by dozy 80 Replies latest watchtower bible
"I rememebr not that many years ago when in a pioneeer meeting the Elders leading the discussion encouraged us to shield our students from apostates by checking out the two "apostate" books (CoC and 40 Yr WT slave) from the local library and losing them."
Pete--that is absolutely amazing and funny at the same time! What a bunch of dorks!
It is hard to measure the impact of these sites because of the "fading" phenomenon. Fading may take years. What better way to find out how to fade correctly than sites like this. The more fading takes place the better people get at it. These COs can only guess how many amoung them are faders.
So, while there is no dramatic impact that can be measured month by month, the impact will be apparent five to ten years from now.
Elders leading the discussion encouraged us to shield our students from apostates by checking out the two "apostate" books (CoC and 40 Yr WT slave) from the local library and losing them
I wonder how many people who checked out the books also "checked them out?" Seems like a strategy that could EASILY backfire on them! "Go to the library and check out all the apostate literature then just don't read it! Leave that forbidden fruit ALONE!"
I don't think that they are all that far of on the statistics! I do think they are wrong OVERALL! The 5% that are still df'ed for apostasy are now REAL apostates! The people df'ed in the past were "apostates" in that they disagreed with the elders or didn't toe the line enough. Now apostates are people like Sick-Of-Lies and Richie Rich. They know the truth about the truth! They aren't playing around either! So while in the past the same percentage was df'ed the ones who WERE df'ed as apostates probrably still believe on some level. NOT TODAY BABY!
Another thought people who are df'ed used to have a return rate of about 1 in 3 (per my dad an ex-elder) I'll bet it's less than 1 in 10 now! Get them while they are out!
New recruits are WAY down! All excuses they make aside it's just to easy too nail these SOB'S with the Internet!
Lastly I'll bet the "faders" are out of control! My wife and I are both faders! I've helped many others to fade (and df'ed persons to not return!) and will continue to do it!
Very interesting to speculate on this question.
WHAT WE DO KNOW FOR SURE:
1) That, just like apostates, there is no "typical JW."
2) That there are some JWs who will NEVER be influenced by apostate internet sites.
3) That the access and influence of the internet is not going to diminish but will increase in all areas of modern life, for all people.
4) That many doubters have left and will leave the organization based on the information and emotional support that they find on apostate sites.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW ARE THE NUMBERS.
"I rememebr not that many years ago when in a pioneeer meeting the Elders leading the discussion encouraged us to shield our students from apostates by checking out the two "apostate" books (CoC and 40 Yr WT slave) from the local library and losing them."Pete--that is absolutely amazing and funny at the same time! What a bunch of dorks!
In every public library I have been in, and that is quite a few. I have never seen either of these two books. WHich means one of two things:
1. Public libraries ibraries are too politically-correct to have something controversial about a splinter cult of Christianity.
2. This has been done already, which would mean that this method has been successful. I would hate to see the poor (literaly) pioneer's library charges.
I think these overseers are full of sh*t. OF COURSE the internet has been the major factor. All we were told is stay away from APOSTATE sites. Now they're trying to demonize the whole net by saying sex is the biggest problem. BALONEY! it's the fact that you get a couple of JWs looking into ("apostate") sites, they talk about what they've uncovered and the damage is already done.
I just did a quick search of the Jacksonville library's catalog and they don't list CoC but they did have several apostate books available!
In every public library I have been in, and that is quite a few. I have never seen either of these two books.
A couple of years ago I "donated" both of these books to our local library. I did a search on them and they're still there. I also know that they have been checked out periodically, as I do a search every once in a while and see that they are out and due back on "such and such a date".
I certainly hope they're doing some good here locally.
cathy l.
The reference to the "apostate" websites with negative talk about the GB in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is the first time I've ever heard a topic discussed on JWD (and similar sites) get referenced by the Society. I wonder if this was based on a real experience, considering that it was a real topic of discussion. The way the demostration is done, I get the impression that it was inspired by someone searching news.google.com for information on Hurricane Katrina (perhaps with the keywords "Jehovah's Witnesses" and "Katrina"). There are quite a few blogs and "press releases" that are referenced by Google in its news service, and Danny Haszard makes it his business to comment on news articles/releases/blogs that allow for comments. I could imagine a JW's reaction at searching news.google.com, what seems to be just a collection of news articles, then finding "AN APOSTATE SITE" amongst them.
And because of the venting allowed by the Internet, fading is becoming much more popular and more successful. Your poor CO's, DO's, and WTS beancounters can't count them correctly.
True, but I wonder if there is a way to detect whether the proportion of "faders" is increasing. For some time, I have been intrigued at the possibility of comparing the ratio between average publishers and "memorial attendees". Has there been an increase in the proportion of attendees over against the proportion of publishers? This doesn't capture faders who also skip the Memorial (and those faders who "phone in" fake time), but it may still be a useful indicator.
The JW religion is a virus and exJW sites are the inoculation that prevents people from becoming infected.
The exJW sites have very little effect on those already in the religion, but they do have a profound affect of preventing people from entering the religion.
