Will firing the DOs be the first step to a new Watchtower?

by Juan Viejo2 107 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  gingerbread

  The thousands of folks that were converted in the late 1960's and early 70's are now in retirement and facing the hard fact that they are going to die.

  The Watchtower leadership realizes this fact and will change, change, change the 'truth' to make it more appealing to the hundreds of thousands who were born-in and raised by these converts. The "Millennials" generation of Jehovah's Witnesses are not engaging with the Organizational structure and many are (though baptized at age 10, 11, 12...) choosing to fade, drop out or move away from the religion of their parents.

  ginger
• 

  metatron

  Thank you for posting this.

  I see this info as mostly 'think tank' stuff as they try to adapt to an era of their own prophetic failure.

  I have been skeptical of the idea that they could dump the 144,000 doctrine but if enough people talk about it at HQ, then it may happen simply because it isn't unthinkable anymore. I will take my "Great Multitude" 78 and use it for skeet!

  The changes involving laying off Bethelites and DO's send a powerful message NOT to trust the WTS in any employment scenario. If they have trouble finding suckers to be elders and CO's , this makes it all worse. They could be forced into a different 'local volunteer' CO arrangement by default.

  These changes are being done in a time in which many people are thinking about how to pay for retirement and that doesn't help them. There are still a lot of critical people in the Organization today who are secretly cynical in spite of their outward zeal.

  As for the magazines, good luck with that. It isn't just the magazines that are dumbed down, it's the meetings, the TM school and everything else. The era of print is coming to an end as people AVOID reading and increasingly rely on video. In addition, whatever they publish must be used in the 3rd world, so it must be written in a simple manner.

  Considering how magazines are nearly rationed ( 'take just enough for the week', etc) an improved WT/Awake still has to be paid for ( before it ends up in a landfill) - so that problem isn't solved.

  metatron
• 

  AnnOMaly

  And by the way, that number is under discussion and is very likely to become identified as symbolic and not literal ...

  Well, that change would be LONG overdue.

  ... -"representative of a great number of chosen men selected by Jehovah for special service and an eventual heavenly reward." (It may also be determined that only males can qualify to be "annointed"- but that will be a hard one to shove down JW throats - especially older sisters. They may offer that as an "opinion requiring further research and spiritual guidance," but give Jehovah the final choice as to whether certain women have qualified or can qualify for the" heavenly prize."

  WTH? They wouldn't dare ... Would they? That would cause a riot.

  Kinda feel sorry for all the older COs and DOs being put out to grass after spending their lives being supported by the Org. If they and their families have been good, faithful JWs, putting Jehovah's the Org's interests first with all the sacrifices, none of them would have two pennies to rub together!
• 

  leaving_quietly

  Combining the WT and Awake makes sense. They already ship them with the Awake inside the WT. It's a natural next step... either that or eliminate the Awake altogether. It's kind of a fluff magazine anyway.

  Identifying the 144K as symbolic will make lots of JWs rejoice, I believe. It may make some leave, being the final nail in the "truth never changes" coffin. The org will call it a "sifting" and "refining".

  All this is interesting. Sam Herd said at our DC two years ago: "This organization's about to ROCK!!!" But he never said what that meant. I guess we're already finding out.

  Tell your friends to start reading and analyzing the Watchtower study editions very closely

  There are those here on JWN that do that marvelously. This group understand implications of certain phrases far better than the average JW.
• 

  jgnat

  Interesting.

  They are still a decade behind in their thinking. Print magazines are a dying industry altogether and I predict their demise within ten years. Social media and increased public sensitivity to paper wastage is killing them.

  For breaking news, who now goes to twitter first? Heck, the media goes to twitter first. The best journalism circles around fact-checking and credibility. Their trick now is how to monetize that skill.

  http://www.ted.com/talks/markham_nolan_how_to_separate_fact_and_fiction_online

  How about the third world? They are swiftly networking as well. It will be a different world in ten years.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT6vIq6_1OE
• 

  hoser

  the only problem with social media for the watchtower is that it allows for uncensored feedback from readers which doesn't work that well for a religion like the Jws
• 

  jgnat

  Yeah, kind of screwed there, hoser. Too bad for them.
• 

  Bugbear

  Juan

  It looks that your friend has dropped some thoughts from the very high ranking leaders up in the Borg. Why? When you are commercially introducing a new product on the market, you must do some market research first. If your product becomes a flop, and you have failed in doing this market research, you will be ruined and has none to blame.

  The WTBS, is nothing more than a big sales org. with high ambitions on profit. Their old product has passed best before time, and the old dubs has done their job but not very good. They must be kicked out and be replaced with fewer and younger dubs. with much more energy.

  So you (and I guess), your other friends that obviously have had the same mail, are giving the soc. A free market research. The GB it sending out an antenna to listen to the waves and they are of course doing it on a net like this, where they can expect a candid answer. Those who are in don’t dare criticize anything that that they suspect comes from a higher level.

  I´ll bet that a few of the members of the GB is looking on this thread right now, hoping to get some indication witch way to choose. The wholly spirit has been silent to long now.

  Bugbear
• 

  tresdecu

  Old John #2...Muchas Gracias for this very informative and interesting post!!! Also a big thank-you to your contact as well!

  PS: fyi: A good/secure and free email service is hushmail.com
• 

  metatron

  It looks like a collection of stop gap measures - including the 144,000 thing - except for the magazine change and that looks like a dead end.

  This isn't to say that they will collapse but they still face the problem of a dying 'preaching work', thinning revenues and a next generation that is disinterested.

  Eventually they will run out of these adjustments that can be accepted or rationalized and then things change radically.

  metatron