Min: Good point. I have often thought - even though I don't think WT reform is possible without a sea change - that they are "this close" to becoming an organization that could thrive and grow beyond their wildest dreams. I mean, they already have millions of loyalists who want "the truth" to really be the Truth. All they need to do is make a handful of changes, couch it all as "new light," and the dubs would start spreading the word. Growth would ensue.
Much has been written about the potential for future "mainstreaming" by the JWs. I think it is inevitable if they are to survive long into the future, but I also think any such reform is way down the road.
These simple "adjustments" would solve most of their problems:
1. Hurry up and complete the process they've aready started in terms of making blood transfusions strictly a conscience matter with no penalties actual or implied.
2. Review the whole holiday thing and start putting some of them (birthdays, Mothers' and Father's days, Thanksgiving in the U.S.) into the "approved" basket.
3. Change field service to "community service" and create a laundry list of alternatives. That way those who think of themselves as missionaries can still go door to door, but others can get the same credit (hours) for cleaning the Kingdom Hall, visiting sick "friends," preparing meals for the elderly or ill, or otherwise creating and implementing a dub "aid society," or any number of community volunteer works - which would get them out into the community in a real service role.
4. Fold the book study into one of the other meetings so they only have to meet twice a week instead of three times; designate the "off" night as family study night or personal study night.
5. Make voting an acceptable option for dubs (but don't get involved in politics as an organization).
6. Form a committee at Brooklyn and have them review all the WT doctrines from the beginning and publish a "What We Now Believe" manual and educate all the followers so they are on the same page. (This could be accomplished in more subtle fashion through the WT study). Use this opportunity to part company with the founders and some of their bizarre beliefs (some of which are still held dear by old timers) and to marginalize the wingnuts who pervade the organization.
7. Encourage large social gatherings, baseball games, talent shows and other group recreational outlets so dubs can enjoy "normal" assocation with one another.
There are probably more than these 7, but that would be a start. Imagine the change this would make in dubdom! It would become what most of the members really want it to be, a social club that just happens to have a direct pipeline to Jehovah God (in their view).
But, as I said, this will never happen in my lifetime. That's why I left the organization.
