by JWdaughter 22 Replies latest watchtower bible
And it said that based on their growth and such, that in 20 years(or by 2020) there would be 28 million JWs.
Any sign of imminent, widespread persecution that you all have noticed? I keep hearing about KH's being built and remodeled, and how huge their conventions are. This is the end times?
The thing is, I had read this study in the hope of seeing a trend or idea on how to end that stupid religion. I think that it will just keep going on like all the rest of the stupid religions.
And it said that based on their growth and such, that in 20 years(or by 2020) there would be 28 million JWs.
Who conducted this study, and how did they arrive at their estimates? These numbers seem a little inflated, but it might be possible if China institutes the reforms that allow religious freedoms (much like the former USSR). China; with its 1 billion people could certainly provide several million converts and experience the growth rate that countries like Mexico and Brazil saw.
The Watchtower will have to gain the bulk of its growth in third world and emerging countries though. The abundance of information on the Watchtower that is readily available in the U.S., Western Europe, and other industrialized countries has significantly slowed their growth. Japan alone has hit a point of virtually zero growth.
The Watchtower will have to focus on keeping people in the organization (clamping down) while gaining most of its growth from countries where there are few educated people. The Watchtower's most desired commodity is superstitious and gullible people.
Interesting, JWDaughter. Know where we can find that study? I recall that the WTS would always keep their bases covered with reference to growth.
On the one hand, 'Look how Jehovah is "making the small one a mighty nation!" This was used anytime there were mentions of positive growth.
Then there was, 'Remember, the Bible says "narrow is the path and cramped the road" leading to everlasting life, but "broad and spacious" is the road leading to destruction. Jehovah's approval does not require that we grow in number.'
Similarly, whether they experience growth or not, makes no difference to me. They are still a manipulative, legalistic and authoritarian high-control group--and they're simply not what they purport to be.
I too would like to see this study.
Based on my informal quick review of Kingdom ministry FS reports for the 2007 - 08 service year, it looks like growth in the US will be far less than the 3.1% increase last year. Of course it depends on how the July & August reports look, but I'd say it will be closer to a 1% growth rate in the US.
I have to think that as the US goes, the rest of the western world goes too.
I suspect last year's relatively robust growth was just a statistical blip, and there will probably soon be a return to the 0% and negative growth results that were experienced in most western lands through most of this decade.
In any case, a 300% increase in 20 years just ain't gonna happen, even if China opens up.
I would be interested in what assumptions were used to define this growth rate.
I would be interested in what assumptions were used to define this growth rate.
Wishful thinking!
I just remembered another point. Many in the organization have quietly speculated that when the number of Jehovah's Witnesses reaches the number of 10 million globally; this is when Jehovah will bring about the end - as the number "10" signifies "completion" in the Bible. As if God would be so arbitrary as to cut off the posibility of people gaining life because of a number.
Jehovah's Witnesses do indeed have a bizarre, pathalogical fetish with numbers and their supposed significance. The entire JW theological / doctrinal structure has always been mired in fanciful number crunching. There is no doubt in my mind that JWs will continue to observe their membership numbers with anticipatory speculations. I suppose that Jehovah is not only a God of justice and mercy, but is also a God of math.
Wasn't there a survey in February 2008 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Jehovah's Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of any religious tradition. Only 37% of all those who say they were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses still identify themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/743/united-states-religion
Blondie
"Statistics are like a bikini - what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital". - Prof. Aaron Levenstein
"He uses statistics like a drunken man uses a lamp-post.... for support rather than illumination" Andrew Lang,
in 20 years(or by 2020) there would be 28 million JWs.
not based on current trends.. no way. Number baptized each year less than 300,000 plus approx 40k per year leave. Even at that rate we are talking 5 million more, or 11 million.
And before you criticize my not accounting for increased growth based on increased numbers, remember that there are 10's of thousands less per year being baptized now than there were 20 years ago with only 3-4 million JW's.
The only realy growth this org will see is in 3rd world countries and China. This is not an assumption but a fact that is supported by WTS own reports. They are drooling over China like they were over Japan before that bubble burst and growth stagnated as thousands left the org, and Russia when the Iron Curtain fell before that. The growth in Korea?? All migrant workers. There is 0% growth in the actual Korean population - fact. Of this growth they send many over to China "under-cover".
Without China the org will be forced to send pioneers to afghanastan & Iraq to get shot and blown up....
