Just in case you missed it -- great comment by "easyreader" from another thread

by Alpaca 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Alpaca

  On metatron's thread about Dubs going mainstream easyreader said this:

  Another issue causing the decay is the lack of a "date". In order for a cult to work, there has to be a date where everything will culminate. Even after 1975 came and went, there was a specific time period even though there was no specific year. The system surely would not last another twenty years, no youths in the organization would reach adulthood before the end came, definitely things would have changed before the turn of the century.The turn of the century happened, people who were in their teens, twenties, and thirties are now older, some working in terrible fields or are unable to change their professions because they were herded into window washing or sand blasting.

  With no date, you've got no cult. People aren't storming out of the kingdom hall doors in disgust; they're just slowly slipping away. The money problem just makes it worse.
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  sacolton

  That's true. There's a scripture that fits that scenerio ...

  2 Timothy 4:3

  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

  Those itchy ears need a doomsday date.
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  undercover

  That is a good point. You have to have something to keep the group attaining towards...and it has to be a short term goal.

  With 1975 failing and then dropping the "generation" teaching, the suddenness of the situation was lost. While they may still proclaim the nearness of Armageddon, without a firm date or time period in the near future as the goal to work toward, the followers have become complacent. They're not worried about surviving Armageddon, they're worried about retiring, putting kids in college, buying nicer houses.

  The Society and in turn the JWs are at a crossroads. Do they become more mainstream or do they revert back to more cultishness?

  If they become more mainstream, they'll have to accept that they're going to have some attrition...some people are just going to drift away. Maybe a bunch of people. After they re-invent themselves they can market to a whole new group of dupes. It'll be more like Watchtower Lite. After a downturn, they could find themselves growing again when they won't have to defend the stupidity of all their old doctrines.

  If they go more cultish, they're going to have to accept that recruiting is going to be harder...at least in the more developed lands where information is readily attainable. They'll have to downsize and circle the wagons and become less ass-kissing as far as outsiders are concerned. Gone will be the days of trying to paint the world as evil to the group yet ride the back of big business and government. They'll really have to isolate themselves. The core group will remain smaller, but more obedient and under their control.

  Time will tell...and that'll help them because despite their cries of Armageddon, ain't nuthin' happenin' so they've got plenty of time to re-group and re-invent themselves.
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  passwordprotected

  Interesting stuff.
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  Hobo Ken

  Yeah well the die hard element will always keep trooping on ,feeling that they are being "faithfull"

  Once they realise the gb are slowly taking the doctrinal carpet from under their feet they will have to readjust. all the old dates are getting slowly dismantled and there's no new one's in the future....let the cult collapse I say.
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  ninja

  time is the enemy of a false prophet
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  WTWizard

  What about, instead of a fixed date, a fixed amount of time left--say, three months? You allow just enough time to get them to study--threatening that it will be three months (always three months, no matter how many "three month's" pass). Of course, most people will see that the time is running out, and they will answer "It is three months from now, not from when you first heard it". Hopefully, all the thinking people will leave.

  That will leave them with the complete idiots. And they will never have to come up with a date again, because it will always be three months ahead. It will still waste their whole lives, but it will be lives of people that do not want to think for themselves anyways. It will also be the solution for those who need the religion for other reasons--while those who can think will realize that, once the first "three months" expires, nothing is going to happen.
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  civicsi00

  Seems to me:

  -If they want to maintain any credibility whatsoever to the world, they will need to reform their disfellowshipping policy and the blood doctrine. Other countries may start to take action against them for causing such disruption in normal, family relations.

  -They can set one more date, but the end must come or otherwise NO ONE will pay attention to them anymore. This would be the final straw for them. It may surge a more fantastic growth spurt, but will also be their ultimate downfall.

  -They could also declare that the preaching work is complete, and move all JW's to one big compound to await the Big A. They could learn to sustain themselves without much interaction with the world in general (grow their own crops/have a big farm). This would also keep them united with not much dissension.
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  Meeting Junkie No More

  Well, the spin I last heard FROM THE PLATFORM (over a year ago), no less was this:

  Matthew 24:44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

  According to this brother's logic and he was the PO, Since there is now no date being proferred, it is NOW that the end will arrive. Convoluted? Yeah, for sure, but it works for some of them! Hah!
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  SixofNine

  I could have been a sandblaster??!