There are over 20 sects of Russell still going, and 30,000 Christian sects around. My guess is that some die hard nutters will keep with it and revamp it for generations.
As a force of any size I imagine another 25 years, though based on trends over the last 10 years feel there will be global negative growth from 2010.
How much longer till the TOWER is no longer?
by morwen 22 Replies latest jw friends
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jwfacts
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theinfamousone
it will take only as long as it takes me to become the emperor of the world... and since i may be meeting my co-emperor soon.... well, its all goin into action very quickly... have no fear, PARAGUAY IS STILL FREE!
the infamous one
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greendawn
This is hard to tell there are thousands of WTS like cultic organisations in the world and they will cease to thrive once ppl are informed, educated, about their true nature and thus keep a safe distance from them.
As for the WTS those are definite signs that it is beginning to seriously decline but I believe the most significant one is that they are no longer showing creativeness in their writings as they did up to the time of Franz (before he became a human vegetable) and they are beginning to look more like a commercial, rather than a spiritual, entity which is what they really are.
As for going mainstream that's too difficult given their long history of extremism since Rutherford's days. -
Mary
The WTS is different from most other religions/cults, because the entire framework is based on date-setting. Without the whole Generation-1914-1918-Armageddon-Is-Right-Around-The-Corner mentality, this religion wouldn't exist because this is what it's based on. I know of no other religion that has invested so much on frigging dates as this one. If Russell had not invented the date-setting, there would have been no appeal to anyone and from what I can see, the same mentality prevails today within the Organization. One elder I know said a few weeks ago that "Armageddon will be here within the next 7 years." Without that carrot dangling in front of you, the whole thing falls apart, because the leadership has never been smart enough to branch out in to other areas of worship.
For example, they refuse to encourage Christians to do charity work, to make the most of your lives by getting a good education; to think, reason or do anything else worth while. Yes, other Christian religions are aware of the term "Armageddon", but they don't base their life decisions on the extremely slim chance that it'll come in their life time.
With "this generation" doctrine losing more credibility with each passing year, and with Armageddon nowhere in sight, I think the GB must see the handwriting on the wall. They have nothing to fall back on to fill the void that the no-shows have created in 6 million lives. This is the main reason why so many are leaving.
Unless the Governing Body drastically changes the structure of the Organization, then I say it won't even be recognizable within 50 years. It will probably still exist in some form, but certainly not the way it is today. And I think it'll be gone completely within 100 years.
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Dismembered
Greetings & Welcome to the boad morwen,
The points you've made about the troubles in the congos, as well as a young people mass exodus are exactly what Watchtower is experiencing. Time to "strike up the band" on those stats, but recently these issues were brought to the attention of a friend of ours who is still active in the borg. This by her own son who refuses to go anymore. Her reply to him "It just goes to show how close the end really is."
With that kind of inane thinking, shows just how malleable the dubs can be, which, sadly, ends up being a feather in Watchtowers cap. Looks like they'll be around for a spell.
Dismembered
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KW13
I think the Watchtower will exist for a long long time but people will get sick of waiting for all us apostates to be hit with God's anti-matter.
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joelbear
it will be around in some form as long as mankind exists.
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NYCkid
Hey,
Good topic and although alot of you have good thoughts, I think I agree with Mary the most. I think we need a good 20-40 years before many of the pre-1950 die-hard generation leave us, which includes my parents generation. They were products of the 1914 generation who believed the "falseness" with fervor and most like my parents overlooked the 1975 issue. They are unwavering in their hope for Armageddon and a subsequent paradise; that is the only thing they have left to hold on to. Nothing that I know of will change their devotion to the Society.
My mother constantly reminds me that she fears for my life since Armageddon is right around the corner. It doesn't seem to phase her when I remind her that she used to tell my brothers and I, that we wouldn't graduate high school before Armageddon (I graduated high school in 1989, my older brother in 1986). The real tragedy of course, lies in the fact that my parents and many JWs in their generation lost out on a self-fullfilling and productive life and in most cases have little saved for retirement. Anyway I'm digressing but I really hope that by 2050, most of those who needed to stay in the religion for their parents and family will leave when that particular connection no longer exists.
Regards,
NYCkid
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eyeslice
A long time. The core will stay loyal come what may.
Eyeslice -
greendawn
Mary you are right the JWs did exploit more than anyone else the armageddon card and it paid off really well for them, however it was the Millerites and their adventist offshoots that started with the dare setting hysteria and Russell jumped on the bandwagon with the 1914 date that he got infact from Barfour.
The JWs apparently do not realise that with the 1995 generation change a generation can be centuries long and basically meaningless for "predicting" the end. It is no longer 80 years long and does not even correspond to any fixed period.