by Roger Kirkpatrick 69 Replies latest jw friends
pepperheart - “I dont think it matters how many JWs there are in the world but how much money watchtower has to pay the bills”
This.
We tend to forget, but the WTS isn't just a religious organization...
...it’s also a corporation...
...and a corporation’s survival depends on finance.
And in what universe are constant asset liquidation, mass staff downsizing, significant product reduction, and seemingly unending court costs (all ongoing, I might add)...
...signs of robust financial health?
I have a question.
When a person is baptized they are added to the number of 8,000,000.
When a person is DFd does the Org subtract them from that same number or not?
When a person is DFd does the Org subtract them from that same number or not?
millie ...
Technically yes.
But from what I have ever seen, the Borg does not report number of current members who are baptized. It reports average publishers and peak publishers.
There are many baptized persons who are not publishers and many publishers who are not baptized.
Obviously, a person who is DF/DA is not considered a publisher.
Rub a Dub
Thank you Rub a Dub. I see why it is so hard to get an accurate accounting of true membership.
" I see why it is so hard to get an accurate accounting of true membership. "
It would be interesting, but impossible, to get a true number of really active members, we know from our own experience, and evidence from others on here, that most Field Service Reports are mainly works of Fiction.
It obviously is also totally impossible to estimate how many - if any at all - are 100% believers, with no doubts at all. The ones I have spoken to who I thought were 100% believers in all the Bullcrap turned out to have doubts, and some said they would not do certain things even if expected of them, like Shunning.
So,despite the numbers claimed, the Org has a problem with real commitment.
Phizzy - "...So,despite the numbers claimed, the Org has a problem with real commitment."
Which, IMO, is a huge part of why the WT leadership is so anxious to keep the R&F from truly grasping the full scope of the child abuse problem...
...for those who're already on the fence (i.e. suspecting that "God's Earthly Organization" is actually no such thing), that revelation is all it'd take to finish off said commitment for good.
i can relate to this--in the case of my late father.
he and i got baptised together--in the early 60's. he was never really one for "reaching out"--although he did get made an elder--by default--when that all started. most of the other "would be" elders were DF'd for for going against the org over the appoinments. a real clannish congregation back then.
after i quit the cult--and got labelled an apostate--back in 1981---he said he would never turn his back on me--shun me--as he could find no scriptural reason to do so. he was never an elder again after that. however--on the very few times we did discuss the cult he would never hear a word against.
after mom died--in 1998--he said he wanted to do more in the ministry--and went door knocking a lot more. it appeared the main thing in his belief system was the thought of being with mom again in "the new system"
i dont think he would ever have believed all this paedophilia scandal--just apostate lies.
" it appeared the main thing in his belief system was the thought of being with mom again in "the new system"
Yes, this has a tight hold. The resurrection. We have a family member that I believe has doubts but this resurrection "hope" really has a strong hold on him staying in the cult.
WT uses fear to keep em in. Leave and you now have no hope of seeing dead loved ones again. It's the carrot that WT uses to keep the sheeples in!!
When a person is baptized they are added to the number of 8,000,000.
When a person is DFd does the Org subtract them from that same number or not?
The "8 million" is the count of people who turn in a "field service report", i.e., the number of "publishers".
You don't have to be baptized to be a publisher (although the vast majority of JW publishers are baptized). Most unbaptized publishers are kids of JW parents.
In order to be baptized as a JW, you have to have been a publisher for many months beforehand. It is a set-in-stone requirement, no exceptions.
So when someone is dunked, nothing really changes - he was a publisher the month before his baptism, and he continues to be a publisher after baptism. The count does not change. The change occurred many months earlier, when he turned in his first field service report.
When someone is DF'ed he stops turning in field service reports. He is no longer a publisher. So yes, when DF'ed, the count goes down.
The count also goes down every time someone becomes "inactive" (stops turning in field service reports), and (obviously) when a publisher dies. Based on best-guess estimates, there are probably around 80,000 JW deaths every year, mostly (like everyone else) due to natural causes.
