The Exponential Growth In Technology Spell A Rapid End For Bronze Age Diety Cults Like The Watchtower

Brokeback Watchtower

As information floods the airwaves and available at one's finger tips in privacy. Thanks to incognito browsers one can do a search and keep it from family members with ease. Pretty soon one should be able to go to any kingdom hall and see very few youths only long time older ones. I think the WT in an effort to bump up membership has focuses on the very young getting baptized to try and stem the tide of membership loss in these financially valuable members who have more potential for exploitation then the older ones who's income potential if fastly shriveling.

As well as shooting themselves in the foot by forbidding higher education for these young ones, they are willing to keep doing as the losses would be even greater if they didn't thru a more rapid decline in membership loss due to getting a paid for education.

freddo

Yup. The oldies are dying off. In my hall we lost 3 over 70's last service year and 1 already in this service year. There's another I don't think will last more than a few months too.

In that time we've had one younger guy move in.

No-one has become a new publisher or got baptised in the last three years.

In fact I can think of two unbaptised publishers announced as "no longer" and one who has purposely faded.

All going slowly South in our hall.

moreconfusedthanever

When we were growing up if you wanted to know something you needed to go to the library or read the encyclopedia if you were fortunate enough to have one. We were encouraged to use awake articles to complete school assignments as they had already done the research.

The internet and this age of information at your fingertips is certainly going to be a factor in cult membership numbers.

Finkelstein

Yes Technology and information are increasing in most modernized countries but there are still countries that are backward and have low education values where cults can still strive.

never a jw

Freddo,

You have a way to make my heart happy!

Sabendar

I don't know... There is information that suggest smoking is harmful, yet plenty of people smoke. Information that suggest unprotected sex leads to stds, yet plenty of people still enrage in unprotected sex. Tonight is Christmas Eve and likely hundreds of men and women across the nation are gonna spend the night in jail for drunk driving. That despite all we know about the dangers of driving under the influence.

People join the organization for all types of personal reasons... Say for example there is a distraught wife who is near her breaking point because her husband is an abusive drunk. One day he is contacted by a Witness, next thing you know he hasn't had a drink or lifted his hand against his wife in five years.

Or what about a single mom raising three black sons in a drug infested crime filled neighborhood? Only her sons don't wear gang attire, don't do drugs and are respectful articulate kids.

At the end of the day, for better for worse, people are going to do what works for them...Imo absent some sort of cataclysmic event I don't see the organization going anywhere anytime soon...

peacefulpete

It's true 'information control' is a powerful aspect of high control groups like the JWs but as others have said the boundless ability to filter out unwelcome information is very human.

When it comes down to it, the reason people are still in the JWs today (generally) is not because of the convincing nature of the doctrine itself but the sense of community and identification as a member of the elite. Hardly a publication comes out that doesn't seek to reinforce that notion of loyalty and indebtedness to the group/leaders for the privilege of being one of "us".

Exposure to alternative ideas at a time of strong identity with the group has no hope of effect. It's when a person is feeling some emotional separation/isolation from the group that the information has a chance of penetrating to the rational mind. Consciously or unconsciously the leaders know this and therefore they press for unbroken attendance at all church gatherings and insist limiting social contact with others on the outside.