The religion I knew in the 1980s no longer exists. As I have often told others, if I were a baptized JW who fell into a coma in say 1985 and awoke today, I would be disfellowshipped for my belief and practices since my Watchtower religion would not be acceptable by Witnesses today.
I see the Jehovah's Witnesses as an ad hoc religion. Despite their claim to the contrary, they are founded on the premise that they are the sole modern-day prophet of God for the final days of history, inspired with the knowledge to understand the "true meaning" of Bible prophecy to forewarn of and proclaim the coming battle of Armageddon to the nations.
But as any ad hoc system, since the have been doing this since the 1800s (and it is now 2024), their system is set up for change. Jesus return in 1874 and subsequent destruction of all nations in 1914 left alot to be desired, so much change was ready at hand and quick to be to be thought of by the next generation of prophets to follow up behind in the footsteps of self-proclaimed appointee-of-God Charles Taze Russell. And thus it has always been.
The only true freedom will come to people who disconnect entirely from this ad hoc system and others like it. There will always be a change on the horizon.
The Mormon religion is one of the biggest ad hoc religious systems built upon an "end of the world/prophet" scenario. It is always undergoing change, always. Recently they have attempted to change their name, topple the angel Moroni from his place as their mascot/logo and replace him with Jesus (why wasn't he there in the first place?), and oddly all of this will of course be subject to change when the current prophet dies and the next one takes his place.
When all these current changes, I do, however fear a collapse similar to its sister religion, the Worldwide Church of God that went through similar changes and quickly and just lost over 75% of its membership in about 2 years. Unlike the LDS church, the Watchtower religion is highly apocalyptic like the WCG was. When it became apparent that changes being offered are novelty instead of following through on the end-time promises, like the fellowship of the WCG, followers may see it as pure gaslighting. If not handled right this will create a mass Exodus effect from the JWs instead of greater adherence.
This type of freedom will be different from independence. Independence is when a person realizes and chooses to leave and is capable of being untouched after they have done so.
After a collapse or during one, people leave as exiles. There is freedom, but for a while people are emotional refugees. That is a bit different.
Some of us might still be in that "refugee" situation, where we are affected by where we left. So when we hear news of what happens in the Watchtower world, it can affect us based on our particular situation and loss. But if there is a collapse due to poor leadership, it will be like popping corn without a lid on the top.
When springs have been held down too tightly and you suddenly let them go, they shoot off, some very far away. One needs only talk to those who have gone through what happened with the WCG fell apart.
