Could a single decision/mistake bring down watchtower

by badboy 36 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Pubsinger

  Has a single mistake brought down the Mormon Church?

  Or the Christadelphian Church? Christian Scientists? Seventh Day Adventists? Any Church?

  Hmmmm . . .

  It's not gonna happen.

  Individuals will however come to personal conclusions.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I align with what metatron has said. They have made such terrible decisions in the past.
  There was the voluntary donations decision. For awhile, they had so much literature in stock and
  the JW's kept contributing, but the stock is gone, the JW's money is dwindling. They could have
  switched to "pay the taxes" and passed the cost on to the JW's, but then the number of books
  moving out would have been less. Still, profit would be profit no matter how much or how little.

  A two-thirds majority could see the writing on the wall as far as lawsuits go, and they could decide
  to let the elders stand on their own to face the lawsuits. After a couple of cases, the general elder
  population could quit on them.

  A huge literature decision could come down the way- no literature, no presses, sell it all and tell them
  to get it online. This could cause many older JW's to question whether Jehovah's blessings have run
  out, while younger JW's explore the alternatives on the internet. They could have the local JW's print
  from the kingdom hall using the internet and modern printers, even selling a certain one to the halls.
  The expense increase at the home cong. of any of these decisions might make the members go without
  their mags. and just wait for the attendant to hand them a copy of the material at the study. Costs
  would continue up and collapse the WTS.

  After all this time on the donations arrangement, the WTS could switch to "pay the taxes" and see that
  it's too late for the members to accept that, again going without literature and allowing WTS to collapse.
  
  A new charismatic leader could emerge out of the GB, membership could go up, they could let him make
  his mark on the group, then he goes too far and gets caught in a scandal or sets a new date for armageddon.
• 

  Alpaca

  OTWO,

  IMHO....

  The BORG leadership is stale. There is no single strong, charasmatic leader to rally the troops and inspire the R&F. Leadership by committee never works out very well. Also, unlike the days of Knorr and Franz when the 1975 frenzy was in the air there is nothing that is even close to fire up the troops.

  Plus, back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s when the anointed class was a stronger "brand" because it was "closed" there was an aura of the anointed being old timers and not going to be here forever. The anointed "brand" has been diluted by opening it back up to whoever decides they might be of that class.

  I think they will continue to putter along, instilling fear in the R&F of losing family and friends if they question or leave. They will continue to have huge turnover rates among non-born-ins and the born-ins will just go through the motions.

  Alex
• 

  Doubting Bro

  OTWO - I agree with your assessment. The single worse decision the GB has made was switching to voluntary donations. Had they not done that, their cash flow position would likely be much better than it is today. The error wasn't apparent at first, but now going on 20 years later - the chickens have come home to roost.

  As far as doctrine goes, it probably doesn't really matter what they do. If they didn't blow up after the 1975 fiasco, I'm not sure that any doctrinal change could bring them down. The pedo suits can likely be handled and I'm still of the opinion that the rumored restructuring of the CO position and any other structural changes they make are a response to that. Maybe they can get nailed on blood, but even if they dropped the blood policy tomorrow, I really don't see the courts getting involved in a religious dispute. So, I don't see a flood of sucessful lawsuits coming down the pike.

  The economic problems we're currently facing must be killing the WTS which was apparently already struggling with finances. But, even if the money runs out, they could survive as a religion, just a smaller one without book publishing which is a dying business anyway.

  I think they're biggest problem is retention of the young and an overall lack of leadership. We're probably close to their peak and then we'll see a small but steady decline.
• 

  Borgia

  Could a single decision/mistake bring down watchtower......

  but of course: He man said: "sell all you've got and give to the poor and you'll have a treasure in heaven. And come be my follower"...... ¿That kind of decision?

  hmmm.......we all know what happened to the guy who got presented this proposal..........

  Cheers

  Borgia
• 

  garybuss

  Could a single decision/mistake bring down watchtowerOne book brought it down before. I'd think that if the Society get's it's money grabbing out of line with it's tax free status, they could be taxed out of their current super size status.
  
  
• 

  metatron

  It's pretty much impossible to have a religion that's too stupid to believe in. The Mormons had their Book of Abraham exposed as a crappy fraud made up of misplaced Egyptian symbols tossed like a salad. The 7th Day Adventists had their writings from Ellen White , spoken by a Jesus who plagarized 19th century health fad writings (after a head injury gave her visions).

  The Christian Scientists bought a huge amount of equipment to build a newschannel and sold it off after the venture failed.

  In addition, as I've pointed out before, you could have the Governing Body sodomize young boys on a parade float going down Broadway on a weekday afternoon and the average Witless would still say "Well, it's still the truth".

  You need a fight at the top or a simple collapse of faith by the leadership. As it is, Watchtower leaders may be quietly losing faith and gradually changing the organization. I would argue that the organization is mainstreaming slowly, whether anyone acknowledges it or not.

  metatron