When is the last time you saw an educated middle class family become Jehovah's Witnesses?

by xjwsrock 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  xjwsrock

  We know from casual observation that if anybody does respond to their preaching/recruiting work it is usually someone that is a social misfit in some way or a person that was indoctrinated early in life.

  Think about all the nicer neighborhoods witnesses preach in. If a family of four with a father that is an engineer and a mother who is a medical professional ever walked into a kingdom hall for the first time and said they were studying, people would faint. Lol...

  This of course isn't what you would expect from a religion backed by the ultimate intelligent creator. If they actually had the truth, the smartest people in the world would flock to them.

  In all seriousness, though, have you ever seen an educated middle or upper middle class person or family join this religion? If so, how long ago was that?
  
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  OneEyedJoe

  The last one I saw (bearing in mind I've been out for 2 years now, I guess it's conceivable that another family was brought in to my former congregation) was shortly after hurricane Katrina. A family was displaced and moved to our territory. I don't know the full details of how they got first contacted, but I can see how it happened - a family of 5 living in a new city where they know no one, recently lost a large percentage of their possessions...prime targets for a cult.
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  Are you serious

  In my 40 something years in "the truth" I never saw this type of person join. Funny I was thinking something similar this morning. How the org emphasizes the need to look for people who are down and out. They do this constantly by saying things such as "maybe a person's circumstances have changed and they're not doing well at the moment" or something to that effect. They do this because they realize people who are well off have no need to listen to the nonsense.
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  steve2

  The message appeals to those who have grievances against the world and/or don't fit in and/or are uneducated and/or have mental health difficulties (including substance abuse problems). It is these sorts of people who are vulnerable to stories of vengeance and retribution against others and comforting promises that all will be well in the future for those who obey the "true" religion.

  People who lead active, fulfilling lives would find the JWs simple-minded message unappealing, if not disturbing if they bothered to look closer - and "between the lines" (e.g., the mass annihilation of billions of fellow humans who do not obey the GB in Warwick, NY, USA).
  
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  sir82

  Last one I remember was about 25 years ago. Mother, father, 2 teenaged daughters....all gung-ho and "zealous" at first.

  They weren't exactly "educated" - more like rednecks. But they did follow the pattern that used to be common in the 60's & 70's - got the message door to door, then rapid progress & baptism of the whole family.
  

  They all flamed out within, oh, 5 years or so. Divorce, drugs, "fornication" - just an exploding fireball.

  Since then it's been either people who had exposure to "the truth" as kids finally getting baptized 20-40 years later, or the mentally unstable.

  Oh, and in our current congregation, there was another apparent "door to door success story" - again, not so very educated, but at the guy has least no obvious psychological trauma.

  But he ended up marrying a divorced JW with 2 kids like (literally) 3 weeks after his baptism in a city hall ceremony.

  So, yeah, that one was a little suspect too.
  
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  stan livedeath

  the congregation i grew up in--early 60's....there were a few " upper class" types---in other words--earning good money--car owners. the rest were definitely riff raff. and my god---the jealousy---you could cut it with a knife.

  my old mum started studies with several trash families. scroungers...moaners...i could see through them--mother couldnt. they sponged off her constantly.
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  steve2

  stan livedeath - lol "trash families"

  "Trash families" are a goldmine for "getting in your hours". Keep 'em out of the congregation so you can sit and chat with them week after week after week. Goldmine for pioneers.
  
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  ttdtt

  You mean Edumacated - ize no lots of edumacated jehobers in deez parts.
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  freddo

  In the late 60's and early seventies, especially pre '75 we'd get a few families from door to door, (Mum, Dad, Kids - not middle class though) some that are still around now as grandparents, kids and grandchildren - attending meetings and become the elders from the first or second born-in generation.

  But they are now dying and going into care homes (the original parents) and some of their kids in their 40's and 50's are a lot less committed (lots of hols and absenteeism). The grandchildren below age 30 just hang on in there for social reasons or have become absent.

  But the last family that came in from the door to door work would be in the 80's. Since then it's been oddball singles and vulnerable single mothers.

  Give it 3 years and I reckon our three eldest elders (late 70's) from this era and their wives will be "spare wheels" as in useless to run any KH stuff, in and out of hospital, in care homes or dead.

  The last middle class types seem to be the now elderly sons of women who came in from door to door in the 1940's and 50's who were supported financially by their non jw middle class husbands.
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  Half banana

  People who think clearly and have a good education would not find the slightest stimulation from the social misfits and messianic toilet cleaners amongst JWs..........

  I realised this many years ago when on an airplane from London to Los Angeles, I was speaking to a successful inventor next to me and I told him that I was a JW. He immediately left the seat and never came back for the rest of the flight!