I seriously doubt it...
A lot of great opinions as to the "mind of the WT" and its reasoning for hanging on to the BS...
(I never liked BS's because they were in people's homes, I didn't like going to somebody else's house, sitting in a circle, etc. But when they finally started a BS at the KH, then it wasn't so bad.)
I think WT keeps the BS's going out of long-ingrained-habit.
...And control.
But also this BUSY BUSY reasoning... (Exactly!)
[...]
I think it is part of the (cult) isolation pattern. "Busy work" to keep you away from TV and current events (you might learn something new) also keeps you from having time to read other material, or associate with worldy friends. Idle hands, devils workshop. Yes, I think its all just "busy work".
[...]
Here's hoping a lurking JW reads this and "gets the sense of it":
"Christian [busy] work may be a means of evading the soul's concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may become amateur providences, and may work against Him whilst we use His weapons." - Oswald Chambers [brackets mine]
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And speaking of "busy work" and "book studies," evangelical and other protestant churches are also using a "small group", or "cell group" agenda these days as well, and not necessarily for noble purposes. I snipped out these portions which so remind me of WT tactics...
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Cell Churches - alias Life groups (cells), Cell groups, Neighborhood Groups, Oikos (household), Basic Christian Communities, Shepherd groups etc.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/cells.html
[...]
Groups start with 3-8 people, are expected to grow quickly to 15 members when they must divide and start again. They must meet weekly and understand that they are ‘under authority’, a ‘part of a greater vision’. They are assured they will be assisted by a (hierarchical) pastoral team. There was no institutional hierarchy in the N.T. church. Note the word ‘vision’.
When the concept is truly in operation, the long term group members are required to ‘covenant’ with one another, and cell leaders covenant with their pastors to report on the attitudes and states of group members (like Chinese communist street committees). This reporting forms the basis of the Sunday preaching. The preaching is therefore need and discipline centered not the preaching of the ‘whole counsel of God’ Acts 20:27.
Meeting weekly is deemed important because it is the human bonding [as in Promise Keeper's "Menmeet"] which fuels the determination to fulfill the ‘vision’.
[...]
It is more likely that people will be kept so busy ‘fulfilling the vision’ and continually in a whirl of activity, that they will be easy to manipulate and rule. Also in order to fulfill the vision it would seem that most members must be involved in 2 weekly meetings and perhaps a course as well. Where is there time for the Lord, for family, for prayer, for bible study?
It is clear that this scheme will suit the new churches as it disguises their falling numbers. Anyone joining a cell group is to be counted as a ‘church member’. It will also facilitate the apostate church's determination to break down the denominations, by infiltration and by publicity. Doctrinal statements are not seen as relevant - and the cell group leaders [Shepherds] are not chosen for their biblical knowledge! The intent is to blur all doctrinal distinctions. Without ‘statements of faith’ etc., it is easier to change and promote Restorationist/LR/WF/New Age/Interfaith beliefs: i.e. ONE WORLD RELIGION belief, but presented in different terminologies.
This sort of group is the perfect environment for bringing about major changes within the person as well as the group. Group dynamics come into play, a condition that makes one feel it necessary to compromise established rules or standards if one wishes to maintain group acceptance, build group cohesion, and fulfill the leader's vision. Whoever controls the agenda for deciding the questions asked, controls the answers as well. This is a use of Hegel`s dialectic (...which is being used in education, politics, interfaith meetings etc. ...). The aim is to break down a person's confidence in what he believes, say, about God/truth/morality, to free him from God-given constraints so that he is open to listen to others and compromise his position in order to bring about a group consensus. Each group meeting will become part of a continual process of change.
One of the activities of the groups is to ‘spiritually map’ the households in their area in order to facilitate expansion. All available official data is to be collected and then members are to find out such things as marital status, incomes and leisure activities and build psychological profiles of local households in order to use the most appropriate way of ‘winning’ the people.
[...]
To sum up: Cell churches are:
1. centered around human need (which is a bait);
2. fueled by the impetus of human bonding;
3. intent on demolishing biblical truth, and replacing it with a ‘this world’/apostate paradigm: a man centered/satanic world view with the goal of building the One World Religion.
[...]
End of excerpt.
Very interesting... I wish I could do "bold" as there are so many GLARING points in there that remind me of WT.
But oh well...
One World Religion... New Order... New System of Things... New World Order.
/ag
