Caserious,
Honestly man, every time I want to make a point it seems you have made the identical one. We are going to have to meet sometime.
I agree with what you said regarding Scientology. I just finished "Going Clear", and I would highly recommend the book. The similarities are amazing. Sure the JW's may not bug your phones or encourage abortions at the risk of disconnection (their "disfellowshipping"), but the end tactics are very similar, with less evil attached. Yet truthfully, Scientology continues to grow. Its a "whatever works for you" kind of thing. And Scientology will have the good sense to get rid of their space opera and some of the more crazy aspects of their religion which will be reserved for only a few at the top. They will do this because to focus on the small bit of good, and somewhat more reasonable traits of the church (cult), is what will keep them in the green.
JW's I think will continue to survive. They aren't going anywhere. Our collective experience is still so small that it can't form realization of a trend. With the society unwilling to devulge statistics of disfellowshipping, DA'ing, and so many other things, we can only read from the margins. We can't be dogmatic. So while their growth basically is just above population growth, they are savy enough to make some adjustments, slowly eek away from the more crazy doctrine, and stick around. That is just the truth.
It is interesting to me that Scientology has caught the attention of the population at large. Probably because of the celebrity factor, and the extreme cases of abuse not just in theory or perception, but in practice. In practice at the highest levels. They are much smaller than JW's and have many similar enforcements.
Ethics comittee's = Elders/JC's
SP's (suppresive persons or "Declared a Supressive Person") = Apostate
PTS (Potential Trouble Source) = Kind of like reproving.
Disconnected = Disfellowshipped.
They were in many ways contemporary groups although their philosophys are very different. JW's are like Scientology "light" in aspects of community. Yet Scientology gets the press on the crazy. JW's get a pass from the public at large.
Why do you guys think that is? Why can our dissenters not get an article in the New Yorker, or a tell all book including independant research on Rutherford and the birth of disfellowshipping through Olyn Moyle? These seem like compelling stories even outside our collective understanding.
