You're all forgetting about the prophecy where the 'kings of the earth' and the political system will seek to plunder all the bounteous goods of the worlds religious empires. That will include the JW's too.
WT ain't going out of business.
by joe134cd 28 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
snare&racket
Dis-member, that doesn't apply.... this is criminal punishment from a former member, not the governments or kings of the world. Who would deny such a just re-allocation of funds. The bible would have had the WT society stoned!
-
joe134cd
Losing it= as for the dubbies in this country. I would say almost none of them have heard about it. Or if they have no one is talking. As for myself I never knew that there was a problem with child sex abuse and to the extent it was until I stumbled on this site. I just can't believe how in the dark I was. Btw I was in for just under 40 years.
-
Phizzy
I was in the dark for longer than you Joe ! 58 years a "mushroom" for me, being kept in the dark and showered in s**t !
I think the WT business model is nowhere near as solid as it was. They have down-sized a lot, and the Property dealing is a constant source of income, but this will not be a huge source in coming years. Once all the Brooklyn ones are gone, and the U.K/ London ones, real big bucks will not be flowing in.
Some of the foreign property may be hard to shift, their Ireland bethel is still on the market, been on for two or three years now.
The annual sales of property will fall. Donations are smaller.
A cash flow problem is always on the horizon.
-
MissMyHarley
They are working the Estate Planning arena big time in the Midwest of America. Donate your land and your buisnesses, your money to the World Wide Ripoff. They are turning the elders and Co's into estate consultants. They are still after my our estate so beware, the next step in there plan is to glean the baby boomers of all their assets, we all know the next generation is dirt poor. Most of them have not planned for anything but the big A.
-
Finkelstein
WT ain't going out of business.
...... because its too corrupt to.
There are still too many people out there to fleece their minds as well their wallets.
-
steve2
Good topic joe! You're right: There's no reason to maintain the WT will go out of business. That said, its heyday in western countries is well past. The latest New Zealand census on religious affiliation shows there are currently fewer New Zealanders identifying as JWs than there were in 1991 (under 18,000 in 2013 compared to well over19,500 in1991)
In contrast, non-Christian religious affiliation is rapidly growing (I.e, Hindu, Islam, Buddhism).
The WT will need to tred a fine line between crowing about the success of its website in attracting interest and promoting the need for public witnessing. Your average Witness becomes disheartened easily - and if they deduce growth is more likely through the net than field service, they'll slack off even more. The change won't be overnight - but more over the coming years. Watch baptisms shrivel and, as shown in last year's report of worldwide witnessing featured in the 2014 Yearbook, memorial attendances have plateaued - a first in several decades of clear growth.
-
Simon
No religion past a certain size is going to disappear. Once you reach a critical mass then survival is pretty much guaranteed unless the environment changes substantially - e.g. tax free status is lost.
Of course that is highly unlikely to happen in Jesus-land so their survival is pretty much guaranteed and they have many more donations coming in to cover costs and money from investments that they can survive on.
Just one reason it's a pointless and further waste of people's lives trying to "bring them down" with the fanciful notion that if only we make write some good articles or make a really, really good YouTube video then they will vanish.
What we should focus on is helping those who want to leave to do so in a successful way and make sure that information is available so that anyone who bothers to do research about a group before joining can see what they are really like.
But the notion that they can be destroyed by making the general population aware of them? Pie in the sky. People don't care. There are far more compelling causes with far bigger support that still struggle to make change happen.
I call it realism, not pessimism.
-
Bob_NC
So true that the WT is not going out of business any time soon. Certainly not from any of our YouTubing, article writing, or even a law suit. One thing I learned upon leaving is that no one, I mean NO ONE, is thinking about JWs. We were taught that we are hated by the world, that we are objects of astonishment and wonder. What a narcissistic view of oneself. JWs are not on anyone's radar.
On the other hand. Where is American Motors, Pontiac, Circuit City, Gateway computers, and soon Sears and KMart? No one cares about them either.
-
steve2
Following on from Simon's point that exposure will not bring the organization down, are two related points:
First, adverse media exposure inevitably bolsters the cult mentality evident inside the organization (it feeds the need-for-persecution outlook exhibited by many Witnesses; i.e., if we are criticized, it proves we must be right);
Second, ex-Witnesses and/or folks from other religions who have never been Witnesses, who go on a mission to "save" JWs from their organization are exhibiting the very same mentality as the Witnesses who go out to "save" people from the churches of Christendom or from paganism. It betrays an almost mirror-like refusal to shake off the fundamentalist mindset that ignores the evidence that, despite lots of noise, it ain't working.
I agree that the chief value of a forum such as this is to provide a safe and rational-thinking venue for people who are already questioning the organization.