What the Watchtower needs to do to survive.

by jwfacts 76 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  jwfacts

  You've just fulfilled a prophesy.

  Do you know why they are called the last days?....because they last....and last....and last

  3. Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4. They will say, "What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created." - 2 Peter 3:3-4

  That can hardly be called a prophecy, anymore than if it was prophecied that in the last days people will eat food. That Scripture was referring to what people were saying 2000 years ago, and ever since.
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  binadub

  Coincidentally, I just posted a long discussion on my forum about this very topic, the core doctrine of JWs that appeals is the hope of never dying but living on this Earth for most. My approach was to detail how illogical and contrary to reasoning it is to believe in eternal physical life on this planet.

  My conclusion revolves around the theory that the "new earth" for salvation appeal boils down to one thing: human fear of death. And I think that is what the WT has successfully appealed to from its inception.

  ~Binadub
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  jwfacts

  human fear of death.

  Excellent point and something that I totally overlooked. What is the url of the topic.
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  steve2

  Warning: We ought never underestimate 2 factors involved in the longevity of any religion:

  1. Serendipitous events outside a religion's control. Example: regardless of what Russell said (or did not say) about 1914, an event of monumental signficance did occur that year. Watchtower publications have been dining out on it ever since. We can but imagine what would have happened to the Russelites had there never been a World War 1. For starters, there would have been no compelling ground for 'spiritualizing' the fulfillment of 1914 (as the limp-minded Adventists had desperately done for their prophetic failure in 1844), there would have been no persecution for conscientious objectors, no charges of sedition, no reason for Rutherford to have played out his hatred of governments in his bad-tempered tomes....

  2. People's desperate need for absolute black and white certainty. As long as people 'hunger' for absolute 'truth' they will have a need - and a vulnerability for - strong promises of 'truth'. I have often asserted that most people's need for consolation is far, far stronger than their need to reason and think logically.

  Add 1 and 2 together and you have the bare elements of a damn perfect recipe for religious success.

  Cults no more seduce people into complete compliance than do prostitutes seduce customers. People line up seeking seduction simply because life for them without certainty would be unbearable.
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  d

  I am seeeing more now that the influence of the witnesses is diminishing due to more easy access to information and that more atheists are coming out.I also think that people today know more about the history of the witnesses and are not as easily mislead. People today are questioning things more and are finding out the truth for themselves.
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  PaintedToeNail

  bump
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  Aussie Oz

  But we don't want them to fade away into obscurity...

  we want them to CRASH AND BURN BABY!

  ah well...

  oz
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  JakeM2012

  The WTBTS's game is over "the kings have had their day". The last district convention I went to was a sea of grey hair that most likely will not be around in 15 years or less. I have talked to several of my older family members about "expectations postponed" making the heart sick. The general tone repeated was quotable, "I have too much invested in this religion to give up or change now". My mom said one time, "I have wasted my whole life". She is well in her seventies and has had long talks with another relative that left 30 years ago after the 75 debacle , but continues to remain faithful even recognizing the mistakes and false prophecies. I think that it is just too hard for many to admit the truth about the truth and are stuck.

  A sibling keeps me informed of the congregation she goes to. The congregation has 150 publisher cards and they cannot breach 90 for the meeting attendance. She says that they will announce the attendance and she will look around and say "where are they, in the bathroom?". I know that from years past that once you know the trouble that can be brought by a CO of low meeting attendance, some while counting, started counting people that they thought could be there just to make the attendance look better. The same way with turning in 10 hours a month.

  A cross section of the congregation is older widows, other singles, sister's coming without their unbelieving mates, basically socially fringed people. Many elder's families consist of an older husband and wife either without any children or empy nesters. The large families of the 70's where children have plenty of playmates is over.

  WTBTS has only one direction to go: they will become more controlling, judgmental, and isolated. They will be around for years to come but the effectiveness of their whip is losing it's effectiveness. People are doing what they need to do.
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  breakfast of champions

  I agree with STEVE2s post above, except I would change the last sentence from "People line up seeking seduction simply because life for them without certainty would be unbearable" to "People line up seeking seduction simply because they have been programmed to believe that life for them without certainty would be unbearable.

  And JAKE's bit of insight is spot on: "I have too much invested in this religion to give up or change now" sounds exactly like what my wife has said.

  I think if you could show (or really de-program) people to see that uncertainty and ambiguity ain't so bad (in fact everything you learned as a witness is about as uncertain and ambiguous as it gets), giving up the false sense of security would be much easier.
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  DesirousOfChange

  PARA: 1975 is coming back to bite them with more of vengance than it did 37 years ago. The kids of the Boomer Generation have watched their parents grow old, screw up their finances and are now at retirement age, but very few had the resources to retire. They will be bitter and that bitterness will grow. The advice to their kids will be "Don't make the same mistake I made, get a career, save for retirement, look after your family".

  With that the unthinkable will have happened, while not intended, parents will essentially be telling their kids to "ignore the council of the Faithful and Discrete Slave".

  i think this is a very nice summary of what I am witnessing taking place.

  A dear friend asked me how to reply to his dad's comments about the "overlapping generation" change. Dad is widowed, 80 years old, an active witness since forever, as were his parents. Dad says "How can this system still be here?!?!?! The guys in Brooklyn must have missed something."

  A friend of my parents, a loyal sister in her late 60s/early 70s asks her what she should do since her inactive, apostate son is reaching out to speak to her. The son was never DFd/DAd, but effectively faded without congo action, and clearly has spoke up about TTATT. Because of that his mother has shunned him for years. The son sent an olive branch via his (non-JW) wife saying he will agree to no longer speak out against the WT (at least in her presence) and they would like for her to celebrate their daughter's high school graduation. Yes, what has this faithful sister gotten? OLD. LONELY. Her parents expected to live right into the New World. They're dead. She expected to never grow old -- never go to school -- never graduate from school. Instead, the realitiy is her granddaughter is graduating from school!

  Yep, the guys in Brooklyn must have missed something!

  Doc