I received an email today from a viewer of watchtowercomments.com that wanted to know:
Is it just me, or is the WT whipping the JWs up over "the end" without whipping them up so to speak? I mean, more so than they usually do?
Both this person and I are still involved in meeting and attend assemblies. My response:
No, it is not just you. JWs are losing members as fast as they recruit them, include child baptisms. My opinion is that the Governing Body is desperate to get a sense of urgency, but they have no date to cling to anymore.
All growth spurts in the history of JWs and Bible Students were based on date predictions. The last was the promise that the end would come in "the 20th century."
Since 2000 passed, most JWs are just as eager to latch on to any crumb that these are the final days, turning them into a macabre group that feasts on bad news like information vampires.
The latest attempts to churn JWs into a froth are palpable but without substance. There is no more 1975, no "generation" clock ticking, and 1914 approaches it's centennial...
The 'urgency' propaganda from the Governing Body is hollow, and flat growth compared to spiking Memorial partakers, contrasted with the JW baby-boom since 2000 (that's a real measure of JWs complacency) will force JW policy to swerve back to date prediction.
Their only other option is mainstreaming. Either way we win.
Your thoughts?