Posted by AF [AF] on April 05, 1999 at 18:18:40 {6.uz.4vynMtWYktmF7cQdaOt1gg/Zk}:
In Reply to: ***Opinion About Reform posted by Friend on April 05, 1999 at 15:02:26:
: I think you avoided my point.
Not at all. I addressed it implicitly.
: Sure, change does not necessarily mean reform, but, then, I didn�t just talk about change, did I? What I spoke of was a guided
change, an assisted change.
I know of no non-spontaneous change that isn't "assisted". The Society certainly never changes without some form of "assistance", whether that be threat of lawsuits or pressure from the ranks or pressure from individuals in power.
: You
are correct, and we agree, that change is inevitable. What will that change bring though? That is
the question, and reformers are about affecting that outcome for the good. Effecting change to the good is reform.
The question then becomes, What is "for the good"? For the good of who? The rank and file or the leaders? We already know who is far more important in Watchtower teaching, but that will change too, or the religion will go out of business.
The only fundamental change that the JW organization can make is as I said: to get rid of the Fundamental Doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, which involves concepts like "our leaders represent Jehovah", "we are uniquely God's people", "we are the only ones doing God's will" and so on. All other doctrines are up for grabs. In the short run the JW organization is going to see chaos similar to what it went through in the 1920s when it lost some 3/4 of its followers. The free availability today, however, will strongly influence the resulting organization towards telling the truth about its leadership and its history, among other things.
I see a definite place for organizations like the Witnesses. They provide tight social circles for people who need strong guidance, or for certain men who can rise to the top of a little heap when they'd not do nearly as well outside. There are plenty of religions like that, and exactly what they teach is irrelevant to most of them because they're fundamentally social constructs, not religious.
A good example is how the Worldwide Church of God rapidly evolved after the death of its founder, Herbert Armstrong. They're pretty mainstream these days.
AF