WTS reform - is it possible?

by LoveUniHateExams 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  DesirousOfChange

  The Legal Dept will manage any "reform" that happens and I think WT will be forced into reforming in some areas.

  Shunning is being seen as a "hate crime" in some parts of the world and the rhetoric will have to be "turned down", as least publicly. We all know that the worst rules are the unwritten rules. Many of the average JWs are already ignoring the rules about family members. Only the Uber-Dubs who are worried about their position or status are taking the hardline (and the overly gullible R&F).
  

  I believe the Blood Issue will continue to be minimized even more so than it already has been.  Again, to the extent that Legal says. Every person that dies, esp a child, is a PR disaster for WTS.
  

  I believe they have already reformed their Pedo policy. They will now report anything and everything that could be construed as "abuse" or "victimization". Even if there are not 2 witnesses, it the suspected perp is just an average R&F JW, Legal will direct an anonymous call to authorities. Still, it will still take some time for all the collateral damage now happening from the old policy of coverups to eventually go away. Time and money. But they are presently sitting on huge stockpiles of cash. Now that they've seen what judges & juries can cost, they'll intensify efforts for out of court settlements.
  

  Higher education is a tough issue for WTS. When a kid goes to university, (s)he is bound to wake up to the BS of the religion. Yet, there is such a disservice to preventing kids from advancing to their full potential and that brings lots of resentment in the R&F. Plus more and more are clearly seeing that The End(TM) is very, very close slow in coming and will focus on financial success in this system.

  Stay tuned.

  Doc
  

  
  

  
  
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  TerryWalstrom

  
  

   The Universality of Math is such, no matter where you travel, all mathematicians have agreed upon conventions and standards, haven't they? Yes. Nobody divides by zero. 
  

  If the Watchtower Society were professing mathematicians endeavoring to spread accurate knowledge of math, wouldn't any error and corruption easily be demonstrated? Reform would amount to demonstrable, pragmatic corrections. Peer review would suffice to bring about identification of procedures needing attention.

  If Watchtower leaders insisted on dividing by zero by claiming some transcendent principle, revealed to them alone by contact from the spirit world, (having been contacted and selected by the spirit of Archimedes), what would happen?

  Frankly, it would be no different from what has been occurring for over 100 years! A great divide would ensue. WTS apologists would claim a higher platform of deep understanding while the world of academia would snort indignantly and turn away from the ideological stench of their radical misadventure.

  You see, the premise, the foundation, the Raison d'être of Watchtowerism  is self-identification as a transcendent body of elite, select, superior mensches.

  In effect, this religion can mint its own currency!

  Think of the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War which created its own currency in order to finance its rebellion and you'll quickly get the Big Picture. 

  No reform is workable, practicable nor sufficient to disabuse these self-deluded mongrels of their magisterium.

   
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  Brokeback Watchtower

  It is a business with a business model to generate more profits, when the business model is failing the CEOs need to change its methods of operation. Profitability is bottom line! 

  Apparently with the dawn of the internet the profitability has wavered somewhat and this calls upon the resourcefulness of the CEO to come up with some other plan or perhaps a total reform to stabilize the Corporation for the future.
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  Giordano

  Reform would probably have to come through a schism. To have that occur the Society would have to become intolerable to it's thinking members or drift so far away from it's base teachings that confidence would be lost. That has happened three times in the past and explains to a large degree why obedience to the WTBTS is more important then mere doctrine and worship.

  
  

  

  "A number of schisms developed within the congregations of Bible Students associated with the Watch Tower Society between 1909 and 1932.[2][3] The most significant split began in 1917 following the election of Joseph Franklin Rutherford as president of the Watch Tower Society two months after Russell's death. The schism began with Rutherford's controversial replacement of four of the Society's board of directors and publication of The Finished Mystery.

  Thousands of members left congregations of Bible Students associated with the Watch Tower Society throughout the 1920s prompted in part by Rutherford's failed predictions for the year 1925, increasing disillusionment with his on-going doctrinal and organizational changes, and his campaign for centralized control of the movement.[2] William Schnell, author and former Jehovah's Witness, claims that three-quarters of the original Bible Students who had been associating with the Watch Tower Society in 1921 had left by 1931.[4][a][b][6] In 1930 Rutherford stated that "the total number of those who have withdrawn from the Society... is comparatively large." 
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  Brokeback Watchtower

  But one thing that is holding up reform is the fact that the Watchtower Corporation is run by some pretty delusional CEOs who abilities to make changes are stymied by years of indoctrinational bull shit from the WT machine.
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  DATA-DOG

  Reform?? NO

  Evolve?? YES 

  
  

  DD
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  ABibleStudent

  Reform - make changes in (something, typically a social, political, or economic institution or practice) in order to improve it.

  What is new light?  Change.  The WTBTS will continues to make cosmetic changes, but I doubt it will make any meaningful changes that would involve no longer using undue influence to victimize JWs.  If JWs don't want to learn doctrine, then the WTBTS will turn itself into a religious social club doing line dances or flash mobs, as long as JWs continue to donate, build/remodel KHs on prime real estate, and do what the elders tell JWs to do.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert