I know that some here enjoyed reading Part One of the article about me locally so I'm back with Part Two. I was so happy to see my wife and my brother that was shunned so long before I was interviewed for the article as well.
https://insiderlouisville.com/lifestyle_culture/shunned-a-former-jehovahs-witness-and-his-quest-to-help-others-part-2/?fbclid=IwAR2PVLOo_xyujOXa72tR_ln34sQ2U2X-Qx7wqCGXn3s50D9cXkqTHhpGXu0
Part 2 of the article about me and my family and JWs is out this morning....
by dubstepped 14 Replies latest jw experiences
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dubstepped
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Giordano
Mike and Jenny......... congratulations on Part 2! It was well written by the interviewer and well spoken by you both.
Part 2 was very powerful as family shunning was handled honestly even compassionately. I am sure non JW's would probably find it difficult to understand how evil it is.
My wife and I escaped the worst of shunning when we left in the mid 1960's. Absolute shunning started in 1981. Of course we stepped out of and away from the 'friends' as they did us. Long term close relationships were left in the dust.
So we had normal 'relationships' with our parents and brothers and sisters............. however that invisible 800 pound gorilla was always in the room during family visits. There was a toxicity in the air no matter how we all pretended to be a normal family. We came to the conclusion that it was nearly impossible to find a space for normal.
I am very proud of the good work you guys are doing helping people to understand their beliefs and to be brave in leaving.
The Society used to list the numbers of people who left. It had it's own heading 'Leavers' and each year there were a lot of them.
Gio
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Dagney
Well done article. Thank you for putting this out there. 🥂
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dubstepped
@Giordano - Wow, they listed "leavers"? How long ago was that? I remember hearing, and I thought it was from a JW publication, that 70,000 or so were disfellowshipped each year, which obviously was used as a warning that we're all susceptible if we don't do whatever they want us to, but I'm not sure where it was from.
I'd be curious to know how many of us there are out here. The writer of the article actually heard from a friend after writing it and found out that he and his wife had been shunned years ago. I've had people reaching out to me that I've never known with their own stories because seeing someone else's makes them feel less alone and more validated.
Amber Scorah has been killing it lately, obviously having connections through her publisher and hard work on her own to line up an amazing round of publicity and creating awareness in the larger world. It takes all of us and makes me feel good to see more and more stories getting out. They can argue doctrine all they want but it's hard to argue personal stories. That's why the Borg uses them so much, even creating fictional "Andre", because it's hard to argue personal experiences. They are powerful. The more of ours out there the better. -
nonjwspouse
So very proud of you both. Outstanding article! -
DesirousOfChange
Good journalism!
Hopefully it will make many more people aware of the fact that it's a harmful Cult.
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LV101
Excellent, Mike & Jenny, and thank you for all you're doing.
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Giordano
@Giordano - Wow, they listed "leavers"? How long ago was that? I remember hearing, and I thought it was from a JW publication, that 70,000 or so were disfellowshipped each year, which obviously was used as a warning that we're all susceptible if we don't do whatever they want us to, but I'm not sure where it was from.
I'd be curious to know how many of us there are out here.Would you believe aprox. over three million left from 1961 to 2017 apart from the percent who died? Some could have returned but most would be living free of the JW's.
The Society used the term 'Leavers' It was listed last after Peak Pubs, Baptized, Memorial, Congregations, Lands and the last one......Leavers. I don't know if they use that term any longer.
https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php
Number Leaving
Subtracting the increase in average publishers from the number baptized each year can be used to determine the number of Jehovah's Witnesses that leave each year. The resulting figures are an aggregate number, as there are even more that become inactive each year than shown below, but this is offset by those that start preaching again after a period of inactivity.
Missing Publishers Year Average Publishers Baptisms Previous Year Publishers plus Baptisms Number Missing 1962 920,920 69,649 45,626 1963 956,648 62,798 990,569 33,921 1964 1,001,870 68,236 1,019,446 17,576 1965 1,034,268 64,393 1,070,106 35,838 1966 1,058,675 58,904 1,098,661 39,986 1967 1,094,280 74,981 1,117,579 23,299 1968 1,155,826 82,842 1,169,261 13,435 1969 1,256,784 120,905 1,238,668 -18,116 1970 1,384,782 164,193 1,377,689 -7,093 1971 1,510,245 149,808 1,548,975 38,730 1972 1,596,442 163,123 1,660,053 63,611 1973 1,656,673 193,990 1,759,565 102,892 1974 1,880,713 297,872 1,850,663 -30,050 1975 2,062,449 295,073 2,178,585 116,136 1976 2,138,537 182,587 2,357,522 218,985 1977 2,117,194 114,786 2,321,124 203,930 1978 2,086,698 88,361 2,231,980 145,282 1979 2,097,070 106,102 2,175,059 77,989 1980 2,175,403 113,779 2,203,172 27,769 1981 2,247,486 119,836 2,289,182 41,696 1982 2,342,634 138,540 2,367,322 24,688 1983 2,501,722 161,896 2,481,174 -20,548 1984 2,680,274 179,421 2,663,618 -16,656 1985 2,865,183 189,800 2,859,695 -5,488 1986 3,063,289 225,868 3,054,983 -8,306 1987 3,237,751 230,843 3,289,157 51,406 1988 3,430,926 239,268 3,468,594 37,668 1989 3,624,773 263,855 3,670,194 45,421 1990 3,846,311 301,518 3,888,628 42,317 1991 4,071,954 300,945 4,147,829 75,875 1992 4,289,737 301,002 4,372,899 83,162 1993 4,483,900 296,004 4,590,739 106,839 1994 4,695,111 314,818 4,779,904 84,793 1995 4,950,344 338,491 5,009,929 59,585 1996 5,167,258 366,579 5,288,835 121,577 1997 5,353,078 375,923 5,533,837 180,759 1998 5,544,059 316,092 5,729,001 184,942 1999 5,653,987 323,439 5,860,151 206,164 2000 5,783,003 288,907 5,977,426 194,423 2001 5,881,776 263,431 6,071,910 190,134 2002 6,048,600 265,469 6,145,207 96,607 2003 6,184,046 258,845 6,314,069 130,023 2004 6,308,341 262,416 6,442,891 134,550 2005 6,390,016 247,631 6,570,757 180,741 2006 6,491,775 248,327 6,637,647 145,872 2007 6,691,790 298,304 6,740,102 48,312 2008 6,829,455 289,678 6,990,094 160,639 2009 7,046,419 276,233 7,119,133 72,714 2010 7,224,930 294,368 7,322,652 97,722 2011 7,395,672 263,131 7,519,298 123,626 2012 7,538,994 268,777 7,658,803 119,809 2013 7,698,377 277,344 7,807,771 109,394 2014 7,867,958 275,581 7,975,721 107,763 2015 7,987,279 260,273 8,143,539 156,260 2016 8,132,358 264,535 8,247,552 115,194 2017 8,248,982 284,212 8,416,570 167,588 The increase in publishers is only about half the number baptised, resulting in Jehovah's Witnesses have the highest turnover of any mainstream religion.
"Jehovah's Witnesses are most "mobile." Accounting for less than 1 percent of American adults, one-third of their members leave the group, and two-fifths join from another religion." (Leadership Currents Shaping Our World: Switched after Birth July 1, 2003 ctlibrary.com as displayed on 24th January 2007)
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naomidangerlee
Congratulations :) thank you both for everything you do!
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dubstepped
You're all very welcome. I'm glad that my efforts are helping people in some way. These articles have brought a number of people that I would never have otherwise known to reach out to me and I've made new friends. Pretty cool stuff. I've also helped people to see something that they may not have realized about a cult that appears to be nothing more than smiling people annoying people at their doors.
Wow @Giordano, those stats are something else. I never knew that. To think that millions have left is pretty cool.