JW's who remain in the organisation but try to reform it - pissing against the wind

by jambon1 54 Replies latest jw friends

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  metatron

  Why is reform a waste of time? The most important reason is:

  a profound lack of supportive infrastructure together with tearing down what little structure exists

  Look, a religion can have all sorts of absurd beliefs and still endure with no problem. The Mormons seem to actually enjoy a sort of perverse challenge to believe laughable doctrines and Catholics have Jesus turning into crackers.

  The key thing is supportive structure. The Catholics build hospitals, they have Universities, charities - Mormons have temples, BYU, an internal welfare system and so on. The Watchtower is run in a grasping, cheap-ass, penny-pinching manner and hates anything to do with organized charity - no Sunday Schools - and the MTS/Gilead arrangement has been so pathetically unsupported by real effort, it's amazing anything gets done.

  I'm sure there are plenty of outwardly religious people who really don't believe in anything but still affiliate with big religions because of the structures those organizations have created. Meanwhile, the unimaginative skinflint jerks who run this cult are selling off Kingdom Halls, cutting magazines and literature and laying off Bethelites.

  A second reason, related to the above is lack of any developed theology or depth of thinking supporting the organization. The latest brochure is shocking stupid and seems geared to the mentally challenged. How can you run a worldwide cult with uneducated semi-literates in charge? Eventually, the effects of this braindrain become evident - and serious, as costly mistakes are made. There is only so much simplification that can be handled. Contrast this with the education and skill enjoyed at mainstream religions and you can see how Watchtower trends are deadly to their future.

  metatron
• 

  designs

  A few JW splinter groups exist, there are the Rutherford only groups in Europe, but nothing of significance in the USA. I wonder what % of JWs who leave end up leaving all Religion behind, 50%, 90%?
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  Joliette

  I couldnt agree more. Pissing against the wing indeed.
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  Quendi

  I completely agree with discreetslave on this issue. There is no way the WTS will reform itself. It has put itself in a vise of its own making with the claim of being the "one true religion" that is awaiting the 'end of the world'. Reform would mean dropping both of those key beliefs and I just don't see that happening.

  Would Ray Franz's suggestions have made any fundamental changes? I don't think so. The strict codes on dress, grooming, and sexual mores would have remained in place. Witnesses would still be required to go in the field service. The ideal basic organizational unit would remain their 1950s version of an American nuclear family. Extreme homophobia still would have been emphasized. Women would not be allowed to have any voice or say in congregation matters. Congregations would be organized only along the lines that Brooklyn would consider appropriate.

  The only substantial change which occurred on Ray Franz's watch was implementing the body of elders arrangement, and that was done over the strong opposition of N.H. Knorr, the WTS president at that time. Fred Franz liked the notion and finally endorsed it, although he later changed his mind. By then, however, it was too late. And the elder arrangement, as now implemented, is a complete disaster with those posts being held by men who are unqualified to do so. As some here have mentioned, "reform" would be an open admission of error and failure, and the WTS would rather rot in Gehenna before it ever made such an admission.

  Yes, religions have made reforms and survived. However, there have also been many others who refused and became extinct. I really believe the WTS is in the latter category. The Society may eventually see the need to make changes, but by the time that dawns on the organization, it will be too little, too late.

  Quendi
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  Gayle

  As some here have mentioned, "reform" would be an open admission of error and failure, and the WTS would rather rot in Gehenna before it ever made such an admission.

  Thx, Quenti, bottom line, that's the truth,,