by AK - Jeff 78 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
They will create stratagies to survive.
We can see them taking financial steps already. They are currently tightening their grip on the r&f with their evil brand of 'hate crime'.
You can't kill an idea.
As much as I want to see the WBT$ hit the skids I don't have high hopes of it in my lifetime.
Booked
When I was in the org, part of me stayed out of curiosity. I wanted to know what would happen to it. Little did I know that if I left and became apostitized (truth seeker) I would find out a thousand times more how WTBTS is getting along.
The Watchtower is the one that interprets the attack described in the Bible as worldly government against religion. Did they get something right? It wouldn't surprise me an iota that they have that wrong too.
Nope
seeing that our so called democratic countries allow, tolerate and encourage even more extreme types of religions that foster even greater hatred and control under the guise of being more 'liberal' goverments than others, i don't see the Watchtower needing to change that much at all...
oh they might cop one or two fines, maybe some slaps on the hand but really, they will just reword the propaganda to apease the powers that be and slowly tighten the grip on the flock. They have never been sad to loose numbers from a personal point of veiw, only a financial one. But since they are downsizing and capitalizing on their investmentsthey will need less members anyway.
Those they keep will be loyal no matter what.
oz
Yes. But " not with a bang, but a whimper."
I think JWFACTS mentioned the idea of their "Tipping Point" (great book BTW) which I believe they have reached on several fronts.
First, from a membership standpoint: growth in 'first world' countries has already stopped or started to contract while only poorer countries see any increase-- but that does not help the bottom line, donations...
Second, printed media as a whole is well along in it's 'tip' as we see the Internet and electronic media take over...
Third, doctrinally: instead of adapting their doctrine to the fact THAT GODS KINGDOM IS NOT HERE and turning it's membership towards more community works, they continue to beat 607, 1914, generation TO DEATH, and friends at the best are getting tired, if not starting to question the leadership.
I keep posting about their C.O. situation - and that could kill them. They are stuck in a potentially fatal dilemma.
metatron
No matter what bullshit numbers they publish in the yearly figures: bad stuff is happening to them!
1) stagnant attendance
2) stagnant field service
3) no contributions............... the only ones they get are Assemblies and Wills
4) apathy, this demoralized field service and the result is "token magazine handouts".
their own stupid policies are chipping away from the inside!
When it goes it will go with a whimper, not with a bang. The bangs are fun to discuss and are a distraction from what is really hurting the Borg is attrition of "qualified brothers."
With every "bang" scandal, how many elders and ministerial servants are lost? Even if the numbers are only in the dozens they add up with the multiple events. More importantly, they are not replaced. And there are local mini-scandals going on all the time that "stumble" people out here and there. And then there's the Internet, where pretty much every bit of information about the Borg is available and being found daily by active JWs.
There isn't going to be a mass "governments of the world turn on religion" event (though that will eventually happen if we get enlightened enough). No, the Borg is just going to go through more and more attrition until they can no longer support their own bureaucracy. They'll fade like the Roman Empire. Yeah, there still is a city of Rome today - and there will still probably be some form of JWs 100 years from now. They will be less like today's JWs than today's JWs are like the Russellite Bible Students.
Edit: I posted without reading the thread. I see Breakfast of Champions already used the "not with a bang but with a whimper" line. Kudos.
Sad to say, no. I see a slow steady decline coming, but no implosion. They have a large enough warchest to milk things out for decades.
JK
I'm with the slow decline crowd. I think number reported will still go up a little but their average age is getting older and older by the day. They have pressures on many fronts that have been brought out (low youth retention, not enough men to take low level leadership positions, reactionary changes to doctrine, apathy among members, media issues). But, historically, they've been able to overcome such things.
I believe they have enough wealth to withstand the slow shrinkage. Combining congregations and selling the KHs is going to keep the cash flow going for quite awhile. I don't believe they're losing money on literature because if they were, they'd stop.
Short of a black swan event, they will follow the path of many non-mainstream religions before them and slowly fade to the outer fringe. But, I don't think it will happen in my lifetime (I'm in my early 40s).
