by moshe 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
start to de-program themselves and 'see' the WTBTS and the religion for what it really is - and leave.
Most people only leave the JW club when they stop being happy- Some here who have left the Org.still want to go back to be with friends and family- religion and dogma are secondary. If they enjoy being at the KH, I doubt that most will look for a new "religious home" Eliminating 2 meetings and FS time has got to put a happy face on a lot of kids and parents.
Eliminating 2 meetings and FS time has got to put a happy face on a lot of kids and parents.
You have no idea. Or maybe you do, having been there before. I can't see a single JW, no matter how rabid, not embracing that change. Still, can't see it happening. The weird announcements and decrees lately point to a higher level of control, not a lightening of the load.
Most people only leave the JW club when they stop being happy-
So, you did a survey on this, or is this just your personal experience? Club? When did it become a 'club'?
Some here who have left the Org.still want to go back to be with friends and family- religion and dogma are secondary.
Again, how do you arrive at your statistics? How do you know that some want to 'go back'?
Again, if 'religion and dogma are secondary'... doesn't that make it a 'social club'? If it does - then they would need to restructure their whole organization and reclassify themselves with the IRS, dropping the 'religion' classification.
Regards,
Jim TX
I agree that these things will occur....but not in my lifetime. This organization will change not because the FDS gives a damn about the common member. but they will be FORCED to make the changes because of dwindling membership. Of course they will make the claim that the light got brighter. People will cry out in joy because FINALLY in the year 3674 this system of things will end. Well..............................maybe.
The problem with your theory is that all change comes from the Governing Body, who hold all the power, not just any men at Bethel, and the GB only takes on new members who are already thoroughly indoctrinated and 100% loyal to the Society, having demonstrated for decades that they are totally committed to upholding the status quo. That is the whole point of being a GB member.
The other factor is that the GB members apparently actually sincerely believe that they are the 'sole channel' that all revelation from Jehovah comes through. They sincerely believe they are the faithful and discreet slave class chosen and cleansed in 1918 and appear thoroughly deluded by this fancial notion. So there will never be wholesale changes of the type you surmise about for the simple reason that for them to have gotten so many things wrong for so long it would imply that Jehovah's spirit has not truly been on the Society all along. The suspisions of the rank and file would be aroused.
The most precious thing to the GB is not their relationship with Jehovah, rather it is maintaining their glorified status and position in the eyes of the rank and file as those to whom Jesus has delegated all spiritual feeding.
The whole thing is a self-perpetuating group-think that has become such a powerful machine that any one or two cogs in it who try and turn the opposite way will just get mashed and spat out, ala Ray Franz.
Hi Moshe, I'll go ya one better. Just leave the damned JW's and join the Bible Students. Same basic music and lyrics, better dance. MM
Your changes would be great but they don't fit into The Plan To take Over The World.
Moshe, I can see your proposed changes being implemented shortly after the porcine aviators emerge from the snowy wastes of hell. Preaching is a means of keeping JWs busy and unpopular (with a healthy persecution complex) and shunning is a superb means of control.
Having said that, I think you are on the money when you say that most people only leave the JWs when they stop being happy, or when the perceived pain of leaving (losing all your friends and family, losing God) becomes less than the real and current pain of staying.
It is a balancing act for the GB. They daren't loosen the iron grip of control that would go someway towards giving JWs a gentle yoke and a light load. How harsh a regime can they impose without breaking the majority of the flock?
If they did the things you've listed then they wouldn't be JW's anymore! Those beliefs are some of the core of what MAKE them witnesses!
