In 50 or so years when JWs realize that the FDS's promises were lies, would everyone just get up and leave?
Do you guys think there will be a time when everyone will leave the JWs?
by FinchAndWeston 18 Replies latest jw friends
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blond-moment
If they didn't leave in 1914, 1925, 1975, (and all the rest in between) if they didn't leave over the UN, the overlapping generations, them equaling themselves to Jesus and Jehovah, why would they leave for future problems?
There are some, that will stay no matter what. They are terminally lost. The GB themselves could tell them as a group, that it was all BS and there are those who would just shrug it off. Those are the ones that will keep the JWs going.
The only way this organizaiton will dissappear is when the "religion" side of the business, starts losing so much money, the tax free status is no longer worth it. Then they will just be a straight out business. I mean, they are involved in everything, stock market, hedge funds, real estate, who knows what else. Unfortunately, there will always be the brain dead zombies willing to buy whatever crap they hand out.
Yes, I am ranting a bit. Listened to some of the special assembly talks and just can't believe what the R&F are willing to swallow. I need to stop listening to those things, they just piss me off.
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cedars
FinchAndWeston - you're being extremely generous in giving the Society another 50 years. As I've said on a recent thread, the Society is in sharp decline, and I would be surprised if they made it to 2034 in anything like their current form. As an example, you need only look at the branch closures.
Last year there was an unprecedented 16% drop in branches, from 116 to 98. If that rate were to continue, we would be down to NO branches (perhaps just the US branch) by 2030. The rate of branch closures may slow, or increase - only time will tell. Of course, last year's branch decrease may have been just a blip. However, when you look at the overall pattern you see that the Society is struggling financially - so it wouldn't surprise me if we are already in the 'end game'. Falling branch numbers are significant, because without local branches the Society cannot adequately service its worldwide expansion, and the publisher growth figures and therefore donation revenues begin to suffer. It's like a "domino" effect. Once branch numbers begin to fall, they won't pick up again unless things change dramatically. The internet has been a game-changer in this regard.
I could go on, but I'm afraid I may already be starting to sound like a broken record, so I'll leave it there!!
Cedars
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Bubblegum Apotheosis
It took close to 300 years to get rid of the last "Shaker" a radical branch of the Quakers, US History 101, teacher loved to talk about "Shakers" and was sad the last one died in the late 1800s or turn of the Century of 1900s.
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cedars
It took close to 300 years to get rid of the last "Shaker"
I can only repeat what I said before, the internet has been a game-changer! Jehovah's Witnesses will be around for decades to come, in much the same way as there are still Bible Students who believe in pyramidology. However, once the Society goes (and it has already begun its decline), the numbers will dwindle to almost inconsequential levels.
Cedars
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jemba
But even the most inconsequential number of JWs left standing (like my parents) will just dust themselves off and keep preaching and teaching like nothing ever happened. All the while spouting crapology like 'the wide path to destruction, narrow road to everlasting life, easier to fit through the eye of a needle" etc. If they do decline rapidly that will be their def reasoning that "the end is upon us" and "the greater number has cooled off." Theyre so friggin brainwashed!
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cedars
jemba - just watch how many people continue to put in hours on the ministry once the literature stops being printed and they need to go out with just their bibles and nothing tangible to offer. Growth-wise, it's a downwards spiral from the moment the last printed Watchtower rolls off the press.
However, as we both agree - there will ALWAYS be a minority who continue regardless, just as with the Bible Students. But there'll be nothing remotely resembling a worldwide preaching campaign.
Cedars
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designs
There are by some counts several hundred thousand 'Rutherford only' followers in Europe, talk about hard liners. There are something like a dozen specific Bible Student groups still around. Usually these groups see themselves as special in some way, the faithful remnant. People's committment to a particular cause is fascinating.
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steve2
The death of a religion is a glacially slow process, measured by long, long decades. Heaven knows the vestiges of other millenial religions are still present around the spinning globe. Christadelphians have been on the decline for more than 70 years, their heyday long since past. Yet still a few old timer Christadelphians meet and deliver their predictable end-times spiels - to one another, because no one else bothers to listen.
People's capacity to try to revive air-less beliefs is astonishing. The machine is switched on, but no one's home. We should be kindand unplug it. For some, the need to stay in a religion because that's all they know is far stronger than their need to exercise their sleepy brain cells and investigate their religious beliefs. If sleep is a relief and not much else is on the agenda, why would anyone choose to wake up?
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blondie
But then the Shakers did not have biological children; they did adopt a few children. The WTS has had a few times (mostly prior to end dates like 1975) when having children was discouraged but they waffled on that. An official directive does not always translate into action. Man, if jws didn't have kids now, there would be little increase in the WTS.
There was a 2% decrease a year after 1975, but then things ticked up.