it has been commented here that "soon" the do's will be history.
the co level will be "retired" at age 70 and the latest development was that the cobe can not serve after age 80. it would seem that there is a "cull" of top management.
in secular companys that would signal a radical change of directions ???.
We need to pay attention to the whole picture. What I'm seeing is bizarre.
Where do they think these new elders are going to come from? Are young men lining up to be appointed? Who wants to be a toady appointed by the all powerful CO?
I still see many rural/small town congregations that are barely alive with few, old and sick elders.
These changes are a combination of cost-cutting, 'devil take the hindmost' and simple arrogance.
metatron
how many of you have ever observed no votes in kingdom halls?
especially for spending on stuff?.
i've actually seen a few close votes but i is my experience unusual?
So far, this is exactly what I thought.
All these votes to shower money on the WTS are baloney. It's just fake voting in which people are afraid.
Good luck getting those contributions.
metatron
how many of you have ever observed no votes in kingdom halls?
especially for spending on stuff?.
i've actually seen a few close votes but i is my experience unusual?
OK, let's see. How many of you have ever observed No votes in Kingdom Halls? Especially for spending on stuff?
I've actually seen a few close votes but I is my experience unusual? If so, all these congregation pledges to the Society mean about as much as an election in North Korea.
metatron
a new letter no longer allows an elder to be cobe if hes 80 or more.
To the Governing Body,
Dear Brothers,
We are unable to comply with your directive to remove our 80 year old COBE.
It seems that he is the only one among us who doesn't download internet porn.
Your Brothers,
Horndog Congregation
the waters are drying up!
a congregation of 110+ publishers will be contributing only $200 a month to the society in the new kingdom hall construction arrangement.
that's less than $2 a publisher!
Allow me to add a few points to this fine discussion. What happens next?
So, weary congregations vote to throw money at the Society. Do the elders end up begging from the stage? How will that look? Will it wake up more Witlesses?
The Watchtower and Awake are pathetic anachronisms. Eventually, they've got to go and their contents get moved online exclusively. How many Witlesses will read them after that? What will happen to contributions for the WorldWide Work after they are gone? Will they set up ANOTHER "pledge drive"?
What happens to Watchtower cash flow if the magazines die off AND they observe that little or no Kingdom Halls are being built with their money?
And I wish to add, again, that I see evidence of a 'devil-take-the-hindmost' attitude towards many smaller congregations in the US. The Watchtower Society has discovered Social Darwinism.
metatron
i've spoken privately with some witnesses over the past couple weeks and it caused me to think about an analogy.
i turn to totalitarian examples because that's the basic structure of the 'truth'.. as nazi germany encountered defeat, several things happened.
some higher ups sought to escape into surrender in the west because they realized defeat was inevitable.
Lost, you do make a fair point about the selection of the unthinking in sustaining the Organization.
However, that thinking inability - coupled with apathy - could prove to be their undoing. At one time, as many oldtimers can tell you, the Organization attracted lots of nice middle class families - instead of weak, sick, broke losers as they tend to do today.
I started thinking about this 'drift towards a denomination' rather recently after I came across info about how the Society was simply ignoring dying congregations in a sort of 'f**k you, loser' manner. It seems they are often sending couples/ brothers to congregations that show some chance for growth OR because the CO hates some elder body INSTEAD of helping halls that are about to be disbanded and sold off.
Really cold hearted.. but that's how things could change.
metatron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kobayashi_maru.
they observe decline.
they cut back most everywhere.
I apologize for multiplying analogies but consider the Catholic Church as a model.
They encompass Opus Dei lunatics and apathetic birth control usin', fornicating slackers who only show up a couple a times a year for Mass in jeans and a windbreaker.
It can be done.
metatron
i've spoken privately with some witnesses over the past couple weeks and it caused me to think about an analogy.
i turn to totalitarian examples because that's the basic structure of the 'truth'.. as nazi germany encountered defeat, several things happened.
some higher ups sought to escape into surrender in the west because they realized defeat was inevitable.
I think they've come to a fork in the road. Reason and compromise on one path, blind and ugly fanaticism on the other.
This Organization evolved over time to become what it is today - and evolution leads to all sorts of surprizes.
Maybe they went with the Coerced Contribution Arrangement because the magazines are about to end and the donations along with them.
metatron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kobayashi_maru.
they observe decline.
they cut back most everywhere.
Hilarious! We've gone from the Borg to the Pakleds!
To be clear, I greatly doubt that anyone at HQ aspires to make the Organization into yet another burned out Protestant church. Even so, that's the favorable interpretation of how things are evolving.
You may have folks at Warwick/ Paterson who favor compromise (the ones with cozy jobs and opportunities) while the guys in the field (suckers) must fight the notion that they wasted their lives chasing a fantasy. This might explain things.
The nastier view would be that they just suffer and die as a washed up cult. My remaining sense of compassion ( and business logic) favors the 'evolving towards a denomination'view.
metatron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kobayashi_maru.
they observe decline.
they cut back most everywhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru
They observe decline. They cut back most everywhere. They see youth -their future- leaving.
So, they compromise here and there. No Home Book Studies. Easy Reader magazines. One less meeting when the CO comes by. Shorter assemblies. Coerced contributions to come.
Yet. they are stuck with plenty of men who will be forced to realize that they wasted their lives - Bethelites, District Overseers, Missionaries, Building volunteers who end up with tropical diseases from working in the 3rd world.... and so on.
They drift towards becoming a denomination while knowing that they will sacrifice a number of their most loyal workers.
I think they've reached their Kobayashi Maru moment.
metatron
