How many partook in 1935?--BIG discrepancy in the WTS numbers

by M.J. 42 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  M.J.

  ...of course my theory doesn't account for the contradiction in number of attendees. 63K vs 33K

  phil--long story. Only the "higher class" of JWs participate in the "last supper", or communion, which they call the "memorial". This is celebrated once a year. This higher class is supposedly part of the 144,000 "anointed" christians...which supposedly accounts for all "true christians" from the time of Christ until the full number was FINALLY realized in 1935. From 1935 on a new class of believers called the "great crowd" was identified. Most JWs today obviously are of the 2nd class. But there are a LOT of the "anointed class" still around! somewhere around 8,500. This is hard to believe, since there weren't very many around back in 1935...and obviously one would think that most of them would be dead by now. But the answer for this that the Watchtower Society has provided was that some of these original members of the 144,000 have since turned their back on God, so they left a vacancy in the 144,000 that could be filled by a younger person.

  In short, those who are "anointed", PARTAKE of the wine and bread at the Memorial. The rest of the JWs just attend and don't partake.

  You still with me? I know it's pretty convoluted. Check out some of the articles that explain the 144,000 and the Great Crowd at freeminds.org.
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  blondie

  Actually, the "great crowd" were not "invited" to the Memorial until 1938 because it was considered only for the anointed.

  ***Proclaimers book

  chap. 16 p. 243 Meetings for Worship, Instruction, and Encouragement ***

  Particularly beginning in the 1930’s, prospective members of the "great multitude," or "great crowd" of other sheep, began to manifest themselves. (Rev. 7:9, 10, KJ; John 10:16) These were at that time referred to as Jonadabs. For the first time, in its issue of February 15, 1938, The Watchtower specifically invited them to be present at the Memorial, saying: "After six p.m. on April 15 let each company of the anointed assemble and celebrate the Memorial, their companions the Jonadabs also being present."
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  TheOldHippie

  Don't have it here right now, but Proclaimers gives "all" figures as an appendix, does it not?
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  dozy

  
  I think it's a given that very few of the partakers today are regarded as anointed & most witnesses (privately) admit that - although most would regard the GB as such. The few people that I know who partake are generally not regarded as qualifiers - most regard them as a bit loopy. They tend to be middle aged witnesses looking for a bit of extra prestige & they are certainly not in the first division spiritually speaking. Many "became anointed" in the last 60's / early 70's when there was a sudden surge folIowing a softening of the WTS position. I was at Sister Barr's (Jack Barr's sister (of the GB) ) funeral last year and several people well connected in JWs commented that she was the last "real" anointed person that they knew.

  The WTS clearly subscribes to this - increasingly the expression "professing to be of the anointed" is used - it was in the "Really" book discussed yesterday & commented on by the speaker & noted by a couple in the audience.
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  zagor

  I happen to own PDF copies of the JW yearbooks from 1943-1959.

  is it possible to get a copy???? plz I'll give you my email
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  New Worldly Translation

  OldHippie - these are the figures from the proclaimers book:

  1935 - 52,465
  1940 - 27,711
  1945 - 22,328
  1950 - 22,723
  1955 - 16,815
  1960 - 13,911
  1965 - 11,550
  1970 - 10,526
  1975 - 10,550
  1980 - 9,564
  1985 - 9,051
  1992 - 8,683

  It's interesting how they've picked out five year intervals which makes it seem like the partakers have steadily dropped with no fluctuations. There's no explanation of the reason for the high 1935 figure and it's explained figures pre '35 were patchy and unreliable.
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  TheOldHippie

  27,711 65 years ago, and they were not too young, so all demographic rules would give us that as close to 100 % of these as you could come, shuld be dead by now. That again would tell us, that today's 8,683 are 31.3 % of the original 27,711 - and that again tells us that one third of the 1940 remnant proved to be unfaithful and had to be filled in for ...........
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  M.J.

  Thanks for that info, Blondie. The fact that non-anointed weren't invited would account for big changes in overall attendance after the revealing of "the great crowd"

  In any case, I think we can see some dishonesty going on here in the WTS publications.
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  RunningMan

  Many years ago, I was sitting in a book study when the discussion of the anointed arose. That very day, I had been doing some insurance calculations for my employer, and I thought "Man, I wish I had sold insurance to the remnant. Those suckers have a zero mortality rate. The residuals would be out of sight." And, that's when it dawned on me that it wasn't a joke. Something was wrong. So, I pulled out an actuarial table and plugged in the number of anointed, beginning in 1970, since that was where the numbers started deviating from normal. I assumed that all anointed had been selected by 1935, and that they must have been at least 30 when selected (Jesus age when baptized). By 2005, there should only be 100 left. That means that 98.8% of the anointed are bogus, fakes. Either that, or not a single one of them has died faithfully. I also ran the numbers, assuming that they had been selected at age 13 - which is ridiculously low for being selected as an eternal king and priest. Even so, 55.5% of them must be fakes. If anyone would like a copy of the calculation, just let me know.
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  Nosferatu

  IMO, this should be added to the quotes website (or the Reexaminer Quotes website)