Hello, I am new (page 5)

daringhart13

Welcome Lily.....it's so encouraging to see people doing research on such important matters. Great references listed above by some of the posters.

Oubliette

According to the Pew Forum, Jehovah's Witnesses have the lowest retention rate for those born-into the religion of any US religion. Why is that?

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. - Pew Research, Religious Landscape Survey, Religious Affiliation, Summary of Key Findings, accessed March 24, 2014

If this religion is so fantastic, why do 2/3 of all children raised as JWs leave when they become adults? Two-thirds!

jookbeard

dont think we'll here from Lily again, she's a 1 hit wonder and run !

Xanthippe

jook, I agree, singing the praises of JWs but 'she' isn't one? Hmm

It sounds superficially reasonable to assert that, if you want to know about Jehovah's Witnesses, ask them. If that is so, why does the organization tell curious Witnesses not to directly ask "apostates" why they left? What's good for the goose....

It is nothing but self-serving sophistry for the Watchtower to repeat like a mantra, ask us, not apostates, what we believe -and then turn around to fearfully warn Witnesses not to dare ask apostates what they now believe about the Watchtower but instead go to the Watchtower to hear about what apostates supposedly believe.

This is just another example of the Watchtower's bountiful double standards.

If they actually "have" the truth why are they so afraid to scrutinize it or listen to alternate views? Surely, as the Truth book, an earlier publication by the Watchtower argued, truth should be able to stand scrutiny. On the other hand, if it's not the truth, I can perfectly understand their deep fear of scrutiny.

sarahsmile

This is the best place to find out about Jehovahs Witnesses.

Frazzled UBM

Panther said: 'The best place to learn about JW is on JW.org

do not go to any other website. JW.org is the only official website for finding out the right information. Any other place will have false information and will not be true. It's like if I wanted to find out more about Mercedes Benz as a company, would I go to the BMW website? Volkswagen Website? Uhhh.........no.'

Nice analogy - let's take it a step further - if you were buying a car, would you only rely on what the salesmen told you or would you check out what they told you for yourself? Would you look at reviews for that car and for that dealership to see whether customers were generally satisfied and whether they thought the business acted honestly and with integrity or engaged in misleading and manipulative sales practices? And would you be concerned if the salesman told you not to do any independent research and that you should just believe what he said without question?

KateWild

We are mainly former JWs here or ones that have stopped believing in WT policies. It's nice to have you on the board. Kate xx

Faithful Witness

Panther said: 'The best place to learn about JW is on JW.org

That is true, IF you only want to know what the JW's want to say about themselves.

If, however, you are considering bringing your children to a meeting, you might want to check their references first. If you're looking to make an educated and fully-rounded decision, you should look at all sides of the story.

Jesus said you would recognize true Christians by their fruits... a quick read of www.jwfacts.org will show you what the world sees from this organization. I considered becoming a JW myself, but when we discovered that we were only allowed to investigate other religions (their so-called "false religions), we had to stop lying to our "friends" and move on to find a more honest group of people.

I will agree, they can be very convincing, when they come to your door in their sheep's clothing!

kaik

Welcome LillyC. This site is generally oriented toward people who were connected with JW and are no more part of the man made organization. It is important for you before you commit yourself into researching what really JW teaches, its history, and 140 years of constantly failed predictions. The WT is a different organization than that one I grew up, and the doctrines had changed so much over the years that they do not resemble anything we studied 20-30 years ago. Over the years the dumbing down of the JW went into such depth that they cannot even recolled commonly known Bible stories. You will be certainly impressed with the original interest in the Bible, God, and hope; they will answer everything you need to know, but once you became a member, all biblical studies cased. Once you question any doctrine or information from their publications, you will be ostracized and avoided as troublemaker. WT almost never gives satisfying answers to JW, who are expected to accept whatever is momentarily published. Just ask them about visible or invisible presence of Jesus; what was role of Satan in OT, etc... and compare it with own research. Good luck to you.

Hello, I am new