Never. They would be dstroyed as a religion. They could not scripturally defend any of their dogma. Some athiest armed with a print-out of JWfacts would destroy any GB member in a discussion. Not in a ga-jillion years. Even the dumbest dub would see them for what they are. That's why they hope with all their might that the big A comes right after Warwick is done. Their days are numbered without divine intervention.
Jehovahs Witnesses to morph into a Tele-evangelical religion .
by smiddy 25 Replies latest jw friends
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OUTLAW
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The WBT$ on TV?!..It will never happen..
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Doubting Bro
I'm with the crowd that says there is no way conventions/assemblies lose money. In my mid-sized city, we have an assembly hall. The rent for that is higher than what we paid for other venues before the AH was built. Granted, the facility is more user friendly in terms of layout, AV equipment, etc. But, it's not like they are losing money on it. I argue they are getting higher than market rates (or at the high end of market rates). Of course, they say some of it is for maintance and the like, but other venues would face the same thing. Plus, add on that they aren't really charging "rent" but rather the elders vote on the recommended donation based on the projected number of publishers assigned and you have a profit generating operation which DOESN'T PAY TAXES.
Now, on the international conventions, depending on the venue, I could see maybe some of them not turning a profit. Like some of the ones here in the US this year. It will be interesting to see if those cover the expenses. My guess is if donations don't, there will be a bill back to the individual districts/circuits to make up the difference.
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OnTheWayOut
I just don't see such a cult making the switch. On the individual points:
Door to door work is unproductive , it never has been for a long time , no money comes in since you couldnt charge for magazines.
They cheapened the product and are trying to tweak the sales into carts and their own "stores." Right now, I am confident that they don't make money from the door-to-door work, but they still have paid-for presses and the members are contributing enough to cover literature. Meanwhile, they are trying those different ways to restore more profit. It is doomed to fail, as all print is suffering now. This is the only point I can see where your thought of "tele-evangelical religion" could be prophetic. But really, they had their chance to go that way when they had a radio network.
Conventions , whether they were district , circuit , or national , and international , cost more now than they generate in revenue.
Conventions and assemblies, I guarantee they are very profitable. Low costs, using their own facilities in many cases, free speakers and volunteer labor for all aspects of the show, tax-free. It's still all good. Sure, it's been better in the past, but they could keep going this way.
First world countries just dont donate enough money like they used to . (their are various reasons for that )
Third world countries just dont have the money to donate.
There is some truth in this, but don't count them out yet. Enough money drips in from each congregation to cover costs for literature and there is some more beyond that, plus local members fill those conventions. Third world profit for religion is better than most of us think. I don't have data, but it seems pretty obvious that religion doesn't lose money in the third world, but dribbles it in from poor people.
They can only dangle the carrot in front of people for so long and then poof .They see behind the curtain .
Yes, that is the problem with the young people leaving and many of us. But they still have millions of people. If even 1 million people are their core profitability, having those 1 million think that the other few millions are proof of some kind that they have "Jehovah's blessings" helps the Watchtower.
Don't forget the real estate game. Watchtower dictates who can have a Kingdom Hall and where, what congregation to keep and which to dissolve. If the locals can pay for a Kingdom Hall and send some little sum of money to "Mother," then get moved to a new location with a new loan to pay off, they will keep making some money from these members.
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Goldiver
Back when I used to be in they had three or four day conventions. Each day an expense report was read from the podium, and each day it appeared as if expenses wouldn't be met and all were "reminded" of thier obligation to contribute. Miraculously on the last day there was always enough money plus a generous surplus.
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kaik
Televangelic religion is only successful in USA. It does not go well outside, and it wont do much there. The same goes to radio preachers, they were never successful outside USA. What made KH and WT successful in the 20th century was a huge involvement in German speakers at the beginning, welll before 1914. German speakers were detrimental for importing it from USA into Germany and from there into Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania and elsewhere. Somewhere I remember on studies in KH that if there was no Hitler, the Germany would be the main center of JW community, not USA.
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RunAsFastAsYouCan
Yeah. Put those crazies on TV. That would be awesome. Let people see the shit they really say. Better than jimmie swaggert drooling on himself.
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Julia Orwell
They'll have more international conventions and 'special conventions' than they used to because they drastically mark up the travel costs...oh, they already do that. Then they'll ask you to donate estate jewellery and shares and items of value...they already do that too! Next they'll pass around the collection plate or collect a tithe.
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JeffT
BTW: anyone know if you can block TV channels?!
Simon, obviously I don't know what cable system you're on. I just looked and I can do it on Comcast (its a parental control code). I expect other systems have something similar.
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steve2
Which raises the question, What is the TV equivalent of slamming the door on a JW?
...OUTLAW