Hey minimus,I don`t think the WBTS will fall over night.Just too many dubs who do exactly what their told.You know WBTS tells them not to listen to anything negative about WBTS.How many will listen to WBTS?Most of them,anyone else will be tossed out.There is one thing we can count on,a WBTS apostate witch hunt.I believe it will esculate as WBTS gets more and more bad press.Between the truth coming out about WBTS and WBTS continualy abusing their own members,WBTS will die slowly.Be patient,WBTS is their own worst enemy,and they don`t show any signs of letting up..LOL...OUTLAW
DO you REALLY think this is THE END OF JW's?
by minimus 35 Replies latest jw friends
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hillary_step
The WTS like the poor will always be with us in one form or the other.
The natural process of social evolution will gradually change its face into one that is more acceptable to the public. For example I have no doubt that within a decade the blood transfusion issue will be a thing of the past and that the WTS will have buried all its mistakes in this regard. The issue of child-abuse will again have been settled, even disfellowshipping, while it would still exist would not be the destroyer of families that it now is. The WTS is a remarkable animal, its ability to evolve and roll with the punches is a matter of public record. They are imho the most successful high-control religion of our day, but their major weakness is that though they are loath to admit it, they are very concerned about their public image. An image which might cost them their financial life.
So where will they be in a decade? Fighting for their financial life I believe. Perhaps the least explored region for XJW's to develop is that of exploring the financial world of the WTBTS. Every so often a post is made to this Board outlining the reports of one of the WTS accounting periods which always display a staggering income, far more than the average JW would ever imagine. The WTS have a major weakness in this area as like any huge corporation they cannot survive without a large conduit of cash, in this case tax-free ( for the time being ). I think it is a matter of time before the governments begin taxing the WTS, as the French and Indian governments have. The reaction by the WTS was remarkable and swift- full page advertisements in the New York Times, and to all realitsic effect they closed the Branch in India. They would have difficulty surviving as the entities we know, if they paid a fair tax, as all their adherents are expected to!
Scope exists for a web-site, designed on a platform that contains ONLY the WTS financials, nothing but business documents. Many JW's would read such a site as it would not contain "apostate' thinking, but only documentary evidence of what is a matter of public record. It would hit the WTS where it would hurt the most, in the pocket.
A few years ago in an elders meeting, we were discussing the impracticalities of the large District Assemblies, which I am convinced are arranged completely as a means of income. I made note that 13,000,000 had attended that years assemblies world wide. I suggested that it not be beyond the realms of common-sense that each person would leave an average of $3.00 in a contribution box. $39,000,000 income. Even if half of this was spent on expenses, the WTS would profit almost $20,000,000. The elders were shocked at seeing these figures put before them. As I ran the audit department of a major Assembly each year in the UK, they knew that I was not exaggerating.
To give another example of how JW's might think with regard to these issues. We persuaded a 'gung-ho' Witness of 50 years standing in the WTS to watch the Panorama program in Britain. She reverted to us with the usual tale, 'disgruntled apostates', 'no-one is perfect', 'the WTS has done its best' etc. etc. However, what really shook her was the statement that the WT was 'one of the worlds richest religious organizations'. It upset her very much, "do you think this is true" she asked repeatedly.
HS
Edited by - hillary_step on 2 August 2002 13:2:21
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jack2
Good comments made by all. I don't see the WTS falling or fading anytime soon either. To me, erosion from within may be be their greatest concern, as more and more people, better educated, refuse to buy into their teachings, while those who already are jws continue the drop-off in zeal for meetings and field service already evident in the more developed areas of the world.
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sunshineToo
Regarding fewer followers:
In the last Dist. Assembly I noticed very fewer attendants compare to a few years ago. This dist. has been known as one of the biggest in Northern Cal.: average of 11,000 attendance. But this year there were barely 9,000 attendance, and only 20 - 30 baptismal candidates. It used to be more than 100 in the 90s. I told my mom (reg.pioneer), and she said that she was told by an elder that the Society reorganized the distr. so that not too many people would gather at the same place. Hmmm...strange, when I saw the convention schedule, there were not more English assemblies at least at the Cow Palace in SF.
Regarding hillary_step's post:
In every assembly they announced how much money is short in covering the cost. For example, in the intermission, they said that so far they have $5,000 in contribution box, but the cost for the assembly was $10,000. Of course good hearted JWs would put more money into their boxes. So I guess I'm kinda confused whether they were losing or profeiting through these assemblies.
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hillary_step
Sunshine,
In every assembly they announced how much money is short in covering the cost. For example, in the intermission, they said that so far they have $5,000 in contribution box, but the cost for the assembly was $10,000. Of course good hearted JWs would put more money into their boxes. So I guess I'm kinda confused whether they were losing or profeiting through these assemblies.
This is just a sort of scam to encourage the audience to dig into their pockets. The announcement is always made a lunch time to give them plenty of time to think about it. The money rolls in at the end of the sessions. I know, as I have run the audit departments at both District and Circuit level that the WTS do very, very well out of ALL their assemblies. I can tell you many tales of senior JW's, normally women, who send plastic bags of crumpled bills to the audit department, saved at great cost to themselves, as their donation. The WTS profit greatly from the Assemblies, and if they stopped profiting you can rest assured that they would find a Biblical reason why they are no longer neccessary.
Best regards - HS
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BeautifulGarbage
Hillary,
Can you clarify something for me?
13 million attended that year's assemblies? Were there still an estimated 6 million JW's worldwide?
If so, more non-jws attended assemblies than jws?
Andee