Posted by felix a [angler] on November 17, 1999 at 07:34:59 {xx2d.1sWpQP6iqioOwugXXuUsiPcoA}:
In Reply to: The future of the WTS posted by Seeker on November 16, 1999 at 18:44:24:
Seeker,
I am of the opinion that the first scenario is the most likely to happen.
I believe that over the course of the next decade there will be a house cleaning at Bethel and throughout the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a whole. This will be described euphemistically as a "period of spiritual refining". This cleansing will be justified through the use of scriptures that are found in the NT that point to all things beginning in God’s organization first and then proceeding outward towards the cleansing of the earth of wicked mankind.
As this period of house cleaning draws to a close we will have a smaller a stronger core group of believers, what I’m not sure about is which direction it will take. My gut instinct says that the course that will be taken is one of continued mainstreaming of the religion with modern society by means of new light. This mainstreaming will in all likelihood involve such matters as shunning/disfellowshipping, alternative service and blood transfusions. Here some of the adjustments will be a result of political pressures from countries who put the rights of the individual above the rights of an organization (Canada is one such example). This will be done in order to maintain their status as a recognized religion and to maintain any other benefits from this status that they are given. So again I believe they will concede to some of these basic human rights as outlined by the constitutions of the lands they are in.
I also feel that growth throughout the Western world will be forever slowed by access to information about the religion via such mediums as the Internet. Once Pandora’s box has been opened it is very difficult to shut it back up.
Just a few of my thoughts
felix a