The "swagger" of the Organization is gone - or is it my imagination? (page 3)

Albert Einstein

Definetly true!

"Good old time" of the early ninetiees! Remember? "PEACE AND SECURITY DECLARED" wow! Just a very little time left...!!! Soon the world will know...!!!! 4 days assemblies!!! yup yup ...

Oh yeah, my kids wont believe that....

Albert

cameo-d

Ah...that old punch line... "Peace and Security"

There will be Peace..of mind. Knowing that Digital Angel is looking out for you. All your medical records can be quickly at hand through a simple bio-scan.

There will be Security. You will always be safe when you know the Digital Angel is at work to track any criminals and whereever they surface, they must be bioscanned in order to be employed or purchase food.

The chip implant thing may have just been a ruse; we are already chipped through cellular communications and it can also be layered in your ID card as well.

Right now, it's no big deal to give a fingerprint scan. You must to get a driver license in some places. Oh, then they want an iris scan to even enter the DL building this year. Going to the airport? They will get your brain scan there. And so it goes. Little by little they collect your bio info.

The rewards are that you will get what you need for giving up the information.

Later they will put more conditions on you. This time it will be to obtain the necessities of life. Healthcare, food, employment.

Once the New System Theocratic Government is set up, you will have to be an Approved Christian to continue on in the system.

Laws will revert back to the Noahide Laws.

Being an Approved Christian will be by their standards. If you are DA or DF, you will be out. You will be lumped with the criminals by not being an "approved christian."

drew sagan

I agree that 75 & 95 represent a turning point for the movement. I think 95 even more so than 75. You simply cannot keep people running so fast for such a long peroid of time. Eventually people begin to "settle".

The JWs now have become standardized in a sense. They no longer attract the 'radicals' (people who protest, make noise, and create a stir). Instead they want everything to be a standard routine. The types of individuals that got involved in the movement back in the early days are now joining other redicuous apocolyptic type movements.

Hard to the be a prophet in sackcloth and ashes when you have to hold down a day job.

Jack Burton

Being out for a few years now and going to the memorial for the first time this year, I noticed how drab and dull the whole thing was.

I get the feeling that most witnesses are trying very hard to convince themselves that this is still the "Truth".

I also have noticed alot of witnesses "hedging their bets", meaning the meetings, field service,etc., has all become drudgery.I have heard this comment from a number of witnesses, even members of my family - "Jehovah knows my heart condition, and besides, it's all about my personal relationship with Jehovah, right?"

The fact that I've been able to talk about this with "active witnesses", even though it is common knowledge that I'm DFed, and make no apologies for it, says something to me also.

It seems that more and more witnesses have, in the words of the greatest movie ever Thye Live, "Put the glasses on! Put them on!", and are begining to realize-"Brother, lifes a bitch and she's back in heat!"

journey-on

Also, many of us that were raised from infancy on this stuff were taught that we would not grow old and die. My mother and father believed it whole-heartedly and raised us to expect to be petting lions and tigers and picking peaches in the sun before we were grown.

Now these parents are old, dying, or dead. Some of us kids now have kids and grandkids. THE HOPE IS ALL BUT GONE! Even my fanatic JW sister said "we weren't supposed to get old and die!" when we lost our mother.

BurnTheShips

Perry. You say we are saved by faith alone. None of those texts you cite say we are saved by faith alone. Sola Fide is not Scriptural.

Again, the phrase "faith alone" only occurs once in the Bible, I encourage you to look it up.

BTS

snowbird

For Perry and BTS:

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

James 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

No contradiction there.

Peace, my brothers.

Sylvia

JeffT

I haven't been in a KH since 1988 but I've noticed a few things. From time to time a find a WT somewhere, or I read the quotes here. I don't think there's been a new thought in one for years. I see JW's in downtown Seattle doing street work by holding up magazines. No interaction with anybody, unless their gossiping with the other JW they're with. Even that seems to be slowing down (the street work, not the gossiping ). We've lived at our current place for over two years. We have yet to have JW's come by (we've been visited twice by Mormons).

They've been sprinting, only to find out they're in a Marathon.

BonaFide

Awhile back brother Velours, District Overseer said at a circuit assembly I attended: "You know brothers I am tired too. I go to bed tired, and I wake up exhausted." Yes, the District Overseer is EXHAUSTED. Thats what he said to the entire assembly of 1200 people.

And the Circuit Overseers too, seem to be preaching less. The last few C.O.'s seem to want to hit Starbucks right away after the meeting for service, they preach in the morning Wednesday and Thursday, Friday they have stuff to do, Saturday shepherding calls with the elders, and that's it.

I remember the C.O.s used to be out ALL DAY, even evening witnessing sometimes.

BF

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Good comments.

The organization has gone from "swagger" to "stagger".

From my vantage point, and looking back in retrospect, the "generation" change in 1995, didn't appear to be that big of a deal at the time. They were finally doing what was obvious. However, it was like that 1/8th of a tank, low fuel warning. It catches your eye. You don't panic. But you are going to start looking for a gas station. And you drive on.

Not only had the "generation" dissolved, but the kings of Daniel were only speculative as Iran, Iraq, China, or still Russia. Hostility toward religion hadn't materialized. Everything that used to point to "nearness", now pointed to nothing being near at all.

When 9/11 came, most thought, "this must be something". Although it was something, it hasn't proven to be anything of Biblical prophecy. And Botchtower wisely didn't speculate... they left the sheeple to speculate, to their disappointment.

Now with the economic situation a mess. The dubs use it to label this "Satan's system", and the refrain "the end must be near". But really, the current economic or political situation isn't prophecied in the Bible, nor did Botchtower see it coming.

I'm not sure at this point whether the organization is running on gasoline fumes, just coasting, or if everybody is out pushing... expecting the awaited gas station to appear very soon.

The last few years that I was in Bethel, the tone had gone from from "confidence" to "desperation".

All the important events that used to "recharge" the sheeple, like the CO visit and the DC, are now just mindless routines. Sure, there will be many attending the upcoming DC and they will say it was the best one yet. However, the "spiritual refreshment" and smiles are about as superficial as their tacky convention badges that they're expected to wear every minute of those three days. The only honest pleasure they get from the DC is being able to get away from their boring lives, be surrounded by equally deluded sheeple, and hopefully get more promises of paradise SOON.

In my estimation, two things seem to be keeping your Joe and Jane Publisher hanging on: 1) The bad economy leaves many dubs with not much going for them. So they figure a rather hopeless hope is better than no hope. 2) Nothing better for the average dub to go away to. Their Botchtower house is falling down around them, but they can't move out until they have a new home furnished to move into.

The GB is sending out signals of panic, but trying to paint it as something wonderful. Really, when something has been and will continue to be successful and "blessed by Jehovah", why would anything be changed? However, they have chopped magazine production in half. Then reducing the PT to 30 minutes to allow more time for field service. No, come on, what's the real reason for shortening the PT? Probably just trying to get more to attend a still painful but less lengthy meeting. Then dumping the book studies in homes to save money for the friends? Well, Jehovah would bless them with more money to pay for gas so that they could be meeting more often, rather than less. And as we've seen in the Botchtower study lessons, they're trying to tighten authority of the GB and using all the weight of their printed ragazines to pressure the dubs to be more blindly devoted. Time is not in their favor.

B the X

The "swagger" of the Organization is gone - or is it my imagination?

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