half banana said: Heaven, how could they do that when all would know they would be doing it as a survival tactic and not because they believe it?
By decree (not dogma... ) as per TOMO III himself. They really need to come up with an exciting, positive mission statement and some goals the JWs could really get behind. They need a new vision.
Vidiot said: @ Heaven and Half banana...
All
those things are an integral part of JWism. They can't authentically
mainstream, becasue if they did, they wouldn't actually be Jehovah's Witnesses, anymore.
Not
to mention that if they, in particular, dropped the WTS's sense of
exclusivity, they'd effectively eliminate the membership's biggest
incentive to stay.
Sure they are. But they are also things that ultimately cause damage to people and an attrition issue they have no idea how to address. They keep changing their
doctrines. This, alone, shows their doctrines are not working. The JWs of today certainly don't believe a lot of what JWs of
previous decades believed especially going back to inception. The
door-to-door work is reducing more and more. They have their apathy
carts and their iPads. They're really just "Jehovah's Presenters" now.
Do JWs even know the Bible? If you want to discuss things with them that
appear to be at odds with what they believe, they just walk away.They cannot deal with opposition. They certainly would not be able to be in any sort of formal debate.
They
changed their name before from International Bible Students to
Jehovah's Witnesses. They can change it again. We could make something
up for them... how about "Jehovah's Helpers" in line with Jesus'
commandment to help one another. I have a feeling they'd retain far more
people if they set the Borg up like a real charity where they actually
have projects that JWs get involved in to feed starving people, ensure
proper medical care and other needs were provided to the less fortunate,
and get underprivileged or poverty stricken people the education they
need. They may even recruit more people this way too.
I think most JWs have a good heart, or at least, start out that way.
My hope is that one day, the Borg wakes up to realize they are doing harm and change that.