Just how is JW org doing?

by Half banana 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Half banana

  I started posting on the Ex community about five years ago since two of my children have remained under the JW spell. Back then I had little tangible hope of seeing the downfall of the Org. I now see evidence of big cracks forming in their hermetic carapace.

  They had always bragged about using new technological developments in promoting themselves (or God as he used to be called!) and with the decline of print on paper they have had to turn to the internet. This has been done reluctantly because the money from magazines and books were the very making of the Watchtower Corporation. Millions of pieces of literature printed on low-cost paper by ‘voluntary’ labour and with free marketing and distribution made for its billions of Dollars. They are now denied the enormous returns they made on their publishing enterprise. Instead they are now property developers milking the wealth out of the flock who are no longer mortgaged but "pledged" in perpetuity for KH’s the congregations will never own. A scam worthy of the greatest accolade in accountancy crime! (but it's all in a good cause folks!...)

  The internet has inherent problems for an autocratic religious cult. Internet exposure has a self regulating and democratic element which the Org had never encountered before. Its antics are now open to public gaze. Anything which doesn’t chime with the zeitgeist of transparency, democracy and modernity gets the downturned thumb from the viewers. Brain-dead JW zombies will not be affected but potential members are now warned off by our very vocal ex JW communities. I suggest that the Org had flourished only because they controlled their one dimensional propaganda but they have now lost that in the new freedom of information which the internet has brought... what we might call the “true” new light!

  Couple this with the downturn in income and the shameless money grabbing; the JW org, for all its glitzy TV studios, is greatly weakened.

  How do others read the situation?

  Are the troubles at the Tower just the result of internet exposure?

  Do I have real grounds for hope in their decline?
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  Splash

  After seeing some of their recent film length videos, I wonder how much it costs to produce one of these.

  They are building new studios so the emphasis is going to be on more films. Even the current Regional Convention has something like 40 video clips dotted throughout.

  I can see the mid week meetings becoming nothing more than a series of brothers introducing videos, then hosting Q&A sessions on them.
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  Driving Force

  If it was not for the Internet I would still be in.
  
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  maksutov

  The org has a certain inertia and is also very adaptable. The worldwide web has been around for 25 years now, and has made a dent in the membership, but not a crippling one. It is true that the internet makes it easier to leave than it used to be, and easier for potential new recruits to find out TTATT, but JWs give birth to more JWs - even if only one third of them stay in, that still keeps the machine running.

  The loss of revenue from printing took a blow when they had to stop charging for literature. Since then, printing won't have been as profitable - by going paperless they can save money. The rank and file can now be asked to donate the money that they were using for literature to KH building projects. This not only keeps the money coming in, it also serves as an investment - unlike literature which just gets thrown away, the society can keep the buildings and later on consolidate/downsize/liquidise as needed (maybe even hiring out halls would be a future option).

  Ever since I left, there have always been some ex-JWs who have speculated that the org is about to crumble, but I don't see any convincing evidence of that. I think it will either die out or go more mainstream eventually, but it will be a long drawn out process, and I don't expect it to seriously dwindle in the near future.
  
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  done4good

  maksutov - I think it will either die out or go more mainstream eventually, but it will be a long drawn out process, and I don't expect it to seriously dwindle in the near future.
  

  This.

  However, I would add that it is difficult to tell what will accelerate the process. The organization appears to be in something of a positive feedback loop at the moment, and if that continues, it will have an effect on how quickly either dying out or mainstreaming takes place. At the moment, I don't see they have a way out of that loop. They need capital to reorganize things to keep their long term finances sustainable, they are pushing for this capital, and doing so unapologetically, using the internet, (and other sources, of course). This is going to ruffle a few feathers if it keeps up.
  

  Secondly, social evolution forces all authoritarian organizations to capitulate to either outcome you mention above. History demonstrates this over and over. The information age itself has caused massive changes in society as a whole, (just look at society's recent acceptance of gay marriage, marijuana legalization, etc.), and while organizations like the WT have previously been better able to isolate themselves from outside influence, it is much more difficult to isolate themselves as such today. Their own significant internet presence even makes that isolation that much more difficult. This is yet another commitment they have made that is almost impossible to back out of, socially or fiscally.

  What it will come to in the end, is that if they don't mainstream, they will die out. Social evolution will force this process.

  d4g
  
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  Bonsai

  I think about all the atrocities the Catholic church has committed in its long existence. The JW pedophile problem pales in comparison to the Catholic priest problem (at least media-wise). Yet, there are currently an estimated 1.2 billion Catholics still practicing today. Religions find ways to survive, and there will always be suckers to fill their pews/seats. I think the JW religion will long outlive all of us. I do think that eventually, years from now, the blood doctrine and the df'ing arrangement will be watered down to the point of not being enforced at all. I agree with maksutov and done4good. Ever so gradually they will go mainstream to remain relevant.
  
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  joe134cd

  Mainstreaming is the only way they will survive. They have to get more positive information out there on the Internet. It's certainly doing them no favours when 99.9% of the information from a Google search is damning.
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  John_Mann

  The borg attracts a specific kind of misfit people. The borg will be there as long as these kind of people continue to exist.
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  done4good

  The borg attracts a specific kind of misfit people. The borg will be there as long as these kind of people continue to exist.

  True, but it existing in some form is not really the point. At some point, this will be the only type of member the current implementation of the organization can support. Those types do not have the finances nor the intelligence to keep the organization in business. The implementation will need to change, or they will become a very minor sect, not unlike the Christadelphians. It is a question of when, not if.
  

  d4g
  
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  Vidiot

  The WTS, like any other social organism, must adapt to its environment in order to survive.

  However, all indications are that - for religions - successful adaptation to the Information Age requires authentic "mainstreaming", a.k.a. progressive reform. This includes abandoning quite a number of outdated stances that, at this point, disadvantage a church more than not.

  These things include apocalyptic millennialism, misogyny, homophobia, Biblical literalism, creationism, the forbidding of medical procedures, shunning, the sense of superiority / exclusivity, and the demonization of other groups.

  The WTS cannot do this, though; as they would no longer be Jehovah's Witnesses anymore if they did.