How Will They Keep JW Youths In?

by minimus 47 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  ziddina

  "I guess it's a symptom of the aging state of the religion: Most of their new blood comes from those born in the religion whereas until a few decades ago they were recruiting lots of completely new people. In Western countries, recruitng of new ones is occurring significantly less nowadays. Hence, a potential pool of new baptisms is evaporating so the emphasis goes on baptizing younger born-ins. ..." Steve2, page 1

  I wonder if they'll ever aggressively reverse their anti-marriage, anti-children stances of the past...

  Good ol' Rutherford. What a disaster his misogynistic, misanthropic legacy hase turned out to be.
• 

  steve2

  Good question Zid. The caution against having children only makes sense if the world is actually ending. I think of all those witnesses from earlier genrations who remained childless and how they inwardly felt as they grew older without the comfort of children and grandchildren and observed the younger generaton of witneses who were having children. You can't tell me, those childless witnesses would feel nothing. That's so sad.

  The Mormons are a relevant example of a religion that actively encourages large families. I heard that in the ltest US census, the Mormons are the fastest growing. I cannot remember the statistic, but it appeared to be a phenomenal increase across census periods. No mention of the JWs in the brief news report. I wonder how they're doing? Usually census figures are larger than the number of active publishers because the census question typically asks what the citizen's religious affiliation is.
• 

  smiddy

  The last cong.we were in,going back say 25-30 years ago when my kids were teenagers , we lived in an area, by rural standards, was saturated with witnesses.My kids associated with their peers from about 5 other cong`s as teenagers do ,only recently have I become aware of half the things they got up to.( thank Christ ) I would have had a heart attack back then LOL. I cant give you numbers ,but by far the vast majority of these kids have nothing to do with the witnesses any more,and not a few of them were children of elders.Because of social network sites such as facebook i`ve been able to personally see their newfound freedom,and I rejoice,good for them .

  smiddy
• 

  Joe Grundy

  I'm not, and never have been, a dub - but I was brought up in a fundie sect/denomination (PB) and they had the same problem.

  One of the things that worries sects most (IME) is the 'danger' (as they perceive it) that there are not enough potential mates (or partners, call it what you will) within the sect ('Organisation' I suppose in JW speak) and youngsters/teens/young adults will follow their hormones out of the religion. IME when I was a post-pubescent male teenager a pretty girl with the promise or possibility of carnal knowledge to whatever extent won out over theology or the fear of eternal damnation any day. And I wasn't alone - I remember one young lady telling me that her greatest fear was being 'sent back unopened'. I don't think that those basic feelings have changed much.

  It has been said many times but I think it's worth repeating. The greatest influence that pulls people (not just teens) away from WTBTS and other controlling cults is access to the internet, social media, FB, Twitter, etc. One doesn't even need a computer now - a (free) mobile phone on a £15/month contract gives all the access needed.

  I suspect that it won't be long before the only 'JW Youths' (isn't 'youths' such a clumsy and pejorative term?!) still 'in' will be the socially or otherwise challenged.

  No offence intended.
• 

  extractor

  I teach high school band. A super nice 15 year old JW kid (with the social maturity of a 3rd grader) came up to me and said, "MR. _, I can't wait for next school year. Band is the most fun thing I've ever done in my life!" 48 hours later his parents pulled him out of band. 7 out of 8 JW kids have been pulled out of band in the past 2 weeks. These kids love my class. Don't these ridiculous WT rules surely backfire on them and actually drive kids out?

  Stupid cult.
• 

  Blind_Of_Lies

  extractor-

  I am curious as to why the sudden exodus from your class. Do you require after school activities for band member? Do you play holiday, religious or patriotic songs?
• 

  James Brown

  When I was a JW youth under 10 I was fearful of Jehovah.

  I almost escaped at 18 but fell in love with a sister and married.

  Then the fear kicked back in.

  But I was delivered by 1975 when I was 23 years old.

  They got to find a way to deliver the fear without an expiration date.
• 

  La Falta Habitacion Por Sr Hor-Hey!!

  But I was delivered by 1975 when I was 23 years old.

  They got to find a way to deliver the fear without an expiration date.

  This made me think to myself, I wonder how many JWs secretly wish for another 1975 fiasco or a scandal of sorts just so they have a legitimate excuse to make an exit from the religion without too much flack from their fellow JW peers?
• 

  popcorn_eater

  48 hours later his parents pulled him out of band. 7 out of 8 JW kids have been pulled out of band in the past 2 weeks. These kids love my class.

  Ugh that is so frustrating. Keep trying to inspire these kids if you get more of them. I bet even the short time they spend in your class will be a shining memory for them to maybe one day help them out.

  I have great hope that my own "young one" will drift away from the JW's.

  I just wanted to chime in with more of an observation/question about JW strategy toward young people -- it seems like the WT does very little to retain kids, other than trying to baptize them early. What I mean is, there is no sunday school or bible study just with kids; there is no youth group. there are no "lock ins" or any other sanctioned activities. Kids are treated from the beginning as little adults. They sit through the same meetings, read the same materials, get spanked if they act like KIDS during meetings... There are special publications for them, a few, but by and large they are not treated differently from adults. Not coming from a JW background I can tell you I find this very odd.

  Not that I want to give this organization any suggestions, but it would seem to me that more youth fun activities and age-appropriate and interactive teaching would go a long way. I'm glad they don't do this but it has always struck me as a little weird. Why don't they?
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  skeeter1

  Extractor: My sibling was in band and loved it. It was one of her few classes that she loved. She was a JW then, and, unfortunately, still is now. But, she always notes, "I wasn't in the marching band. I was in the orchestra band."