by sir82 62 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
The WTS has played with Data Protection for decades. I was once asked to sign my Publisher Record Card as consent to the record. Later the form S8 was abolished, then brought back.
Now the H to H work is reduced to preaching and literature distribution only..........
Going door to door will seem increasingly pointless and surely will decrease. One saving grace of the carts is perhaps that it has been preparing JWs for a new era of increasingly ineffective and apparently futile forms of preaching.
Abandoning reporting of time (suggested on another thread a few weeks ago) seems all the more realistic now. And if time goes, then pioneering goes. The work would be slowing down, indeed. Soon, will there be anything left of JW religion?
inbetween - Then he related the example of how apostle Paul was guided by the spirit to find Lydia, he didn`t make notes.
Oh, no. The Jobos will start hearing voices in their heads soon.
The WT has to be the most reactionary organization in existence. I used to think they would make these decisions in a well thought out and business like manner but the decisions over the last couple of decades beginning with the decision to quit charging for the literature shows very little forethought.
Honestly, in the first world native speaking congregations, growth is almost all from born-ins or at the very least, individuals that have some connection to JWs (family mostly). The only real growth they are experiencing in first world countries is via the foreign language groups. And surely that's going to be decimated given they now don't have real territories any longer.
So, I'm not sure its going to have a huge impact for the time being. The biggest impact I see is a diminishing of the "importance" of the ministry. Shifting from trying to start studies (unsuccessfully in most cases but that's actually not the point) to just distributing literature or preaching is going to have an impact psychologically lowering zeal. It's already lower across the organization from my observations than it was say 20 years ago.
They've hinted for years that at some point they will switch to a message of doom or whatever phrase they were using. That's exactly what they should do for now. At least get the troops fired up for a short period of time until you can come up with some other BS.
I believe the GB totally buys into their own BS and they are counting on Armageddon coming to bail them out. May as well double down on that theory with a message of doom. You could also have a message of doom for a few years and then come up with a whole Jonah story whereby Jehovah decides to call off Armageddon due to the repentance of the world because of the JW preaching. Then, switch to a more mainstream religion. LOL
The G.B when making huge decisions consults experts, often non JW's. But when making decisions such as these they feel capable in themselves, which, as Doubting Bro points out above, they certainly are not.
They make such decisions based on a knee-jerk reaction, with little thought to the consequences. They, in my decades of experience, have rarely foreseen a problem, it is always reactive, not proactive.
Where is the Holy Spirit when you need it a ?
In this case, with Data Protection, I bet they quizzed " Legal" as to any possible get-outs, were told there were none, and decided on this course of action, hoping to find ways later to keep JW's busy and brain-dead, too tired to ask questions, even in their own minds.
Even so, niggling doubts must be occurring to many J.W's, the old Cognitive Dissonance must be reaching screaming level in their heads.
There isn't any information on the records kept for route calls ( or other existing "interested people" that JWs call on occasionally ). Presumably this would have to be ditched as well and a publisher / pioneer expected to keep a mental record. When I was active , I knew some pioneers who had dozens of route calls so I wonder what will happen with these.
It seems like the WTS uses this policy:
Through crap at the wall and see what sticks.
Sorry, but i don't agree with most of what have been said.
First: I believe it won't reduce the field service but instead it will increase it. Look: As a result of not being allowed to take any note, JW will be at the front doors more often, not less. Instead of trying to reach persons who are not at home and needing months for a territory, they will complete it in 1 day and start with the next one.
Second: Maybe the G.B. will sell this as the new method of going h to h. As a result, JW would ring even more often. But if they still want to take notes, they only would need an online form, where a person can "request" a return visit, like they already have one for requesting bible studies. So they would have a centralized database with all interested persons in it.
Maybe it turns out to be a shot backwards...
inbetween09 - "... it seemed to me, like they were caught off guard."
'Course they were caught off guard.
When you're 100% certain you're right and that God's got your back no matter what, any kind of setback comes as a total fucking surprise.
sir82 - "There is no mention in the letter that they are appealing the court's decision, which seems a little odd."
The WT leadership only tries that shit when they think it'll succeed, or if said appeal will delay their compliance.
Obviously not the case, here.
