2+2=5 cited this fact about the shrinking amount of elders. Perhaps the coming implosion?

by wha happened? 86 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  steve2

  How much the international convention sparks things up again will remain to be seen.

  I had also wondered that Gayle. I'm inclined to think that, although these conventions generate a lot of excitement among a core of committed JWs, I'd be surprised if these publicity shows "translate" into any ongoing growth in numbers of active publishers or pioneers. As with a lot of aging groups, you end up with a vast "army" of hangers-on and a smaller pool of committed participants.

  The annual Memorial is a prime example of a lot of feverish activity that yields unspectacular results. The latest worldwide service report (for 2012) shows that there was roughly 300,000 fewer in attendance at the memorial worldwide than there were in 2011 - despite the concerted effort to get the rank and file off their backsides to drum up wider attendance. I think this has been the first time in literally decades that memorial attendance has shown a decrease. That it passed without comment in the Watchtower literature shows the Watchtower ain't gonna let anything - including the facts - dampen its self-important trumpet-blowing.
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  Lower the standards: if he's over 12, has a penis and is still breathing, he's elder material.
• 

  Aussie Oz

  "Which sisters here would like their husbands to reach out and become a elder?" Over a hundred hands popped up by eager potential women

  Funny that!

  It's a double reason i think. One, the idea that if said slacker husband becomes an elder he is obviously a 'spiritual' man and will lead the wifey to salvation riding on his coat tails, two, the prestige. One thing that upset my now ex wife was the lowering of her status...no longer the wife of a MS going places. And the other challenge it gave her was that now she had to stand on her own feet in front of the JWS and 'jehovah' regarding the status of her own spirituality.

  oz
• 

  TheOldHippie

  "The latest worldwide service report (for 2012) shows that there was roughly 300,000 fewer in attendance at the memorial worldwide than there were in 2011 "

  I wouldn't pay too much attention to that (unless it keeps on dropping .........), the number has always been fluctuating according to what day the Memorial was celebrated. If during the Easter holidays, more people will be on vacation / trips, but if at the very beginning of the Easter week, more people will be at home and attend. 2012, April 5th was a holiday in large parts of the world. 2011, April 17th was BEFORE the Easter week. You would therefore expect a number of half siblings not attending. This year, March 26th will be in the Easter week but before the holidays for large parts of the world. More comparable to 2011.
• 

  ÁrbolesdeArabia

  Phizzy "mores the pity" was new to me; I learned a new idiom.

  "For the WT offering a post that is frankly s**t, unless you love power and prestige within a weird group, and for NO pay, it is a slim hope they will get many takers, and those that do must be suspected of wrong motive or being mentally unstable, usually both."

  It's true, every word you said! Preachers in Christendom have the gift of individuality and preaching a sermon with possible modern day wisdom. Once in a while a "eighty-eight year old" would give a talk at one of the former Halls I attended. The poor brother was lost in time, "I miss the good old days when we used a adding machine to count, now those evil type writers have taken over." Where did they find this guy who was not qualified to give talks? He drifted from subject to subject, "don't you love Jehovah's people, look at the colored couple in the front row!" ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! The old brothers were scary, some still stuck in the 1940s and 1950s using old doctrine.

  Fencing: A brother was deleted from his position of elder a year ago and his wife is angry at him. She is really pissed off she lost her prize and claim to fame. I thought the brother was going to have a nervous break-down, to his wife she could care less. She only thinks about her title and what the other women in the Kingdom Hall think about, her family's health and his health are inconsequential.

  Whose idea is it to call the elders and say "My wife performed oral sex on my zinger, so please tell her to stop that!" or "We both were curious and tried anal sex", why do people call elders with this information? I was sick of hearing people confess to the most petty bedroom acts, why oh why tell us?

  Flyin High: I would disagree, most teenagers are running from "holding the microphones", "doing sound" and decline invitations to become M&S "Masochistic Sadist", Servants are tired of playing the role of the naughty slave.
• 

  wha happened?

  I think we're going to have a lot of drop off in the next 5 years
• 

  ÁrbolesdeArabia

  goober and goofus elders "Jehovah will reward you elders with extra days of eternal life in the New System". When can we send goofus and goober back to Bethel, so they can help the Governing Body solve the "overlapping generation" and "new faithful slave" doctrines?