"If WTS is so intent on recruiting new members then...

by rebel8 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  rebel8

  The responses so far have been really insightful...and amusing

  This question touches on the larger problem I see with many people's perspective of the organization on this board, that is, dichotomous and simplistic thinking. It's either "Watchtower totally good and benign" versus "Watchtower evil, money-loving, hypocritical."

  The unfortunate thing is not that the WT is hypocritical, but that it is sincere.

  Veeery interesting. Could you say more about that?...for example: How do you see this thread's question as revealing the dichotomy you spoke of?

  The last sentence there--what do you mean by that? Do you mean the WTS is hypocritical but its biggest flaw is that members adhere to its rules without question, believing they are doing the right thing?
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  undercover

  Blondie hit the nail on the head:

  They only want people they can control.

  They need new recruits who are willing to dedicate themselves to the cause. People who start to question and think for themselves are not wanted. They don't want their free-thinking and they don't want them influencing others, so out they go.
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  Terry

  THE PRIVATE SCHOOL SYNDROME

  When it came time to put our kids in school we wanted the finest school available and damn the cost.

  That is when I discovered a Catch 22 I call the PRIVATE SCHOOL SYNDROME.

  These schools boast enormous academic results; so they must be good schools, right?

  Well..........

  The schools rigorously filter the population of applicants and ONLY ALLOW the over achievers in the first place. Further, they will kick anybody out who falls below standards.

  This helps them to maintain the boast of HIGH ACADEMIC RESULTS.

  Do you see what I see?

  It may not be the SCHOOL at all which is the cause of academic achievement. It may be the two-ended process of

  1.Only allowing high achievers in the first place

  2.Kicking out those who experience difficulty with the school and fall below par.

  I see a huge parallel with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

  It isn't the Society at all that produces these good little christians who work so hard and mind their P's and Q's. It is the process of sifting constantly and enforcing...enforcing...enforcing.

  There is always a new bunch to sift because of the grunt work door-to-door by the publishers.

  I think this is something to think about.

  Terry
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  logansrun

  The last sentence there--what do you mean by that? Do you mean the WTS is hypocritical but its biggest flaw is that members adhere to its rules without question, believing they are doing the right thing?

  No, I don't think the Society -- the GB, the "top" -- is necessarily hypocritical. The followers as well as the leaders believe they are doing the right thing. (Take that as a general statment...for all I know there are a few leaders here and there who are hypocritical about some things but, by and large, I don't see the Society as being hypocritical...just simply misguided).

  B.
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  TheListener

  I have to agree with Logansrun. The large majority of witnesses, both r&f and heavies, believe what they teach and learn. They may disagree or not completely understand certain points. On the whole they believe they are the chosen of god.

  The main difference the way I see it is that there are 2 types of people.

  1. people who are kicked out

  2. people who leave.

  People who are kicked out often times still believe everything they were taught and clamor to be let back in. Those who leave on their own make the society stronger by willfully removing themselves from the congregation. In the end, yes, less numbers, but stronger adherents. That is what the society really wants. They are going for quality of membership not numbers. If numbers were really the point they'd do much more than just door to door work. A small core of hardcore believers will sell more books than a lot of slackers.
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  Frog

  Witnesses get a kick out of the exclusive nature of the org...it's easy to justify the mass numbers evacuating the org as those not having a fit "heart condition"...cramped and narrow is the road leading to life etc. This is a core difference between the WT & the Roman Catholic Church who are more than willing to bend their rules to maintain their numbers in order to keep their coffers full. I remember clearly those talks from the platform about the gap between the "world" and the org should be clearly widening, as the "worlds" standards get lower, and the WT standards remain the same, this has a continued elevating effect and a setting apart of the witnesses as the only pure religion blah blah blah;-)
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  garybuss

  Was there a test for purity for people entering Noah's arc? Or did they quality by some other way than by purity? Does anybody know?
  
  If it was qualification by purity, I wonder what the standards were.
  
  If it was not qualification by purity for the arc, where do the Witnesses justify comparing their organization to the arc? Because don't the Witnesses enforce purity? Isn't the enforcement of purity the basis for the disfellowshipping and shunning practice? So purity MUST be a requirement for salvation by corporate religion even if it was not a requirement for wooden boat salvation
  
  What am I missing here?
  
  
  
  
  
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  greendawn

  I find it hard to believe that the WTS heavies are not hypocritical since their behaviour is really way out of line and it's precisely through being self deluded and hypocritical that they can (if they really can that is) believe that what they do is correct.
  
  I mean come on, torturing people by shunning them and ruining their families because it's supposedly good for their salvation prospects, that was the popish mentality justifying the horrors of the inquisition.
  
  Or how can a "christian" society worth billions score a near zero in charitable works when the Jews and the Moslems do much better at least with their own kind.
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  observador

  This is really a good question.
  
  To answer this question one has to understand what the mindset of these cultic groups is. Everytime there is a "disfellowshiping" there is a reinforcement of the feeling/doctrine of "we are God's chosen people. We are pure...".
  
  This is so much so that I have come to know quife a few "disfellowshipped" people who praise the organization, claiming that they [the disfellowshipped] were wrong, but the org is clean and pure, and they hope to be able to get back at some point.
  
  (I have run a website for almost 3 years now and know this by messages received).
  
  So, those who are diehard become even more convinced of the organization and even more wiling to go out and recruit more of the type they can retain. When the recruit is not of that type, disfellowshiping happens... and the cycle restarts.
  
  This is a very complex thing because it is a mix of religion/psychology/fear/delusion etc etc etc.
  
  Observador.
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  candidlynuts

  individually we dont matter..

  as long as there is money coming in , the machine doesnt care .

  I dont matter

  you dont matter

  i'm not important

  your not important

  i'm disposable

  your disposable

  lets hope God runs things differently than the wtbs!