by barry 11 Replies latest jw friends
Ive seen several posts questioning how long it will be before the WT enters the mainstream. This is an artical about the Mainstreaming of Adventism and maybe in the future this artical could be written about the WT Society and we are talking about sister churches here. The SDAs have had a start on the JW since they were formed as a church in the 1860 In times past many denominations that exist today have been fringe groups.
http://www.spectrummagazine.org/library/columns2003/030707guy.html
I am not sure whether you consider the JWs to be a sister religion of the SDA but they think of all other religions including the SDA that they are daughters of Babylon the great, that is satanic organisations.
Surely historically they are an offshoot of Adventism, the Millerites, but they are trying hard to deny this fact. And by their very nature it's difficult for them to go mainstream, eg scrapping the blood policy will no doubt bring about ruinous litigation against them.
We will have to keep reminding them they are just an offshoot of the millerites then and bring themdown to earth.
Howdy,
Seen this claim too many times to count:
eg scrapping the blood policy will no doubt bring about ruinous litigation against them.
It is completely bogus. As a matter of social policy, the law likes to encourage actors to take remedial measures and to fix problems. It doesn't punish them for doing so.
People think that it is like other things in law such as installing better lighting or putting up a fence, etc. which sometimes shows that something could have been done sooner to fix a problem, but such arguments before a court, though often made by counsel, are neither impressive nor pursuasive. And more importantly, they are completely in a different galaxy from religious beliefs and change in doctrines.
The bottom line is if there is liability present, it is present now, it is not created by taking positive steps forward, if anything it is reduced.
-Eduardo Leaton Jr., Esq.
I often thought the Watchtower would go mainstream, but Im not sure if they will or would be able to make that transition as gently as many think. Rather I'm certain they are too afraid of internal repercussions to make such a bold move as yet. Pherhaps in time but it will take a complete new face on the Governing Body, it will take people who will finally admit they weren't as they claimed.
Ticker
I agree here with Ticker
And the question is do they want to go mainstream?
All mainstream religions are really goingg down very quickly in church attendance etc. (lotfaster then the JW's appear to be doing now)
A lot of people are in the WTS for not being a mainstream religion.
They could loose those people, and have little to gain at the other end of the spectrum, where there are many other religions. They fill a void in the extreme end now.
I don't see an advantage of the Watchtower mainstreaming yet. They have like Danny Bloem said, a strict following basing their faith on the idea that the Watchtower Society is a non mainstream group, using it as a deciding factor in the Wtbs being the only true religion. Unlike similar radical groups such as the World Wide Church of God, the Watchtower hiarchy is not limited to one sole person but rather a never ceasing governing body, whose only limitation is peoples gullibility.
Ticker
Since the year 2000 shake up the GB has only moral authority over the org.
The lure of most cults is that they ave the ONLY TRUE RELIGION.
If the Tower became mainstream, there would be their focus compared to other religions. True, groups like the Seventh-day Adv have moved more into the mainstream, but they encourage higher education and have operated hospitals for years. Can you see that happening to groups like the JWs?
They would rather be destroyed than go 'mainstream' because they would be admitting how wrong they have been since the days of their first apostate leader Charles Taze Russell.
