This has been a fascinating thread for me to follow and I have enjoyed reading the various thoughts that have been shared. Many posters have focused on what they hope will be a total collapse of the Watchtower Society (WTS). I can understand that, and I hope I will even see it. But I am not counting on it. Let me explain my reasoning.
The Protestant Reformation began in 1517. Prior to Luther's nailing his 95 Theses on the Wittenburgh church door, I'm sure he had hoped and prayed that his concerns would be given a fair and thorough hearing by the Roman Catholic Church and needed changes would be made. Those hopes were not realized. Eventually he concluded that he could not stay with the Church and left, taking many people with him. Of course, Luther was not the first reformer the Church confronted. However, he had a powerful weapon which his predecessors had lacked: the printing press. That invention spread his thinking far and wide and incited rebellion against the Church across all of Europe. For more than 130 years after Luther published his manifesto, Europe fought savage religious wars and it seemed that the Catholic Church would surely crash into ruin.
We all know what happened. The Church survived. Despite internal dissension, despite political strife, despite the overwhelming power of the printing press, the Church emerged from the Reformation and went on to wider influence in the New World. I mention all of this as a caution to some of our more eager friends here who long for an end to the WTS. Yes, the WTS is facing slowing growth, internal dissension, a serious "brain drain", loss of interest in its message, and the power of the Internet which is rapidly exposing its many weaknesses. And yes, there have been other millennial movements like the WTS that have faded away, even their names being forgotten. So it would seem that the chances of the organization going on for a long time are dim.
But we need to remember that this organization has outlasted many brutal attempts to suppress and destroy it. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both failed to do so. Cuba's Fidel Castro finally capitulated and granted official recognition to the WTS. China is looking the other way. The WTS has extraordinary resilience when it comes to adversity. And when J.F. Rutherford became its president, it is said that some three-quarters of those professing to be Bible Students left the organization. Today, it is stronger than ever whereas most of those splinter movements that did arise have passed away. So despite the current turmoil, the WTS may well find itself a going concern decades from now. I think it will reap what it has sown, but that may not mean it will disappear forever.
In the meantime, those of us who have left can rejoice in our liberty. We should also look for opportunities to assist our friends and family who are still trapped in the WTS to leave if that is their wish. If the organization does experience a sudden and catastrophic collapse, then we will need to help the survivors any way we can. That is certainly my determination.
