The Future of the Watchtower Society and the Internet

by DT 48 Replies latest jw friends

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  jwfacts

  Good education teaches people to think, and thinking people are far harder to con with false rhetoric. Equally important is having access to information, and the Internet is a fantastic tool for distributing information. For this reason it would seem to future of cults is looking bleak, though there is still a long way to go before the WTS etc are likely to disappear off the radar.

  The Internet is rapidly becoming an essential and unavoidable aspect of every area of life; used for purchases, banking and paying bills. But it is far more, this is the information age, a time where every important decision is being made by accessing online advice. The Internet is consulted prior to selecting a house, car, camera, restaurant, career or holiday destination. It is used for research, be it homework, checking the facts of a movie or when looking into religion. For this reason the Internet is particularly effective in preventing Bible Studies getting baptised.

  It will also impact the number of people raised by JW parents that eventually get baptised. People born post 1990 cannot imagine life without a mobile phone – children born today will see the Internet equally irreplaceable as one of life’s necessities. With the emergence of Web 2.0 the Internet is becoming more interactive and communal. Witness children will join communities like myspace and facebook and learn there are friends and a life to be had outside the confines of the Organization and that the reasoning of others can make more sense than the Watchtower worldview.
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  hotchocolate

  I believe the internet is THE BIGGEST THREAT EVER to the WT Society. In previous years, if a witness had doubts or questions, where could he go for more information? The local library, a local priest, a fellow witness? But now anyone can find information and answers with complete privacy and without leaving the house.
  
  I think what will provide the starting point for most witnesses will be sites like Wikipedia, where they can research without the "apostate" label over what they're viewing. These sites I believe will become a huge prevention to the baptism of new ones, and also will open the way to more internal questioning among the congregation.
  
  Just as a side point, has there been a graph made outlining any increase in JW's leaving since the advent of the internet?
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  jwfacts

  Hotchocolate, following are statistics for the WTS since 1990. The internet became generally accessible around 1995, and you will notice significant drop in publisher growth since that time.
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  R.Crusoe

  All my 4 kids are over 19 now and none are JW though their mother is (my ex but wife never felt more wrongly put)

  I got so many educational programs for all of them from very early onwards and not one of them ever took to it despite my repeated time helping them with some excellent stuff!

  Mother was nurturing them away and it did my head in as she always brainwashed them to and from meetings and got them to make it as though they werent interested! _ I used music lessons swimming lessons athletices dance gymnastics athletics - anything to get a wider circle for them! It seems to have paid off but OMG how tough it was!

  So getting the kids internet literate is what needs doing and maybe schools have an awareness role in this to enhance access to suitable sites which may open their eyes - tricky to ensure though - I mean I was home and gobsmacked at how all their heads were swayed against me with computer stuff!! Had me deluding myself that I was missing something and too right! So many things to combat it drains your brain!
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  hotchocolate

  These are great, thanks JWFacts. Would love to see a line graph of those leaving each year. Could it be calculated? Or did I miss that graph? xx
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  Number 6

  I was essentially going to say what JWfacts has just said.

  The internet is so much a facet of everyday life that most witnesses cannot avoid it. Banking, finance holidays etc, it is virtually impossible not to use the net.

  I don't think the Watchtower going back say 20 years even could have envisaged the scenario we have now. That at the click of a mouse in the privacy of ones own home a doubting JW can verify for themselves that the religion they belong to is a sham.

  Furthermore I don't believe that the advances in technology are done yet.

  For the diehards that are inside, possibly they will never be released, but the young growing up will see for themselves that the religion of their parents is a lie and the very very few who are caught unawares on the doors only have to Google 'Jehovah's Witnesses' to escape entrapment by this cult.

  Yes, Watchtower, be afraid, very afraid, your days are numbered indeed!

  Craig
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  metatron

  OBVEs is correct. I don't know of any religion that comes close to Jehovah's Witnesses in committing false prophecy and getting away

  with it. It's truly amazing.

  metatron
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  stillajwexelder

  History teaches us that free flow of information and open discussion is good for Homo Sapiens as a species but not good for high control groups
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  WTWizard

  After the way they torpedoed my chances with the opposite sex, the more they harp on staying off these apostate web sites, the more active I am going to become on them.
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  allreadygone

  It is ironic that a religion that calls it self "THE TRUTH", is trying so very very hard to keep its members from learning the truth about things its said, and its failed prophecies.
  I would guess that most here on this site, have learned the truth about the truth from the internet. And the most damaging evidence of lies and deception come from there own publications.
  If not for many well read so called apostates spending hundreds of hours researching past publications and magazines, and then posting them on the internet. Many of us here would have never learned the real truth.
  So I as one say THANK YOU INTERNET and APOSTATES for setting me free! And AL Gore.
  Gone