144,000

dsgal

The number of anointed kept dwindling until abou the mid-1980's when it got down to 8,000 or so and it just seemed to stop there.Can someone please explain?

RedhorseWoman

They've all found the Fountain of Youth? Jehovah granted them immortality now? Or perhaps many more JWs feel a "heavenly calling" now than they did before (are they mainstreaming?).

Then again, when your "end of the world prophecies" depend on having some members of a limited class still on the Earth, it behooves you to keep the numbers going.

Maybe, though, they're all really dead, but have been cryogenically frozen in anticipation of the Great Tribulation.....whenever it may come?

NeonMadman

Because the whole doctrine is a load of hogwash?

Seriously, though, I do find it an interesting phenomenon. Back in 1969 when I became a JW, there were, if I recall correctly, about 11,000. And we thought they were all old and frail, and would mostly be gone by 1975 when the end came. Now it's 33 years later, and the number has only dropped by a few thousand.

I'm guessing that it's a reflection on the sort of people coming into the organization. They are much less focused on doctrine than we were a generation ago. When I came in, we had to study two big, thick books, full of doctrinal detail, before getting baptized (in my case, they were Things In Which It Is Impossible For God To Lie and Life Everlasting - In Freedom of the Sons of God).

Because of the organization trying to speed up the recruiting process (in part utilizing the simplistic Knowledge book), I think more and more people are coming into the organization without really knowing what they are getting into. Without any clear understanding of the organization's teaching on covenants and the meaning of the Lord's Supper, some may be sticking with the familiar doctrines they learned in their former religious association. So they may still be thinking in terms of "going to heaven" and all Christians partaking in the Lord's Supper. Later, when they find out that the Society's teachings differ, the prestige they gain by being "one of the anointed" may weigh against their declaring any differently.

All the above is very speculative, to be sure. But it's the only explanation I can think of that makes any sense to me.

Edited by - NeonMadman on 2 August 2002 14:4:33

truthseeker1

If you ask yourself questions like this, then your are already out. It can't be answered reasonably. I asked this question and the answers I got were

1. The number is not the annointed, but the number of partakers of the memorial. Some of them are fakers, the ACTUAL number of annointed is decreasing, we just can't see it. (whats the point of counting if the numbers are wrong)

2. They are replacing the ones who fell. (does that mean everyone is failing jehovah in these last days?)

LizardSnot

I would love to see the algorithum that the Governing Body uses to determine how many of the 144,000 are left.

Lizard

Edited by - LizardSnot on 2 August 2002 14:7:43

SYN

The 144,000 is a mythical number. Do a search for it on the other sites linked at the bottom of this page for more information.

Why do you think they revised the Generation Doctrine?