Book: The Inside Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, Stevenson, 1968

by betterdaze 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  betterdaze

  The inside story of Jehovah's Witnesses
  Stevenson, William Charles, 1936-
  Publisher: Hart Pub. Co.
  Pub date: [1968, c1967]
  
  Anyone familiar with this out-of-print book? I reserved it in my library system but with flooding from the recent storm, it's been delayed in transit.
  
  I'm getting antsy! Not sure if it is pro or con. Any info appreciated.
  
  Thanks in advance,
  
  ~Sue
  
  P.S. My local will not accept a gift of Raymond Franz's CoC or ISOCF; they are only taking "fiction and children's titles." Yet the WTBTS Kingdom Proclaimers is in the stacks. Go figure!
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  cabasilas

  It's con. The author was formerly a circuit overseer in England. It was published under the title "Year of Doom--1975" in England. As I recall, he makes many good points.
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  betterdaze

  Thanks very much, cabasilas. The CO authorship gives it some amount of weight, I would hope.
  
  Considering the late '60s publication date and that it denotes the exact year 1975 in its British title, it's of even more interest to me yet.
  
  Appreciatively,
  
  ~Sue
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  kwr

  After you read it can you post a review of it here on the boards? TIA
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  slimboyfat

  Stevenson predicted Witness disintegration after the 1975 failure - wishful thinking on his part. Other than that it has some good points. Millions Now Living Will Never Die by Rogerson is a better book from the same period.

  But one of the best books ever written about the Witnesses is Beckford's The Trumpet of Prophecy imo. And what about Andrew Holden, have you read his book? Holden's approach is ethnographic compared to Beckford's quantitative and structural analyses, Holden is also more up to date.

  For a good laugh the Bottings' The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses is a must.

  Slim
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  cabasilas

  Personally, I think Stevenson's pessimistic view of how the '75 fiasco would play out was not unfounded. The religion survived but at a great cost though this is often downplayed by JW apologists. For example, the January 30, 1982 Los Angeles Times ("Defectors Feel 'Witness' Wrath: Critics say Baptism Rise Gives False Picture of Growth" by John Dart, p. B4) cited statistics showing a net increase of publishers worldwide from 1971–1981 of 737,241, while baptisms totaled 1.71 million for the same period. The loss of nearly a million members when total membership then was just over 2 million is significant.
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  slimboyfat

  this is often downplayed by JW apologists.

  Who? Where? Said what?

  Slim
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  slimboyfat

  Apostates who make a lot of those years where baptisms far exceeded growth rarely mention those years where the opposite nearly happened.

  Take 1984 for example when 179,421 were baptised, yet the increase in publishers was over 178,000. Considering that it is reasonable to assume that at least tens of thousands of Witnesses also die every year, the fact that the increase figure ever nearly reaches the baptism level for the year is the remarkable thing.

  Slim
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  cabasilas

  Slim,
  
  1984 was a time of positive growth. Those of us who lived through the '75 fiasco saw this firsthand. To dismiss the mass defections of that period as the evil work of apostates seems a bit cold. I personally know many people who were thus affected.
  
  For the record, the September 1, 1969 WT, p. 533 provides a way to evaluate growth (publisher increase, baptisms, and death) that is pretty fair, IMO.
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  slimboyfat

  To dismiss the mass defections of that period as the evil work of apostates seems a bit cold. I personally know many people who were thus affected.

  I never said or mean that. Some left because they were disappointed, but not all that many really. And those that stayed worked harder and they had good growth in the 1980s - hardly the catastrophe Stevenson hoped for, which was rather my point.

  I will look up the WT, thanks for that.

  You earlier said:

  this is often downplayed by JW apologists.

  I would like to know who has said this and when. Are there really "apologists" somewhere who make this kind or argument, or is this the sort of "apologist" that inhabits the apostate mind and makes spurious arguments, all the more easy to be defeated. If there are real "apologists" out there who are making these sorts of statments I would be really interested to find out more...

  Slim