by besty 51 Replies latest jw friends
I won't use my family... I'll use my pioneer friends when I was growing up...
Friend #1: Came into the truth pioneered, got married, got divorced, became a thief, got DfD, spent time in jail...
Friend #2: Pioneered, Left the truth, his family won't tell me what happened. Maybe hopefully he's apostate....
Friend #3: He's still an elder (unless he's lurking on this board somewhere.
Hey, well that's 2 out of 3. What do you know!
AiG
It amazes me to think about the Service Meeting parts when the guy would ask everyone who is baptized to raise their hands. Then only those who have been baptized for 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years to keep their hands up. At the end there's only a couple hands up. Maybe.
It's always seen as how "merciful" Jehovah was in allowing so much time to go on. It's never seen as "where the hell did everyone go?"
DOH!
OM
Thanks for the comments everyone - particularly M.J.'s point on the dynamic of a constantly changing membership.
Perhaps the WTS have evolved to selfishly take advantage of high turnover - its Darwinian Dawkinism at its finest.
Yeah, you can bet the org is glad to purge itself of all the "Potential Trouble Sources" (to borrow a term from Scientology).
Besty, did any of the family members you listed successfully convert anyone to the religion? If so did any of those converts have children who stayed? And did they in turn convert anyone else or have further children? Even if in a few years none of your family remain Jehovah's Witnesses it is still possible it will leave a net positive impact on growth if they managed to convert others while active in the religion.
Hey Slimboy - hows Afghanistan?
Great point and yes unfortunately there have been a few converts along the way.
Most notably a man recruited by my Dad in the 1960's. Surviving now in his family and still JW is one girl married to a JW with about 4 JW kids, so they are 3rd generation.
Also my brother has recruited one or two over the years - he pioneered for 10 years and has been doing his 10-15 hours a month for say another 20 years so not a lot to show, but thats typical.
The thing is with extrapolating like this is that as you get further away from the source original JW its gets more and more difficult to ascertain whether the potential recruit would have been signed up by another JW or indeed another cult in any case.
My immediate family....
50s & 60s 3, Two converts, one kid, born in
70s 6, Three converts, three born in, but me unbaptised.
80s to 2000 5, Three converts, two born in, one drifted unbaptised born in.
2008, 4. My parents (converts), My wife (convert), one 'born in' waiting for paradise to have kids, one drifted, married out of The Truth, (I am doubtful that the kids will be recruited). Me, that could be labeled Apostate except that I never got baptised.
Therefore, future generations, nil.
Cheers
Chris
Thought I'd give this thread a last moment in the sun :-)
It made me reflect on what the WTS promised my unworldly mother and father when they were recruited in their early 20's back in 1959.
The WTS promised them -
It seems to me the WTS has over-promised and under-delivered. If it looks, smells and tastes like snakeoil......
In my area, the figures are about 85% of young ones leaving.
They are going to college, the military, Atlanta, etc.
Sylvia
1 year ago 6 in, 3 have left, 3 still in, 1 barely.
