are there really 8 million jw's?

by wannaexit 22 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Designer Stubble

  The numbers are kept up and the increase is artificial.

  Remember when they started to allow the elderly and sick report 15 minutes. This gave a sudden boost in the following year.

  Then they allowed not one parent, but both parents to report 4 hours each month, regardless of whether kids were getting individual study, as taking them to meetings and out in service counts too. Parents have no reason to be irregular or inactive anymore and the numbers went up.

  Further a lot of buzz was created when the auxiliary pioneer hours dropped to 30 hours.

  And of course the easiest hours can be racked up sitting quietly beside a cart.

  Finally as said, elders fill in often by default one hour for those who don't hand in their reports to prevent the CO hassling them.

  The 8 million is simply not true.
• 

  flipper

  Being that the Watchtower organization is ethically and morally challenged - make that bankrupt - it's not like they are going to be truthful about their membership numbers.

  The Scientology cult, which is basically like the Watchtower on steroids and meth, has always claimed 8 to 10 million members. Top level defectors put the numbers at 25,000 or less and declining. Just google Scientology membership numbers.

  And consider how many of those are "captive" because of the shunning (just like jws).

  It's all pr - cults and multi level marketing tend to do this to rope in more members. It's advertising - "everybody's doing it!"

  Mrs. Flipper
• 

  Mad Irishman

  If they wanted to fudge numbers they would count everyone who attends meetings and not just "active" publishers.

  I've always thought this. Just count everyone, but they don't. If they were fudging they wouldn't be publishing that active publishers have gone down in some countries or that there are double the amount of anointed than there were 20 years ago .

  You can't just believe things because you have a hunch or you'd like to believe it. You have to have proof and use discernment with the evidence that is out there. The evidence proves the exact opposite of your hypothesis.