This religion will last as long as there are mentally diseased people willing to drink of the Kool-Aid being offered for free that is going to cost you your life and freedom.
smiddy
Taking bets on how long this cult will last and what will happen to it
by macys 47 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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slimboyfat
I predict there will be well over 10 million JWs in ten years time and around 30 million at the memorial. Barring some sort of implosion or meltdown from the top.
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freddo
I dunno slimboy,
The memorial attendance has hovered around 20 mil for the past 5 years. I really believe 2015/16 (if figures aren't massaged) will show peak publishers give or take 1% for the next few years. I would be surprised if the peak goes beyond 8.5 million unless they go mainstream - as in stopping the shunning.
Their baptisms are down on the peaks of 300K a year they reached at one point.
If it wasn't for western medicine and the drop in smoking worldwide they would have lost a lot more old ones by now, but they can't live forever! (Pun intended)
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done4good
It will exist in some form for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, here is what I know:
1. It does not exist in the same form, even remotely from what it was 10 years ago when I left.
2. The rate of change has rapidly accelerated.
3. The accelerated changes are all or mostly out of desperation of survival.
4. I did not foresee any of these desperate changes 10 years ago.
5. I don't expect the organization to be recognizable in the next 10.
d4g
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Vidiot
I think a lot of us predict the collapse of the Tower because, on some level, we need to believe it will eventually happen for peace of mind.
And I freely count myself among that number.
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pixel
We talk about the collapse of the WT, but is there a precedent where certain religion has ceased to exist? -
done4good
And it is not all about membership numbers...I don't think the society outright lies about its numbers, but its numbers are easily massaged upward. The coercive system used to count members, along with the control tactics involved enables the members themselves to lie about their activity, as well.
The intelligent and successful are slowly leaving, and this exit is increasing in velocity. A membership full of uneducated, desperate folks does not bode well for them long term.
Lastly, society is evolving away from dependency on religion. Pretty much all religions are either being forced to evolve along with society, (meaning becoming more liberal and accepting), or are becoming increasingly hard line in deference to the evolutionary processes. Those of that latter group, (of which the WT certainly is), are alienating themselves from society at large.
d4g
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Vidiot
@ pixel...
I don't know about "ceasing to exist", but child abuse scandals brought the Hare Krishna sect to its knees.
It's technically still around, but it's a pale shadow of its former self.
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Vidiot
done4good - "...The rate of change has rapidly accelerated...The accelerated changes are all or mostly out of desperation of survival..."
They certainly seems to be an air of quiet desperation.
Which, of course, begs the question, "why would the Org be fighting desperately to survive, if its survival were not at risk?"
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Finkelstein
The JWS being a highly controlling religious organization (cult) will survive by virtue of and because of that fact, its like a surefooted mechanism that assures continuance, one would really have to look way out into the future to see it completely dissolved.
What we are seeing now is an evolving reformation to appeal to that continuance.
One must to keep in mind that Religious institutions like this run and built itself upon human ignorance, fear and insecurity which being that the world has 7 billion people living on it, there is an abundance of possible followers out there.