Vidiot

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Posts by Vidiot

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  38

  The elders came calling. 😹

  by MissDaSilva in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this afternoon just after lunch.

  i spotted 2 of the nicer elders in the congregation walking up the drive.

  i didn’t answer the door.

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  Vidiot

  “it takes 5 times more effort and money to get a new customer than what it takes to keep an existing customer happy.”

  Ah, but the WTS has always valued growth far more than its ability to retain members as evidence of its legitimacy.

  Not to mention that it’s also tended to view the membership as an army more than a fellowship… and in authoritarian regimes, troop morale takes a distant backseat to discipline and order.

  And they definitely don’t regard the rank-and-file as anything like “customers”.
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  109

  Why disfellowship must be eliminated for the survival of the WT itself

  by TheScientist in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topic i digress about why the watchtower relaxing the rules of disfellowship is essential for its survival.

  many things i'm going to say are not my ideas, some are, the point is, i'm condensing everything in a logical and concise way.. the first thing we have to keep in mind is that the wt's main objective in instituting disfellowship has always been not to lose members because of the damage that a dissident could do, or to avoid gaining new members because of the bad reputation of a confessed sinner in the his/her region.

  in the end, the more active members, the more money to the coffers.. in this case of disfellowship due to apostasy, to avoid any spark, texts were sought out of context that even prohibited saying "hi".

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  Vidiot

  Hmm… well thought-out, and definitely worth considering.

  They’ve allegedly had outside financial consultants come in and advise them, and if that’s actually the case, the recent mainstreaming attempts are almost certainly a result of that.

  I wonder if said consultants essentially deduced what you just did, and spelled it out for them in a way they could grasp and accept.

  The ultraconservative Old Guard wanted a fucking Army marching in lockstep, unified in thought and action against a hostile, doomed world.

  But…

  …maybe the moderates were able to genuinely grasp that a less draconian and punitive Fellowship (or at least, a more convincing appearance of one) has a better actual survival probability in said world.
• 
  62

  So what happens next...

  by Farmer Jim1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with what is arguably the biggest change to jw life in recent decades (the scrapping of publishers counting hours) what does this lead to?.

  in my mind these are the results;.

  1) a massive decrease in 'preaching hours'.

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  Vidiot

  For a good long while, I suspected that a handful of the Old Guard actually wanted the faders, fakers, and fence-sitters to GTFO… until Covid made the GB realize just how many of us there were.

  I think they may be proceeding from the mistaken assumption that “lightening the load” will motivate folks to come back… without fully grasping that the heavy load was never really the problem.

  A lot of us have reiterated stories of still-in friends and family who regularly try to buttonhole us by saying “You know it’s the Truth, don’t you?”

  I’ll wager the GB’s the same way, but more…

  …the Org’s evolved to only allow True Believers to climb the ladder… therefore, it follows that only the Truest Believers make their way to the top, and it’s reinforced by the fact that no one’s allowed to disagree with you once you’re there.

  I think it’s entirely possible that the WT leadership truly cannot grasp that the faders, fakers, and fence-sitters don’t want out because they’re weak, stubborn, or sinful…

  …they want out because they know it’s not the Truth.

  No amount of mainstream reform - sincere or otherwise - is gonna change that.
• 
  62

  So what happens next...

  by Farmer Jim1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with what is arguably the biggest change to jw life in recent decades (the scrapping of publishers counting hours) what does this lead to?.

  in my mind these are the results;.

  1) a massive decrease in 'preaching hours'.

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• 

  Vidiot

  NotFormer - “…(they) lose their main carrot 🥕 and stick 🏒.“

  Nice, thanks.

  I’d have put it that way, too…

  …but these days, I’ve had trouble telling the carrot and stick apart.

  Tends to happen when you use the carrot as the stick, I suppose.

  😏
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  124

  JWLITE

  by Teddnzo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even elders can be part of the new jw lite brigade these days.

  they don’t need to go on door to door anymore and there is no requirement for anything really.. taking meeting parts is all dead easy you could turn up on the day with zero preparation because it’s all in the meeting workbook.. quarterly elders meetings are just old men having a good old natter just like old men do down the pub.. congregations could be likened to pubs or bars these days just without the drinks, those come at other times.. no need for territory maps, these almost went away with covid letter writing now they are extremely slow getting finished as those who still go door to door only do ten mins.. you could even voice your questions these days about things the gb say and then just say “we can’t be dogmatic we just don’t know”.

  i predict they will say this about 1914 soon..

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  Vidiot

  Here’s an interesting critique:

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/18r70bk/if_you_try_to_please_everyone_youll_end_up/
  
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  62

  So what happens next...

  by Farmer Jim1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with what is arguably the biggest change to jw life in recent decades (the scrapping of publishers counting hours) what does this lead to?.

  in my mind these are the results;.

  1) a massive decrease in 'preaching hours'.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Vidiot

  ExBetheliteNowPIMA - “…there won’t be enough sisters left to do microphones, let alone brothers…”

  😂
• 
  124

  JWLITE

  by Teddnzo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even elders can be part of the new jw lite brigade these days.

  they don’t need to go on door to door anymore and there is no requirement for anything really.. taking meeting parts is all dead easy you could turn up on the day with zero preparation because it’s all in the meeting workbook.. quarterly elders meetings are just old men having a good old natter just like old men do down the pub.. congregations could be likened to pubs or bars these days just without the drinks, those come at other times.. no need for territory maps, these almost went away with covid letter writing now they are extremely slow getting finished as those who still go door to door only do ten mins.. you could even voice your questions these days about things the gb say and then just say “we can’t be dogmatic we just don’t know”.

  i predict they will say this about 1914 soon..

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  Vidiot

  ExBetheliteNowPIMA - “…Otherwise there won’t be enough sisters left to do microphones, let alone brothers…”

  Suddenly, I’m picturing the whole meeting being done by one poor burnt-out old guy…

  …literally saying all the prayers, giving all the talks, reading the paragraphs, zipping across to the back to operate the audio system, and running around with the mic, Oprah-style, or maybe just even answering the questions himself.

  😅
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  87

  Lines you would never hear from a Jehovah's Witness

  by Ron.W. in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a slightly tongue in cheek, but also serious roundup of jw speak and why trying to reason with them is like trying to chip through concrete with a plastic spoon.. how many can you think of??.

  elder: 'yes.

  i read through the material you asked me to at your judicial meeting - you're right we're both in a cult!

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  Vidiot

  Anything acknowledging the possibility of evolution.
• 
  13

  70s Cartoons

  by NotFormer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there're the obvious ones, like the smurfs.

  although why still escapes me.

  was it because of the magic, that they were "magical creatures", that there were wizards, etc?.

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  Vidiot

  NotFormer - “…for some reason the 70s and 80s was a very fearful time for parts of Christendom, including, it seems, the WT branch of it…”

  A “Demon-Haunted World” (props to the late Carl Sagan) was a quick and easy explanation for what was - to repressed, ultraconservative religionists - a radically (and rapidly) changing environment that felt increasingly hostile to them, and where it seemed like everything they valued and spent their lives defending was being flushed down the toilet.

  Not to mention the potential loss of cultural dominance that they (correctly) anticipated.
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  62

  So what happens next...

  by Farmer Jim1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with what is arguably the biggest change to jw life in recent decades (the scrapping of publishers counting hours) what does this lead to?.

  in my mind these are the results;.

  1) a massive decrease in 'preaching hours'.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Vidiot

  re. Teddnzo’s post…

  Sure, they can theoretically do all those things, and it actually looks like they just might be attempting to head down that road. It’s pretty apparent by now that they’re really anxious about staying solvent, and if projections indicate that mainstreaming is the only way to stay in the black, they don’t really have much of a choice.

  But…

  …at what point can you not help but ask “what’s the point?”

  All their strict rules, deliberately atypical Biblical interpretations, and dialed-up authoritarianism were the tools they used to “prove” their legitimacy, authenticity, and most importantly, exclusivity…

  …i.e. their position as “God’s Earthly Organization”.

  Genuine, authentic mainstreaming ultimately involves abandoning that claim, explicitly or otherwise.

  But at this point, if the WTS did that, virtually everything they’ve done to shore up that claim for the past century will have been for nothing, and their demand for loyalty and obedience to the Org above all else becomes meaningless.

  There’d be virtually zero incentive left to even be a JW.