by Save My Soul 28 Replies latest jw friends
It seems over the years, the organization has done 360's on several topics. Do you think they will ever go mainstream with their beliefs. For example, college is good, Blood is a conscience decision (without punishment), ect......
I have really become tired of the recycled teachings. I stopped reading the mags. looking for new light. It has become a total waste of time.
Again, do u think the Witnesses will go mainstream with their teachings?
no, never. and, no offense, but it is a 180 degree turn. if you do 360 degrees, your back to where you started.
Anything could happen, though not likely.
The Worldwide Church of God did go mainstream, and they, of all religions, bore the greatest resemblance to JW's. I had a couple of co-workers who belonged to that church, and they just made the adjustment, no questions asked.
I remember a talk in the late '70's at an assembly wherein the speaker was asking what we would do if JW's became "just another religion." When he said that, I wondered if he were hinting at going mainline. Most people in the western world now do regard it as "just another religion" because they know so little about it.
It would be wise for the WT to go mainline because it is losing its membership almost faster than it can be replaced at the present time. Maybe after the old fellows running the Brooklyn vatican die off, the younger crowd will show a little more good sense.
Regards,
SandraC
The foundation of their religion has always been "be no part of this world". If they were to become mainstream, they wouldn't be "Jehovah's Witnesses" any more.
Amazingly enough, the number of JW's (viewed on the whole) actually is still growing - faster among cultures lacking the means or access to the Internet.
Will future generations of WTS leadership be more tolerant? I doubt it. Each generation produces overly-conservative mean-spirited people who aspire to dominate. These JF Rutherford wannabes will continue to find their way to the top of the Watchtower leadership heap.
I feel sorrow for those trapped in the cult.
As for the cult, may it die.
They feed off of being a sort of counter culture, like gopher said they are no part of this world. Satan and his demons control the world. For them to become mainstream would be for them to no longer be JWs, they'd become part of babylon the great according to their doctrine. Remember how it felt to be "no part of this world"? If they lose that, then they lose a big part of their control over the R&F. They'll cease to exist before they go mainstream.
You wrote: Do you think they will ever go mainstream with their beliefs.
I used to think they might, but they're on the bottom and digging right now. I'd guess they'll completely dump the blood program but it might take time now because so many Witness people are enjoying themselves in the prestige positions. The blood non treatment program is bigger than the whole organizational management used to be. The ego jobs like positions on the liaison committees are rewards paid to loyal workers.
It's like the regional building committees, the no-blood enforcement committees and the Hospital Information Services in Brooklyn New York have a life and momentum of their own. They're almost like a sub-culture within the Witnesses. Now the teaching doesn't just need to be changed, the sub-culture needs to be defeated. It's more of a political issue than religious by far.
Mainstreaming would mean Trinity, Jesus deity, hell, soul reward in heaven, and civil treatment of members as well as other religious groups. I'm not seeing it. This is a separatist group. They get their identity by the act of separation from non members. They can't even get on the first rung of the ethical ladder. I think there's very little chance of them becoming a benevolent mainstream group.
Going "mainstream" would also mean that they would no longer be a legalistic; tightly controled organization that employs the mind-control methods that it does. If they surrender these aspects, they surrender their exclusivistic identity. Excusiveness is their number one product. There is only one "faithful and discreet slave" - and that is them. Once this perception disapears, there is not much to differentiate the Kingdom Hall from the Baptist or Lutheran church down the street.
Every religion teaches their people to educate themselves and tithe. Look at Mitt the Mormon. The JW's say, become a janitor because the end of the world is coming tomorrow.
I can not believe that so many are NOT tired of this garbage. Someone told my wife how sad she was because her daughter went to college. How pathetic can you get.
I can not believe that so many are NOT tired of this garbage.
But many ARE tired and they are moving on. However, the organization manages to attract others who wish to have easy answers laid in front of them (at a cost they do not discern).
JW's: The revolving door religion. If people leave, they don't care. Just bring on some more bodies to fill the chairs at meetings and to push literature as unpaid sales staff !!
