Vidiot

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Posts by Vidiot

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  52

  Collapse of JW Org - Possibly on the Horizon?

  by JWTom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topics get a great deal of discussion here.

  what i find interesting is even some of my pimi family is embracing the reality that all is not well with jw.org and that many current jws are just going through the motions due to not having a good way out of the org.

  wondering what could realistically lead to the collapse of jw.org in the not distant future?

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  Vidiot

  Not to mention that there are a few unique aspects of WT ideology and eschatology that I also think may negate that possibility... that they have - for all intents and purposes - set things up too specifically for a truly effective eleventh-hour adaptation to really stick.

  Think of it in terms of natural selection... as a (social) "organism", it just feels too specialized; too specifically adapted to its niche to survive the kind of changes that are occurring more and more in its environment.

  One example could be the potential loss of tax-exemption that the Org's "business model" seems to have become dependent on (why else would they try so hard to keep it, after all?)...

  ...another would be the fact that the Org is coming under fire more and more from the secular (i.e. "worldy") legal systems of the world... which flies in the face of a prediction they've held as near-Gospel for almost a century... that "Babylon the Great" would be attacked before them.

  The biggest one, of course is that despite their decades-long insistence, more and more evidence that they're simply wrong cannot help but make it increasingly difficult to maintain the fiction that the WTS is "God's Exclusive Earthly Organization"... which is - let's be honest - really the only carrot-stick combo that truly keeps the rank-and-file still loyal.

  That is why most of us are here right now, after all.
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  52

  Collapse of JW Org - Possibly on the Horizon?

  by JWTom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topics get a great deal of discussion here.

  what i find interesting is even some of my pimi family is embracing the reality that all is not well with jw.org and that many current jws are just going through the motions due to not having a good way out of the org.

  wondering what could realistically lead to the collapse of jw.org in the not distant future?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Vidiot

  LVC101 - "...there's always too many hurting individuals on planet earth that cling to cult promises..."

  This seems to be the crux of most naysayers' argument that "the Org will never die"...
  

  ...that there will always be people who need a cult to belong to.

  And I think it's probably true.

  The flaw in that argument, however, is that - in my opinion - it's predicated on the assumption that that there will always be people that specifically need the WT cult...

  ...and I don't think that's actually the case.
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  52

  Collapse of JW Org - Possibly on the Horizon?

  by JWTom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topics get a great deal of discussion here.

  what i find interesting is even some of my pimi family is embracing the reality that all is not well with jw.org and that many current jws are just going through the motions due to not having a good way out of the org.

  wondering what could realistically lead to the collapse of jw.org in the not distant future?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Vidiot

  hybridous - "This cult either has a death wish, or believes it's own BS (namely, that YHVH is going to intercede to perpetuate it's existence.)"
  

  Every piece of anecdotal evidence we've heard here for the past twenty years indicates that it's the latter.
  

  And every boneheaded decision they've made is exactly the kind of call a True Believer would make.
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  11

  "She could have just walked out."

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  can you really imagine that a young teenager in a room full of stern grown-ups is going to say "i've had enough of this and i am walking out."?

  i really hope it will go to trial.

  utah high court weighs case of woman who says church made her listen to audio of her rape as a teenager.

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  Vidiot

  under the radar - "I still say there will be no progress in this area unless and until they separate the sin and the criminal aspects of child abuse and handle them accordingly. The congregation can deal with the sin aspect, but they must let the secular authorities deal with the criminal aspect."

  Which is why said progress will never happen.
  
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  52

  Collapse of JW Org - Possibly on the Horizon?

  by JWTom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topics get a great deal of discussion here.

  what i find interesting is even some of my pimi family is embracing the reality that all is not well with jw.org and that many current jws are just going through the motions due to not having a good way out of the org.

  wondering what could realistically lead to the collapse of jw.org in the not distant future?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Vidiot

  And slow, steady decline into obscurity is far more permanent than some crash-and-burn (as admittedly satisfying as that would be).

  Organisms that cannot or will not adapt to a changing environment are doomed to extinction, after all; it's a fundamental aspect of natural selection.

  And I have a hard time imagining how a secretive, draconian, and demonstrably wrong authoritarian high-control group can truly adapt to the modern, personal-freedom-oriented, information-saturated environment of the 21st Century.
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  41

  Watchtower View on Resurrection - All Panda Bears?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a recent wt study was titled: “the resurrection reveals god’s love, wisdom and patience.

  apparently there was a lot of speculation on how those resurrected will be needing to be taught god’s ways in last weeks wt study.

  does anyone know how the watchtower tries to weasel out of the "resurrection of damnation"?.

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  Vidiot

  "It's called the 'nightmare stage' of wishful thinking."

  I'd like to add that all cults get there, eventually.

  Jonestown had reached their "nightmare stage", for example...

  ...their response was mass suicide and murder.

  They felt backed into a corner, and chose to burn it all down rather than accept the actual truth.
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  52

  Collapse of JW Org - Possibly on the Horizon?

  by JWTom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topics get a great deal of discussion here.

  what i find interesting is even some of my pimi family is embracing the reality that all is not well with jw.org and that many current jws are just going through the motions due to not having a good way out of the org.

  wondering what could realistically lead to the collapse of jw.org in the not distant future?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Vidiot

  LongHairGal - "I don’t believe it is viewed the same way it was years ago..."

  Agreed; the paradigm is different, now.

  Another consideration is that businesses cannot help but decline when they experience constant economic insecurity.

  And I'm sorry, but in what crazy-ass, fucked-up mirror universe are constant legal troubles, steady asset and staff liquidation, and demonstrable reduction of product output (in both quality and quantity) signs of robust financial health?
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  43

  Do You Believe In A “Deep State”?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  or do you think the idea of a deep state is malarkey?

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  Vidiot

  I tried to find the Deep State.

  I wanted to sign up.

  They wouldn't return my calls.

  
  
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  17

  How will the rest of the World be affected if America is run by far-left Socialist?

  by pistolpete in

  1. social
  2. current

  america was a power not to be reckoned with.

  but lately it seems to be the laughing stock of the world.

  what other countries are seeing on the news is riots, calls to de-fund the police, breakdown of society, and elections being over taken with fraud.

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  Vidiot

  Socialism and communism technically work...

  ...on paper.

  In practice? Not so much, obviously, for a variety of reasons.

  ...

  I'm not an overt fan of capitalism, but I'm more than willing to acknowledge the fact that - when regulated and required to act reasonably ethically - it does actually work much better.

  I'm employed in the engineering field - an inherently capitalistic vocation - after all.

  It's not perfect, but (like democracy) it's simply the least imperfect system we've come up with so far.

  It's the ideologues who vaunt it as the end-all and be-all of economics (to the point of actually cheating to defend and perpetuate it) who are - obviously - out of line.
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  9

  Wt said that social isolation was loveing and good.

  by Yomama in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after 8 months of social isolation do they continue to think its loveing?

  they also said social isolation was bullying..

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  Vidiot

  All moot, in my opinion.

  I suspect the real reasons they budged when "Satan's World" put its foot down are...

  a) ...the conversion to a predominantly internet-based religion - an "e-church" - was in the works already, and this simply facilitated it by priming the rank-and-file for the "official" transition, and...

  b) ...their lawyers have advised them that their tax-exemption is already on the block, and if the WTS's business model is as dependent on it as I've come to suspect, they aren't ready to risk losing it.

  Not to mention that it almost completely mitigates any accusations that "pedophiles are knocking on your doors trying to recruit your kids".