When the governing body die off, then what happens ??? Another "new class"

by run dont walk 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Latin assassin from Manhattan

  When the numbers of the remaining annointed ones drops to zero, the WTS will have a mass exodus just as it did in 1975. The WTS will release their 'new light' at some point before this happens in order to buffer the effects of another unfulfilled prophecy.

  However, I do remember that the Bible says that not all of the annointed would pass away in death. Some of them would be taken to heaven at the start of Armageddon. The fact that there are less than 8,000 left here on earth should be making some people at headquarters nervous.

  It would be nice to know the birth dates of these annointed ones. Perhaps we can compare them to some insurance mortality tables in order to calculate how much time the WTS has left?
• 

  No Apologies

  What I find interesting is the fact that the number of partakers has been around 8,000 for the last 20 years!! It does not appear to be changing.

  Obviously if the majority of these were persons were actually baptised before 1935, they should be dropping off at a much more rapid rate.

  Somewhere I have a list of the GB members, age and date of baptism. I'm sure its on the Net too. There are only a handful of them that were baptised before 1935.

  As someone mentioned above, I think they increasingly rely on the ignorance of the average JW.
• 

  undercover

  If I remember correctly the number of partakers at the memorial actually went up the last couple of years. Has anyone seen the numbers for this past memorial? I wonder what the number was?
• 

  jgnat

  Latin, it has been done. Here is a link to an actuarial table, which shows that 80% of the current 8,000 of the "anointed" are unexpected.
  

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/15981/1.ashx

  A nice link listing the Governing Body members, http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/gb.htm.

  According to the dates there, only three were baptized before 1935; Carey W. Barber (98 years old), Albert Schroeder (92 years old), and John E. Barr (90 years old). The rest of the GB range go as young as 54 years old (Guy Pierce). Since the major reorganization in 2000, I would say these men are no longer running the show anyways.

  Undercover, here is a nice graph showing the rise and fall of the number of anointed, from

  http://www.jwic.com/stat.htm
• 

  minimus

  Regarding true blue "anointed" Witnesses, there are none left. The Nethinim class as far as I know is not even talked about anymore. That was the biggest stretch, imo.
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  hooberus

  The Watchtower 2001 Jan. 15 p. 31 A Special Announcement
  
  

  AT THE conclusion of the annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania on October 7, 2000, a special announcement was made by the chairman, John E. Barr of the Governing Body.
  
  Brother Barr told the audience that recently certain members of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses who had been serving as directors and officers voluntarily stepped aside from the boards of directors of all the corporations used by "the faithful and discreet slave" in the United States. Responsible brothers of the other sheep class were elected as replacements.

  In 1917 Rutherford used the legal claim that 4 of the 7 board members (then the "Governing Body" according to modern watchtower arcticles) were not lawful members of the board to dismiss them and kick them out of Bethel.

  So in 1917 if you were not a legal member of the board of directors according to law you lost your position on the Governing body and were forcibly removed from bethel as an "opposer."

  Now none of the Governing Body are legal members of the board, thus to be consistent the watchtower should admit that the original 4 of 7 (a majority) of the directors should not have lost their positions on the governing body due to to legal technicality of not being lawful directors according to pennsylvania corporate law.
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  Nathan Natas

  I suppose one's answer to this depends on one's take on the whole concept of a special anointed class. If a person really believes that God and/or Jesus has such an "arrangement," they might have a very different opinion from mine, since I do not believe there is any "truth" in the Bible.

  Having said that, I also think that the WTS will NEVER run out of earthly members of the 144,000. As "Amazing" Jim pointed out not long ago, all it takes for a JW to become anointed is to MAKE THE CLAIM THAT THEY ARE. There will always be people who will make this claim, some for selfish reasons and some because of what I consider to be sincere delusion.

  Now, if there will always be members of the 144,000 here on earth, then there is no reason that there could not also be a "governing body" ad infinitum also.

  Watchtower dogma is completely open-ended on the matter of the continuation of the anointed 144,000 into the future - although they said the ranks were sealed in 1935, they have the dogmatic "escape clause" that says that when individual members of the 144K fail and turn apostate, they are "replaced."

  The official number of partakers at the memorial suggests that there have been a LOT of the anointed who have failed and have been replaced. That is the only way they can explain the relative flatness of the partakers histogram.
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  Special K

  run don't walk

  I HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT HOW TO CRUMBLE THIS JW ORGANIZATION..

  IT'S SO SIMPLE.. SO BRILLIANT.. THAT I THINK I WILL MAKE MY FIRST POSTING TO THIS SITE.

  I AM NEW AND HAVE ONLY RESPONDED TO OTHERS POSTINGS.

  LOOK FOR IT.

  SPECIAL K
• 

  Euphemism

  Are there only 10 guys on the GB now? And Barber's almost 100; Barr's 90; Schroeder's in his 90's, and Sydlik's in his 80's. (Actually, I thought that Schroeder was dead? That would make 9.)

  I personally know of a couple of anointed CO's in their 50's; they've both been in the traveling work for less than ten years, but one got pulled into Patterson a year or so ago, and the other got put into NY Circuit 1 this year (that's the circuit that has Brooklyn Bethel). The one who was pulled into Patterson is a pretty solid guy; the other one is a stick in the mud.

  Obviously, however, they're desperate for any remotely qualified anointed men they can get their hands on. Many of the new partakers are individuals with emotional problems; and others are looked down upon in their congregation for their presumption, and so are unlikely to gain organizational position in the current conformist climate.
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  Latin assassin from Manhattan

  Jgnat

  The graph you posted was very informative. If what it says is true, than it means that the WTS is barely hanging by a thread as far as doctrine is concerned. If the 144,000 never die off completely here on earth, than to them it would mean that the end is not near, which also means they can continue exploiting the millions who follow them.