i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.
it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.
comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.
Thanks, interesting example. So that's six congregations on the Isle of Wight down to five so far?
Islands are interesting places to watch decline play out in microcosm.
I note, for example, that the number of congregations in Iceland decreased from 7 to 6 over the past year, while publisher numbers remain static. Decline shows itself most clearly as congregations closing down.
a few days ago, aron-ra posted a new video commencing what he promises to be a new series debunking the noachian flood.
he did this despite the fact that every adult should know it didn't happen, and yet many do.. i'd like to remind everyone what the insight book says: .
the genesis account of creation tells how on the second “day” jehovah made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse (called “heaven”) formed a division between the waters below it, that is, the oceans, and the waters above it.
Evolution is too big a thing to be a fact. Facts are small things and relatively meaningless. Interpretations are large things and full of meaning.
For examlple take these statements about reality:
World War 2 began in 1939 - is a fact.
World War 2 was a result of the failed policy of appeasement - is an interpretation.
Evolution is much closer to the second statement in terms of interpretative scope. The more focused a statement the more closely it resembles as fact. The wider in scope, and full of meaning, the more it resembles an interpretation rather than a fact. But if we want to be pedantic, ultimately there are no pure facts, as such, but only interpretations. It's all a matter of degree. Evolution is much too grand an idea to be confined within a small box labelled fact.
i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.
it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.
comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.
The number of congregations has never been a statistic that JWs have especially trumpeted. Far behind the publisher number, baptisms, pioneers and so on. Which is another reason why it's a good one to watch for a true reflection of their position.
I guess they could split congregations into smaller and smaller congregations in order to claim an increase in number of congregations. But why would they bother? All that administrative hassle for a number that they don't particularly focus upon anyway? And since there is already a chronic shortage of elders, they would have real trouble making new smaller congregations viable. Any CO who went around creating new congregations only for them to be later disbanded because they are unsustainable would not be very popular with the branch. And his work would be reversed out of necessity.
The best argument in favour of the number of congregations as a measure of decline is the facts, not theory. In countries such as Japan, South Korea, Netherlands and Denmark, where there has been a decline in JWs, that decline has shown up greatest in the decline in number of congregations. So all the arguments about inflating congregation numbers does not match the reality in declining countries. The statistics show that where JWs are in decline, that decline expresses itself most clearly in the reduction in the number of congregations.
Which is why the decline this year in number of congregations in countries like the United States and Germany is so promising in terms of the prospects for overall JW decline.
a few days ago, aron-ra posted a new video commencing what he promises to be a new series debunking the noachian flood.
he did this despite the fact that every adult should know it didn't happen, and yet many do.. i'd like to remind everyone what the insight book says: .
the genesis account of creation tells how on the second “day” jehovah made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse (called “heaven”) formed a division between the waters below it, that is, the oceans, and the waters above it.
I saw/met Aaron Ra and his family in a Glasgow pub. (He was giving a presentation on creationism) They reminded me of a cross between an American JW family I once knew and the Munsters. His wife is quite cheerful by comparison with the man himself. She is a teacher. He says they met on a forum. He offered to prove to anyone that God doesn't exist. She took him up on the challenge, he convinced her, and they live happily ever since. His son is a bright young chap with similarly strong opinions. In the rest room, as Americans call it, he explained to me how Scottish swing doors that swing opposite directions wouldn't pass American regulations because they are dangerous. I guess he may be right, but I couldn't get as excited about the topic. I am not as interested in creationism either. To me, evoltution seems like a good explanation for the variety of life, whereas creationism is a poorer explanation. But I don't rule out possibilities, including ideas humans haven't devised yet, or are possibly incapable of coming up with at all because of our limited intelligence.
before you start, i don't!!.
http://www.healyourlife.com/do-you-believe-in-fairies.
but i stumbled upon this article.
Just because fairies probably don't exist, doesn't necessarily mean fairies don't exist.
Plus it depends what you mean by fairy.
a few days ago, aron-ra posted a new video commencing what he promises to be a new series debunking the noachian flood.
he did this despite the fact that every adult should know it didn't happen, and yet many do.. i'd like to remind everyone what the insight book says: .
the genesis account of creation tells how on the second “day” jehovah made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse (called “heaven”) formed a division between the waters below it, that is, the oceans, and the waters above it.
I don't know, but doesn't anyone else find the relentless "why are believers so stupid" attitude of Aron Ra a bit tiresome?
i saw this on reddit:.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.
overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).
They have lost touch with reality.
It's amazing to think no one caught this and removed it before publishing.
But I guess these are the same people who have been signing Bibles too.
I think even many fully believing JWs will have trouble with this comment.
(I made this post yesterday in response to posts a few pages back about the comment about the GB being like Jehovah on the TV. I just noticed it arrived)
i saw this on reddit:.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.
overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).
I've got the book. I could send you a scan if you like.
i just watched the following documentary.
it is absolutely mind boggling the lengths the organisation goes to keep their squeaky clean image, regardless!.
what struck me was the sneakiness of elders in one particular hall hiding files on a pedophile, and the fact that the organisation arrogantly refuses to speak to journalists.
I started watching this the other day but didn't finish. I find it hard watching this stuff.
I like to read Watchtower history and know all the errors and mistakes. But this sort of thing is too harrowing. I can't work out if it permeates all society and JWs are part of a larger problem. Or whether the organisation is exceptionally full of evil. It's hard to think that is so, when my own experience of JWs was relatively good, and most of the JWs I knew, as far as I knew, good and kind people.
i saw this on reddit:.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.
overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).
I notice two of the countries contributing the most to JW growth, Brazil and Angola, are Portuguese speaking. I wonder if there is a shortage of online and print material exposing JW history and practices in Portuguese? If so I wonder if this might be a gap to fill. If JW growth in those two countries halted there'd be little or no growth left overall.
Shepherdless I should qualify my rather excited comments about decline earlier. I doubt we'll actually get an absolute decline as soon as next year. Like you I think it's realistic within 5 years or so. Although with all the cutbacks and redundancies it might happen quicker. It's uncharted territory at the moment. The real question is what happens when decline sets in. It might have a bandwagon effect and the numbers might tumble quicker than we imagine. David Voas wrote about this possibility a decade ago. (Have you read his article?) Having said all that, I still stand by my contention that JWs are faring better than Mormons and most other churches when it comes to growth. In an age of secularisation JWs have been defying gravity for decades. But when gravity catches up with JWs, I wonder how precipitous the fall will be.
