What If The Tower Fell?

by Big Dog 54 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  TonusOH

  JeffT: Scientology yes, Mormonism no, depending on what time frame you use. The Mormons predate the Watchtower.

  I was thinking about the origins of the Abrahamic religions, which would have been many centuries prior. Mormonism was born during a period of upheaval in the US, but most of the denominations that grew out of it based their beliefs on the Bible. Joseph Smith decided to write a new book and effectively create a new religion. Hubbard decided to do him one better. It remains amazing to me that either survived the religious environment of their time (and, in fairness, Smith himself did not survive it).
• 

  Vidiot

  Beth Sarim - “I just don't know how hardcore JW will wrap their heads around such a mess of this if the GB disappear and WT crumbling”

  This.
• 

  Vidiot

  I think it’d be similar to Hirohito’s surrender to the Allies after Hiroshima and Nagasaki…

  …he did it publicly over the radio, everyone across Japan heard it, and Emperor-worship essentially collapsed overnight.

  Why?

  Because a god can’t surrender. If he did, he wouldn’t be a god. He would, at the very least, be renouncing his godhood, or at worst, inferring that it was never real in the first place.

  Either way, no more Emperor-worship.

  Similarly with the WTS, it has spent a century insisting that it’s the only path to salvation. If it ceased to exist, not only would it be unable to dictate how loyal JWs live, but it would be the most elegant proof that it’s legitimacy was never real.

  “God’s Exclusive Earthly Organization” cannot (be allowed to) collapse…

  … if it did, it wouldn’t be “God’s Exclusive Earthly Organization”, which is its entire reason for existing.
• 

  Vidiot

  Not to mention that the Org has done a such a tremendously effective job inoculating the rank-and-file against any other form of religious expression 😁👍, that the majority of XJWs (intentionally or otherwise) don’t bother trading up…

  …they figure (correctly) that if the WT doesn’t have The Truth, no one does, so why bother?
• 

  KerryKing

  "The Argentina facility exists for a reason. I suspect that it will eventually serve its purpose."

  Please tell me more! I haven't heard of this, very curious!
• 

  LV101

  Beth Sarim: "They rely on their birthrate to keep it going." They learned well from the Mormans. I've 'heard' JWs are having so many babies these days but perhaps just a couple of wild statements made. How when we read halls are comprised of oldies.

  20 hours ago

  I just don't know how hardcore JW will wrap their heads around such a mess of this if the gb disappear and WT crumbling -- they'll blame apostates/Satan and carry on.

  
  
• 

  Vidiot

  Don’t kid yourself.

  JW birth rates may be a little higher elsewhere, but in the developed world, where the bulk of the membership is?

  No.

  If it was, we wouldn’t be hearing so many stories of Kingdom Halls being attended with mostly old people.
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  joe134cd

  I just hope what ever happens the beast lives long enough to surpass my father, and I think I may get my wish. He’s not in the best of health now. He is largely unaware of the various scandals, and internal pressures that wt is facing. To be honest he is better off left in it, and I both shield him from knowing and encourage his involvement. For it to fold, or for him to wake up, is just not a viable option. F*CK YOU WATCHTOWER.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  the watchtower is falling now
  

  in 2012 the watchtower closed 20 branch offices around the world and
  have cut back vastly on the magazines rather than new ones every month they are only 4 times a year or so and
  on the carts these past few week they were giving out magazines printed in 2021 and 2020.and
  of course they have sold of 1,000s of kingdom halls off ~ PEPPERHEART

  I think Pepperheart has it right. Who of us would have believed we'd see all those cut backs in the past 10 year +/- ? (Pepper didn't mention the massive "layoffs" at Bethel)

  What more is there to cut? Selling off more Kingdom Halls will likely continue since in-house attendance numbers are quite dismal. I guess they could slow down on the building scale of the new NY video center (is that what it is?). Somehow I guess they are convinced that the video biz is going to be profitable for them?

  Still I can't believe they are as bad financially as some think is indicated by their constant begging. How do you sell off 3 BILLION$ on tax free real estate sales and be broke in just a few years? I think they just want to stockpile a large enough nestegg that the investments alone will sustain them forever.
• 

  Anony Mous

  I think there are enough people with psychopathic tendencies at the helm. This did happen in the 1800s with both the Bible Students and the Millerites, however nature abhors a (power) vacuum.

  I know quite a few CO/DO would declare the end of the world is nigh and start their own little cult, for areas where that didn't happen one or more of the elders in the congregations would do the same. The religion would simply fracture as it has in the past, some would be more devotional and extreme, while others would not.

  You'd get anything from full congregations in one location to a few people getting together once a month on the other end, over the next 100 years you'll basically be back in the place we are now, some will have gotten big, some will have disappeared and some may still refer to their ancient roots as the WTBTS does today with the Bible Students while helpfully forgetting their link to some of their more seedy people and the fact that WTBTS are not the Bible Students, but were created from a disagreement with them.