If Ray Franz had defected in the year 2012, how much more of an effect would his ability to articulate his story have been to the WTS? With access to the internet, a man with Ray's talents would have been devestating to the WT, I think. Completely put the WT out of business? I don't think so. But the WT would not have the upper hand in communications access to millions of people like it had in 1981.Imagine if one of the GB has already turned to the dark side. The rest would know that a defection a la Franz in 2012 would be absolutely devastating, so they start selling off properties in order to provide a "golden parachute" for the dissenter in exchange for silence. The GB disappears from sight. . . Moves to the Caymans. . . . Pure fantasy, but you never know. . .
What could trigger a large proportion of JWs at once that this religion is a scam
by Mr Facts 62 Replies latest jw friends
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breakfast of champions
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LongHairGal
MrFacts:
I hate to disappoint you, but I do not believe there is anything that will convince the large majority of people in the religion to leave. They will continue to believe it is "truth" no matter what happens. In my opinion, I think many of them are there because the religion has God's magic name and they believe he must be backing it or else he would have destroyed it. There are older people who lived through WWII and are convinced about JWs being saved by angels from the concentration camps, etc. meanwhile millions of other people died. Even though many posters here have raised some valid points, they have to realize the religion has gone through major rifts in the past century plus and there was always a core of people who stayed. It just reinvented itself.
I think the reason the numbers got high was pre-millennium hopefulness and many there thought they would be walking into the new system. I think many people (JWs and non-JWs) thought the year 2000 was really supposed to mean something. Now, we know it came and went. There are many older people there who just cannot start over someplace else now and so they stay, resigned to the fact they will die "in this system of things" and get to the new system the "underground way". (This is the new thing being said recently because so many are passing away).
Bubblegum:
You are right about many people there sending their kids to college now more than ever before.
Today's enlightened parents would have to be out of their minds to ever heed the religion's ridiculous advice to not get college for their children!! As you stated, hopefully they see the plight of older people there who are scraping by and they are looking on in horror! Naturally they would not want to follow in their footsteps! Hell, NO. It is bad enough when poverty happens to somebody because they lost their job, etc. Why, on earth, would somebody voluntary pursue it - and at the urging of people who live on working people's charity no less? It just flies in the face of common sense.
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Dagney
Nothing.
Failed predictions didn't do it. Pedophile issue didn't do it. Change in blood "understanding" didn't do it. UN affiliation didn't do it. "Signs of the times" a none issue didn't do it. "Remnant" number increasing didn't do it. I could go on...
My friend told me this week she did not give a s**t about the "society," but she needs a place to go.