Why Do You Think Jehovah's Witnesses Are At A Standstill?

by minimus 35 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  minimus

  I think they've lost all of their zeal. Years ago, even if people were bothered by the door knocking, it was still said that people admired their zeal and conviction. Not one JW that I know truly gets excited by the "Truth". They all seem to be on automatic pilot, just on cruise control. No one is fired up about anything.

  More Witnesses are depressed and/or physically sick. They need to work extra hours to make ends meet. People are tired, joyless.

  They realize but refuse to admit that they've been lied to. The result of their being duped is for them to not "kill themselves" over anything. They have no sense of urgency.They are apathetic.
• 

  REBORNAGAIN

  They are all speechless. They don't have much to preach anymore, because the only things left to preach are the REAL truths, something they don't know anything about and their former teachings have become obsolete. Hallelujah!
• 

  Gregor

  I think the effect of the 1995 "weasel out" on 1914 has had a very profound impact on the 'spirit' of JWs. They may not even realize it consciously themselves. For many old timers this is the second time the rugs been pulled out.
• 

  lawrence

  The "god of good fortune" no longer blesses their lying ways. Too many former JWs cast spells on Crooklyn.
• 

  dedpoet

  The "new system" has been just around the corner for a long time
  now for many jws, particularly those who have spent a lifetime in
  the org, and maybe they are getting tired of waiting. Then there's
  the flashes of "new light", like the generation change and the revised
  teaching on the gathering of the anointed. They've both served to
  postpone armageddon again, so maybe a few are thinking it's one
  hell of a long corner nowadays.

  The ones we see around here don't seem to have much spark in
  them, not that they speak to us, leading me to think that the
  watchtower is in a lot more trouble than it realises. It probably
  wouldn't take much more for some of these people to fade, become
  inactive or leave altogether.
• 

  journey-on

  Jehovah's Witnesses have fervently preached that Armageddon will have come and gone by now. It is painfully

  obvious, seven years into the 21st century, that they are pissing preaching in the wind. Their doctrinal spiel is now

  going to have to be majorly overhauled in order to maintain any kind of credibility. Those that have devoted 20, 30,

  40, even 50 years to this belief system are TIRED. Many are dying off that never thought they would experience

  even old age. Many of us raised in it have seen our parents pass away after having given their entire lives in sacrifice

  to an organization of men claiming to KNOW God's Truth. Time becomes precious as you get older and when one

  realizes that they spent huge chunks of valuable time sitting at a Kingdom Hall three times a week and wasting hours

  upon hours in field ministry for some publishing company, one begins to realize that those years cannot be retrieved and

  relived. I think many are becoming just plain SAD and all the enthusiasm and joyous anticipation of the New World went

  out the window with the "new light" about the generational doctrine. They are trying to hang on to their FAITH because that's

  what the WTS tells them to do....you know, "he that endures to the end....." So sad.
• 

  minimus

  They are dying from within.
• 

  hillary_step

  Journey On,

  Well said.

  I think that the bad investment mentality is at work with JW's who are more clued in than others.

  A person invests badly after being persuaded by a friend that the investment is a sure winner. His stock falls. He has two choices, to take what is left and cash out, or to listen to his enthusiastic friend who tells him that there will be a turn-around very shortly and that he will end up richer than he could ever have imagined, if only he will hang on.

  With the stock bouncing along the bottom, he lives in the hope of a freak takeover that will finally give his stock value.

  Of course, it never happens as the whole scam was built on a dream.

  HS
• 

  Seeker4

  For many JWs, being a JW is a cultural thing - this is where family and friends are - and less a system of actual belief.
  
  There are some hardliners, but I know many still-active JWs who just figure it's a pretty good way of life, even though they don't really believe most of it. They'd never say that aloud - it's just shown in their actions.
  
  S4
• 

  WTWizard

  I wonder how much the Internet has to do with it. People are sneaking on the Internet despite being told not to. And those in the territory now have that resource to look up information that would have been very difficult to locate without it. So they get a call and lose it after a couple of rounds as they learn the history of the Watchtower Society and where it is headed. Plus, unlike seasoned Witlesses, new studies will independently study the Bible and verify the accuracy of the New World Translation and Watchtower doctrines with independent sources. Hence no new growth.