What direction is the organization going in?

by Elsewhere 30 Replies latest jw friends

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  Elsewhere

  It seems to me that they are holding fast to their legalistic views. What will the result of this be? I think that the result will be a more closed society. They will continue to purge out "normal" people for those who crave the control, laws, and "us against them" mentality. They say that people like us leave to tickle our ears (2 Timothy 4:3), when in reality is they who are tickling their ears with a system of control that they like.

  It is not as if they need normal people... they really don't care about them. What they need is more people who will be “loyal to the organization” (Wt 96 3/15 p. 15 Meeting the Challenge of Loyalty ), and the controlling nature of the organization will continue to attract more people like this, while everyone else will naturally be repelled by it.

  Ironically, the more people resist their controls, the more they are inclined to "lock down" things and impose more controls. Things will continue to get tighter and tighter with all the "loyal ones" remaining in the sieve of control.

  They don't need us, and they don't want us... that is why they will not hesitate to DF or DA someone who does not bend to the will of the elders, resisting simply marks you as undesirable, a "reject" that is tossed out in favor of those who can be controlled.

  As a previous poster said: "They will become more of what they are."
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  integ

  I think you are right.

  Integ.
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  Gopher

  I really liked how you turned the Scripture back onto the WT Society:

  They say that people like us leave to tickle our ears (2 Timothy 4:3), when in reality is they who are tickling their ears with a system of control that they like.

  For the short run, the WT Society is getting the results it wants by "tightening the screws", thus becoming more and more Pharisee-like.

  As time goes on into the 21st century, and Armageddon STILL hasn't come, and people get more and more tired of the grind and the preaching work, will they hang in there? Will they continue to take anti-depression medication and tough it out?

  Or will the WT Society finally have to "lighten up" on its members in order to retain their money-contributing membership?

  It's a fascinating thing to see to which extreme things will go. One can be certain that the present situation will continue to evolve somehow.
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  Euphemism

  I dunno. The liberalizing movement of the mid-90's, led by the legal and PR people, got crushed. But there's been another, more ideological, liberalizing movement afoot that's persevered (see e.g. the Draw Close to Jehovah book). There's no way of predicting the outcome of this political struggle in the short term, but in the long term I think that the younger members of the GB are probably in support of this movement.
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  metatron

  My big wonderment concerns the inherent contradiction of:

  1) living in the 21st century, as it accelerates into awesome technical miracles while

  2) Witnesses are shutting their eyes, ears, - and hearts - fighting to

  remain as brainless as cabbages.

  How long can this go on? The Arabs are faced with the same dilemma and

  they want it all to go away in favor of 14th century "civilization"!

  They're all idiots - and don't be surprized by anything that happens.

  Witnesses will get dumber, weirder, and more prone to suicide as

  time goes on.

  metatron
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  Nathan Natas

  Q: Re: What direction is the organization going in?

  A: Either clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on which hemisphere you are in.

  (See: CORIOLIS EFFECT)
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  garybuss

  The Rutherford ruffians have always been a people identified by their enemies and they have always needed those enemies. They are a people with a bad public relations policy on purpose. The way they have always had enemies in the past is to make them. They would write too strong and go where they were clearly not wanted and stir up trouble for themselves. They would set up their people to be arrested so they would always have a court case to fight in order to give weight to their teaching that they are a persecuted group and so they would have an identifiable enemy.
  
  So many of us have left. They have outraged many of us and we have not been very silent, they have their current enemy in their sights.
  
  Since 1995 they have done exactly as many of us predicted. They have tightened up. They have taken huge steps to make the literature only available to insiders. They have dispensed with all the meat of their time line predictions and left only the barest of bones as needed to keep the appointment doctrine in place. The anointed of the "channel" have all resigned from responsible positions of running the Society. The blood medical treatment doctrine is all but dismantled and the only defense for what's left is shunning questioners. The alternative military service distinction is gone. It's okay to sit on juries and register to vote.
  
  50 years ago if you had told me the Governing Body would all resign, it's okay to take all blood fractions and cow's blood, it's okay to do alternative military service, virtually all questioners would be disfellowshipped, the generation of 1914 teaching would be dumped, and me and my friends would be seen by them as their biggest enemy, I'd have laughed in your face. But here we are! And people ask if I think the Watch Tower Society will change? Oh yeah! GaryB
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  JT

  it is very easy to understand esp if one views the organization as it truly is --an American Book Publishing Company and no more.

  as with any company that wants to survive, THEY CHANGE- and the long track record of the wt is clear it will change- will it become more main stream - like community projects and charity, or will it become more closed-

  well as with any corp it all depends on who is in charge at the Upper Management level, wt like any company is merely a reflection of it's Uppper managment staff- we have seen so many corp that change once the one at the Helm is gone-

  sometimes you get a guy more open minded or closed minded, but one fact remains wt like all other religions(companies) will never give up their claim of Speaking for god

  so while many things Policy, procedures, dogma, etc many change somethings will remain the SAME
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  sxybrwneyes

  downhill!!
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  avengers

  What direction is the organization going in?

  Down, down, down.