I think fear gives them their authority over you. It takes courage to break from the pack. It takes self-esteem to choose integrity over complacency. It takes self assurance to not care about "acceptance" by the crowd. Wow! Very well said, sir! I hope everyday that they hemorrhage TO A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH ! About members leaving: I AM still a member (technically, statistically)....BUT, am I supporting the BEAST? Nope. I am helping others to stand up for themselves. I´ve had years of "privileges" (=Status), so I'm at a VERY good position to create some damage... ....and hell, they can all day long blast "former elders" or apostates...nothing they can do about people like me :-) RedPill2006 F%$#% you Watchtower! Payback time
Why hasn't there ever been or ever be a mass exodus from the WTS?
by RULES & REGULATIONS 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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still_in74
a tremendous exodus from the Watch Tower organization began in 1909 because of the "mediatorship," "new covenant" and "The Vow" explanations by CTR which he constantly discussed and defended during 1909 and 1910 in the Watchtower
amazing inside information Barb! Thanks!!!
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AndersonsInfo
I forgot to add to my previous post the number of Witnesses I was told left the organization in disappointment and disillusionment after 1975 did not culminate in any particular fulfillment of Bible prophecy. For what it's worth, in a private discussion with Awake! editor, Harry Peloyan (who was my overseer for nearly 18 months while I was in the Writing Dept.), said the loss was over 500,000 people and he held Freddie Franz responsible for the whole fiasco. I know that other figures have been bandied about on JWD over the years and I'm not claiming that this figure is absolute, but I am passing along this number because Harry was at headquarters during the years under discussion, and, I found, for the most part, the information he imparted to me was credible and reliable.
Barbara
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DanTheMan
said the loss was over 500,000 people and he held Freddie Franz responsible for the whole fiasco.
But, as Ray brings out in Crisis of Conscience, in the 1960's, growth was flat. They got a pretty good growth spike in the late 60's and early 70's with the 1975 buildup, and the losses they took afterwards were slight in comparison to the prior gains. And of course many that left eventually came back.
The irony of the WTS is that they owe their entire existence to unfulfilled expectations. 1914 (both as the end and the year that would mark the beginning of the end, now all but scrapped), 1925, 1975, etc. It's interesting to imagine what the current state of the org might be if Freddie had never come up with 1975 as an a "marked" date. Would the org be bigger or smaller today? I think they'd be smaller - perhaps faded into complete obscurity.
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V
Current stats show the Watchtower isn't bleeding out, but is hanging desperately onto flat growth. My opinion is that JWs are being prepped for some decreases when the 2008 figures are released. The WT knows the numbers now and this is what they are printing. Damage control?
From the November 15, 2008 Watchtower:
...our brothers and sisters who have worked for many years ... with seemingly few tangible results! - page 13, para 8
We likewise need not feel discouraged or disheartened if growth is slow or lacking. - page 16, para. 18
Many who once studied the Bible with Jehovah's people have stopped studying. Some born to Christain parents have never really wanted to become footstep followers of Jesus. - page 21, para. 19
This growth has not always been readily discernable or understood, but spread it does! - page 21, para. 20
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Farkel
A quick perusal of this thread confirms what I already had suspected: the alert and informed ones were quick on the draw with the facts and saved me from spouting off.
What bothers me is the person who started this thread with:
:Why hasn't there ever been or ever be a mass exodus from the WTS?
This statement is not only stupid, it is so stupid and beyond stupid, it is an insult to even refer to it as stupid. The first half has been demolished on this thread, but the second half claims (in sloppy English) that there will NEVER be a max exodus from the WTS. That is either the most outrageous claim given the WTS history or a God-Inspired prophecy. The facts prove it to be the former. Dang, semi-literate and ill-informed people are so much fun to mess with!
To you, sir or madam, I say: "don't open your yapper and make assinine claims about stuff you haven't even bothered to spend 10 minutes researching."
You are hereby awarded the "clueless twit" award of the day. Hang it on your neck just a foot away from your dunce cap and sit in the corner until you are dismissed. Better yet, just DON'T MAKE CLAIMS THAT WERE PULLED OUT OF YOUR SHORTS without doing a little legwork yourself.
Sigh.
Farkel
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Leolaia
Hi Barbara....Thanks so much for the interesting details. One caution should be borne in mind about inferring the size of membership in the 1920s from the number of active preachers. The Finished Mystery book claimed that the harvest would end in 1918 and Rutherford had to alter the established teachings on Elijah/Elisha typology and on the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 in order to justify any continued preaching work (cf. 15 August 1919 Watchtower, p. 243-249; 1 July 1920 Watchtower, p. 196). Many Bible Students did not go along with these new teachings and thus would not be counted in statistics that focus on evangelism. Rutherford himself referred to these people as the chaff that was being winnowed out of the organization in the late 1920s, as "there are several ecclesias in the land wherein brethren who are acting as elders are opposing the service work" (15 September 1927 Watchtower, pp. 279-281), and "failing to see the great privilege of announcing God's righteous government, and being impressed with their own importance in the Lord's arrangement, they think that to study, talk to each other, "develop character," and get ready to go to heaven, is all that is expected of them ... when the final test should come as to who would engage in the great and wonderful work of God on earth there would be but a small number who would avail themselves of that happy privilege" (Government, 1928, pp. 206-212).