What If The Tower Fell?

by Big Dog 54 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Big Dog

  What if the truly unthinkable happened and the Tower went down? Perhaps the IRS swooped in and claimed fraud and padlocked the headquarters and kingdom hall doors? Or the GB took the money and ran to a nice non-extradition country to live out their years? Or any other really nice end you can come up with? I mean, HQ goes dark, no one is home giving orders, the money stops, the website is down, etc.

  What would the truly devout do? Suicide? Try to organize again, which would be difficult on any meaningful level. Become atheists? Go to mainstream churches? I was really trying to come up with a pie chart of what I thought the breakdown would be if the Tower closed suddenly with no warning and no chance of starting back up again.
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  TonusOH

  My mother would see it as expected persecution and hold on. At least at first. If the org was unable to communicate and get any kind of message out, I don't know what she'd do.
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  Beth Sarim

  I think the rank and file would think its Armageddon starting,,at least the far majority of em.

  Thats what the longtimers have pinned their 5 or 6 or more decades on is the big 'A' saving their skins.

  Until we learn of some gb skipping the country and vanishing to cayman islands,, Barbados,,Costa Rica. And we hear of them stumbling around in public from drinking too much.
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  a watcher

  The truly devout would organize locally and continue to worship Jehovah.
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  NotFormer

  Big Dog, your two suggested scenarios suggest that they go out with a bang. If they do go down, it may be more with a whimper. It may collapse under its own weight from the internal pressure of paying out all the CSA settlements. Early indications are that they may be trying to look more like a mainstream denomination.

  The Worldwide Church of God went mainstream in the aftermath of Armstrong's death. But many groups splintered off, trying to adhere to the old ways and doctrines. I've recently noticed some obnoxiously aggressive anti mainstream Christianity ads by the UCG on YouTube lately. Even in the event of a complete meltdown, some faithful JWs will probably find some way to keep the torch burning.

  I'm just grateful that the WT never preached a doctrine of arming themselves against Armageddon, David Koresh style!
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  MeanMrMustard

  They've structured it so that they can bail on the WTBTS. You can kill the corporation, it would just reincarnate as something else, everyone would rally around the flag because of Satan's persecution, and it would come out the other end stronger... just not officially WTBTS.

  The only way to kill the beast is to starve it. That happens slowly.
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  Big Dog

  I agree that it will probably be a slow death but after years of watching films where someone wakes up and the unthinkable has happened, I really tried to imagine that scene with faithful dubs. Waking up to find the Tower just gone.

  Rage, denial, grief, etc. Just wondering what the responses would be.
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  NotFormer

  It is a fascinating question, Big Dog. If the R&F suddenly couldn't even access the Kingdom Halls and all the Bethel branches were silent, what would they do? Would local elders try to make alternative arrangements for meetings and field service? What would field service be about, if not being fed with materials provided by Bethel?

  It would be pretty hard to argue that it's God's earthly organisation if it was suddenly not there anymore. I predict a new offshoot: Jehovah's Continuing Witnesses.

  Without COs applying pressure from Bethel, would the average BOE even bother to try to resurrect the organisation from the ashes?
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  Vidiot

  NotFormer - “…It would be pretty hard to argue that it's God's earthly organisation if it was suddenly not there anymore.”

  This.

  If the Tower fell, it would be undeniable proof that it wasn’t God’s Earthly Organization…

  …because if it had been, that wouldn’t have been possible.
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  MeanMrMustard

  It would be pretty hard to argue that it's God's earthly zorganisation if it was suddenly not there anymore.

  You sure about that? JWs believe that governments will turn on them near the end. And it's the 'last days of the last days' now.

  Take an average JW, bonk him over the head, put him in a coma. If he woke up one year later and found the WTB&TS had been dissolved, that would pretty much line up with what he'd expect. True, it's a bit out of order - other religions wouldn't be dissolved. But soon he would find the new corp, adopt the new name, accept the new light that they had the order a bit off ("oops we assumed it would happen like this and got a small detail incorrect, but look at the big picture!"), and soon he would be JW-ing as hard as ever, probably more so.