by Dogpatch 35 Replies latest jw friends
It's true of almost every dying cult leader that has ever existed. Jim Jones, David Koresh, and so on. It's all in the male ego.
Well said Randy
Add to that the control of hundreds of millions of dollars and 7 million subservient mental slaves to exploit and thats a hell of lot of power and prestige
to be placed in a few men, even if they have to disperse some of that power and control among themselves.
Excellent article Cedars!
Hi Cedars,
Very good article as you make some strong points.
The following numbers I stumbled on the other evening may have some relevance. They are languages that Awake! is translated into, and by certain years. I realize it's spotty (not all years are reported -- or I wasn't able to find the report) but for what it's worth, 2004 was a peak year where Awake! was translated into 87 languages.
1948, 3
1952, 3
1966, 26
1995, 75
1997, 80
1998, 62
2000, 58
2004, 87
2008, 81
Len Miller
Nice job Cedars, keep it up.
I think a 'tipping point' for the Witnesses, at least in the US, is when the number of ex-Witnesses ( or those who only associate thru family, but do not believe) exceeded the number of Witnesses. The Witnesses often cite the number of Memorial attenders as people who are 'waiting in the wings', interested people from the street. In reality, the vast majority of these Memorial attenders are former Witnesses, or family members who have come because of family considerations. They do not believe and will never believe. At the point when there are so many people who know enough about the religion to know that it is bull****, the religion has very limited growth potential.
dropoffyourkeylee - you make an excellent point. The memorial figures are touted year-after-year as the potential growth "in our back pocket", but if NEVER comes to fruition. Why? Because the surplus is mostly former Witnesses like you and I who are only attending to appease family members. It may be that the Society realizes this, but continue to give that false impression because they want people to believe things are improving, when in reality - the Society has already started its decline, and the growth figures are next.
FatFreek 2005 - thanks for that point. It's interesting that the number of translated languages may have already started to fall, at least for Awakes. I guess this is inevitable with all the branch closures. After all, a key function of branch offices in most countries is simply that of translation. The less branch offices you have, the less facilities for translation. The only way around it is to start asking translators to work from home, which I believe they are already doing. This impacts on the quality of the translation, because articles and books are usually translated using teams of around five brothers working together at one desk to ensure total accuracy. Leaving it up to one brother working alone on his laptop (with Google just a click away) is a very risky business indeed!!
Thanks to everyone for the kind words, and thanks to Randy for letting me post on his excellent website!
Cedars
Smashing article.
This so called religion is a joke when we consider Dogpatch's list of things it doesn't do.
marking for another read...
interesting stuff
oz
Excellent, Cedars and Randy!
Many thanks,
CoCo qui habitais la caja bon Dieu
Very informative essay and post, cedars and Randy!
The only way around it is to start asking translators to work from home, which I believe they are already doing.
I can confirm this is the case. I know JWs who translate from home. It's only a recent thing too. They have the Society's software and periodically attend special translator meetings at the branch.
