Most cults don't go out with a whisper when they know their time has come. Jonestown. Branch Davidians. Heavens Gate. When the Watchtower folds, what do you suppose they will tell their loyal members? I can vision the Governing Body saying that Satan is causing the demise of the organization and they can no longer operate in a world of apostates. That it is prophecy that there will be a great "falling away". After they sell off all the Kingdom Halls and liquidate their assets and divide it amongst themselves ... what do you suppose they would tell the congregations to do? Do you suppose there would be mass suicides from devout JWs who can't function without the Watchtower controlling them? How bad do you think it would get?
Watchtower: End Game Strategy?
by sacolton 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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hillbilly
I just see the WT lawyers letting things drift for a while.. a slow closing of local Halls... condense and combine into more regional units. it will take a few years to dry up the brick and mortar halls. Maybe the "service work" will evolve into a Morman- like tour for young people who get a title for participation, then drift for years on the fringes of the church.
The future money will be in mass media marketing for them. The product is a natural for the cable info network format. We know that the WT is very good at talking a lot and saying nothing... so a change in venue would keep cash flow up.
People congregated together in the current format is not a profit center for the WT. I am really thinking the future will be "smaller" with better margins for the WT legal department.
Jeff
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Quirky1
The GB would probably appoint the home BS arrangement to be the satellite halls after they sell off all the KH's and please continue sending your donations to "Washtowel".
It would be a last ditch effort to keep funding coming in.
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still_in74
the only thing I could see happening is a major country banning JW's and seizing assets or major disaster happening that would cripple the org.
Problem is, the org has essentially prepared for this by spreading their assets all over the globe and moving out of terrorist target NY City
If a major fire destroyed Patterson, then Germany/Mexico would take over the helm. If Europe banned JW's, then NY continues to reign supreme and Euro JW's flock to Americas.
If a cracked out WTS Hater decides to run into Patterson guns blazing or drive a tractor-truck full of Deisel and Fertilizer into the factory/housing complex, then again, it moves to Europe/Mexico.
Any of these events would trigger a major response by the org of persecution and testement of Jehovahs approval due to attacks by Satans org.
Having said that, the single greatest threat the org. has today is taxation. this threat is real, and could happen in France. If this practice were to spread and the world saw what they are worth, other countries would want their peice of the pie also. Taxation would create a major shift in WTS operations and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind they are already preparing for it.
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restrangled
If you think about it, they have cut the magazines, book releases and had the Revelation book restudied for the BS for the 3rd time now? BS deleted after they are through.
So is this a way to get the Rank and File accustomed to no new releases in the future?
Maybe there is a slow set up for just making it on your own with the approved publications you have and your local neighbor JWs.
If the Co's are going to be done away with, another sign.
Brooklyn seems to be in a slow shut down, and the move to Patterson (another self contained farm setup just as other cults).... the top elite in New York are all taken care of with enough worker bees to produce food and keep the place running. All others are slowly let go as we have seen happening.
Maybe we're watching the end game strategy right now.
r.
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still_in74
the move to Patterson (another self contained farm setup just as other cults)....
wow, i actually never really made that connection! It is a "branch Davidian" of sorts isnt it?
Although I thought they were selling the WT Farms and just purchasing food now..........
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yknot
The WTS is a corporation more then religion.
Folding with little to no assets would be more reasonable. I am sure there is a profit ratio & recovery timeline established to decide when to liquidate & deeply downsize. Besides they could easily go to a digital format and keep a very small staff to supply those in underdeveloped countries & a few other stragglers in Westernized countries for several decades.
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restrangled
When our KH took the trip, we were privey to watching the butchering process at Patterson....Oh what a thrill. This farm, as I remember fed most of those in brooklyn.the move to Patterson (another self contained farm setup just as other cults)....
wow, i actually never really made that connection! It is a "branch Davidian" of sorts isnt it?
Although I thought they were selling the WT Farms and just purchasing food now..........
I find it ironic that Brooklyn is shutting down and all are slowly being moved to the farm. Those who are not viable are quickly being sent back into the United States,..... as what? Maybe some of them will eventually post here.
r.
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strawberry cake
I wonder about this myself.
I feel that they will say the troubles imminent in the Organization is the start or part of the great tribulation. (The world turning on Jehovahs People)
The JWs will blame Satan and the 'apostates' and not see the sinister manipulation by the GB.
A lot of people will not notice their strategic fade.
The rank and file JWs will then be abandoned... then have to face the realization that they had been fooled and then betrayed.
Then for some, depression and suicides will follow.
Others will become like us and try to move on and try to get past the bitterness.
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Jeremy C
I believe that the question is based upon a faulty premise. There is no reason to believe that the Watchtower organization will experience a massive "Enron-style" implosion. In the future, the organization will surely implement more structural "re-organizations" and operational "adjustments", but there is no reason to predict a massive dismantling of the organizational structure as a whole.
There will also be further doctrinal fiddling and flip-flops done by the GB, but there is no reason to foresee any kind of Jonestown-style meltdown within the ranks. I believe that these kind of immaginative and fanciful speculations are the result of wishful thinking, over-active immaginations, and JW conditioning itself. Remember that we all come from an apocalyptic group that is always predicting the chaotic unraveling of "this system of things" - a system of things that they deeply resent. It is not hard to see that many of us former members have continued to carry this "chicken little" style of thinking as mental residue and attempt to apply it to the organization that we resent.
Consider this point: think about all of the doctrinal nonsense that is foisted upon the members of the Mormom Church. Look at that church's history of major controversies, upheavels, public scrutiny, and the splitting off of many of its members. Has that church gone through any kind of chaotic downfall? Hardly. In fact, they continue to gain converts in many poorer uneducated countries - the same way that the Watchtower is.
I just do not believe that it is rational or mature to predict a major collapse of the Watchtower with it hanging a "going out of business" sign on it's front door. I believe that we are deluding ourselves if we are expecting this, or hanging our hopes upon this kind of event. The Watchtower organization has millions of people who have an exraordinary emotional investment in the ideology that it sells. There are millions of people all over the world who want to believe in the concept of organizational exclusivity, spiritual "specialness", and future utopia. It is this very human nature that will not allow Watchtower ideology to die anytime soon.