by HiddenPimo 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
10% -20% - 30% More?
Dream scenario: Everyone is made aware of all the wrongs, the false prophecies / CSA problem / Double Standards -
and they would not shun, how many would jump ship?
My parents are fully aware of the sins of the Org. yet they insist on it being a choice of lesser of the the evils and echoing the sentiments of Peter who said ' Lord who else shall we go to'
So maybe not many..
What say you....?
Everyone against the 'no blood' rule. Everyone who realizes that the entire foundation of doctrine is utter and complete nonsense. Everyone who recognizes bigotry and feels it is wrong. Everyone who watched the Sophia videos taking money from children and associating homosexuals with bombs on planes. Everyone who is left in the cold when the GB closes and sells their KHs without any concern for them. Everyone effected by all the pedophiles that the organization is protecting. In essence all the same people who do and have always left for reasons other than emotional blackmail.
People have always stayed despite all the arguments against the JWs. People have always left when they felt compelled to do so for a variety of different reasons. There are so many variables that make those decisions that simplifying the choice, to stay or leave, down to one or two reasons is naive.
I agree with jwundubbed it is far more complicated than what you suggest.
If this happened, I would hope that I could be the first documented case of leaving. I think the over whelming majority would stay, and sadly my father would probably be one of them (and quite frankly at his age I believe he is better off left there). I would be guessing maybe 5%-10% would walk if given the chance. Quite frankly Wt needs to get rid of these types of people. They are a liability to them in the sense that their heart isn't in it, they are expensive to have due to not contributing, or worse still end up coming on here to vent their frustrations or leak information for the world to see.
I tend to think that not only most would stay, but even if shunning as a rule was dropped, most 'faithful' witnesses would still shun those who leave, since shunning would now be "a matter of conscience" (you can't force them to talk to you anyways). The only quantitive (and not qualitive) difference would be that more witnesses would talk to their DF'ed friends, but hardly to apostates. The conscience of most non-awake jws would still compel them to shun apostates at least.
On the other hand, I think there's this delicate balance between the cultish/totalitarian and religious aspect of WTS: the cultish/totalitarian part is prone to collapsing if inserted freedoms, as happened in the Soviet Union. The religious part is immune to collapsing, since many(most?) jws shun or pray or whatever, not because they're forced to, but because their faith (false but faith nonetheless) is so deeply rooted in their hearts and minds that they actually want to do it.
All of them?
If they made it clear that shunning was not an approved behavior and you could be certain nobody would shun you if you left, I think at least 20-30% would leave. Maybe not outright leave, but many would stop caring about following all the rules and as a result they'd be excommunicated. Maybe many would still come to meetings sometimes and associate with JWs for spending time at the social club of friends and family, while still not following the rules. Some already do that to some extent. I knew several families in which the husband attends but just to socialize and doesn't participate at all and breaks the rules all the time (drinks, watches porn, etc) but somehow has managed to escape disfellowshipping.
Basically it would be like any other Christian religion. People would start doing as they please and only a "spiritual" minority would follow all the rules. People would be lax about attending or doing any kind of effort or participation. It would basically be modern Protestantism 2.0. It would take decades but a vast majority of members would simply become uninvolved or fade away like it has happened all over the developed world. That's why shunning is essential for a cult to exist and why they'll never drop it.
Have we considered, there may be some who would return to the organisation if they ended the policy of shunning?
82.7%
My Magic-8 Ball says, "...about 112%, give or take."
These demons are SO DAMNED accurate!
