Yes in many ways. No urgency anymore, people generally do think more for themselves. Less respect for elders, CO's, etc. Of course there are and always will be zealots but generally people really don't give a shit as much as they used to. However if you become apostate they will turn on you in a second. There is still fear of shunning and loss of family. I guess more and more JW's like to live on the edge but ultimately will shun.
Have The JWs Changed All That Much In The Last 20 Years All That Much?
by minimus 25 Replies latest jw friends
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Kojack57
Yes things have changed drastically, they are hiding more Pediophiles in the BORG and are requesting more money from rank and file members to defend them.
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Rocky_Girl
I see a huge difference!!
I was baptized in September of 1993, when I was 13. I spent the next 5 years as a regular pioneer (1000 hrs/yr) and I could quote out-of-context scripture from memory at the door and work my way through the 1914 doctrine with one arm tied behind my back. So could the other 12-14 young pioneers in my age group. Of course, we were heavily trained by two older lifelong pioneers who would even bust down on the young men (haha) and just laugh at the elders when counselled to treat these young brothers with respect. I look back at my arrogance and just cringe.
Everyone in that group have left (faded, da'ed, df'ed) their respective congregations (5 in our city) with only a few that returned. According to my mom, we were the last "zealous" young pioneer group.
I am 33 now and when I look at the 25 and younger crowd in my folks' cong, I see a lot of "spiritual inactivity" and more focus on their families and social aspects. They all have small children and spend a lot of time outside of meetings, fs, etc. with each other camping, playing volleyball, skiing, etc. I saw a service group last Saturday with two vans full of 6 adults and a herd of children stop at the park in my neighborhood. Two of the men knocked on maybe 3 doors while the others set up a big blanket on the ground and pulled out a picnic. They were there from @9:30am until after I left my house at 12:30.
This would not have been possible 15-20 years ago...
I was happy to see kids playing and not being forced to sell the "truth" door to door. I hope that in time, this dangerous controlling group mellows out into a more mainstream religious group. It will take at least another 50 years, I think. But, at least in this congregation, it seems to be going that way.
This could be why the ever changing doctrines do not bother the JWs. They simply didn't know or care about the old ones to see that they are different now.
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Ucantnome
i haven't been attending the hall regularly or active in the field service for almost 20 years. however i did attend regularly for about 6 months in that period and there are some witnesses i still talk to.
during the six month period that i attended i was surprised at how dull i found the meetings. when i was in my twenties i had taken a man i worked with to the kingdom hall and i remember sitting there listening and thinking how interesting the meeting must seem to him as he hasn't heard this before. maybe it was just wishful thinking and he found it as dull as i was finding it. maybe it was because my heart wasn't in it anymore that i found it so dull. the circuit overseer visited during the period of my attendance and i had to take a family member home after the sunday talk but i returned to hear his final talk as he was going to mention something about the spiritual paradise that i particularly wanted to hear and i found that interesting.
my opinion is that there is not the zeal that we had in the hall when i was a child and young man. we were raised to be like 'temporary residents in the land' my father turned down good jobs and took lower pay so as to attend the hall with his family. we (unfortunately) never missed a meeting or an assembly, field service was every week Saturday and Sunday we grew up to pioneer. My father was an elder my brothers were servants. i think a lot of those sort may have gone. the young ones in the congregation i was in in my teens who had the cars and further education are now the elders and others like us left years ago.
i think the organization still believes that 1914 is significant and they don't accept the trinity and the end is close so in those ways they are still the same.
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Julia Orwell
I think it's getting more controlling, and placing more emphasis on obeying the 'slave'.
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tim hooper
Say what you like about JW's, there did used to be some real characters out there. They're all gone. Individuality has been quashed as being undesirable.
My first public talk had suggested notes supplied by the WT of just half of a page, the rest of what was presented was down to me. Now public talks are pretty well just a set reading.
The perception of the public re JW's has also changed as they've become ever-more media conscious. WT statements to the press are now predictable soundbites as the WT tries damage limitation after the exposes of ex's.
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EdenOne
There's less zeal and less awareness of the doctrinal foundations of the JW's belief system. Less bible-minded people, less effective publishers. Less room for individuallity. Everything is basically pre-scripted. More emphasys than ever is placed in "obeying". Indeed things are more relaxed these days, except when it comes to enforcement of the shunning policies.
Eden
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Julia Orwell
Yes, that seems to be getting more and more coverage in the WTs as people must be craving their family members and reaching out. Gotta stop that now.
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tim hooper
This might make you smile..
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fokyc
*** km 10/76 p. 1 Branch Letter ***
With the October 6, 1937, issue, on the eighteenth anniversary of The Golden Age, the magazine took on a new appearance, and its name was changed to Consolation and remained such for the next nine years.
