How Jehovah's Witnesses could become a huge mainstream religion without harming people. Any thoughts? (page 2)

Crazyguy

Their reputation is to bad all that would be accomplished is more JW's becoming free to leave.

stuffwotifink

The only way they can survive is to water things down to the point that they almost cease to be a religion. Either way it's a win IMO.

Ha.
I can see it, 100 years from now.
Non-denominational chapels, full of people taking part in happiness and helpfulness rituals. And expressing a faith in the hopebuilding and happifying effect of their belief in the power of the idea of the concept of the undefined masculine energy of historical imagination...

Seems legit.

stan livedeath

have a free bar at the back of the kingdom hall.

Vidiot

Either they keep doubling down and continue alienating more and more decent members, or they authentically mainstream and remove the incentive to stay for those selfsame members.

Not the most appealing choice, from their POV, but everything I've seen suggests the former.

Half banana

From a financial perspective to go mainstream would make sense. Cut out Jehovah, Armageddon, field service and shunning and make it a Bible club. The GB would have to contritely admit their instigation and complicity in all the blood related deaths and the suicides from personal conflicts with their dogma, and their doctrinal error and false prophecy and the fundamental mistake in believing the Roman Catholic selection of Bible books and the elevation of these texts to become inerrant divine words. The Gb would lastly and publicly have to humbly admit they were never inspired by God or used as his exclusive agency.

Not much to ask! ...but it would take the nastiness out of the cult.

Vidiot

@ half banana...

Hell, it would take the life out of it...

...abandoning any and all pretense of being "God's Earthly Organization" would fatally cripple the Org, because there'd be no incentive to stay, anymore.

JWdaughter

They never really wanted to be a religion and have never prided themselves on being Christian. They want number$, not to be Mr Rogers and pope Francis all wrapped up in rainbows and church suppers. They want money without pesky humanity mucking up the works with any kind of needs, whether emotional, spiritual, financial, physical or social. The entire set up now lets you know that!

steve2

The more mainstream a group becomes, the more irrelevant it is because it begins to look like every other group.

One group that has progressively endeavored to distance itself from the taint of sectarianism is the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. If you look at their literature in more recent years it is bland and virtually interchangeable with many other more conservative religious groups.

Now look at the JW literature: Microscopically, but ever so continuously, their literature has toned down much of the anti-church-anti-government-by-man rhetoric and heightened the more positive, "happy families" aspects. Give a few more decades and I daresay the mainstreaming effect within JWs will be more obvious.

I can remember the organization's literature of the late 50s and 60s that were rabidly outspoken critics of the churches, the Roman Catholic Church in particular (and it had been even more virulently oppositional in the 1930s and 40s). Sure, the magazines from time to time speak ill of churches and express cynicism about rulership by man. But it is almost like a "safe" politically correct mantra that diverts easily to "benefits" of being in the "true" religion.

Mamamia1

Someone mentioned Mormons having a larger following. They baptized after a couple studies...and 20 bags of grocerie's into the home plus perks of any other help needed previous to the house holder knowing concepts of what they are getting into. Perk II. Geneologies free. Perk III. They don't have to attend the temple if they are broke in fact prevented from....so yeah....pretty easy that way...that's a self serving motive...not a God searching motive.

rebel8

without harming people

All religions harm people on some level.

How Jehovah's Witnesses could become a huge mainstream religion without harming people. Any thoughts?

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