Try again...DC 2010 Discourse 48 (page 7)

agonus

"good riddance to those who won't listen to us; they're a poison in the congregation anyways."

Yeah, but much of that "poison" stays in for family...

It usually does, agonus. But this generation thing is so incredibly wacky that I have to think the backlash will be greater than usual. I'm not talking a 1975 style debacle but they've really jumped the shark here...again.

agonus

"the backlash will be greater than usual."

agonus

"the backlash will be greater than usual."

If by "backlash" you mean more and more dubs secretly saying to themselves, "I've had enough of this crap" and operating "undercover", then I totally agree with you.

I'll ask again, Watchtower: Which is more dangerous? More and more JWs losing their faith and patience but staying in for the wrong reasons? Or somebody who has had enough being free to DA without the specter of shunning, therefore losing their main objection to your policies and simply moving on with their life?

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Drop shunning - at least in the case of voluntary DA - and everything will sort itself out. Keep turning up that pressure cooker if you wish, you're already seeing the results...

Doubting Bro

I hate to be a bother but I can't access any of these links because my company blocks all file sharing sites. Is there any chance someone who has downloaded the outline could e-mail it to me? Send me a PM and I'll send over my e-mail address.

Thanks

sir82

But this generation thing is so incredibly wacky that I have to think the backlash will be greater than usual.

I disagree.

Yes it is incredibly wacky, but in the end, what change in the day-to-day life of a JW will it make?

Prior to 1975, people (thousands of them - maybe 10's of thousands) were

-- Selling their homes and quitting work to pioneer in the "last remaining months" of this system

-- Putting off vital surgery because "in a few months I'll be in perfect health"

-- Dropping out of school to pioneer

-- Begging, pleading, and finally telling off unbelieving relatives who didn't believe Armageddon was coming "soon"

So, on January 1, 1976, there were thousands and thousands of JWs who realized they had completely and utterly screwed up the rest of their lives because they fully bought the "1975" teaching. And despite thousands of new baptisms, the number of JWs actually shrank over a 2 or 3 year period as those justfiably pissed off JWs left.

Current JWs are not that "all in". The vast majority just kind of float along, going with the flow, following JW practices out of habit rather than zeal.

"Another change to the definition of 'generation'? Oh, OK. Where shall we eat after the meeting?"

Doubting Bro

Sir82 hits the nail on the head. This is an issue the WTS has been struggling with since the 1995 generation teaching really took the steam out of the movement. The realization that the end may not come in the person's lifetime had a subtle but noticable effect.

So, the issue for the WTS is that they will need to either: 1) accept the lower level of zeal and be happy with just coasting along, slowing losing more and more influence or 2) try to find some way to reignite the fuse. They're obviously trying #2 and think that this rejuggling of the generation teaching will generate enough speculation to capture some of that pre-75 fire.

But, the old timers who remember 75 aren't going "all in" again. The 40ish folks (unfortunately I'm now included in that group) that grew up "in the truth" and are still around have long since realized that the end can't be predicted and are more concerned with raising families and saving for retirement than willing to go "all in". The younger folks in the internet generation (which of course overlapps with the horse and buggy generation according to the WTS's new definition) are not sticking around either.

If the WTS were smart, they would tweak the business model to become more of a mainstream type religion ala LDS. If they dropped shunning, made blood a conscious matter and encouraged community service instead of FS (still keeping missionaries and local pioneers), I'm convinced that they would make more money. They could keep the entire doctrinal structure including the whole 1914 mess and likely stem the losses and retain more members in developed countries which means more donations.

I wonder how long its going to take them to come to this conclusion?

Mad Sweeney

If the WTS were smart, they would tweak the business model to become more of a mainstream type religion

Good thing they're not.

undercover

If the WTS were smart, they would tweak the business model to become more of a mainstream type religion...

I've thought the same thing and once in a while you do see some evidence for it...but then it swings back the other way and you see them leaning to a more authoritarian cult like situation. Currently they're speaking out of both sides of their mouth. Tweaking the generation teaching to allow for extension of time, while yet producing talks that stress how close the 'end' really is.

I agree with you and Sir82 in your observations that the current batch of dubs are just going through the motions. The intensity of being a JW on the cusp of a New World just isn't there anymore...it's just the religion they were raised in. If it's good enough for mom and dad, it's good enough for them. This religion has become what it had railed against for so many decades.

Scott77

I notced that within the file, there it says N.H Barbour rejected the ransom. Not sure why. Any idea about this guy?

Try again...DC 2010 Discourse 48

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