by transhuman68 16 Replies latest jw friends
It would just splinter. You would have a hard core faction, a middle of a road, and maybe quite a few liberal groups.
Most would just re-hash all that has been printed.
Sure it would free some, but not after a lot of pain. The same pain each of us go through individually when we realized it was just a Wizard of Oz scenario.
Still, there would be less control over individuals, so I would welcome it, but I'm not wasting time dreaming about it anymore.
I remember reading an experience about a sister whose unbelieving mate got a job in some remote area where there were no JWs. She lost contact with HQ, but she remained faithful. She went out in service on her own, re-read her old WTs and books, and held her own meetings. All by herself.
Some people would carry on, even without the WTBTS.
Yes jgnat, the WWCG is a good example. I personally believe they went more mainstream for accreditation purposes for their Ambassender College in Pasadena. I attended some of their meetings at the time of the fall out, the elders where shell shocked, and became bewildered and cynical. A foreshadow fot the WBTS I asked myself ??
Shalom friend.
Cobaltcupcake has got the right idea.
I can imagine the ones I know saying it now....'We do not serve the WTS, we serve Jehovah - his promises will still come true' I guess they would organize meetings based around old publications, even do field service.
After all the "Bible Students " are still going, based around the writings of C T Russell.......
transhuman:
Of course, we would not miss it if it should ever happen. I am not holding my breath because I suspect the religion might still survive even if it were just a shell of its former self, much like other religions and movements that have become so small they are off the radar.
The hundred year anniversary of 1914 is just around the corner and I suspect there will be some who will gradually leave, much the same as what happened after the 1995 changed teaching on generation. People didn't necessarily just get up and run out (although they should have). It could have taken several years after the realization set in that they had to do something constructive instead of entertaining fantasies and watching youth fade and opportunity pass them by. The cruel reality is that the clock was ticking.
I hung around for five years after the 1995 thing and became a "Fader" the end of 2000. I suspect something similar will happen after 2014.
Thanks for all your comments.
I know if the Watchtower Society folded up that many Witnesses would move on to other religions, or stay lost in some quasi-religion of there own; but I was thinking of those of us who have left already, or who are stuck half-way out the door with friends & family still in.
It just seems that it is impossible to find a meaning for the Watchtower experience we have had- the only members of the GB who could provide an explanation have been dead for many years, and the others- elders, parents & other relatives- are no longer in the religion for the same reasons that they originally joined.
I just imagine, in a hundred years time when the Watchtower finally goes bankrupt, and the last member of the GB- a doddery old white guy- is escorted off Watchtower premises by the sheriff; and he will be asked: “What happened? Where is Jehovah? How can Armageddon happen now?” and he will say: “Don’t ask me- I only work here…”
Maybe there can never be closure- just a point in our lives when we turn and start walking in the other direction…
transhuman:
You are correct that possibly there may never really be closure. This is something that we ex-JWs have to accept. A similar analogy is people who want to see a criminal executed, whereas the person gets life imprisonment instead. These people may not feel there is justice or closure because there is no dead body.
I can understand certain ex-JWs level of hatred considering the years wasted, abuse possibly suffered, lost opportunity, etc. but there may never be the type of closure they are looking for.
What is more important is that everybody (including ourselves) be walking in that other direction and never mind what happens to the damn religion.
