Christian Scientist article - JW parallels

by dozy 12 Replies latest jw friends

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  dozy

  An interesting read on the decline of the Christian Scientists (CS) .

  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/06/christian-science-church-medicine-death-horror-of-my-fathers-last-days

  Re JWs , from a quackery pseudo medicine / religion standpoints , thankfully the crazier Woodworth / Rutherford anti vaccination etc inspired medical nonsense was mostly ditched in the 50's and 60's. The ban on transplants was ditched more recently. The only residual health related teaching remains the ban on blood transfusions , but even that has been watered down with the Society permission now granted to use blood fractions , new technology ( like cell savers ) and even whole blood products like hemoglobin.

  Otherwise seeing the way a late 1800's USA religion declines is of interest. The CS leadership have faced the same challenges as JWs and have tried to cope with them in a very similar way. The young people stop attending , the general public are much more informed so very few new people enroll , the church is hit by lots of child abuse lawsuits and with the finances drying up , it relies on real estate development to keep going. Congregations are merged , halls are sold off , new properties are developed with mainly volunteer labour and then flipped for big tax free profits a few years later.

  In many respects , the CS church in 2019 is probably where one imagines the Society will be in 20 years time.
  
  
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  Still Totally ADD

  Interesting article but how did they get so rich with only 3,200 worldwide? Jonestown in slow motion. In many ways very much like the wt. cult. Still Totally ADD
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  LV101

  I'm acquaintances with a few CS members (raised in it) from California -- parents were heavily involved in real estate and seems CS members were quite an affluent bunch - like many Scientologists Another wackadoo group - no vaccines, etc., but the girls didn't feel embarrassed about the religion attending school (felt special so brainwashing like JWs in many respects) and the families seemed involved politically.
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  Vidiot

  dozy - "...The young people stop attending, the general public are much more informed so very few new people enroll, the church is hit by lots of child abuse lawsuits and with the finances drying up, it relies on real estate development to keep going. Congregations are merged, halls are sold off, new properties are developed with mainly volunteer labor and then flipped for big tax free profits a few years later..."

  All that's been happening with the Christian Scientist church?

  Damn, that's... uncanny.
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  sir82

  Interesting.

  I can easily imagine a similar for decline for JWs, maybe (hopefully?) sooner than we think.
  
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  peacefulpete

  Seventh Day Adventists are certainly first cousins to the WT and CS, they have also been struggling to retain members and plagued by scandals resulting from isolation from larger society. An article I read while back suggested the difficulty with these religions is summed up in one word "isolation". To the extent that these cults shed the doctrine and behavior that isolated them psychologically from larger society, to that extent, they thrive as time goes by.
  
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  Vidiot

  peacefulpete - "...To the extent that these cults shed the doctrine and behavior that isolated them psychologically from larger society, to that extent, they thrive as time goes by."

  Agreed.

  I would argue that that sort of progressive reform is too problematic for the WTS, though.

  If they were to implement them to the degree that they'd need to, this late in the game...

  ...they'd arguably no longer be "Jehovah's Witnesses".
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  LV101

  The 8 Goon Squad wouldn't know how to help the JWs integrate/coalesce into society. That'd take some serious therapy.
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  slimboyfat

  Wow that’s an interesting, powerful read. It really makes you stop and think, and compare with JWs.

  I’ve only been to one Christian Scientist meeting, and I don’t think I wrote a diary of the experience. It was pretty boring, with readings and testimonies. There were only six people there, at a midweek meeting, in Glasgow, one of only two churches left in Scotland.

  There used to be a church and reading room in Helensburgh, but it closed within the last 20 years.

  Two differences between Christian Scientists and JWs:

  1. Christian Scientists have always been much better off than JWs, both the membership and the church itself.

  2. It has lower cost than JWs because it doesn’t have the number of branches and employees as JWs.

  These factors combined suggest to me that, in contrast with Christian Scientists, for JWs the money could run out before the membership does.
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  peacefulpete

  Vidiot..I would argue that that sort of progressive reform is too problematic for the WTS, though.

  If they were to implement them to the degree that they'd need to, this late in the game...

  ...they'd arguably no longer be "Jehovah's Witnesses".

  They have made huuuuuge advances in the last 50 years. Not sure how long you've been around, but the WT of today has no resemblance to the WT of just 50 years ago. That's fast by religion standards. I'm pretty optimist that in another 50 it will have shed even more. It will likely splinter again as it did in the past, but a more modern religion will emerge with a smaller conservative stepchild left behind.