2004 - Theme "Keep on the Watch"
low hours, fake hours
brothers are "all stressed out." - a recent WT study article
lowest number of aux. & reg. pioneers this Memorial Season
new printers installed around the world! But number of mags published remain the same
Abuse of children in Watchtowerland making almost weekly headlines, TV documentaries, court cases and civil suits
More exJW's writing their own books
JW take up of Internet Dating Websites - warned against this by CO talks during District Convention
Book Study Conductors now Overseers, harassing you for time sheets
Extreme dumbing down of literature and WT studies - very little relevant to Jesus' Life & Ministry
No books released this year, just another pathetic brochure on "Keep on the Watch!"
More JW kids leaving than ever before
More expose on JW's connection to the United Nations
JW suicides on the increase
Children dying from refusing blood transfusions
No blood cards this year, confusion over blood fractions
More demands, more talks, more articles for money, contributions and the introduction of some ATM machines in assembly halls for donations.
The Watchtower would have you believe that they are the happiest people in the world. The real facts however, fall far short of the picture they give you. While maintaining that a spiritual paradise already exists, the sad truth is many families are struggling just to put food on the tables, pay their bills and make all the meetings a week - not to mention training children to do all this stuff.
There will come a point when some Witness families will say, "enough is enough." and just snap.
We're not in the 20th century anymore. There are no dates to look at for the possible coming of "the great Day of God the Almighty."
1999, 2000, 2001 are all long gone
The Witnesses are living in a time they don't understand, because they didn't expect to be paying their car insurance, mortgage and taking their kids to school. They were supposed to be in the New System, picking bunches of grapes and stroking the mane of lions.
They have no date to look at - not that we're supposed to speculate. But, when you're on a treadmill of 5 weekly meetings a week, field service on the weekends, and making yourself available for those return visits and bible studies, it can all get too much - so what do you do? Hope the world will end soon, calculate your own Armaggedon dates and wish it was all over. They can't do that anymore.
Even the 2034 date reminds many of us, that we will be close to or practically retired. Who wants to think that far ahead?
The Watchtower have NOTHING to offer you. They probably truly believed that something would happen in 1975, 1995 and 2000, but it didn't!
But they can't back out now - they're in a rut and they no it.
To apologise would mean accepting and admitting that, "it's our fault. We made a mess of things and we're sorry." Not only that, the whole Society would be bankrupted paying out all the lawsuits they lost because of their mistakes.
The Society's will to go on, is stronger than the individual will of GB members. The Society has become an entity in its own right. It consumes, absorbs, assimilates and gets through huge quantities of cash in endless building projects.
The Society has a mind of its own, a collective of individual minds at Bethel, to keep those greasy wheels of magazine and book production running.
These zealous fanatics live to serve. They have no life but serve the Watchtower God. It is this belief system that is so strong, that black and white evidence of expose's fails to move them or motivate them to see that they are just another cog in the Watchtower Machine.
Many of you here gave up hope long ago for reform within the Watchtower. These guys don't want reform. They are always right, after all, God speaks through them - we rule top down - who are you to make decisions and suggestions for us?
The Watchtower are driven by the same kind of zeal that Islamic militants have - they both believe God speaks to them and wants them to do his will - whether it's allowing children to die refusing blood tranfusions or beheading hostages for a greater cause.
The Society is well aquainted with persecution, they have experienced it, had members thrown in prison, flogged, killed etc.
This organization would risk everything for what they believe in, no matter how illogical it is to those who see through them.
With a belief this strong, this powerful, they will continue to make slaves of their members, beating their brothers to do more and more.
We, who observe the things going on, can only watch as they turn back the clock on freedom to make decisions, freedom to use one's conscience, just as the Russian President is turning back his country's clock on democracy.
The Watchtower is degenerating. It is not the face of yesteryear. It is a completely different organization from what it was 20 or 30 years ago.
