Let’s Speculate!!!

by John Aquila 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Fisherman
    Fisherman

    Will they still go door to door preaching?

    Since it is a legal right that had to be fought for and blood was shed for it, the wt will never abandon that right. There will always be some door to door preaching, unless, the law changes and the wts looses that right, then I do not think that WT will fight for it again. Anyway, 100 years of preaching all over the world just about covers it, in relation to generation hearing it and dying . Cannot see the door to door and preaching going any further than 2016. If they manage to keep going a couple of more years, 2020 is the limit. The WT stops in 2020.

    A lot of changes will happen in WT teaching if nothing happens in a year. The Warwick building project will keep everyone busy until 2017, but that is only in the US. I think that everyone believes that the GT will come within a couple of years.



  • FayeDunaway
    FayeDunaway

    Umberto and John...thankfully all my children and husband are out!! It's all of my birth family I miss. I'm the black sheep of the family now. I love them very much but had to live my own life, for my own sanity, for what I believe is right, and for my children's freedom.

    Yep I'll grab some of that popcorn, sit back, and watch the show with you all. I think a lot of the big decisions of the future are going to be made by the legal department, and whatever it takes to protect themselves and their money.

  • Island Man
    Island Man
    Will there still be a Governing Body?

    The Governing Body will still exist in practice, but they will call it something else. They will drop the name Governing Body and call it some other, more modest-sounding name similar to how they dropped the term Presiding Overseer for the more modest sounding Coordinator of the Body of elders. Maybe they'll call the Governing Body the Coordinating Body or Coordinating Committee or something like that.

    Will they finally drop 1914?

    Yes they will. They will drop 1914 altogether by accepting the correct date of 587 BCE for Jerusalem's destruction and discarding the teaching of an invisible presence. They will be forced to accept that christ's presence is the same as his coming and that it starts in the future - the "very near future, any day now", of course. lol. But they will do all of this only after they have come up with an alternative method of elevating themselves as the faithful and discreet slave, and which does not involve being indirectly tied to a definitive date like 1914.

    Will the blood doctrine finally be dropped?

    Yes. It will become a conscience issue the same as organ transplants.

    Will disfellowshipping be dropped?

    No. But its possible that there might be some easing up on the shunning of disassociated ones if they meet certain criteria. Anyone citing false teachings, false prophecies, hypocrisy or any other kind of maleficence on the part of Watchtower, as their reason for disassociating, will be branded as apostate and shunned upon disassociation. But anyone who simply says they no longer wish to be a JW without saying anything negative about the organization to the elders or other JWs will be allowed leave and be treated as an inactive person. Family will be permitted to have the same limited or guarded social contact with them that they would have with any other non-JW relative with the added restriction of not having spiritual association with them - they can't pray with them of have spiritual conversations with them. But Watchtower will teach JWs to shun any disassociated one who starts to talk negatively about the organization. So they will make shunning of disassociated ones conditional on whether or not they express negative or critical views of the organization. That way Watchtower gets to improve its image as allowing people the option to formally leave the religion without shunning them; while at the same time also protecting the flock against "apostate" views by alerting JWs to shun any who leave and start expressing such views. Those who disassociate from the organization on "good" terms will be announced differently to those who are disfellowshipped or disassociate as an overt "apostate".

    Will there still be Circuit Overseers, Elders, Pioneers?

    Pioneers will still exist but they will be called something else. They will drop the term pioneer as they come to see it as a misnomer. Pioneer hours will drop to something like 50 hours a month and auxiliary pioneer hours to 30. Pioneers may be required to meet an additional requirement in addition to the monthly hours quota. They may be required to also have a minimum number of return visits per month and conduct a minimum number of bible studies per year. These rules will be enacted in a bid to motivate pioneers to do more to get people studying and baptized - to grow the membership numbers. Circuit Overseers and Elders will continue but perhaps they will be given more power.

    I believe Watchtower will be forced to give more power to elders or, more accurately, give elders the appearance of having a more prominent and important role in the organization. By some means - perhaps by periodic confidential letters to bodies of elders worldwide - elders will be made to feel like they have a say in the formulation of policies and doctrines. Of course, Watchtower will just pick the suggestions from the elders that closest match what Watchtower wants to do, and maybe tweak it a bit further to match exactly what Watchtower has in mind. But the elders who appear to come up with good suggestions would feel like they've made a major contribution to the organization and will well up with pride. Elders will thus be made to feel like they have a stake in the organization's operations and be motivated to act more loyally toward the organization. More brothers will then be motivated to reach out.

    This process will give JWs the appearance that power in the organization is less concentrated at the top and trickled down more to the middle, and that therefore the organization is less authoritarian. This will serve as a rationalization or refutation against the accusation that the organization is an authoritarian cult with all the power concentrated at the top in the hands of the leadership in New York.

    Will there still be Judicial Committees?

    Yes. But the manner in which they are carried out will likely be adjusted, especially in the wake of investigations like the Australian Royal commission and other future investigations and legal suits.

    Will they still have conventions 3 times a year?

    Yes but the three-day convention will be reduced to two days with the Friday being eliminated to eliminate the work-related stress that JWs have to undergo to get time off. Also, due to fewer being in attendance on that day. To make up for this there will be other special meetings during the year, which will be held in kingdom halls and will likely involve content being video streamed into kingdom halls from headquarters.

    How many meetings will they have a week?

    They same number of meeting days but they will have additional special meetings, held less frequently, on the same meeting days, to break up the monotony and give the appearance of exciting developments. See above.

    Will they still go door to door preaching?

    Yes, but they will start focusing on other methods like online witnessing. It's possible that JW.org might start a strictly moderated live chat or video web app to allow people around the world to come online at any hour of the day and have a bible e-study with a JW volunteer or e-publisher. These e-publishers will be pioneers around the world who are all scheduled to be available online for specific hours on specific days.

    Will they drop the name; “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society?”

    It is very likely that they will rename the Watchtower magazine and drop the name Watchtower Bible and Tract Society as way to distance themselves from all their crazy, damning literature that is online and quoted by "apostates" and attributed to Watchtower.

    How many members will they have worldwide?

    If a split occurs - and I believe it will - the numbers will suddenly drop by at least a third to about 5 million or less. If not, the growth rate will continue to decelerate until it finally stops and starts to decline gradually.

    Can you imagine in the year 2050 going door to door and preaching;
    “Hello, we here this morning announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom that started ruling in the year 1914”

    Absolutely not!

  • John Aquila
    John Aquila
    Island Man
    I think we are on the same line of thinking.
  • Dumplin
    Dumplin

    To be honest, I'm starting to dislike this thread. Just the idea of JWs still being here in 2050 is stressing me out. Now i have to go re-watch RC hearings just to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

    (oh, this is off-topic, & I don't know if everyone knows this or not - but we have a resident prophet here on this forum. It's true... maybe we should just go ask him about this. I watched in amazement his predictions come true right before my very eyes not long ago):

    http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/425910001/gb-member-geoffrey-jackson-lying

    Billy, where are u???

  • kaik
    kaik

    Many of you have wishful thinking, but in reality, JWs are not going anywhere. They will be here, but transformed from the religion we had left. Many predicted WT collapse 40 years ago, but suckers into the organization are born in every minute. WT may even prefer smaller organization of loyal followers over larger pack of followers with 20 million people which would be much harder to maintain, indoctrinate, and control. GB would be still well fed and happy with 8 million followers.

    One of the issue is that religious organizations tends to outlive its founders for decades and centuries. WT can last very, very long time.

  • vinman
    vinman

    They will create a third magazine by a different name. They will place all 3 for about 2 years. Then they will stop printing the Watchtower and tell the R/F that it will be more effective to go back to 2 magazines, thus rebranding to new name.

  • smiddy
    smiddy

    They will be a small insignificant religion still in existence , such as the many , many fringe christian religions that make up the 40 000 Christian sects that exist today .

    Jehovah`s Witnesses are just one of hundreds of small Christian sects that exist in the world today , many with strange beliefs , that have devastated lives of family and friends , yet they still have devoted followers .

    Your OP only looks at 5 years in the future ? Nothing much is going to change in 5 years or even in 50 years , in the sense that the organization can`t adopt to new challengers.

    Look at all the changes that have taken place under the presidents and committees that have governed the organization these past 140 years .

    No , the religion of Jehovah`s will be around for a long time yet , just not in the form that we presently see it as.

    Sorry , for all of you who want it out of existence ( including me ) however the reality is , that`s not going to happen in our lifetime regardless of what the Royal Commission in Australia or any other Governmental inquiry finds against the Jehovah`s Witnesses anywhere in the world.

    Religion and religious beliefs are a protected species on planet earth , you can prod and probe as much as you like but eventually the religion will get off scott free.

    smiddy

  • Bonsai
    Bonsai

    I think they'll start to include spiritually mature sisters in JCs involving women. They'll stop dfing minors and they'll reduce pioneer hours to 50. They will require all JWs to put a JW(b)org sign on the front of their house saying it is necessary to imitate the Isrealites who splashed blood on their door posts to spare their firstborn from slaughter.

  • besty
    besty

    I think biotech will remove blood as an issue for the JW's within 20 years.

    That just leaves child abuse, charitable status and shunning.

    If a major Western country eg Australia, US, Spain, UK, Germany, France links charitable status with public benefit then the JWs will have a problem. (How can you claim to be a charity whilst you engage in shunning former victims of child abuse, for example?)

    Other than that , its rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as Oubliette pointed out here

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