Preaching is a waste of time

by konceptual99 42 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  WTWizard

  You get nothing by going door to door with this message. Even back in the late 1980s, the peak of this work, you were doing "well" to get 6 people into the cancer in a 4-6 year period. To do that, you needed to give up virtually everything, waste all day every day going to every door, and not take no for an answer. You needed to follow through diligently no matter what. And that was before the Internet, where virtually everyone could research the topic in seconds.

  Not only that, but out of those 6 people you do manage to get into the cancer, how many stay in? If they stay in a while but ultimately leave, that time is ultimately wasted. According to their theology, such person is damned. Had they been left alone, they would have had a chance. This means the time is wasted even on those who remain in the cancer. And worse so, since according to their theology, even remaining in the cancer is no good unless you do all you absolutely can. (Reasonable is not in joke-hova's vocabulary except to lure people in.) You auxiliary pious-sneered one month, why didn't you auxiliary pious-sneer all the time? You regular pious-sneered, you got your time in before June, why didn't you keep up that pace through August? You auxiliary pious-sneered for the Dirty Thirty, why not fifty? You got your time in by the 18th of the month, why didn't you just keep going until the end of the month?

  Or, obeying the rules? So you claim to hate Led Zeppelin. Your co-worker had that radio that always seemed to play Led Zeppelin, or a tape deck (back in the days when tape was common), and you didn't destroy it. The co-worker had that tape of Led Zeppelin IV, and played that tape--why didn't you take a magnet to that tape to ruin it or ruin the recorder? Never mind that doing so is a violation of others' rights. You had the example of the Israelites moving into Canaan, did they care about the Canaanites' rights? Those who did were condemned. Or, did you go to that mission when asked to? You were too poor--did you sell out so you could go? Had you just been left alone, these wouldn't have been issues. But, because some jokehovian witless preached to you about these issues, you are now damned because you tolerated someone listening to Led Zeppelin while you were working.

  Either way, it is at best a waste of time and at worst murder when you preach about joke-hova.
• 

  joe134cd

  ISTKHThe one thing I do admire about the LDS is their openness about the issues they are facing. Although I have no proof I would say the attendance figures for JWs would closely align with the LDS. I know when used to do the count at the meetings there we're always a lot away and very rearly did we ever get the total amount of publishers at any one meeting. On the weekends for the Sunday meeting it would be fair to say where were all the young ones. I honestly believe if watchtower was wanting to reach the masses they have to start letting their member set up independent web sites and they have to make better use of social net working. For instance would you buy a car if the car dealer told you not to look on the Internet, because of all the lies from angry ex car owners. Would you also buy that car if all the reviews on that car were overwhelmingly bad, other than the offical manufacturers web site. My argument is if you wouldn't buy a car like that then don't expect someone to choose a religion like that.
• 

  LisaRose

  • The preaching work contributes to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.—Mark 13:10.

  • The gospel must be preached to all the nations. How many millions of people live in China and other countries that have never heard of Jehovah or Jehovah's Witnesses? The Watchtower is sitting on billions, yet they seem to have no interest in using it to reach these nations. FAIL

  • We prove ourselves obedient by participating in the disciple-making activity.—Matt. 28:19, 20

  • How many disciples has the average witness made? Likely none. Most time spent in Field service is wasted by knocking on not at homes and coffee breaks and aimlessly driving around. How can what most JWs do be considered remotely disciple making? FAIL

  • Jehovah wants the wicked to be warned about the consequences of their course.—Ezek. 3:19.

  • Do you think anybody understands the message? Despite the millions of hours supposedly spent doing this warning work, the only thing most people know about JWs is that they don't take blood and don't celebrate Christmas. FAIL

  • We owe it to people to share the good news with them.—Acts 20:26, 27; Rom. 1:14, 15.

  • Then why don't JWs ever talk about Jesus ? FAIL

  • Participating in the preaching work protects us from bloodguilt.—Ezek. 3:18.

  • Really, doing the Pioneer shuffle, knocking so softly no one could hear and giving a half hearted presentation protects you from blood guilt? FAIL

  • Teaching Scriptural truth is a requirement for our own salvation, and it saves others too.—1 Tim. 4:16

  • According to the bible, Christians are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus, not by works. FAIL

  • Speaking about Jehovah and praising him publicly are important features of our worship.—Heb. 13:15.

  • The Watchtower spends more time praising themselves than praising God. FAIL.

  • We demonstrate our love for Jehovah and Jesus by obediently doing this work.—John 14:15; 1 John 5:3.

  They are not doing the work that Jesus said, only the works the Watchtower wants. FAIL

  • Our ministry helps to counteract the lies that Satan promotes regarding Jehovah.—Isa. 43:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:4.

  • This is a laugh. Most people have no idea what those lies are, so how could they counteract them? FAIL
• 

  steve2

  Lisa Rose, I love your eviscerating prose. As InsidetheKH trots out the dreary defenses of the organization, you cast your sharp mind over them, line them up and consecutively eviscerate them. InsidetheKH plays a no man's game in ehich hid home eludes him appears. He warms so few hearts here and, if he were frank with the JWs in his local congregation about his internet apostate supping, even fewer of their hearts would be warmed. It's hard secretly defending beliefs that your brothers and sisters couldn't be bothered defending and who would view you with suspicion if they knew who you'd been wrestling with.

  Insidethe KH thrives by anonymity here and hides what he does from those he defends over there. As InsidetheKH shoots by on his Defender's stallion, one puzzled Witness asks another, "Who is that masked stranger?" The other Witness answers, "He speaks for those too limp of spirit to even care much about defending their GB-directed beliefs." "Oh that's nice" replies the first Witness, "Tonight is family worship night- I wonder what's on TV?"
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  konceptual99

  Sadly Steve, aside from arguing that Witnesses are more successful than Mormons globally, ITKH is not defending the WTS. I am still waiting for a reasonable rebuttal of my statements about the pointlessness of the preaching work.
• 

  punkofnice

  • The preaching work contributes to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.—Mark 13:10.

  What preaching and preaching what?

  • We prove ourselves obedient by participating in the disciple-making activity.—Matt. 28:19, 20.

  'Obedient' Appeal to authority?

  • Jehovah wants the wicked to be warned about the consequences of their course.—Ezek. 3:19.

  Appeal to authority and fear most likely.

  • We owe it to people to share the good news with them.—Acts 20:26, 27; Rom. 1:14, 15.

  Putting the onus on the R&F by guilt tripping them. I'd like to see the GB out on the ministry(tm).

  • Participating in the preaching work protects us from bloodguilt.—Ezek. 3:18.

  Appeal to fear.

  • Teaching Scriptural truth is a requirement for our own salvation, and it saves others too.—1 Tim. 4:16.

  'Scriptural truth' is a matter of opinion and throw in an appeal to fear again.

  • Speaking about Jehovah and praising him publicly are important features of our worship.—Heb. 13:15.

  'Our worship'. I agree it's just the WBT$ inventing their cult worship.

  • We demonstrate our love for Jehovah and Jesus by obediently doing this work.—John 14:15; 1 John 5:3.

  There's the 'obedience' thing again. This really is a cut using propaganda rather than love.

  • Our ministry helps to counteract the lies that Satan promotes regarding Jehovah.—Isa. 43:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:4.

  The WTB$ has no idea what truth is as they keep changing the goalposts with doctrine......so who's telling the lies?
• 

  menrov

  I do not think numbers are relevant at all. I see there are some doubts about the numbers reported by LDS. What about the numbers reported by WBTS? How do we know they are reliable? My point is, the WBTS has not always been "correct" in quoting others. Also te NWT has translation "errors". Various doctrines had to be revised as they turned out to be "incorrect". But many other religous organisations have a similar reputation.

  The topic was about preaching. Preachng is a good things, whether done by LDS or JW or any other CHristian denomination. Preaching can be done in many ways, as most important is to love your neighbor. It is good to tell people about the good news of the Kingdom, of Jesus etc.

  But I do agree that the WBTS by far exeggerate the effectiveness of their preaching method. The nett growth is very small and compared to population growth, it is almost negligible. Again, for me it is not the numbers but as the organisation uses numbers to prove how successful they are, it shows they are not at all successful. On average (according to published numbers in Yearbook), it takes about 13000 hours of preaching to win one new person.

  Last August the organisation organised (pushed) the, as they called it, largest preaching effort ever. Well, preaching, it was more a sales campaign to promote their website. I checked around and did not find any newspaper article mentioning this campaign. It is not uncommon or the organisation to use words like: historic event, unsurpassed, amazing etc, when referring to their works. In the new proclaimers book there is something about changing the way congregations are organised. The book refers to this change as an historic event.

  The actual objective of the preaching work by JW's is not to proclaim the good news of the kingdom and of the king (Jesus) but to convert them to become JW's. That is why JW's preach to people from other Christian denominations, of whom, many already are aware of the kingdom. Most people do not want to become a member of a religious organisation. They in principle can be interested to learn about the bible and the kingdom, but that is it. And even much fewer people want to become a JW. As the objective is to convert people to become JW's, many people actually do not get to hear the good news if they indicate they do not want to become a JW. From there on, the JW will no longer visit the person.

  In summary, if one is interested in large numbers, join the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church or convert to Islam or Hindu.

  If one is interested to learn about the bible, start reading and search for good discussion forums and, if interested, visit a congregation that is not aiming to convert you to become a member and that in essence teach bible princples.

  If one want to become a member of a religious organisation, do some research first to assess the impact of such membership on your daily life. All these memberships come at a price. Yes, in general JWs live a morally clean life and are also in principle honest to their fellow JW's and people in general, which may sound appealing to to others, in particular to those who feel alone or abandoned.
• 

  Theredeemer

  Exactly Menrov. ISTKH has not addressed my questions regarding:

  1. What if all 15 min a months preachers, such as my Alzheimers mom and bed ridden aunt, were taken off the number of witnesses?

  2. What if the number of DFed witnesses were taken off every month and the numbers were continuously updated?

  3. What if children who are Publishers such as, my 9 Y.O. cousin who stand s there and doesnt say a word, were taken off?

  How many actual preaching witnesses would be left?

  I guestimate about 4-5 million. I also guestimate that this is the actual number of witnesses that "regularly" attend the meetings as well. Also, at the meetings they count everyone who is breathing.

  The memorial is inflated as they count baby's, children, people who are in a coma and they simply have the glass and plate touch their hands (Ive seen this with my own eyes!), and people are are forced to go due to family.

  My point is, every religion INFLATES their numbers to look BIGGER than they actually are. They are all full of crap. So, in essence, to boast about the numbers of your preaching work is like saying your the best smelling piece of crap in the business!
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  Vidiot

  insidetheKH - "That is why JWs say that there are only 1.2 million JWs in the US and national surveys say there are more than 2 million people in the US that identify themselves as JW."

  An uncharacteristic degree of honesty from the WTS?

  x

  Who'd have thought?
• 

  steve2

  ITKH is eerily similar to another poster on this forum who had doggedly argued that the organization, if not exactly universally growing in numbers, was holding its own compared to other religious groups. That poster formally left this site about one year or possibly longer ago. Has his ghost returned?