i dont think they have a way out out. they need to admit they are wrong and they are not gods organization on earth. if they do people will leave. they have no way out. god bless yucca
Carl Sagan's Remarks About Jehovah's Witnesses False Prophecies
Alan Feuerbacher
A few years after the complete collapse of everything C. T. Russell had predicted, J. F. Rutherford began a process of replacing Russell's unfulfilled predictions with a series of invisible and spiritual events associated with the years 1914 and 1918. By the early 1930s the process was complete.
An interesting comment on this transformation was made by Carl Sagan in his book Broca's Brain (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979, pp. 332-333):
Doctrines that make no predictions are less compelling than those which make correct predictions; they are in turn more successful than doctrines that make false predictions.
But not always. One prominent American religion confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914. Well, 1914 has come and gone, and -- while the events of that year were certainly of some importance -- the world does not, at least so far as I can see, seem to have ended. There are at least three responses that an organized religion can make in the face of such a failed and fundamental prophecy. They could have said, "Oh, did we say '1914'? So sorry, we meant '2014.' A slight error in calculation. Hope you weren't inconvenienced in any way." But they did not. They could have said, "Well, the world would have ended, except we prayed very hard and interceded with God so He spared the Earth." But they did not. Instead, they did something much more ingenious.
They announced that the world had in fact ended in 1914, and if the rest of us hadn't noticed, that was our lookout. It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry.
the comments below put it in an interesting perspective
If they did just those 4 things. They could keep most of the remaining doctrines. They are not the only religion that feels their leaders speak for god, or that the end is near. People want to believe in something.
and this is the bottom line there is a long history of religion REVAMPING - keep in mind to that religion is a revolvig door, while true some would leave, others would stay--but if they revamped and called it new light as has been mention, in 15yrs all new persons will never know of the old beliefs
and if they do THEY WILL NOT GIVE A RATS ASS,
ask the avg jw how does he feel knowing that bethel used to have a christmas tree in the lobby, trust me there has been no mass dash to the door upon learning that fact-
if wt stays as it is--- they will indeed shrink,
look at the BIBLE STUDENTS THEY ARE STILL AROUND AND THEY ARE SHRINKING , but notice what they have failed to do
they are teaching the same crap that russell taught in 1879- and as a result many of the teachings simply don't fit with what reality shows,
and we have seen the wt do it so many times- at one time they taught that
If a white man got the heart of a black man he would want to eat Chitterlings and Watermelon- i will see if i can find that article for you SMILE
ANYWAY --- my point is they no longer teach that , they changed., look at how many major dogmas wt changed simply due to what was no longer Reasonallbly supportable,
once wt realize they cannot sell this line any longer -- they modify it- we have all seen it happen in our lives in dealing with wt
so if they change and modify they will be around
also based on the fact that a new breed of men are taking over -with the chance to make THEIR OWN MARK on the org, while some will want to hold on to old ways, time by default causes so many things to have to change-
i mean to a jw who died in 1957, he would not even reconize the org of today
and the same in another 50yrs - any who are alive will not reconize it-
and yes wt will survive it they modify dogmas if not they will suffer a slow death like the bible students
just my 2
Edited by - jt on 27 December 2002 13:54:24
