WT languishes while Babylon enjoys a boom

by ozziepost 7 Replies latest jw friends

  • ozziepost
    ozziepost

    This news item should get downunder dubs thinking and wondering where they went wrong. After all, the waters of babylon were supposed to be "drying up" - well, weren't they?


    ABC

    Tuesday November 28, 02:35 PM

    Young Australians attracted to 'spiritual aerobics'

    A survey shows that new and emerging churches are popular with young Australians and that 'nature religions' and Scientology are growing strongly.

    The survey was published in Professor Gary Bouma's book, Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the Twenty-First Century.

    Professor Bouma said Australia's youth was flocking to new and emerging 'mega-churches', such as those of Christian Pentacostals, engaging in energetic forms of worship that he calls 'spiritual aerobics'.

    This was despite the fact that Australians were not as religious as Americans and could be sceptical of US-style evangelism.

    Professor Bouma said it was considered un-Australian to "trumpet encounters with the spiritual like some American televangelist".

    But he said that religion overall was growing and that 74.7 per cent of Australians now identified themselves with a religious group.

    Patterns of belief were also increasingly diverse: the number of people who aligned themselves with 'Other Religions' was up 33 per cent on the count in the Australian census in 2001.

    Among the religions on the rise are Buddhism, up 79 per cent since 1996, Islam, up 40 per cent, Hinduism up 42 per cent, and Penatacostalism, up 11 per cent.

    Nature religions, including Wicca and witchcraft had grown by 130 per cent and Scientology had 37 per cent more followers.

    "Australia's future seems certain to involve religion and spirituality," Professor Bouma said.

    "The challenge for religious leaders is to make faith relevant and contemporary."

    Professor Bouma is a Monash University academic and chair of interreligious and intercultural relations for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

  • jayhawk1
    jayhawk1

    Bottom line for JWs is if they want to thrive in future years, they have to make their brand of religion fun.

    Are conventions fun? No!

    Is the door to door work fun? No!

    Are the meetings fun? No!

    Is the music fun to sing and listen to? No!

    They even took the fun out of communion. Who wants to feel like religion is a burden and something that is boring to participate in?

  • Honesty
    Honesty

    Whenever I 'bump' into a loyal JW who isn't aware that my main purpose in life according to the Watchtower is shipwrecking his faith, I always mention several of the mega-churches around here and how the parking lot is full of cars every day and up until 8 or 9 on most nights. I casually mention that they must be having some pretty serious human sacrifices going on in there.

    The JW always gets ready to defend them by saying, "they don't sacrifice people." Then the training takes over and they say, "Satan has many tricks up his sleeve to deceive people with."

  • R6Laser
    R6Laser

    Nothing new with this information. The WTS has never had any huge growth when compared to most religions. If you really think about it the WTS is really one of the smaller religions out there.

  • AK - Jeff
    AK - Jeff
    "Satan has many tricks up his sleeve to deceive people with."

    Oh, boy. I remember thinking just like them, don't you?

    Ozzie's point is hard to reject by witnesses who have always said that the 'wilting religions' were evidence of not having God's spirit. They hardly seem to be wilting on this side of the pond either Oz. Most all the churches in town seem to be/or have built new edifices, or added on huge portions to their church buildings. The parking lots seem full, and when one listens in to the conversation around him in public, he begins to realize that these are not empty demon houses, but full of people, sincerely trying to please God.

    Jeff

  • Honesty
    Honesty
    Oh, boy. I remember thinking just like them, don't you? Jeff

    Unfortunately, yes. I even went so far as to condemn them as armchair Christians who throw $ at the church for the building projects so they could be assured of a spot in heaven. Little did I realise that God really blesses a cheerful giver with more assets so heor she can be a steward for the lord with more to give. Most of my Christian friends aren't wealthy but they have plenty to live on and give towards winning people to Christ and they don't work 80 hour weeks like the Watchtower paints with its dirty brush.

  • mrsjones5
    mrsjones5

    The last time I was in California visiting my parents, me and my mom took a ride around the town they had just moved to. We passed a huge church that looked fairly new and very modern. My mother looked at it and said "That's a big church! You know what I think of when I see a big church like that? Cliches. I bet that church is filled with cliches." She said all that with a look of distain on her face. I didn't say anything but I did think "Wow, that's the pot callin the kettle black".

    Josie

  • darth frosty
    darth frosty

    Ozzie your forgetting, it was a symbolic drying up (good ole cure all.) Babylons water's dried up when the crappy group of bible students left (and no one noticed)

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