Why JW Enemies Will Fail? - A Consultant's Analysis

by reason 44 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

ColdRedRain

FIVE FORCES
Bargaining power of customers (the members)The 'switching cost' is to high. If a member leaves the WTS, he/she will suffer from being disfellowshiped and loose friends and family.

People find new friends. Just like how the RCC abandonned my grandmother when she joined the JW church and she found new JW friends, I've found new XJW and Never-Been friends.
Bargaining power of suppliers (the apostates and other denominations)
The apostates don't really have a tangible product to substitute the WTS product. All they can do is try to prove the WTS is wrong, that's about it.

Actually, we've found other tangible products, some here are ministers in other churches, others are great figures in their communities, and still others are pagans and secularists.
New entrants into the market
There are no new religions around to match the WTS product.
Haven't you heard of the Seventh Day Adventists? They're pretty much the same religion as the JW's, except one is unitarian and another's trinitarian. Not to mention the 2X2 religion, other adventist sects and the Unification church (All, ironically share dangerous charachteristics with the JW's.)
Substitute products and services
Substitutes products (hellfire, immortality of the soul, trinity). JWs have learned to reject these doctrines. It is hard to deprogram them to embrace it again.
And assuming they're going back to Christian religions, yes. But that's the thing, Christianity isn't the only faith that's out there.

Existing competitors
Roman Catholic Church, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Salvation Army. JWs are programmed to view them as false religions. It is hard to deprogram them to embrace it again.
Actually, it's not quite uncommon to see XJW's go back to those same churches. On this board in fact, we have many fundimentalist Christians (Don't worry, we're working on getting them to the good side :P).
Medicine on their side
For the blood issue, alternatives are coming up and the field of medicine is now buying the idea of bloodless surgery.
Except in times of dire need. It's estimated that over 50K JW's have died from a lack of blood over the past few years. And a lesser %age of that has had their lives saved because of the no blood policy.
Past mistakes of interpretation
The JW GB are now vocal in their admission of the past mistakes they did. After all, they are only humans.
Sir, before you have me heading off to the hospital for breaking my legs while falling on the floor laughing, you should read this site. http://quotes.watchtower.ca . Has all the WT quotes from WT history, like the time they played nice with the Nazi government, etc.
Management style As the management is changing and getting younger in terms of age, old 'beaucratic traditional culture' is slowly changing to a more relax management style.
What you've proved is that you have no idea about buisness rule #1, which is know thyself and thy enemy. You assume that your "enemy" is a religious denomination that's only goal is to preach against the JW's and "thyself" can be taken for their word. Therefore, your buisness model that you mentioned is going to fail no matter what. And it is failing. As of right now, the WT is hemmoraging members in developed countries (Ironically, the countries that have the internet, where dangerous sects are exposed daily) and when news gets around the developing countries, they're also going to hemmorage members too.
If I have a buisness, I would want a buisnessman like you to stay far, far away from it. You'd make me poor.
itsallgoodnow

Your theory about the "switching cost" being too high makes a lot of sense, but I think you're leaving out the factor that most people don't have the need to be so fanatical about religion. The "spiritual need" they sell and is not natural for most people, and it becomes a relief not to be exposed to such a fanatical approach to religion, to calmly and rationally follow your own path.
"Apostates" are not a consolidated & organized religious group, they are individuals making their own decisions. They are not "competition", they are free agents, an idea which is appealing to ex-JWs. Some feel more comfortable in organized religion, some don't trust it and are perfectly fine without it. IMO, most people (not having been involved with JWs) are not active church attenders and are fine with it.
You listed Roman Catholic Church, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Salvation Army as the options available to ex-Witnesses, but you should have listed all non-JW religions, as a whole, whether they be fundamentalist or liberal Christians, or Eastern Religions, or New Age, or whatever. All the religions of the world are open for exploration. Each person has a choice (for once) which religion he is attracted to, if any. He may decide spirituality is not really his thing and he won't need to get involved with organized religion at all.
Seems like you are stuck on this black & white thinking. What it comes down to is a growing percentage of current and ex-JWs are figuring out they had been lied to, and no amount of "relaxation of the rules" (huh? did I miss something?) will make that person "switch" back.
Leolaia

The business model makes one fatal assumption: that "JW association and meetings" is a product one buys. This misses out on something big. Witnesses are unpaid employees of this corporation, who have to buy the product, yes, but who must labor and hand over much of their lives to this corporation. They are not mere customers who can freely sample other competing products (i.e. "association and meetings" of other religions) while they are employees of the Watchtower. It is like a Microsoft employee working on a Linux system in his office when the company has the explicit rule "No other operating systems allowed for work or personal use by Microsoft employees". And you would need to consider other "Forces and Factors" such as Occupational Safety (e.g. how safe it is to be associated with the Watchtower, such as in the case of children), Reliance on Child Labor (e.g. dependence on a wide-scale employment of children, and the possibility that they may want to "change jobs" when they are old enough to make adult decisions), Control of Information about the Company (that is, employees don't know quite what they're working for, the sordid past of the company, and what the company is doing now that goes against their principles), Perks and Benefits that Never Materialize (e.g. the carrot-stick of the Paradise Earth and Armaggedon that is always just around the corner), Intolerance of New Ideas (e.g. suggestions by employees of how to improve work conditions are either ignored or induce punitive measures), and of course Lack of Breaks or Vacations (that is, employees are not allowed to take time off or rest). There is also a factor of Unionization, that employees fed up with current conditions may be organizing themselves to change work conditions. But most others who are disillusioned, tired, or hurt, notice that they can just up and leave, because they notice that other people are giving away competing products, and you don't even have to work for them to receive the product! What a concept! Others realize they don't even need the product at all, and realize they can just quit and work in the real world for $$$$ or help raise their families without putting in long hours at this stupid company.
Apostates are former employees who let current employees know what it is really like not working for the corporation, why you don't need to work for the company, and why you should not work for them. If employees are already unhappy with their lives being dominated by this company, and they see the alternative (that is, life without this burden), then of course apostates will be successful in helping current employees break free. But ultimately, if workers one day decide to go on strike or quit en masse, the main force behind that would be the mismanagement and tyranny of the company itself.
But some companies make it very hard to leave. Remember the Tom Cruise movie "The Firm"? It's a little different because he actually did get a lot of perks and benefits at first (well, maybe the Watchtower product is a great thing to have at first). But then he realized that the firm was controlling his entire life, that he no longer had real freedom, that he found out more about this company he was working for and its history, and he didn't even have the freedom to speak his mind without them hearing and punishing him. He wanted his life back. But it was very difficult to leave.
jwbot

IT consultant = unemployed.
FIVE FORCES

Bargaining power of customers (the members)The 'switching cost' is to high. If a member leaves the WTS, he/she will suffer from being disfellowshiped and loose friends and family.
If a car co. said, "you must buy this car or everyone will hate you" I would not buy the car. The switching cost may be too high to you, but threatening is a bad way to keep "customers". In addition, to me, the cost is not too high, it was too high to stay in and not be myself, be a slave to organized religion. Now that I am out, I am more mentally stable (despite my friends and family leaving me) and less depressed. I have REAL friends that love me for who I am, and a new family that love me for who I am. Way more than I could have asked from the religion (or company).

Bargaining power of suppliers (the apostates and other denominations)
The apostates don't really have a tangible product to substitute the WTS product. All they can do is try to prove the WTS is wrong, that's about it.
Our product is life and love. Being true to oneself, independant and abused no longer!
New entrants into the market There are no new religions around to match the WTS product.
Many religions are like JW's. Many. Don't kid yourselves. Mormon, 7th Day Adventist, hell even Catholics sometimes...

Substitute products and services
Substitutes products (hellfire, immortality of the soul, trinity). JWs have learned to reject these doctrines. It is hard to deprogram them to embrace it again.
You said it, brainwashing is a good technique, huh?

Existing competitors
Roman Catholic Church, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Salvation Army. JWs are programmed to view them as false religions. It is hard to deprogram them to embrace it again.
You do not NEED to go from one religion to another. People do fine (and better) finding their OWN beleifs and being themselves. Organized religion is a load of crap!

OTHER FACTORS
Marketing
Zealous evangelizing of the JWs will only enable them to recuit more members as time goes by.
That really seems to be declining as people get smarter....

Medicine on their side
For the blood issue, alternatives are coming up and the field of medicine is now buying the idea of bloodless surgery.
While the JW's "reasons" for not getting one (AIDS) is complately debunked.

Past mistakes of interpretation
The JW GB are now vocal in their admission of the past mistakes they did. After all, they are only humans.
Oh? Havn't heard them release the 27,000 records on child abuse. Have they even admitted to it? Anyway, the pope apologises too, maybe we should become Catholic?
Management styleAs the management is changing and getting younger in terms of age, old 'beaucratic traditional culture' is slowly changing to a more relax management style.
It is even less relaxed now, that is such BS. So many people I have talked to mentioned they were once allowed to hang out with "the worldlies" and even go to dances. The GB is wanting more and more control and you know it. The opposite of what you said is true and the ranks become filled with power-hungry zelots with no faith in what they preach.
Big Tex

Your "Business Model" leaves out one essential element: emotion. One can, as you have done, list out in black and white terms this way or that but at its core, spirituality is the ability to leap beyond facts and figures and simply believe in the idea that someone, somewhere, somehow cares of us and offers a better way.
Do Jehovah's Witnesses offer this? That's for each of us to determine on our own. I was shown to my satisfaction that they cannot have anything to do with God. My spiritual beliefs is that evil and God cannot co-exist, so that where evil is, God is not and vice versa.
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that a child must present 2 eyewitnesses to 'prove' an accusation of child abuse. Realize that requires two adults standing and watching this child being raped. Those two adults cannot interfere as that would mean no act of rape took place. I cannot imagine a more evil scenario than watching and listening to a child being raped and being required to do nothing to intervene. This scenario flies in the face of the basic emotional thrust of Jesus Christ: love. By their actions, not words but actions, Jehovah's Witnesses are not a loving organization.
If I am wrong, and your organization is truly controlled by God, then Jehovah's Witnesses will triumph and this arguing back and forth will be moot. In that case, I will embrace destruction at Armageddon as I cannot in good conscience support such a God who would approve of this and other atrocities, nor would I want to live in a world wherein such insane and evil behavior is called just.
Chris
itsallgoodnow

What I'm discovering is the whole idea of religion is so confusing, how could a just God actually kill a person for being confused? Does that make sense?
jgnat

First of all, identify your competitor! I agree with others that the xJW community is a by-product of the WTBTS, kind of like a consumer advocacy group. If we were to treat the WTBTS as a religious business, all other religions would be the "competitors".
FIVE FORCES

Bargaining power of customers (the members)Though it is hard to leave voluntarily, many members are are also forced out every year, producing a regular drain to the membership. The methods used to find new customers are out of date and time consuming (cold calls are the least effective method, and are employed by companies that know their product cannot compete on the regular market). Based on the number of articles spurring members to "do more", it seems the rank and file have figured this out this as well. Much time spent with little return.
www.jwic.com/stat.htm
Bargaining power of suppliers (the apostates and other denominations)
Here are some article excerpts, which show that other religions are actively looking for new ways to attract members:
Marketing Strategies of Mormonism By Joshua Decker
One thing that every major religion in the world today has in common is that they all seek growth. To do this they, whether knowingly or unknowingly, go through certain marketing techniques. To be more precise, they entice attention of the consumer, to hold their interest towards their product, to arouse desire to attend, and to finally create action on the behalf of the consumer, which would ultimately mean becoming a member of their Church or accepting their beliefs as being true. This is adapted from the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), which shows the process in which a consumer goes through when making choices for a particular product.
http://www.saintsalive.com/mormonism/marketingofmormonism.html
Washington Post article reports on year 2000 study: Faith Communities in the United States Today
The survey confirms that the growth of less hierarchical, more charismatic congregations and smaller U.S. faiths such as Islam and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is "rapidly putting a new face on American religion" and diminishing the dominance of traditional churches, Dudley said.
In an observation that could have a long-range impact on worship, the study found that many of the healthiest congregations -- measured by membership growth and financial stability -- offer alternative worship styles that appeal to younger worshipers, with electric guitars and keyboards rather than pipe organs and pianos.
Such congregations are likely to be evangelical Protestant, with authority based "in the Holy Spirit" rather than in creeds or reason. Rock bands and contemporary gospel artists frequently take part in worship.
Participants included Protestants; Roman Catholics; Eastern Orthodox; Reform and Conservative Jews; Mormons; Muslims; Unitarian Universalists; and Baha'is. Denominations that declined to participate included Jehovah's Witnesses; Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod; Church of God; Salvation Army; United Pentecostal Church Inc.; and Baptist Bible Fellowship International.
-- Community outreach, including soup kitchens and homeless shelters, "is far greater than many estimates suggest." Although suburban churches are less likely to offer such ministries, the "support for soup kitchens in the new suburban areas seems particularly surprising."
-- Advertising and promotional campaigns energize current members but are less effective in attracting new people.
http://www.adherents.com/misc/FACT.html
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/
New entrants into the market
Who would want to "match" their product? There are much better options out there.

Substitute products and services
I agree that the WTBTS is pretty good at "poisoning the well". The substitute that I recommend for exiting members is to spend a fair bit of personal time evalulating what their personal beliefs are, before they look at any religion - if ever. Sites like this one can provide an excellent launching point for exiting members. I don't think JWD is a destination.
Existing competitors
Oops. There are a few more. See above.
OTHER FACTORS
Marketing
Uninspired, monotonous door-knocking techniques will continue to decline in effectiveness over time. Word-of-mouth and inviting neighbours to social events have always been more effective and personal. But of course that would put JW's in close personal contact with the "world". Can't have that.
Churches are actively seeking new ways to attract new members. Innovative programs such as the Alpha program, the Jesus video, youth conventions, and others are re-invigorating the churches.
Medicine on their side
Bloodless surgery was always the preferred option, even before the JW's. It is egotistical of the organization to take credit for this. No alternative technique has yet been found, however, to counteract massive blood loss from trauma.

Past mistakes of interpretationReally? I find the WTBTS to be silent about past mistakes. Could you point me to some articles where they have admitted error? Congregation members are directed to avoid older publications, and use only more current materials for their study. The Catholic church had a year of repentance. Has the WTBTS shown similar contrition?
Management styleI don't see any improvement in management style. If anything, the organization is closing ranks and becoming more severe. Examples, please?
johnathanseagull

LOL jwbot............IT Consultant = unemployed .....I certainly wouldn´t want this guy consulting on my IT business LOL
Jgull
XQsThaiPoes

Maybe what I am trying to say is the most efficent way I see is to clone watchtower docterine. If I said for exampile said lets go to "Schism West Kingdom hall Of Jehovah's witnesses". And most of the docterine that JWs actually remember and UNDERSTAND was preached I doubt that many JWs would consider It interfaith. In fact you could start a rumor that JWs are starting these "clone" halls so when the great tribulation comes big brother can't close them down or some nonsense.
BTW there is too much emotion in conventional religion. The world needs a non stupid "bad boy" religion.
stillajwexelder

very clever -- I appreciate your perspective -it will give me something to think about -thankyou

Why JW Enemies Will Fail? - A Consultant's Analysis

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