When did they cancel Gilead? They just had a graduation this weekend.
Watchtower Organisation - it's all over, bar the shouting
by slimboyfat 199 Replies latest members campaign
-
-
Anony Mous
I'm not sure, the majority of people still in are die hards. Nothing the WTBTS can do short of a Jonestown event to 'kill them off'. The majority are indeed older but there are plenty of 20-40yo to keep doing the 'footwork' and a bunch of them will keep trickling in, if nothing else at least the perverts that find protection within its policies will remain.
The publishing house within doesn't need a lot of money to keep it afloat. Anyone can keep the organization afloat in the modern age on a ~$1-2M budget if they divest themselves from the control of local congregations and local congregations in current buildings can remain afloat on ~$5000/month. That's 5-10 "good" donations or perhaps if they go back to the 'book study' arrangement, this may not even cost anything.
It's cheap to run a religion and they're currently making 100s of millions if not billions of dollars per year. Either severe mismanagement or as I said, a Jonestown event will kill it quickly but it's unlikely they'll get to that point.
-
Brokeback Watchtower
I kinda think they could go belly up soon. They are frauds in a rapid instant information age.
No more growth that is absolutely, selling off very valuable property laying off slave labor by the thousands. I think this can all viewed as serious financial trouble for the borg.
These guys running things are not financial genius's and the made a bunch stupid moves that seems to spell doom to me.
-
slimboyfat
The reason I say WT has been honest about their figures in the past is because census returns have invariably shown that they underestimate their membership compared with self-identification. (Unlike Mormons who always claim more members than census results indicate) Plus they have published brief episodes of decline in the past, such as following 1975, and in certain western countries following 1995, including Britain, France, Netherlands, Poland and Japan.
About Gilead, brand new missionaries haven't been trained there since 2011:
Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. What is now called the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead began on Monday, February 1, 1943. The school was originally designed to train pioneers and other full-time servants for missionary service somewhere in the world field. But since October 2011, enrollment is limited to those who are already in some form of special full-time service—special pioneers, traveling overseers and their wives, Bethelites, and field missionaries who have not yet attended the school. God's Kingdom Rules, page 184.
-
LV101
SBF - thanks, appreciate. I read somewhere that many people who may have studied at one time or another identify as being a JW. I was shocked but they must have no idea of the reality of WT since they haven't attended in many yrs. or only visited the hall infrequently at one time or another.
-
Island Man
"Where are the new JWs going to come from?"
New Light: Rather than pursuing secular employment, sisters should pursue the career of child-rearing and homemaking in keeping with the admonition given at 1 Timothy 2:15 and 1 Timothy 5:14. The scriptures make it clear that a woman's place is in the home caring for the family. It is the man's job to work and provide materially for the family. While it is true that the man also bears the primary responsibility for providing spiritually for the children, the woman also plays an important part here. When mothers work secularly, there is less opportunity for the law of Jehovah to be inculcated on the hearts of children on a regular basis. As a result, many youths stop serving Jehovah in adolescence. Christian women do all they can to safeguard the spirituality of their children, including foregoing secular employment so as to have more free time and energy to teach their children the way of the Truth.
For married sisters, secular employment will become like the new higher education. They will start discouraging married sisters from secular employment just as they now discourage all from pursuing higher education. They will want the sisters to spend more time indoctrinating the children so that less children are likely to leave the organization. They will try to grow through placing more emphasis on marriage, sexual reproduction and indoctrination of children, rather than recruiting non-JWs.
-
slimboyfat
Bit late for that. Many JW children have already left and are having their own families outside the religion. Most JWs around here at 40 plus. Younger inactive JWs only seem to turn up for conventions and Memorial, if at all. Plus the WT is still basically anti-natal, "in view of the times".
-
Crazyguy
Unfortunately these guys aren't going away anytime soon. They'll continue to lie to make it look like they have millions of members , they'll continue to push to isolate their members so they won't know any better, they'll continue to push the young ones to get baptized and be stupid the rest of their lives.
I was recently at an event where there was a lot of JWs. Their in their own delusional little world out of touch with everything. They'll go down but it will be slowly and over a long time. Every time there's a major set of earthquakes or other disasters that will keep the members in, just a little while longer. In the end they will shrink with out many new ones coming in and all the older ones dying, they will shrink but because of the ignorance of the delusional ones they won't get a clue and so the process will be slow.
One peice of good news is how outspoken the former members are becoming. Not only apostate websites and YouTube channels but regular people that have left are speaking up and saying thing to others. This is actually the glimmer of hope that may help to take down the cult sooner then later. Just today a friend and former member told a dfd one that is going to get back in a bunch of ttatt. The dfd one agreed with some of what he heard and is now thinking of not going back.
As the amount of former members grows and more of them speak out , this will be the icing on the cake the final nails in the coffin and the young ones of today are way more vocal about opening up to parents and telling them their opinions . The death of this cult will be the members the former ones that speak out and say were not going to be silent anymore!
-
Ruby456
slim, I think you being overly pessimistic.
technology is leading the way and is also our future hope regarding productivity and GDP in the world outside of Jehovah's witnesses in the developed world while we age gracefully (mind you this was thought before the economic downturn 2007). Why shouldn't this be the way that productivity among JWs is going too? we will spend more and more time in our pension years by 2050 and we will be looking for ways to form collective meaning via the internet.
example re JWs, instead of literature they are using technology to witness
I also think more and more will be linked in to technology from their homes. Many churches conduct worldwide services by this means so why not JWs?
edit: women live longer than men so perhaps there will be a greater role for women?anyways I think it is a good idea to keep an eye on what is happening in the world outside to see if JWs may mirror such shifts
-
Ruby456
KHs would need to be adapted like this and I am not surprised they are selling off Kingdom halls instead