One thought for long-time dubs....
The WTS's interminable bragging about their ``Spiritual Paradise'' and ``Nation of Ministers'' aside, there are signs that the leadership is hip to the flagging commitment on the part of the rank and file.
Notice how the summer District Conventions have shrunk over the years. What would the attendance figures would look like if the GB tried to revive the old practice of eight-day assemblies, with sessions lasting until 9:00 p.m. every day? Just imagine that.
JWs: They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To
by Room 215 5 Replies latest jw friends
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Room 215
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philo
Room 215, where have you been? Welcome!
How many 'pioneers' would there be if they brought back the original hours requirement of 100 per month? Where would they be if they started trying to question basic christian doctrines again?
And how long before they get the Armageddon itch again (is it seven years coming)?
philo
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Stephanus
The R&F certainly ain't what they used to be - only 5 years ago they were fearless and polite at the door. Now they either run like frightened bunnies or get abusive when you start asking the hard questions (i.e. anything not pushed by the WBTS).
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Jim Lad
Off the point perhaps but before I finally left this year I was struck with just how slim the "normal" witnesses had been trimmed to since I was a teenager, seems anyone with a social aptitude able to carry on a normal down to earth life was gone in my mid 20's. Just took me a little longer to stop going w/o guilt realizing it's not the truth (what a relief!), to stop hangin' with social retards because it's the "right thing to do". Sorry if that sounds bitter, but hey, truth is truth.
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joelbear
They definitely seem to have a gauge on just how much people will put up with. My bet is that similar to a large corporate marketing department, the Watchtower does some pretty hefty amounts of statistical analysis to determine how to keep the highest number of witnesses active and selling their materials.
I am sure they keep up with the rise and fall of attendance and placement numbers based on certain types of information in the WT and KM and also on the rules and regulations that are emphasized.
I can't imagine witnesses going to 8 day 12 hour a day assemblies or even 3 day circuit assemblies. They claim they have changed this because of the hardships on people now. I think it was harder 20 years ago when people has less vacation and companies were much less sensitive to personal and religious issues.
hugs
Joel
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Room 215
Joelbear,
Well taken. Just as Karl Klein is reported to have said of Fred Franz: ``He can rationalize anything.'' So they deserve credit for cleverly invoking 2 Tim 3: 1-5 as the reason they've shortened the assembly schedules; it reinforces the myth that times are getting harder and harder as we approach the end.
It never dawns on them that ``critical times hard to deal with'' are exactly what they're experiencing.
For this, we can thank to the inexorable passing of time ``in this old world'' well beyond what they had imagined, and in no small measure to the emergence of internet, and their inability to stifle the free flow of disclosure under the cloak of anonymity.