One has to wonder, then, what does WT leadership see for itself, if this is the general strategy taken...
This course of action is pretty much a backhanded admission that the days of growing the org are over. Can't march forward. Time to circle the wagons and hold on to what we've got.
Time is not on their side, and they know it. If they were sincerely deluded, wouldn't they be rolling the dice and betting the house that YHVH was going to make it all right? Is the hand of Jehovah short?
These are the actions of people who know better than to expect divine intervention on their behalf. These are the actions of people who don't believe their own bull****.
I hope lurkers read this and realize that the JW ORG doesn't even believe what they're selling...so why should you?
hybridous
JoinedPosts by hybridous
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60
Are they either leaving or going full on 'cult mode'? No quarter.
by punkofnice init might just be me imagining things.. i hear things from my jw spies.. from all that's being said, it seems to me that the rank and file(tm), are either waking up to the scam and fading/leaving.
they are going full on 'cult mode' and acting like 'spiritual police'.. is it just me and my imagination?
have others noticed this?.
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hybridous
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How long can this cult remain with only kids becoming members?
by Crazyguy init's become clear that very few from outside the religion are joining anymore.
if only the kids of the people that are already in are the one replacing the members as they die off and 50% let's say of the kids leave then how long can they realistically last before the downturn becomes obvious?.
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hybridous
Quote: 'The increased details on what is involved in shunning disfellowshipped persons suggests that the rank and file are still not fully getting what is required of them.'
Hi Steve, when you say 'not fully getting', do you mean innocent oversight in not understanding official policy/doctrine, or perhaps in an intentional, passive-aggressive rebellious kind of way?
I ask because sometimes I can see certain lines and boundaries being tested within the family, that would've never been dared in previous years. Who knows, maybe the summer assemblies will reign them in, again... -
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Supreme Court Of Russia bans Jehovah's Witnesses as an 'extremist organization'
by EdenOne inread the news here.
the jehovah's witnesses lost their appeal to the supreme court of russia.
bethel to be liquidated.. i bet the gb saw this coming ... here comes the persecution complex paranoia.
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Supreme Court Of Russia bans Jehovah's Witnesses as an 'extremist organization'
by EdenOne inread the news here.
the jehovah's witnesses lost their appeal to the supreme court of russia.
bethel to be liquidated.. i bet the gb saw this coming ... here comes the persecution complex paranoia.
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hybridous
Even tho people can be individual members, the members themselves do not have input into the directives that control their lives.
I will point out that, unless were talking about children, people choose to be JWs in the first place, and in doing so, they willfully abdicate all/most of their self-direction.
Adults have the right to do this. -
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WILL this be New Light? Is the Watchtower preparing to say out loud, Jesus is Jehovah?
by Terry inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk7ertncbsk
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hybridous
Then again, part of me wonders if this is not exactly the type of compromise the WT will find itself having to make for the sake of political necessity...
What I mean is, right now, the WT doesn't have seem to have much in the way of religious or political allies.Maybe they will find themselves in the position of having to make doctrinal compromises to find common ground with the American Evangelical bunch? Maybe this is how they survive?
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WILL this be New Light? Is the Watchtower preparing to say out loud, Jesus is Jehovah?
by Terry inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk7ertncbsk
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hybridous
Terry, I love your posts
and I absolutely pine for the day the WT backtracks on doctrines like THESE, because proceeding from THESE are schisms that will lay waste to, and likely end the JW religion as we have come to know it...But, I don't think we there yet. They can pay the bills that keep the lights on, so...on we go.
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A big thanks to all you good good people
by aboveusonlysky in"when the truth is found to be lies, and all the joy within you dies" jefferson airplane.
until that is you find websites like this!
i want to say a big thank you to all of you for everything i've learned here, as well as jwfacts, jwsurvey, coc, isocf etc.. i'm a born in and i spent more than two decades of my adult life in full time 'service' for the (b)org.
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hybridous
Good stuff. Glad to have you in the mix. -
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Waking up - introduction
by Dreamerdude ini am a male, born into the jw cult(ure), baptized as a teen, now mid fifties.
most of my life i dreamed of hugging pandas and lions, punctuated at times by nightmares of armageddon or jw drama and politics.
still going through the motions for still-in wife.
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hybridous
Hi, DDude -
Glad to have you here and thanks for stepping out of the shadows to talk.
You seem to have laid some solid groundwork for yourself. Please, do not allow yourself to feel rushed, and do not put your wife (or yourself) under pressure to renounce the JW religion and just leave. As you know, a person must reach the satisfaction of their own conclusions regarding these matters. Tread lightly and feed your relationship.
I am glad to hear you mention Farkel. He had really taken some time to indulge me in conversation that was very valuable to me. He was instrumental in helping me stay on the rails, even as I left the JW cult in an abrupt and furious manner. He was extraordinarily kind to this dumb kid, and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Look forward to hearing what you have to say. -
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Higher Education - is it really the end of the WT?
by OutsiderLookingIn inas a non-jw, before i started looking into things, i must say i only encountered intelligent jws.
so i was quite surprised to read here and in the pew report about their low overall educational achievement.
granted, my exposure was limited (less than a handful of people over a lifetime) but i met two of them in post-college education (graduate school) at a very good school.
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hybridous
Like the OP, my own experience belies the general trend.
My parents had 3 kids, all born/raised in the WT cult religion. All 3 of us graduated from college. I am the only one out of the WT cult religion. One of my siblings has a graduate degree. Did that valuable graduate degree help my sibling to really question our upbringing and indoctrination? Did it really help in vetting the ideas and prejudices foisted onto us by our parents and their peers?
No. Not that I've evidence of such, anyways.
I believe OEJ gives a good analysis in citing the power of immersion. I think my mom (despite being a fan of college), doubled down on the 'immersion' so as not to have her kids walk away despite the education. I found it suffocating. My siblings conceded. My mom's strategy was 2/3 effective.
Another family from the hall had 2 young sisters. One was academically inclined, very smart & studious. The other one -ahem- academically 'contraindicated', shall-we-say...? Well. the smart one went to college, graduated, got a high-paying professional job, and is still a devout JW. The other one barely graduated high school, drifted through an assortment of menial jobs, and finally became an entrepreneur of sorts. I believe she finally carved out a modicum of success for herself, and..oh, yes...this is the one that exited the JW cult religion.
Another case, I would say, where the mom was an absolute nutcase & tyrant. Total 'immersion' (haha). One person finds it intolerable, and another is broken. Who can predict these things?
Anecdotes aside, I have no doubt that the general trend is true. Religiosity wanes while education waxes.
Just kinda wish my family wasn't so much an outlier... -
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what do you think is the main reason why so many young ones are waking up?
by Crazyguy inseems as though the number of baptisms even for the young ones is down from what people report here.
at my former hall the young ones are all in totally sheltered even while going to school.
expressing thier desires to pioneer etc.
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hybridous
Good comment above by sir,
When a young kid in the JW religion tries to extrapolate their life, what conclusions can they make?If this religious nonsense is making you miserable at 10, how will you feel after investing another 1/2 century into it?
It is a very powerful thing to be able to express your doubts and have them confirmed.
To know you're not the only one having them. To know there are indeed some very good reasons you're harboring doubts then way you do.
And then, someone a little further ahead of you on the curve says 'I know how you feel...I've learned 'this', and 'THIS', and 'that'...'
And then it's only a matter of time...