PREDICT THE FUTURE

SPAZnik

What do you see happening in the next 50-100 years with the JWs?
Spot or project any trends? Care to wager a guess?
How long do you think they will be able to sustain this "the end is really really nigh" schtick?
Now that they are supposedly okay with post-secondary education (or so I've heard), how do you think that might impact their grip on the "sheep"?

SPAZZIE

candidlynuts

i think they'll be lawyer'd down to a smaller version of what they are now.

metatron

We've got four good trends in our favor:

They're losing contributions

They're losing young people

In Western nations, they're losing elders

and in Europe, they've lost growth and are going negative

metatron

SPAZnik

Maybe that's what they mean or are sensing when they proclaim so fervently that the end is near!

I have a hard time fathoming them existing much past the next 50 years. Most adults currently in will be on their deathbed. The next generations will be educating themselves. Isn't it difficult to maintain such a narrow worldview when getting an education?

Won't people end up doing more research and paying attention to and/or understanding the self-serving misquotes in publications?

jaguarbass

How long do you think they will be able to sustain this "the end is really really nigh" schtick?

As long as people thump bibles. That was a teaching back in jesus day that many living then would not die before the end came. I'm pretty sure all of Jesus generation has passed on.

SPAZnik

Yeah, good point. I guess the end (of the JWs) isn't as near as I'd like to imagine. LOL

Twitch

What do you see happening in the next 50-100 years with the JWs?
Spot or project any trends? Care to wager a guess?
How long do you think they will be able to sustain this "the end is really really nigh" schtick?
Now that they are supposedly okay with post-secondary education (or so I've heard), how do you think that might impact their grip on the "sheep"?

Well, they've gained a bit of ground in the last century and I think that they will still be around 100 years from now. There will always be people who choose or are born into beliefs and christianity in general is not going away. The diversity of the denominations shows it's "adaptability" and popularity, for various reasons. And there will always be fringe or radical elements to any belief system and most would consider the org rather extreme. Seems to me that radical elements in a system are naturally occuring and are a catalyst for change but don't tend to last. Every major belief system has 'em.

Enter the org, assimilating without prejudice,......muahahaha

I would guess that if the org is to survive, it will have to ease up on it's harsher stances and policies. The internet has it's impact and the long term effects will extend exponentially, access to information and education will figure in positively, word gets around. If the org doesn't chill out, it will likely suffer a significant drop in membership and coalesce into a harder boiled version of itself. One of it's major tenets is getting old pretty quick and some radical new light will be needed to illuminate the darkness for the blind. As for the armageddon thing, that ones' a good card but the ace will be a joker if the new light doesn't take. Whatever future those guys down at the mothership in Brooklyn are crafting, I'm sure they are doing their very best for their best interests. As are we.

Good questions, though. Many futures are possible. Every choice has it's impact, grasshopper,......

Abandoned

Eventually they're going to underestimate. Eventually they're going to get caught. They are quite adept at twisting and massaging the truth, facts, and even documented history but some day they are going to have to answer for their duplicity.

I'm not sure what it will be that will trip them up. The blood issue seems to be the most likely due to the well-established legal precedents involved with giving medical advice without a license and mal-practice and such.

It could be too many false prophecies. I would like to see religions monitored by some kind of oversight committee. It may be impossible to give it enough teeth to actually punish religions due to the nature of that beast, but if it had credibility and a recognized forum (similar to Consumer Reports) then the populace in general would be forewarned.

I think the best way for the watchtower to fall though would be to just shrink into irrelevency. To a certain extent, they are there already as the majority of people don't pay them a moment's notice. But with time and with all of us adding our voice to the rebel yell, I can picture a time when even the "faithful" don't take this crap seriously.

PREDICT THE FUTURE

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