recognise high control groups, the internet will be a prime source of new recruits.
I wouldn't think that anyone would fall for this guy, but he's probably growing faster than the WT.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/223649/1/Jesus-an-X-JW-and-living-in-Australia
Camping is another example.
If they get good advice on window dressing, the website would look as harmless as an Awake! does to anyone with compromised critical thinking ability.
What I don't see it doing, is increasing the 'quality' of the overall membership.
For non-JWs using the Internet, creates in a person to be a researcher, an investigator. One can go on and on researching everything. Ones research products they are considering to buy. They don't check just one spot, they can go on thoroughly with this search. If buying a product, they want to know what dissatisfied customers are saying also in their research.
Checking sites to get criticism or counter thoughts, people (non-JWs) do not fear.
So glad, JWfacts.com is on the Internet. Your site is so non-complex, not negative, giving facts. Things are laid out so clear and precise. Not dozens of pages for a basic point. Valuable info for the investigator sort.
Thank you for all your work!
