by jwfacts 50 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
If recent KM figures for the UK are an indication, I would say they don't need much advice in this regard:
Baptisms are up considerably, there was an all-time peak in pioneers this year, and publishers are about 2% up on last year.
Not only are JWs still growing, but you have to remember that they are managing to do so within a society (in the UK) which increasingly secular. I don't think the accomplishment of swimming against the tide is one to be sniffed at.
Slim
Hi Slim, thanks for the information, very depressing in deed. As Carl Sagan wrote about the JW's and how the religion did not fail after 1914:
"fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough–mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry." Broca's Brain Carl Sagan
That aside, 2% can hardly be considered encouraging, it is simply the population growth rate. It indicates a lot of door-to-door sales calls are needed just to replace the children that are leaving.
"We do not want to be assisting and encouraging new ones to come in, so to speak, through the front door, while our children go out through the back door as they reach the teen years." (Pay Attention 1979 p.119 Unit 7b)
I don't think the UK population is increasing by anything near 2% a year. Worldwide population growth is between 1 and 2% I believe.
I am not definite about a 2% increase for the Witnesses in the UK btw: some of my KMs are missing, but I compared five of the first seven months of the service year and it showed an increase just above 2%.
About pioneers, this appeared in the July KM:
ALL-TIME PEAK: 8,196 regular pioneers reported in March. That is the second all-time peak we have had during 2007. During the last four years there has been a 15-percent increase in the number of regular pioneers in Britain. We commend all who are making room for this priviledge of service.
The next KM shows a new peak of 8,212.
About whether a 2% increase would be 'encouraging', I suppose it depends on your perspective. It would certainly be the best increase the Witness have had in the UK for more than 10 years. On the other hand it does not match the increases JWs had in the 1980s and earlier.
Compared to other religions in the UK where there is almost universal and dramatic decline, it does not look bad at all. In some countries where people are leaving the churches in droves, for the Witnesses even to stand still may be seen as an achievement.
Slim
Change is not going to come from the governing body. While they see the tide changing, it is slow enough that they can remain comfident that they will die before they are personally affected.
The change, if it is to come, will be from the a much younger group. This explains why the gb legally and organizationally were removed from the decision making of the wt corporations.
I think, sad to say, that the question assumes too much i.e. "the coming demise' is not a given IMO. Much as i might be glad to see the end of 'the evil empire', i can only see it continuing for many years. It's very size, or mass, provides some sort of permanence.
I also don't see the GB sitting and planning such things; I really think they believe they are "God's organisation™" but I'm not so sure about them really believing they will rule the earth. Still I see that what concerns them is control ("over the Master's belongings"); demise doesn't enter into it for them.
Come clean.
changeling
Make fornication just include sex between unwilling partners, or some such thing.
Umm...if I've got the math right, a least one of the partners has to be willing...
What makes you honestly think that this system is going to last another 50 yrs, the decay of humanity the environment the corruptness, the cruelty and ungodliness, the mental health crisis the cancers and shall I go on, this will be the demis of the planet before the witnesses
If you're too young to remember Rachel Carson, Paul Erlich, The Cuban Missle Crises, DDT, Leaded snowflakes the 60's generation etc., you probably won't believe this, but 40 - 50 years ago, things looked much worse.
That is one of the principal reasons why JW growth was robust in the 50's and 60's and why it is weak today.
A real bona fide crises would be the best thing that could possibly happen to the JW's and would ensure their success for years to come
Re: If you were the GB, what would you do to prevent to coming demise of JWs?
Start mixing the Kool-Aid
... and keep everyone vigilant about the "end" coming very, very soon. Start inserting comments into the WT literature along the lines of "events may not unfold exactly as we might have hoped or expected" and "are you prepared to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to prove your loyalty to Jehovah?"
