It will get harder and harder to recruit in countries where the internet is easily accessible...the Watchtower has no control over the public like it does the indoctrinated JWs. ..any interested person can very easily google and learn the truth about the Watchtower cult before a 'return visit' can be made.
I've been thinking, and I think have already mentioned on this forum, that it will be rare, if not dang near impossible, from now on for JWs to attract quality new ones (from the outside) and have them advance to the point of baptism. By "quality new ones", I mean just normal people with a decent dose of common sense and a decent dose of book sense.
I don't see any of that kind of people coming in now. I don't even see them getting to the point of coming to meetings or having Bible studies for any significant length of time. Also, some of those aleady in are having serious questions/doubts. I had a conversation with the only elder in my cong that I respect and found out he's got some issues with the current situation.
I don't believe any of us who were JWs would have become such if things were as they are now when we came in. It's just so much easier now to see the wrong doctrine, the failed prophecies, the underhandedness, the desire for control, etc. When I came in, it all seemed to make so much more sense.
The generation doctrine seemed to make sense (even though the seventy or eighty year limit we placed on the time period was actually a lifespan, not a generation). I now see that what I thought was so simple, for example, "abstain from blood", is not so simple, that when the whole context and the whole situation are taken into account, "abstain from blood" does not mean what I was told.
the Watchtower leaders are desperately trying to protect their indoctrinated supporters from being influenced by the critics.
True. That's why I and others here have referred to the situation as being like that in N Korea. The org is clamping down on free speech, labeling the media as being evil, etc. I think a lot of those poor N Koreans really believe that the outside world is all evil and they view their Great Leader as being almost like a superhuman savior. Their world is bleak, but they think their Great Leader is caring for them. Just like the situation with JWs. Their information is controlled, they think the world outside the org is evil, their situation is bleak, and they virtually idolize the GB.
note added in edit: After the great Bethel apostacy in the eighties information control was instituted in that meeting together in small groups to have Bible studies, discussions, etc. was discouraged because, I believe, such settings provide fertile ground for questions about org teachings and policies to grow. And after reading what some on this site have written, I believe that's at least part or the reason the Congregation Book Study arrangment was terminated; there was less control, questions could be discussed easier, etc. At the book study I conducted, I know for sure that people felt freer to ask questions. They would raise their hands during the study and ask questions. Now I think we're seeing a different level of control, with JWs being instructed to even be on guard against family members who say negative things. And who knows what kinds of information control policies/tactics will be instituted in the future.
