by smiddy 83 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
For millenia there has been enough unrest in the "known" world to provide fertile soil for end-times religions, Christian or otherwise.
Currently, the astonishing fact is that in a world of "unrest", the JWs are experiencing their slowest growth in decades. Hmmmmmmmm. Even the fincial fiasco of 2008 failed to reverse this slackening trend.
Oh people are still susceptible to sundry interpretations of Biblical prophecies about end times - just not so much those from the JWs anymore.
The GB can and do an indeed will change anything that suits them and they have a way of doing this so that the "faithful" hardly notice and do not cause any dissension.
The GB is relatively young but can renew itself entierly at will, requirement for them to be of the anointed will surely be dropped, lots of loyal "helpers" running much of the show now and ready to fill in needs on the GB, they can keep going for ever, and with a much reduced cost base can exist for years to come, with a small number attracted to the religion, just enough to keep the donations for rolling. In a couple of years the Warwick and Chelmsford projects finished and little need for major funds. New ones attracted to organiztion do not know anything of former things and as more older ones die off the newer ones easily accept a spiritual diet of slops. Yes they can keep going but you can rejoice that you are free from their machinations.
It would be easy to think that the Child Abuse scandal would be enough to wake many JW's up, and therefore accelerate their decline.
But they are such Masters of Spin that the R&F JW's will be assured that the JW Org is squeaky clean, and any inference otherwise is Apostate Lies.
I do firmly believe though, that in common with many other Cults, they are in decline, and that the true Leaders of the Scam are aware of this.
Good OP, Smiddy.
Unfortunately, I agree with you.
The WT, and religion in general, will be around for along time, I'm afraid.
Getting rid of religion is totally unrealistic, IMO.
But that doesn't excuse Western governments' reticence in dealing with religion. All kinds of religious doctrine should be properly scrutinized by Government - put through the bacon slicer, if you will - and should be either discarded or banned altogether if it goes against human rights.
P.S. - agree with Outlaw's concise, snappy post.
If by "will be around", we mean simply exist in some form, then I agree that JWdom could possibly still be around for a long time. However, as somebody mentioned, the Russellites are still around, but does anybody really feel their presence?
I think that JWdom is basically already done. The glory days are over. I don't think it will ever be was it was in, for example, the 70's - 90's before the time limit ran out on the "generation" doctrine. JWdom seemed to be stronger and more confident, serious, and dignified then. Now, it's just become embarrassing.
I believe that if JWdom survives, it will dwindle and fade until it becomes an insignificant little nothing like what the Russellites are. I think the org knows it, and that that's why we've seen all the desperate changes and rebranding and attempts at survival/preservation of the past few years.
The days of attracting quality people from the outside are over, and some of the quality ones on the inside are waking up. Unfortunately, many of the intelligent ones will remain even if they wake up because they love their positions and the glory they get in JWdom and/or because of friends and family ties. I know some relatively smart JWs who would go into major depression if they lost their status in JWdom.
What is saving JWdom from faster decline are the born-ins. The irony is that in the late 80's there was strong material from the org against having children. If JWs had listened to that, JWdom would be much smaller today.
JWdom has two major enemies: time and the internet. With every passing day, JW predictions seem more wrong. We are now over a century past 1914 with the end seeming further away than it did in earlier decades. JWdom can no longer hide its history. It can longer be bold in its doctrines and theology because the internet provides a means for individuals to come together and research and analyze and critique such doctrines and theology. JWdom used to be able to boldly proclaim its theology with much of its audience not having the means to research and verify. That has all changed.
Material such as that on JWdotORG (literature, corny videos, etc.) and the JW broadcasts is not the type that would have attracted the more intelligent type people who became JWs in times past. What attracted them, I think, was the confidence, boldness, seeming depth and scholarship, seriousness, seeming dignity, difference from churches, etc.
Now all that is gone. There is no more depth and scholarship. There is no more confidence. JWs run from questions and challenges. The dignity is gone. The GBers used to be viewed with awe. They seemed to be serious, scholarly, deep, even mysterious men. Now, they seem to be... well, you know.
Unfortunately, I've observed the deaths of a number of animals. They get to a point where one body system starts to shut down and it affects another system and then other systems are affected and there are various feedback loops involved. When all those systems that are related start shutting down and affecting each other, a snowball effect starts. When that point is reached, there's almost no return. The body's physiological homeostasis is so disturbed, that death is inevitable. The muscle spasms sometimes start and it's all downhill from there.
I believe that something similar to that could happen to JWdom. If enough "systems" which are all tied together and related by feedback start to fail or even be disturbed enough, there could be some kind of crash. It might not die, but it could be reduced to something like what the Russellites have. Think about what's going on now. Many of the org's systems are sick. It is being exposed on the internet. Time has run out on its predictions. The preaching work is no longer bringing in new ones. There are financial issues. I believe there is a lot of suppressed unrest and unvoiced concern by many JWs. There are lawsuits. The GBers no longer have their aura. There have been cutbacks, layoffs, halts. People are waking up. It could, I believe, reach a tipping point. There are some who are so ignorant, gullible, and intellectually lacking that they won't leave on their own, but there might be nothing left of the org for them to cling to.
A lot of what the org does now is reactive, not proactive. It just seems that the org's energy and resources are spent on PR and propaganda and trying to preserve and defend itself instead of really studying the Bible, trying to find real truth, etc. It kind of reminds me of when a politician is involved in some of kind of scandal (actual or alleged). It seems that thereafter he's only focused on reacting and trying to save himself, not on trying to do proactive governing or lawmaking.
How possibly could JWdom ever become what it was? How possibly could it regain the momentum it once had? I see no way. It's interesting to observe. What is JWdom going to be like in ten years? I hope I'm around to find out.
