XJW critical mass?

by IP_SEC 27 Replies latest jw friends

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  IP_SEC

  How many XJWs are there out there? How many XJWs know the truth about the troof? Are there now more XJWs than there are active Witnesses? There is probably no way to know the answer to those questions but how about this: Is there such thing as an XJW Critical Mass?

  Critical Mass:
  
  1. The minimum mass of fissionable material that can sustain a chain reaction
  2. The size at which a business or market undergoes a fundamental change in regard to operations. An example of such a change is a company's achievement of increasing returns to scale.
  3. An amount or level needed for a specific result or new action to occur

  Critical Mass is an amount of something it takes for a desired result. For example without a critical mass of Plutonium (or whatevah) you get no real atomic reaction. But once the critical mass is reached you get a certain outcome (reaction) that would not have been possible with a lesser mass.
  
  Do you think there is a point in time where there will be so many XJWs that a sort of critical mass situation will occur? Do you think we've reached the point where there are so many XJWs that the WTS will have trouble keeping and making more members?

  It seems to me that every JW now has to contend not only with the normal problems of life + JW specific problems but also has a son or daughter or mother or father they have to shun. Will they ever get to the point there are just too many to ignore, to shun?

  Comment freely
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  katiekitten

  I would be very interested to find out if there were more that had fallen out than are currently in. Im not sure if theres a way of finding out.

  The only way I can think of is a year on year calculation using the yearbook figures.
  This years total - (Last years total + total baptised this year).
  The difference is surely the number who have left.

  You would have to do it for every year since the beginning tho.
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  jwfacts

  I think this is a very interesting question.

  Stats I have seen are that 1.3% of JWs get d/f every year and only about 1/3 return. That means about 40,000 a year gone for good. Add to this the faders (2005 saw 250,000 batisms but only 80,000 extra publishers.) After taking account for the death rate it is safe to say 100,000 are leaving a year, or 1 million since 1995.

  Unfortunately a lot that leave have not actually found out the truth about the Truth, so are riddled with guilt and still defend the WTS. The largest affect JWD is having is educating these people, as they are no longer brainwashed into not looking at alternative points of view.

  I think critical mass is still a few years away, but it is possible it will come, unless the WTS does a major reinvention of itself.
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  moshe

  Remember the old Plain Truth magazine put out by Herbert and Garner Ted Armstrong? The Worldwide Church of God did an about face some years back. The are no longer outside the circle of Christian Orthodoxy. They lost a lot of hardliners in the process, but survived the change. The present religious model cannot be sustained indefinitely by WT leaders. I am trying to put together a phone directory of former JW's that I can call after the big blow up happens in the Org. I just have to rub it in- I told you so.
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  Mamacat

  I have been surprised to learn just how many people have had experiences with JW's. I don't casually mention that my mom is one, or that I was raised with it. But, I will mention it to my friends if it comes up (usually in response to if we are going to visit family for the holidays, or if my family is coming for my kids' birthdays.)

  Almost everyone I know has someone in their family that either is a JW or was at one time! I remember when I was one of 2 or 3 in my school, I always thought that it was very uncommon to be one because I was so singled out. I have gave several people tips on how to get them to stop coming back to their doors!

  I don't think you could ever figure it out using statistics, because everyone here that went to the hall will remember when someone's study would show up for a few meetings, or when someone would get a family member to come for a while. There are many people out there that have been exposed to the JW teachings that just decided it wasn't for them. I don't know that they would be so invested to try to deter others from joining though. I definitely do though!
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  95stormfront

  I got baptised a JW over the strong objections of my mother. She know about JWs but didn't have the information needed to get me above the haze of BS they were sprouting. She was even at my baptism, mostly to see what all the hoopla about being a JW was about, but, she now knows I want nothing to do with them. Recently, she confided in me that when they come to her door, she never answers it. I told her that that was no problem....that she's under no obligation to talk to them is she doesn't want to.
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  fullofdoubtnow

  Whilst it's almost impossible to find out exactly how many ex jws there are, I suspect that there will soon be more ex jws than actual jws, if there aren't already. There are at least 15 people from my old kh that have left, never to return, in the last 6 years, including myself, so if that were a trend throughout the UK, it would amount to an awful lot of ex jws.
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  Quandry

  A very good question!!! There must be many still going who are having problems coming to grips with the new "generation" thing. I know that was very difficult for me, even though I tried not to think about it.

  Many are new to this forum, in addition, who have stated that they lurked for quite awhile first. Wonder how many are still in good standing who are privately lurking?
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  done4good

  There's probably close to as many xjws, as jws. But, as was mentioned, most don't know the "truth about the Truth", so they could easily go back if circumstance calls for it. At least it is far easier to become educated now, (about the jws), than it was even just a few years ago. Sites such as JWD have made my exit much faster, and in a more complete way.

  j
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  metatron

  I would look for clues in the recent best seller, "The Tipping Point", which deals with the very subject of how change can arise suddenly.

  I don't look for anything dramatic to occur anytime soon unless some legal action changes things. Even if the Society goes out of business,

  I can guarantee you that Witnesses will keep dragging themselves to meetings and field service, addicted as they are to the Armageddon

  drug.

  If a person can swallow over 120 years of false prophesy, exactly what hope remains for their transformation?

  metatron