small blurb on economist.com bout jw stats

by karvel 17 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Terry

  This is the same pattern as the Roman Catholic Church.

  More and more the Watchtower Society patterns itself on the RC Church.

  Disaffected, ignorant and poor people respond well to pie-in-the-sky-bye-and-bye talk. Third World nations have nothing to offer and not much to loose from falling into lockstep with Paradise Peddlers.

  Mainstream nations offer more oppotunity to the population at large which gives realtime results. Why throw everything away betting everything on a roulette spin of Religion if you can better yourself through realworld activity now?
• 

  observador

  However, all is not well for the Society in South America. Take Brazil, for example, the number that was not long ago between 7 and 10% is now about 2.5% if memory serves me right.
  
  This is absolutely horrible for a business that needs to grow, indeed.
  
  People in Brazil are having more and more access to information, especially through the Internet. Even those with no access to Internet from home, can easily pay by the hour at a "LAN House", small businesses usually found in shopping malls, and look up information without prying eyes at home.
  
  So, the WT Society needs to do something there NOW, or else face growth numbers very close to USA's in the very near future.
  
  Observador.
  (your eye in Brazil's JWism)
• 

  Brain Dead

  By the way does anyone know of the growth rate in the States or Canada for that matter in the last few years ?

  Just curious
• 

  proplog2

  Lot of references by posters here comparing the Watchtower to a business.
  
  That is a mistake.
  
  Their model has always been "Narrow is the road to life and few are the ones finding it"
  
  They want a cadre of robust believers. Otherwise they would have altered many of their teachings that keep people on the other side of the fence.
  
  Those who ridicule the uneducated & impoverished as fertile ground for JW teachings are also using the wrong standards.
  
  Have you forgotten the alleged words of the founder of Christianity "I publicly praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, BECAUSE you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual one and have revealed them to babes. ... come to me all you who are TOILING and LOADED down and I will refresh you" Matt 11:25
  
  The only thing that has failed in their model is that the "END" hasn't come yet.
  
  They could just as easily conclude that their growth has stopped in certain lands because the work is finished in those lands. That seems to be the rumor that has leaked out of the Watchtower HQ.
• 

  M.J.

  If I remember correctly, the increase in Mexico went from double-digit growth to only about 2% last year.
  
  5go--"Also the Japanese general population went through a cult experiance in World World Two."
  
  5go, do you think the Aum Shinrikyo subway terror attack had an impact as well?
• 

  Terry

  Lot of references by posters here comparing the Watchtower to a business.
  
  That is a mistake.
  
  Their model has always been "Narrow is the road to life and few are the ones finding it"

  More like a high-volume cafeteria keeping the line moving with hungry souls streaming in the front door and farted out the back door in a steady queue. The flow is the thing. It is, after all, a PUBLISHING company. The purpose is to exchange books and such for $$. The $$ is converted into Real Estate. The Real Estate is sold for profit which is funnelled back into the publishing end. The surplus is __hidden__.

  Those who ridicule the uneducated & impoverished as fertile ground for JW teachings are also using the wrong standards.
  
  Have you forgotten the alleged words of the founder of Christianity "I publicly praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, BECAUSE you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual one and have revealed them to babes. ... come to me all you who are TOILING and LOADED down and I will refresh you" Matt 11:25

  Imagine hiring doctors, pharmacists, school teachers, professional accountants BECAUSE they are undeducated! The only standard for INTELLIGENCE is the by-product of intelligent decision making which impacts the real world! The ignorant and the impoverished go hand in hand because ignorance produces poverty at an alarming rate!

  Who else would a mind-control publishing outfit find to do its drone-like bidding but the Ignorant and the impoverished?

  It is a no-brainer for real.
• 

  Terry

  5go, do you think the Aum Shinrikyo subway terror attack had an impact as well?

  If you have an education, a family, a job and a reasonable purpose in life you don't need a mind control cult at the center of your consciousness directing you toward chaos just to prove a point, now do you? No.

  Muslim terrorists are largely unemployed students drifting through life like big, spoiled brats who want a fast ticket to paradise and 40 virgins and who don't have the good sense to work for it.

  Japan is filled with busy, industrious, indefatigable citizens who work hard and play hard. If you are out of that loop you might embrace JW's or other doomsday activities.
• 

  Dragonlady76

  They will unfortunately flourish in third world countries, the internet has really put a crimp in their growth.

  Many of the countries listed are poor and lack good funding for continued education. I feel that the society preys on the weak and vulnerable, like vultures.