Is the Tide Turning For the Watchtower Organization? What Do You Think?

by mentallyfree31 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  mentallyfree31

  I would like some thoughts on this issue. As we well know the WTS has been going strong for 130 years. And they are still making large increases. The more people they bring in, the more recruiters they have attempting to bring others in. Naturally 7 million preachers can recruit more people than when there were only 1 million Witnesses.

  However, we see that their increases have not been as great in the last few years. My question is this: Is the tide starting to turn for Watchtower? What will happen over the next decade? Or the next two decades?

  Now that information is more readily available than ever, people are steadily coming out. The more people that come out - they in turn will help others to come out, esp family members and close friends. One person in my family left - and two years later 6 of us are out. Another friend on the forum reports that 19 of her family members and friends are now OUT.

  Still, most JW's are not looking at the readily available information. However, for new recruits it is easier than ever to research the people knocking at thier door wanting to recruit them. This will naturally play in a factor in reducing new recruits, as is probably occuring right now.

  So, what is your opinion? What will the next ten years bring? And the next 20 years? I look forward to your thoughts!

  -mentallyfree31-
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  JimmyPage

  The whole 1914 thing is going to look pretty ridiculous in 2015.
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  garyneal

  Personally, until they made that ridiculous change to their generation teaching, I thought that the society will quietly drop 1914 and make it a fading memory. They may eventually do just that as even my wife admits that it is not brought up a lot at the meetings and therefore does not believe it to be a core doctrine of theirs.

  I sincerely hope this generation change opens eyes and causes people to leave.
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  mentallyfree31

  I hope you are right garyneal. The 1995 "wicked and twisted generation" was their perfect escape...i can't believe they ever changed it after everybody accepted that.

  -mentallyfree31-
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  wobble

  I said when I was still in, several years ago, that they would have to drop 1914. I was wrong.

  The problem is they cannot, if 1914 is wrong, there was no choosing of them in 1919, and so there was no mantle to pass on, and so the GB are not who they say they are, and JW's are not a spirit directed organization.

  We on here know that the above sentence is "THE TRUTH ". So do the GB.

  For a number of years they have shied away from a proper discussion of 1914, they just present it as a"given" as they always have the 1919 crap.

  That is their only choice, present it as unarguable, and not worth looking at, it is just a fact.
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  dozy

  The WTBTS has always been quite adept at evolving doctrines to keep the masses happy (see the way the generation doctrine was gradually stretched then abandoned when it was no longer viable & has been amended to buy the society a few more decades.) Most JWs couldn’t care less about doctrine anyway. 1914 is rarely mentioned nowadays & I suspect that the WTBTS is quite happy for it to be quietly shelved.

  My view- the growth has been pretty much stagnant in Western Europe , Australia & Japan for years (I honestly can’t remember the last even semi-normal person to be baptised who wasn’t brought up as a JW) & that will tip over into a modest decline for the next few decades. There will always be growth in the 3 rd world , Hispanic lands & amongst immigrant populations as the WTBTS can tap into hopes of a better life & build on the belief in the bible that (ironically) Christendom has fostered in these countries.

  By not having a specific 1925/1975 Armageddon date they can avoid the dramatic fall off that occurred after these dates and the “soon , round the corner” carrot can easily be sustained indefinitely (well , it has worked for 130+ years without any problems).

  This all assumes that the WTBTS can avoid a major schism or sex or financial scandal – always possible. The finances are shrouded in secrecy and some of the GB members are relatively young.
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  designs

  People must have a Religion gene, look at the rituals of the world's religions. Every year some nut will have himself nailed to a Cross and carried through the streets or some lady will walk on her knees in penance till they bleed, or take your kids out in Service in bad weather knocking on doors.

  Don't expect the mass exodus, people got da Religion gene and they got it bad.
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  Think About It

  The WTS is a religious corporation. It may have seen it's heyday, and although it won't continue to get larger, it won't fade out entirely. They will take a lesson from the Mormans and make their kookiness more mainstream.

  Think About It
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  Black Sheep

  My family have invested so much of their lives to this cult that if old Jovie Joe himself showed up to show them the error of their ways, they'd shoot the bugger and bury him out of sight.
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  wannabefree

  I think the 1914 generation matters less and less with new ones. I noticed that with my own children. I think the majority of new witnesses are children raised by witnesses and for the most part believe it is just a religion ... the only true one ... they are raised to believe that without any teaching of religious history or understanding really of 1914 and 1918, they just accept it. How many baptized in western lands are fresh converts? From recent assemblies and conventions that I have attended I would guess over 90% are children of witnesses.

  "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana)

  Thats what scares me with my own kids. When trying to introduce thoughts to them recently it seems it just doesn't matter. They know all of the good things and teachings that seem to make sense and I have to try and somehow teach them the history and why it matters without alarming them (which has been hard, my wife and children are alarmed by me).