ok jw teaching aside, can you see a time coming when religon will cease to exist?

highdose

possibly this could happen in a dramatic sudden way or a slow burn but can you see the human race progressing to the point were they no longer need to belive in these myths and legends?

cantleave

As people become more educated, they will let go of all myths and legends. But it will be slow and not in our lifetimes.

strymeckirules

yes. when they decide it's time to unveil the NWO.

cofty

Alas no. We Homo sapiens are only partially rational and will be such for a very long time.

I do think the day will come when religion - and by that I mean all sorts of magic thinking - will become as harmless and irrelevant as knitting.

Nobody minds if somebody likes to knit but nobody faught a war over the best patterns.

I wish it'd happen tonight, but no, I don't see that happening anytime soon. I see the WT becoming largely irrelevant in people's lives, especially with the amount of young people leaving. For many of those who stay now, it's only because of family, close friends, and in some instances their very livelyhood. Other than that, the religion is already largely irrelevant for many, simply a large charade done to keep up appearances until it becomes painfully obvious to even the most die hard fanatic of JWs that something is drastically wrong with this religion. I wonder at times how that makes the WT feel? I adjusted a microphone for a WT Heavyweight at a Circuit Assembly some weeks ago, and to think he has absolutely no idea that an apostate smiled at him and told him, "good job" as he was walking off the stage to applause. I imagine there are plenty within the audience who only clap because they feel emotionally obligated to be in attendance and keep up appearances. The day will come when there will be no need to maintain the illusion, it's just a matter of when.

AnneB

I see a secularization of ritual. People do love their celebrations; even JW's have their Memorials, weddings, CO visits, good-bye parties, etc. I don't see such things ending, they'll just be taken out of the realm of religion and replaced with observations of non-religious occasions like Stephen Foster Memorial Day (January 13th), Idaho Human Rights Day (January 17th), International Mother Language Day (February 21), ad infinitum. Hallmark will still sell cards, there will still be Lay-Away at stores, gifts will still be exchanged on certain of the days, but the "benefits" will not be connected with supernatural beings of any ilk. The lessons once associated with religion are already being taught as human qualities or character traits; instead of having a good or bad spirit within oneself, it's now possible to connect certain behaviors with genetic or environmental factors, for example.

I've thought a bit about this shift, and it seems to me that even die-hard religionists can agree that the trend exists; perhaps viewing it as a necessary stepping stone from the elimination of "false religion" to the establishment of "The Truth".

pandora

Has anyone here seen the movie "Idiocracy".

Sadly, it is a comic version of a very scary possible reality as America dumbs itself down.

Iamallcool

i hope not in my lifetime.

ProdigalSon

Interesting question.

Well, one thing the Watchtower got partially correct is the identity of Babylon the Great, which falls in "one hour". It would seem that there is an event that would cause the mask to be ripped off this woman/beast combo that misleads the world through the use of black magic and control of money.

What the Watchtower forgot was there are three branches that are needed for the whore/beast to control the planet, not just religion. They didn't quite get it right about the political part, and the money part. The woman doesn't control the beast, they are just a team. If you look at the three city-states in the world, Washington controls the political/legal/military dept., the City of London controls the finances, and the Vatican controls the religious aspect (mind control). Imagine an event that would cause the whole shittin' shiboodle to collapse overnight. My theory is that they all need each other, and they would all collapse simultaneously.

What could do it?

Alien disclosure?

The truth about 9/11?

Collapse of the IMF?

All the above?

There are many other things that could do it. Use your imagination.

breakfast of champions

I would hope so, but it will certainly not be in our lifetimes. . .

We could, however, see another "quantum leap" in scientific discovery which will speed up the pace of religion's decline in this half of the century.

It will be INTERESTING.