funny but for whatever reason, i can't stop singing walking in integrity from the old songbook!
it's in my head and in my opinion it was one of the few songs i really liked..
That was a good one, especially the crazy line: "with evil men take not away my life, with those whose hands are full, full of bribes and strife". Talk about a righteousness complex. And all those worldly bribers and strifers you got to keep clear from.
One of my favourites is the other crazy one "hail the theocracy ever increasing".
it was the year 2011. remember that one?
surprise, surprise -- it wasn't one of their predictions.
it was from one of their competitors, harold camping.. "religious leaders sometimes predict tragic worldwide events to warn mankind and gather followers.
Rutherford on 1925:
"I made an ass of myself".
from jw org.
“six thousand years of human existence”.
in 1969 the watchtower magazine in czech began publishing a series of articles based on the book life everlasting—in freedom of the sons of god.
This information about Czechia (new name look it up) is taken from the 2000 Yearbook. This country was apparently particularly badly hit by 1975 speculation, as was the Philippines which lost something between a quarter and a half of the membership over the fiasco.
it probably will never happen but... imagine the gb recieved some new light that told them the great tribulation was imminent.
the world is going to hell and all jws can expect until armageddon is terrible persecution the likes of which no christian has ever experienced in two thousand years.
but jehovah has a solution: put yourself and your family 'to sleep' and after armageddon's over, jehovah will 'wake his people up' at the resurrection.
As I understand it the reason Jim Jones resorted to a death pact was because he faced extended jail time for fraud. Otherwise he probably would have been happy to continue as a cult leader indefinitely and it never would have happened.
The GB would similarly need to be in a corner and facing existential crisis for this to even arise as a possibility. As it is at then moment they have a comfortable lifestyle with few problems. This is nowhere near on the horizon.
Even if some of the GB were to face prosecution and a lifetime in jail for some reason at some point, because of the developed structure of JWs it is likely there would be others in the organisation who would take over control and replace them. So even if the JW leadership faced a serious crisis, their developed structure also militates against them successfully taking down the membership with them in any death pact.
So I don't think this is at all likely or worth discussing much. In some ways it reflects a sort of ex-JW fantasy because it would deliver final and conclusive proof that the JW leadership are morally bankrupt. But we don't need the GB to initiate a death pact in order to prove they are morally deficient. Their everyday decisions and actions to date already prove that for most clear thinking people looking at the evidence.
if i were running the watchtower there are things that i would do to increase the numbers and increase donations.
since so many older witnesses are realizing that the false hope they had of not growing old and not having to die is fading away like a frost on a sunny autumn morning, the watchtower needs to shift gears.. as it has been stated on this forum, the emphasis needs to shift from not dying to the glorious hope of the resurrection, the gateway to paradise.
they need to deemphasize armageddon and emphasize "the way of life" that witnesses have.
Many of the changes you suggest would make JWs a better religion in my view. But they certainly wouldn't help them to grow. Strict religions grow faster, not ones that soften their requirements.
And it's true that many older JWs are realising Armageddon will not come before they die. But this is a realisation that aging JWs have always had to cope with as death approaches, whether that be in the 1950s or the 2010s. What's different now is that the GB is not offering any consistent reasons for thinking that the end will come soon. But this is not a necessary development for JWs. They could come up with new reasons and carry on as before. If they did, that would be their best chance at growing in the future.
"a christian denomination is a generic term for a distinct religious body identified by traits such as a common name, structure, leadership and doctrine.
individual bodies, however, may use alternative terms to describe themselves, such as church or fellowship.
" (wikipedia) .
Like everything else, it depends on the context.
Just to mention one perspective, it is common in sociology textbooks to divide religious groups into four categories: church, sect, denomination and cult. According to this definition JWs are classified as a sect rather than a denomination, because they are internally exclusive and externally viewed as deviant, whereas a denomination is inclusive and considered respectable.
The typology is included and discussed in this blog post.
http://benedson.blogs.com/benedson/2005/12/sect_denominati.html
So are JWs a denomination? Not according to one common sociological definition at least.
yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.
we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.
they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.
Thread spoiler alert: the attemp by Cofty's former pastor to reconvert him has not succeeded (yet)
i was reading a book exploring he relationship between geography and religion and found the following quote starting on page 121 of chris park's sacred worlds.. park, c. c. (1994).
sacred worlds: an introduction to geography and religion.
london: routledge.. one of the most dynamic religious groups in terms of disseminating its beliefs is the jehovah’s witnesses.
Incidentally there's a more recent geographic study of JWs in Ireland that looks interesting.
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-017-9376-6_85
i was reading a book exploring he relationship between geography and religion and found the following quote starting on page 121 of chris park's sacred worlds.. park, c. c. (1994).
sacred worlds: an introduction to geography and religion.
london: routledge.. one of the most dynamic religious groups in terms of disseminating its beliefs is the jehovah’s witnesses.
How many errors can you pack into a small paragraph!
1. JWs were not founded as "People's Pulpit Association" in 1884. Russell's group,started before that, and the Watch Tower began 1879.
2. JWs are officially JWs, not unofficially.
3. JWs are not pacifists.
4. They have never claimed 200 million members.
5. They do not clam the NWT is infallible.
6. They don't claim JWs in general will rule over the earth but only the 144,000 anointed.
The part on Spain may be riddled with errors too for all I know. If he can't get the general correct there's no reason to trust him in the specific.
jws like to think they have found the one true religion.
but like so many other religious people, it's usually the religion they were born into, the only religion they know because it's the first one they found or, at the most, one of two or three (typically the second one after they left their first / born-in faith).. the trouble is, there simply isn't enough time to explore and investigate each and everyone of the many thousands of belief systems, religions and sects around the world.. think of it this way: which is the best neighbourhood to live in where you would be most happy and most successful?
not just in the city or even the country you are in, but the entire world.. how would you ever know?
What religion will I join tomorrow?
