Personally I think it will end with a whimper. I think that they will always have members, but after the "system" continues and more and more people get discouraged, DF'd, DA'd, or fade after a long enough time they will slowly continue to consilidate halls (lose members) until it finally get so small they eventually go by the wayside or switch to something like e-meetings or web-meetings or once yearly conventions. Any takers???
Vote:DO you think the WTBTS will end with a BANG or a WHIMPER
by superman 29 Replies latest jw friends
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WTWizard
Ultimately, they are going to have to go from a fraud-based religion to a force-based one. As people are seeing through their lies, they might have to start fighting to have those baptisms upheld as legally binding contracts to do whatever the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger tells them to. That will open the door for mass recapturings, and court orders for those witlesses to actually go out in field circus all the time. Anyone that misses a boasting session without "acceptable" reason, or that doesn't do "enough" field circus, or breaks any of their rules will be charged with criminal contempt of court and/or sued by the Washtowel Slaveholdery for breach of contract.
If they do not do that, sooner or later they are going to become a stagnant bunch of about 1.5 or 2 million robots with no personality. If they do use court orders and play that "breach of contract" card, they might get something like 9 million in, plus another 4 or 5 million through fraud (remember, anyone that dogs it on a call can be sued for breach of contract).
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fjtoth
I wouldn't be surprised, if the world lasts long enough, that they will become as large as the Roman Catholic Church is now -- or as large as some of the largest Protestant denominations.
Most people don't think deeply about religion, and they're likely to latch onto whatever comes along that gives them an emotional lift. I can visualize the rank and file in time becoming like church attenders and a special organization of "pioneers" forming into an elite leadership class that will be looked to as sort of a priestly branch of the organization. World headquarters will become a gigantic compound where Hollywood-style productions will be concocted to "prove" there is only one "true" religion and that JWs (perhaps with a new and more appealing name) are that "true" religion.
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JimmyPage
I don't think the WT will be powerful enough to enforce baptisms as binding contracts. I was baptized at 16 anyway so it would never be legally binding.
I also don't think any religion that doesn't allow holidays and has strange beliefs about blood transfusions will ever get as popular as the Catholic church.
I side with Superman's assessment that it will fade away though I would love to see it go out with a bang. I just hope it doesn't become another Jonestown.
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Dune
I don't think it'll ever really end. They're just like any other religion that has a set group of followers and a demographic that they seem to attract.
I'm sure the religion will evolve as the GB grows old, dies and are replaced. But i have a hard time believing that we're going to live to see the end of this organization.
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Farkel
WTWizard,
:As people are seeing through their lies, they might have to start fighting to have those baptisms upheld as legally binding contracts to do whatever the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger tells them to. That will open the door for mass recapturings, and court orders for those witlesses to actually go out in field circus all the time. Anyone that misses a boasting session without "acceptable" reason, or that doesn't do "enough" field circus, or breaks any of their rules will be charged with criminal contempt of court and/or sued by the Washtowel Slaveholdery for breach of contract.
:If they do not do that, sooner or later they are going to become a stagnant bunch of about 1.5 or 2 million robots with no personality. If they do use court orders and play that "breach of contract" card, they might get something like 9 million in, plus another 4 or 5 million through fraud (remember, anyone that dogs it on a call can be sued for breach of contract).
Of course, the current WTS baptism system is already a religiously binding contract, which is quite different from the legally binding contract that you are fantasizing about.
Dream on. Number one, breach of contract is not a criminal offense. It is a civil offense. Number two, a contract requires consideration from parties to the contract. In your ridiculous example, the "consideration" dubs would give is field service time. What is the "consideration" given in return from the WTS? Consideration can be money, labor, or property among other things. It can even be "love" in some cases.
But it cannot be "hope of a Paradise earth" because a) that is too intangible to be considered consideration, and b) it is not really consideration at all, because nothing is "given" in return but a pipe dream.
Next, an illusory contract is not enforceable, and such a contract as you suggest would be illusory. A good example would be a guy who says, "I will buy that house contingent upon my getting a loan with an interest rate favorable to me." Say the market interest rates are 6% and the guy finds a 1% interest rate loan. He could still claim that rate is not "favorable", since "favorable" is undefined. Ergo, the contract is illusory.
Every freaking promise the WTS makes is illusory!
I think the WTS will go out with a wimper in the same way its sister religion, the Worldwide Church of God went out. Some high-ranking Watchtower muckity-muck person(s) will step forward and expose the fraud that is the WTS, and most (but of couse, not all) dubs will leave. Such a person or person(s) would have to go much further than did Ray Franz and expose among other things, the financial frauds such as routing literature through several countries on the way to its destination to avoid paying normal government fees, and things like that.
Farkel
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dorayakii
It will never end... religions of that size rarely end, and the ones that do either end up commiting mass suicide or falling with the civilisation of which they form a part. So unless the world actually does end, or the dubs suddenly get suicidal it will carry on in either a benign or malignant form...
The door to door proseletyzing might come to a stop or they could adopt a Mormon-style missionary attitude to door-knocking, taking young people and sending them somewhere for a couple years. I can't see the congregational preaching system continuing for much longer. I can also see them turning to TV evangelizing, making a niche for themselves by having a unique (voice-only) style to their programmes (of course to avoid attracting attention to a mere human being) setting them apart from the crazy-looking TV preachers.
More and more young people will leave the org, making it necessary to increase membership by conversion... and they will definately have to lighten up on some of the rules they have in place (which they've already started to do i.e. shorter meetings, more blood fractions allowed etc.).
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I quit!
It has always been a whimper. They're only know because of their reputation of annoying people by knocking on their doors on weekends trying and get them to leave their beliefs and join the Watchtower. They really haven't done a whole lot from the time they were founded till now except leave a trail of false prophecy behind them. Only by reading their literature will go get the idea that they big players in the scheme of things.
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jws
With a whimper. There are still groups that believe C.T. Russell's teachings and books as they were written about 100 years ago. If people are going to stick with that, I suppose the JWs, being even larger, will always have their diehards.
I'm thinking of the title of the last Diehard movie: Live Free or Diehard. Some will choose to die hard instead of living free.
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OUTLAW
The WB&T$ will go out with a Whimper..
...OUTLAW
...OUTLAW