Is the WTS planning on going mainstream?

by besty 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  yknot

  The WTS will do whatever it has to do to survive.

  Will it appear more mainstream.....of course!

  I think we are having some clashes among the generations. One says hold on tight, tell them to shun everything! The other realizes these crazy coots are gonna be dead and if they want to reap any long-term benefits of being on top they better make things more appealing to join and stay.....1914, 1918-1919 is losing it's mojo with every passing year.

  Reminds me of my PO, he wanted to believe so badly that he would live through Armageddon that he wound up stubbling everyone else.

  Dear GB Lurking Trolls........ visit site www.lds.org ......they have 70% retention! College, private schools, recreation, two year mission work, fun......and yet they still maintain some crazy spacy weird could had-a V8 beliefs. Think of how many Mormons would convert....LOL LOL LOL........Nah better yet yall & the stockholder pocket the cash & dash. It's been fun but know when to turn out the lights and admit the party is over. Better to quit while yall are ahead and not behind financially.
• 

  on the rocks

  Birthday

  Blood

  Christmas

  Higer Studies

  Shunning
• 

  GOrwell

  I think WTS could only go mainstream if it made the blood doctrine (amongst other doctrines - but this is the main one) TRULY and honestly a conscience matter.
• 

  DagothUr

  They have also strived to get recognized as a religious organisation in Romania. They obtained the status in 2008 or 2009.
• 

  Aussie Oz

  Maybe they are throwing out a lot of different messages and signals to the rank and file and analyzing the feedbacks to see what way to jump?

  On the whole though, i doubt it. Most of it smacks of tightening the grip. I think they will sacrifice numbers and downsize to a more loyal base and bleed them for cash to fund more of the real deal...real estate.

  I reckon they would stop door to door work before dropping blood and shunning.

  You know, declare the global witness given and close ranks into a tight isolated group that most everyone will ignore, all the while keeping on telling the faithful ''not long now.....''

  It is of course a multinational corporation and as such will do whatever its boards and lawyers direct to keep the corporation turning a profit.

  oz
• 

  Black Sheep

  They will only ever try to put on an appearance of being mainstream.

  Every time you hear an apologist presenting evidence that they are becoming less cultish you can bet your sweet bippy there is something they don't know or are not telling .... usually the latter.
• 

  wobble

  If they drop the stuff that stops them being considered a real religion, then on what "difference " can they sell their brand as the one true religion ?

  They only have left then the option that Aussie Oz outlines above, to become a little cult locked away in a compound.

  They would lose an awful lot of members that way,members whose faith is in a growing organization ,that by its growth proves Jehovah's blessing upon it, and they would sacrifice the raw cash flowing in from those members, and simply have to live on investment income, not great at present.

  I see them simply tinkering as little as is needed with the present model to keep it going, the guys in charge are as old as me (almost) and they don't give a flying fig what happens 30 years down the line, just as long as they are in clover till they die, the are content.
• 

  cameo-d

  Already they are no different than any other religion, business, or industry. Sure, they have their own dogma and eccentricities. But they are just the same as any other commercial institution.
• 

  wobble

  Most Corprorations have sharehoders to pay a dividend to, taxes to pay, and Directors, Executives and workers to pay, and a number of other overheads.

  The WT's financial set up means these costs are either non-existent or minimal. In this they are different to most.

  Their callous, heartless view of the buyers of their product/brand is much the same as most corporations though.
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  I think any hopes of going mainstream died with the last of the milquetoast GB 1.0 members. Jaracz has handpicked too many of the current regime to expect any sort of legitimate leniency.

  As Black Sheep said, they may work to give the appearance of mainstreaming but they're stricter than ever.

  I think the battle is between the bean counters and the religious fanatics at the top of the organization. Loosening up would allow for much more growth which would mean more income for the corporation, but the cost would be the loosening up itself - a loss of centralized power and control.

  I'm not sure the bean counters have that kind of power unless and until they can scare the religious fanatics on the GB financially. Threaten their lifestyle and maybe they will lighten up. I've long wondered who really pulls the strings, the corporation people or the religious people, and after considering the question for years I still can't tell.

  A major liberal shift toward a kinder and gentler Borg would be a clue that they need more members/money and that the bean counters and attorneys have the upper hand. Stricter and stricter would indicate to me that the GB is exercising its authority.