by slimboyfat 204 Replies latest members private
I hope SBF's prognostications are right there bull's eye perfect but we'll find out soon, hopefully.
I have a feeling the old timers are used to weathering out a lot of difficulties with the religion and won't have to deal with being ostracized and shunning like ex-witnesses/df'd individuals. At this point I'm not anticipating the cult's demise until it's 100% -- if ever!
Well it's true, I don't know exactly what will happen. I'm not God am I? Do you want want me to pretend to be certain? Why? I'm just giving my best idea, based on the evidence. No "spirit direction" claimed.
I gave a time for my prediction, why can't you?
Due to the secrecy that surrounds the organisation's financial dealings none of us have enough information to make a well-informed prediction. However I think SBF is correct. They are in serious difficulty.
In terms of income they were primarily a printing business who were forced to start giving away everything they produced. Their huge reserves and real estate assets have kept them afloat for more than two decades since then. No doubt the BG stuck their heads in sand with platitudes about how Jehovah would provide.
I think reality is starting to sink in. Not even the GB know how it will work out. Apart from inadequate contributions they still have no income stream. That can't go on much longer.
I think they are staking everything on a genuine belief that the end is at long last just around the corner. All this cost-cutting is a temporary fix. I don't think tithing is an option for them.
Here is a possible all-or-nothing explanation that would work for a while..
What is happening right now is rapid evolution. I think revolution of some sort is inevitable.
I wonder now, with the printing being so little, if they have decided to go with a worldly company to do the printing entirely, or plan on it soon.
I reckon they realized that financially they were heading towards the last stage of an inverted U curve some years ago. The last and final stage when pouring more money into their current model was actually making their situation worse. To ignore that and keep pouring money into their obviously ailing cult recruitment business would have been distastrous.
Thing is they didn't ignore it they started phasing out stuff that cost money years ago and are still in the process of doing that as any busines paying attention would do. At about the same time I imagine, they started making plans for a new model and started rerouting money into that.
I admit they seem to be cutting it fine and the real question is will they make it to the big jazz hands reveal in time before they - dum dum dum - lose most of their supporters?
Only time will tell but something tells me they will survive in one form or another.
Goodness knows what kind of excuse they will come up with for not printing the Bible itself.
Dear brothers and sisters,
As Jesus foretold, his true followers would be hated by the wicked world (Bible 12:34). In these last days (1 Tim. 3:33) people would be blinded by Satan (Bible 23:45) who tries everything to stop the preaching of the good news (Bible 19:14).
In recent times, Satan has used false religion and the political powers of the 'ten horns' (Rev. 6:66) to even boldly declare the best Bible translation ever - the NWT (in case you were wondering) - extremist and illegal in some countries! What an immoral transgression and opposition to the Almighty Himself!
However, we should not be surprised by such lowly attacks of our Great Adversary (Bible 34:56). No, we were expecting such events to occur, knowing that 'a slave is not greater than his master' (Gospelbook 11:11).
Long before our time, our Lord Jesus instructed us to be 'innocent as doves and cautious as serpents' (Matt. 10:16).
The Governing Body prayerfully meditated on these instructions, and tried to discern how to apply them in our current situation.
We are filled with joy that with Jehovah's help we have been able to find a solution.
In the past, when the NWT was not yet available, Jehovah's Witnesses around the world used locally available Bible translations. Government officials too respect these excellent translations and recognize them as God's Word. Since they cannot afford to antagonize their religious allies by declaring all Bible translations illegal, we can be sure that in each country at least one Bible translation will be legally available.
Therefore the Governing Body is excited to announce that effective immediately, we will no longer print any Bibles. Around the world, Jehovah's Witnesses can make use of locally available Bible translations.
The benefits of this new arrangement are many.
First, our brothers in Russia can now legally own and read a Bible that is not printed by Jehovah's Witnesses without being marked as an apostate or fear of being arrested.
Second, people who are rightly disposed may feel more comfortable when we show them The Truth from a Bible translation they already use and are comfortable with.
Third, the new arrangement also greatly simplifies the excellent work that the brothers in our printing department are doing. Both of them will be reassigned to the field now.
Fourth, by using many different translations around the world, it will become much easier to discern and splane New Light that may contradict some of the verses in the NWT that were adapted to fit our existing doctrine.
As the wheels Jehovah's chariot keep spinning, the Governing Body tries to spin just as much. May Jehovah bless our continuous downsizing.
We pray that His name be vindicated and his sovereignty be justified (or the other way around, we're not sure anymore)
Hallelujah!
Your masters brothers,
The Faithful and Discreet Slave and Governing Body of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.
PS for elders:
DO NOT READ THIS POSTSCRIPT TO THE CONGREGATION!
Any Bibles that you may still have in stock should be sold to second hand book stores or waste paper processing plants, whichever pays more. The proceeds must promptly be transferred to the branch using your SlaveCard account on JW-org. Any delay in doing will result in a 10% interest penalty per day.
Lol slim, your making really really bold claims and grandstanding about “evidance” of imminent demise yet when asked, your predicitions are vauge and easily interpreted multiple ways
“I don't know how it will play out but I think there may be some sort of crisis/splinter/disintegration within 5 years or so. Unless they can think of some way out of this mess.”
my prediction is clear and concise: they will never fold. I cannot be any more clear
I think reality is starting to sink in. Not even the GB know how it will work out. Apart from inadequate contributions they still have no income stream. That can't go on much longer.
Again i'm not really sold on this idea. How do we know that these contributions are inadequate? It's important to remember that they really don't have a lot of overhead. In fact, even less now that they don't need to print literatrash. They basically have free labor to produce their "product" and a stream of constant donations coming in, in return for it.
They sold real estate for billions, and spent a fraction of this on the new Beth-Hell. They also consolidated operations into one campus instead multiple locations, and that saves them money too. They have a few slave programmers to update the website and can reduce costs by not printing their garbage.
Now, it's clear there is a lot more focus on money now than ever before. But why? Because they don't have any? I'm not so sure about this...
There were a few gasps at the hall when the letter about some of the important points from the annual meeting about literature reduction was made. Quite a bombshell tbh!
Had to go home and do a work out in my spanx to get my mind of it. 😁
I personally think this is a HUGE mistake for them. One they wouldn't make unless they were in trouble.
First of all, I didn't see it mentioned, but they're only talking about the public editions, right? They're still going to publish the private ones so that JWs can have their weekly Watchtower study, right? So for the most part, a lot of JWs will still have that comfort. Even if it is in digital form, they have something they've always relied on and won't feel the loss.
But it's also a big change in the way they do their preaching. I'm sure when you were a JW, you knew there were some months you just felt that the magazines were kind of blah. You couldn't muster any interest in talking about them. Imagine going 4 months before they change?
The poorer countries also, IMO, would rely on printed material. They don't have the internet. Hell, even in the US here, it can be spotty. But the poor countries can't ante-up for the magazines. Yet they're also the places with the highest potential growth. It's a problem.
I agree with OTWO, I've always thought the JWs have been in decline since they went to the donation plan for literature. When I was a kid, I thought it was a Watchtower AND Awake for a dime. Then it went up to, what? A quarter each before they went to donations? And that was 25 years ago. I personally think they'd have done better if they just paid the tax on them and still charged. Whatever you pay, it's a mental thing. Because you paid for it, it's more valuable to you. You got it for free, or for a donation, you don't see it with the same regard.
I agree, online stuff can be convenient. I went to an assembly a few years ago - just curious about what they looked like these days. There was a JW bible app for iPhones. I had a songbook downloaded, a convention program, and the bible app. I walked in with a phone in my pocket. When they announced scriptures, I heard the endless page turning chorus. I was just like, select, select, scroll, select, boom! I'm there in like 5 seconds while the page rustling goes on for another 30 seconds at least. It can be convenient, but it was obvious I was in the minority. And when I walked away, I had nothing to carry but the phone I always carry.
But now they're big on ipads. So they've got stuff THEY can use. But how do you translate to a ministry? You don't know what technology everybody has. You can hand them a magazine or a book, but you can't push things to their device on the spur of the moment. The best you can do is maybe hand them a QR code for the latest mag that they can scan to go get the magazine at their convenience. But we all know how that works. It's not going to happen. If you don't have that thing in your hand that you can flip through, you can't be enticed by it. You go back to what you were doing and forget about it. But you have that magazine, you probably run into it again and maybe flip through it.
Sorry Morpheus, but books and newspapers are two different things. News is throwaway. You want to know what's happening now, but it's worth declines the older it gets. And the internet is the best at providing news as it happens. You don't hold onto newspapers and re-read them in a year or two. You read what you can and what catches your eye, then you throw it away. Books are entirely different. It's kind of like saying a movie is just like the nightly news. IMO, the Watchtower and Awake are more akin to books than news. The Awake used to kind of cover news, but you don't go there for the "what's happening" type of stuff. And it's value for what it is doesn't really go down until it's old enough to be considered "old light".
And, IMO, you can take print on the go a lot easier. Try reading a screen outside in the middle of a sunny day. It's not that easy. A magazine, perfect! Plus, I don't have to worry about my battery life if I'm reading print.
And, BTW Morpheus, who buys CDs? Me. I bought a few in the last month. I can buy a CD, rip it to MP3 and now it's DRM-free files I can put on any device. Granted, I listen to a lot of them digitally, but I still have the CD and can pop it in my truck's CD player if I want. Some new digital format comes along (like when MP3 replaced WAV, AU, and RA files as the popular format), I still have the CD and somebody will provide a ripper. Apple or some other service stops selling content, there goes your content. Or if Ajit Pai gets his way and takes away net neutrality, somebody like your carrier, say AT&T, might start their own music service (or partner with one) and start blocking the iTunes site where all of your music is (it happened before). And you just got a phone replacement and need to download your music again. Mine's on my PC in MP3.
