How Can the Society Fight Implosion?

by metatron 8 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  metatron

  To many, the Watchtower appears monolithic and invunerable, issuing edicts to the

  willingly deceived and hiding behind a phalanx of lawyers.

  Yet, there is one growing situation that must frighten them

  The Sudden Implosion of Individual's Faith

  Again and again, we read on this board about Witnesses who've been utterly faithful

  for 10, 20, 30, 40 years, succumb to a single moment of weakness and curiosity

  while surfing the internet and KA-BOOM! It's all over - they privately weep into their

  pillows, and withdraw into reactive depression at finding out that they've wasted

  the best years of their life peddling magazines and being lied to. Soon, the

  elders will visit to find out what's wrong. After that, they decide to leave completely

  or fake their devotion to retain the connection to family or friends.

  What can they do? Demonizing the internet is akin to attacking "modern music"

  in the Consolation magazine (40's swing) or condemning those new fangled

  automoblies that may allow some intimacy in the "rumble seat".

  The more they refuse to debate or answer questions in depth about controversies

  and fill the spiritual vacuum with platitudes, the more vunerable they become.

  The more they ignore problems and doubt in the organization, the more they

  are compelled to lie and dissemble, cultivating the seeds of personal implosion

  for many who will encounter exposure.

  Consider too, that in failing to address this precipitous situation, they may be losing

  the very individuals they need most - the thoughtful, the capable, the competent,

  the intelligent, - and the diligent. They are a mouse click away from collapse.

  Potentially the most dangerous situation of all, cases are emerging in which the

  individual who implodes, gets angry and uses their confidential knowledge to

  wreak havoc.

  How do they fight back? Take a good look at what's happened to the various

  apologists who used to haunt this and previous boards. WHERE ARE THEY

  NOW? Gone! Defeated, retreated, out of steam! Will the old men of the Watchtower,

  with their cardiac trouble, poor education, and fears of unemployment stand up

  and FIGHT? Their cowardly silence shrieks volumes.

  An elder here, a missionary there, a pioneer out in the boon docks, a young Witness

  kid who tires of surfing porn and starts investigating his faith .........

  It's happening

  and it's scaring them...

  metatron
• 

  berylblue

  Articulate and thought provoking. And, imho, very true.
• 

  gumby

  Will the old men of the Watchtower,

  with their cardiac trouble, poor education, and fears of unemployment stand up

  and FIGHT?

  Well, an experience was just given here af Daniel Sydlic, crying his way through a closing prayer at an assembly concerning the "other sheep". Will the old men stand up and fight? It doesn't look to good as it now stands.

  Gumby
• 

  metatron

  There's a great deal that could be said negatively about Dan Sydlik. He personally

  went after 'apostates' in the Ray Franz fiasco in a way that was sickening. If Ray's

  opinions had prevailed, the organization would be far different today.

  Nonetheless, I found enormous inspiration in Dan Sydlik's personal example.

  As a young man in Bethel, it was depressing to hear the endlessly negative tirades

  made about sex - which paradoxically, revealed sexual obsession in themselves!

  How wonderful it was to see a "member of the anointed" who appreciated

  a woman's full breasts, a well-sculpted derriere, or ample curves.

  on the other hand, if I didn't have his example to inspire me, maybe I would have

  given up culthood sooner!

  metatron
• 

  freedom96

  I too wonder how long it can last. I do see a mass exedus of people leaving the watchtower, I just wish it would happen sooner than later.

  I also hoped all the ones we all care about are among them.
• 

  core

  I suppose someone could work out the statistics to show how many new ones are coming along and the drift away by others - what strikes me from this board is that the ones leaving/slipping away/fading now are (as has been said) 10-20-30-40 year service people

  At the grassroots in congs the hard line today follows the push of younger 'career elders' as congregations sufffer from the loss of experienced ones (either from dying or fading etc)

  The WT will collapse at the local level - not the top - congs will stumble along, get merged, sahrink, become more hard-line and less tolerant with more seeing this and leaving. The GB men and their associated who run the show now will never understand or respond to the grassroots - it is not the way they can think =Theocracy=Top Down - no feedback, no interest in the views of the flock.

  No implosion - just a slow withering at the roots with the top completely unaware of the dangers.
• 

  badolputtytat

  I agree with you Metatron, and you have stated this quite well. Bravo!

  My father (the elder) seems to have taken the "limping victim" approach..."oh they are all out to get us"..."whoa is me, they are lying about us all over the internet"....

  But he has yet to answer any of my questions**, with an outright statement. I get the sense that they are grasping... for the right words?

  ** ps. If anyone has the right question for me to ask my father, to make him either take a stand or bow out.. let me know. I ask him to answer to some of the "charges" and accusations and the above is all I get.
• 

  little witch

  Yeah, what Berylblue said

  (see, You are not at all un-eloquent, Baryl)
• 

  czarofmischief

  If the organization is going to survive (not something I really want) it will have to completely change into something else. It's natural selection of a kind. For a long time, in an environment that seemed so big and frightening, they offered to their followers the ability to feel special and saved. Now that the theological underpinnings have been exposed as not being there - they have to find something else to offer their sheep.

  Think about those old roadrunner cartoons, where the coyote runs out over a canyon and hovers for a moment... kept in the air by his sheer ignorance of his distastrous situation. That's the Borg, hovering above a canyon of annihilation, just waiting for one more crisis or hostile government to tear them apart.

  If they hired me (at an astronomical salary, of course) to save them, here's what I'd do.

  First I'd retire all the old blood on the GB and at the upper echelon, pack them off to Paterson and let them live out their days with the relics of the past, and have them buried decently and privately (no WT announcement, these guys are an embarassment). Hire some new boys to come up with a program of education.

  Secondly, I would publicly retract and apologize for the following nonsense: 1914, blood transfusions, and holidays.

  Those changes are going to cause enormous shockwaves among the faithful, so I'd have something ready to fill their void. Blood and holidays will cause a great deal of consternation, but 1914 will be the worst! Ergo, since the end is not coming tomorrow or even necessarily in our lifetimes, I would have a whole watchtower and public talks on how to live NOW. These would be prepared by my new guys. Talks on the changes coming up, easing of restrictions, emphasis on recruiting and KEEPING new members.

  Now, what can the religion offer the faithful? How about health benefits? Members of the dub religion get good insurance from local providers, paid for by the newly chastened Borg and its vast coffers of wealth. This might help reduce the turnover, especially among the younger set.

  A program designed to help out the older ones who have wasted their lives, as a way of a token apology, with their struggles, by emphasizing programs of good works and charity as opposed to mindles magazine distribution.

  Finally, I'd get away from all of the technical details of disfellowshipping by making it only for the worst offense, not just fooling around as a teenager. Unnatural acts of pedophilia, bestiality, etc.

  College and higher education and a more open minded view of science would be viewed as important.

  That's what the Society would have to do to regain any credibility as a religion. But they are too concerned with appearance and tradition. Screw em.

  CZAR