Stand for True Worship
Put aside all the tit for tat WWF BS exchanges.
Jehovah's Witnesses aren't constructed to surpass others in growth.
They are constructed to SURVIVE.
Massive Redundancy is the key. Massive redundancy is a familiar
term to engineers that have to build very expensive apparatus that
have to survive without a lot of external input. For example
satellites have numerous back-up systems that can carry on in case
of damage.
Yes Jehovah's Witnesses have been about numbers. That is a
human tendency - the "mine is bigger than yours" game. But there
are any number of crazy rules that if they were removed
(blood,birthdays,holidays, smoking) would add huge numbers.
Jehovah's Witnesses are more interested in the template of
membership than size. This forms a perfect matrix for additional
redundancies. That's why you could take a JW from any Kingdom
Hall and drop them off at any other Kingdom Hall in the world and
inspite of language differences they could easily get up to speed
with their new associates.
Every local congregation down to the service group level mirrors
every other congregation in the world. They are taught to respect
their leaders even though they are every bit as fallible as everyone
else. Everyone knows the rules. That's why they have so many
meetings. Everyone is sensitive to the slightest deviance from the
"party" line. As soon as an individual doesn't fit the template in
words or actions (including style of clothing) they are gradually
pushed to the periphery and if necessary they are expelled by means
of a judicial system. They have redundancy of leadership. If one
leader dies there is another to immediately take his place that is
familiar with all the rules and requirements.
This close association that is viewed by many of us as authoritarian
and repressive is the LOVE referred to at John 13:35, "Your love
for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
Don't look at the inter-congregational friction. Even a family that
appears ideal to people on the outside could be a mess of rivalries
on the inside. But you try to attack that family and they will close
ranks and set aside their personal problems. Many who leave JW's
cry out for "unconditional" love. A baby gets unconditional love.
An adult has to learn to love themselves.
The single factor that sets JW's apart for survival is that they view
themselves as alien residents. They are subjects of a different
non-earthly government. They refuse to let nationalism have the
same effect on them as it has the rest of the of the world . Even
voting isn't allowed which would fan the fame of loyalty to a
political party.
All of this is what you would expect from disciples of Christ.
Jesus spoke about a "great tribulation" that couldn't be compared to
any of all the woes humans have faced. A tribulation that would be
shortened to prevent human extinction. The date for this tribulation
was left open so he said "keep on the watch. That has been the
predominant theme of JW's. What do they watch? The main thing
is some kind of world event that says peace has been accomplished
followed immediately by an act of aggression referred to as a
desolating force standing where it shouldn't . That is the time for
flight. Flight is a recurring theme in the Bible. 1Thess 5:3 suggests
the need for escape. Christians are told to flee Babylon before its
sudden destruction. Flee Jerusalem. Rev. 13:10 advises "If anyone
is meant for captivity he goes away into captivity. If anyone will
kill with the sword he must be killed with the sword." Christians
have no swords because they don't have to do battle for survival.
They will willingly be captive or displaced persons knowing that
they will eventually be rescued. Sure there are other groups that are
close knit but they are divided in their loyalty by their willingness to
defend their motherland.
The discussion in the Bible about the great tribulation is associated
with the fall of the worlds governments. The people who will
survive will need massive redundancy. They will need to instantly
know who their brothers (allies) are. They will need to survive
huge population displacement. They will need to be able to
communicate without electronic technology. Jehovah's Witnesses
are distributed in such a way that messages could be transferred
over fairly short distances on foot. With the absence of
governmental agencies they will still have a useable judicial system
for settling disputes and dealing with the unruly. Every cell
(congregation) is intimately familiar with their local territory. There
would be no need for a displaced congregation to struggle with
orientation.
This is why JW could surive a catastrophe that would threaten the
whole human race.
As an atheist I still associate with JW's because I consider it a type
of survival insurance. I believe most of the Bible is like junk DNA.
It's sole purpose is to transfer to some group of people the
instructions and model for survival. The only way to assure its
replication is to embed it in a religious context which gives it sacred
status. I take seriously the prophecies that involve the need for flight
and the need to prevent total extinction of the human race. This
group of Christians play a little numerology game to keep up their
anticipation. They look for signs in the worlds affairs. Sometimes
they are wrong. This is necessary to keep this idea alive long
enough to form a large enough association to be noticed in a world
of billions of people. JW's are about the size of the average member
of the UN. They will stand out as survivors after the dust settles.
It seems nationalism is the enemy of mankinds progress. There
needs to be a reset. The reset is a catastrophic event that is so great
that the survivors never go down the nationalistic capitalistic road
again. Once humans start cooperating with each other they will be
able to join the Cosmic Federation of Culture Formed Worlds. It
sounds fantastic. It doesn't sound like the smooth course JW's
believe. If there really were an all powerful - all knowing being do
you think he might have prevented this miserable world from even
existing? He would have anticipated this terrible outcome and
would have never made humans. Instead it suggests that it is under
the direction of a Sky Kingdom of Aliens. Sentient Brothers from
other worlds who "feel" for us and have seen it happen many times
in many places.
