In the past 20 years, have you seen a balanced, educated adult not raised by JW parents get baptized as a JW?

by BonaFide 40 Replies latest jw friends

  • purplesofa
    purplesofa

    Well, I would hardly call them angels.

    But you know when witnesses work the same territory over time, and the answer to the question, why do we call on the same people over and over.

    And the answer is, You never know when something may happen in their life that may cause them to listen to the truth.

    And that something is, some sort of tragedy.

    I want to add though, some people can get very enlightened after a tragedy in their life and are ready to make adjustment and changes.

    It's a very vulnerable time. Keep your loved ones close when these things happen so they do not fall prey.

    My mother too, was very vulnerable when she got baptised.

    I understand how this works.

    purps

  • besty
    besty

    @kudra - did your Mum sign up in the last 20 years?

    My Mum and Dad were classic 'searcher' converts - both vulnerable young adults from abusive backgrounds, my Dad with undiagnosed brain damage from near fatal vehickle knock down at a young age. Oh and they were living 3000 miles from native Scotland in Brooklyn NY. Cult accident waiting to happen unfortunately - they could just as easily have been SDA or Mormon - as it happens they became JW.

  • reniaa
    reniaa

    I think then I would rather be of this group than elitest ones looking down at People because of age, colour and lack of education.

    Thankfully God or Jesus his son themselves do not look with predjudice.

    James 2:5
    Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

    Reniaa

  • White Dove
    White Dove

    I've seen more born-ins and sad cases from the territory get baptized. I've not seen any sharp well balanced individual take the plunge.

  • purplesofa
    purplesofa

    Thats a good scripture reniaa, and I agree,

    but I gotta tell ya,

    there is a point where Jesus teachings stop and the WT starts.

    purps

  • Olin Moyles Ghost
    Olin Moyles Ghost

    This is a touchy subject. We need to be careful to to look down on these folks. I prefer to think of them as "skinned and thrown about" and as "sheep without a shepherd," but that's just one ghost's opinion. I also like the Seneca quote in Besty's post below.

    I've been in several English-speaking congregations in the USA over a few decades. During that time I have noticed very few baptisms resulting from cold-calls (the door to door work). A large majority of baptisms are children of Witnesses. Some are other family members of Witnesses (usually spouses, sometimes siblings, rarely parents). A small percentage come in via informal witnessing, and a handful come in from the cold-calling work.

    I have noticed one trait across almost every Witness I know who came in from the field: lack of strong family ties. I don't know any Witnesses who came in from the field who have a close-knit family living in their community. In the rural USA, it is common for generations of family to live within a few miles of each other. Witnesses in these areas complain how difficult it is to get people to study and "make progress" when they have strong bonds with non-Witness family.

    I have never seen folks in this situation become Witnesses. Rather, I have seen people who have moved into the community from another state become Witnesses. Also, folks who had a rough family life and do not feel strong ties to their parents have come into the religion.

    Of course, all of the above is just my personal observation. The Pew report cited above gives a more complete picture of the Witness demographic in the USA.

  • truthseeker
    truthseeker

    Besty, are we talking Hackney here?

  • OUTLAW
    OUTLAW

    Mary..

    Is`nt it 2 kids with special needs and a Baby?..

    ..................OUTLAW

  • besty
    besty

    "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."

    Seneca - 'bout the same time as Jebus.

    Religion has been taking the piss for a long time now, and the commoners are the footsoldiers.

  • Kudra
    Kudra

    mm- my mom signed up when I was ~7 or 8 I think... so like 25 years ago.

    She was raised Catholic- not too hard-core. She was always into religion- studied with the 7th Days until she compared them tothe JWs. There were things (theological, chronological? who knows) that were not explained to her liking in the 7th Days so she decided to go with the JWs.

    When they met, my dad was pretty spiritual- traveled around with a priest (I know, it sounds weird). But ever since I've known my dad (since birth, or whenever I can first remember) he has been a humanist.

    I mean the only times our parents fought was over JW stuff. My dad used to get *super* pissed... though for the life of me I don't know what things JW-related could have caused that big of a disagreement between them! My mom would be crying and stuff! I guess it would be a good thing to figure out. We used to say that dad would get "that look" when JW things would come up. Gawd! now I want to know what it was!!

    A mystery!

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit