by JH 15 Replies latest jw friends
If I compare the congregation I attended 20 years ago, and the same one today, it would seem that it's just the core that's left. Many left or got df'd years ago.
And those that are left, are either MS, elders, or former ones. And then there's the kids who grew up.
I wonder if the congregation is getting more and more refined as people are df'd?
I wonder if the congregation is getting more and more refined as people are df'd?
LOL...All that will be left are 'pure' a$$holes!
Hi JH,
It's hard to tell if DFings will slow. The children of JWs are far less inclined to stay with the religion than they were in the 1960s and 1970s. This will ultimately be devestating for the JWs population as the existing adults grow old and die off. Around the Chicago area, as well as out in the Northwest US, the JWs are less noticeable in their "preaching" work. So, this will have to bring their growth to a halt, as it is already extremely slow compared to the 1970s. I also strongly believe that about half of those remaining have doubts, and it is only a matter of time before they find out that the organization is not what they believed it to be. I think that DFings will continue unabated for the foreseeable future in the US and Canada, and other developed nations.
Jim Whitiney
I hope the disfellowshipping increases. Soon, if not already, there will be more ex-jws than there are active j-dubs.
I think they will carry on df'ing people who don't behave as they expect them to, no matter how many they lose through it. They can't afford to be seen as more lenient towards people who step out of line, or the threat of that kind of discipline, and the effects of it like loss of friendships, will lose it's impact on the minds of those still in who would rather be out.
Many yutes (youths-from "My Cousing Vinny") are simply refusing to get baptized, because they can see down the road that it's the only way to avoid a DF'g. Smart kids.
Less people going into the borg in the first place = less people leaving . . . ? (less abuse and fear-based high control)
With the internet and other tools which provide "awareness" I figure it might be harder to get "duped" . . . I mean, look at all the people who come to this site and ask questions because they are concerned with something someone they know is getting involved in.
Awareness! "Many will rove about and the true knowledge will become evident." ---The Bible. I'm holding that vision!
ESTEE
If they keep d'fing people in the relatively "rich" US and other industrialized nations (where the money is coming from), they're going to run into even more money problems in the not too distant future than they're experiencing now, as more and more of the df'd just say "f**k it" and leave for good. No more $$$ coming in from the faithful repentant! And less and less coming in from the richest countries as the flocks continue to shrink.
Once the GB has sold the last of the buildings in New Jersey, then what? At the rate they appear to be burning through money (based on my ongoing reading of ancient threads here since Day One, I'm now up to 1489 under "Friends"), what will they do when that's gone - a couple billion from those sales won't last forever as they appear to be absolutely clueless assholes when it comes to investing (they can't even manage to hire competent investment advisors), and once the old fogies are dead and buried the lawyers will have taken over completely, and CHA CHING is the bottom line (pun intended) for them. Do they TRULY think the "brothers" in Africa and other third world countries will make up the deficit? Ha ha ha! You KNOW they do not.
Heck yeah, there will HAVE to be less df'ing in the USA if the WTBTS wants to survive and, after all, it IS an USA business, when all is said and done. Watch for "new light" to appear soon, at a Kingdom Hall near you! I don't think the report I read here today (on another thread) about the CO getting up at a CA and saying one should get an education and plan for retirement is so off the mark - my suspicion is that we will begin to hear more and more scattered reports of this as time goes on. The African brothers and others from third world countries may swell the "numbers" for purposes of putting out the annual reports every January WT, but they won't be putting in the $$$ - and that's what the lawyers want to see - $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
In the end, it's all about the money. Follow the money. Most of the money is still coming from USA as best I can figure out, and unless those running things now at WTBTS truly are frigging idiots, they're not going to cut off their noses to spite their faces! The lawyers won't let them. Hence, it behooves the WTBTS to encourage the ones still IN to earn higher incomes, because that directly affects the bottom line of the WTBTS. So, we'll see a gradual shift of emphasis to get post high-school education and move into higher-paying careers, because I believe the future plan is to - as others here have suggested - begin a tithing arrangement based on income. The higher the incomes, the more $$$$$$$$ for WTBTS. Perhaps each witness will have to verify income through filing a copy of their 1040 (income tax return) every year with the elders in order to remain in good standing, I wouldn't be at all surprised to read about that here at some future date.
There is also the issue of the lopsided ratio of females to males in the org. I don't know what it was when I was IN - but just based on recollection of who was there, there must have been 5-6 women for every man in my circuit (met at Janesville,Wisconsin) or is that district? I never DID get that right, what the heck a circuit was and what the heck a district was; all I remember is that I met at Janesville a couple times a year for 1-day and 2-days and at Madison once a year for 3-days. Well, if they continue df'g males for fornication and/or other acts of sexual hanky-panky, who the heck is going to be left to "shepherd" the flock? Of COURSE they have to let them back IN, including the pedophiles! If they don't, they'll only be women left at the end of the day and you know the old goobers in New York won't ever allow women to exercise de jure control of the Society. Soooo -
The alternative is to slowly start to loosen up on restrictive behavior, go more main stream (not an original idea of mine but something I've read here many times in earlier posts) so that more people will come in, less people will be df'd for misbehavior, and the $$$$ will continue to flow to New York. It's coming, it's just a matter of time. The phoney 50-something year old "annointed" members of the GB will see to it, once the last of the old boogers has kicked the bucket.
Those that leave are people who realised that the WTS has nothing good to offer those that stay in are the ones who don't understand the real game going on or those that have some interest served by being in the org. But the org will carry on with the same list of DFing offences, being so conservative in nature.
So far the Society has gotten tighter and tighter.
