The Watchtower's Real Crisis (page 4)

jookbeard

great appraisal Jeff, not just lack of ideas but the time has run, the doomsday cult millenniumists have nothing left to tempt the gullible into biting onto the carrot, their time has done.

Fisherman

An engine can't run on ideas, it needs money to burn no matter how many ideas. Money is the real "crisis."

Pubs around the world don't have money to burn to finance printing and personnel in an endless campaign, and don't want to gear up for another century or two of urgent preaching.

@longhairgirl- i could certainly see that. The problem for slim is he is counting the orgs demise in hours at this point. I dont have any particular belief that org will grow or thrive, but they will certainly continue along. Smaller? Almost assuredly. But never failing or collapsing as slim (and others) fantasize.

Crazyguy

They have been recycling magazine articles for a few years now. You right about them having nothing to say a no vigar.

careful

JeffT,

Thanks for starting this thread. Morpheus, loved your description of SBF as beating "the doom and gloom drum"! LOL two or three times on that one.

never a jw

They may be spending less because they want to keep a bigger share, not necessarily because they are running out of money. Time will tell. My take is that they will be smaller, but the shrinking process will generate a windfall from real estate sales. And that money will disappear into the hands of who knows who.

Old Navy

Quote from Steve 2:

...cults survive because people need them. A lot of what jw org is doing is streamlining and cost-cutting. It will survive - just not as the powerhouse of growth it once was in the west.

Aye, 'tis true. Cults survive if they are able to adapt with cunning cleverness. Although what seems to be increased militancy in enforcement of their "closed" information control over the membership and persistent shunning to destroy families may be the wrong "model" to pursue. In some ways it seems that WTBorg Cult Inc. is emulating the proven "love of money" techniques of the very successful televangelists of Christendom.

What is the WTBorg Cult Inc. in the process of morphing into?

Transmogrification?

EyesOpenHeartBroken

@SBF-I am going to disagree with your statement that WT has replaced publishing with nothing. They are now a broadcast and digital format business. They are still serving the same “food”, just on a different plate.

I think Sparrowdown nailed it: they are merely in the process of changing their business model and have opted for a long slow roll out of JW 2.0 optimized.

I can assume the long slow roll out of changes was done so as not to have an uprising among the older ones who have been faithfully plodding along and supporting WT all these years, “waiting on Jehovah” for the end they thought would come decades ago. No, the WT cannot piss off those oldies because if the over 70 crowd left there would be a mass exodus of multigenerational JW families and many others—and that would truly cause the end of JWs as a religion. Financially, though, I believe WT Corp and friends will be just fine—their money just wont come from JW zealots/believers.

JeffT—I believe you are absolutely correct. JW leaders are out of new ideas and much of the old content has become problematic. I don’t for one minute think less content will mean less control and manipulation by leaders. In fact, I would expect to see more BITE model tactics employed from headquarters and on the local level. While the flock has been distracted by new songs, new online features, JWTV, iPads, carts, etc., the WT has quickly and quietly stripped the local congregations and BOEs of any shred of autonomy. An observant minority may have noticed, but the majority of believers have been too dazzled by chasing the “chariot” to notice or care. That’s what to watch....(I believe)

dropoffyourkeylee

Lol. If you ever look at the literature of the LHMM or the Dawn (the pre WT breakaway organizations) you can see the same pattern of repeat-repeat of the same old stuff.

Incognito

Jeff,

I agree with your thinking.

WT is a manufacturer currently without a product to offer. I'm not necessarily talking about paper magazines and books but more about information to be printed or published electronically.

WT previously had Fred Franz to spout out an abundance of new doctrine. JWs were excited to receive new books and new understanding every year.

Apple doesn't release a new iPhone every year because the existing model isn't selling or isn't reliable. A new model is released so that existing iPhone users will become excited and buy a new phone to replace the phone they only just purchased last year or the year before.

Without new original doctrinal ideas, WT has nothing to excite existing JWs.

The Watchtower's Real Crisis