SBF - are you hoping for an increase?
No not really. But I do find it interesting that Jehovah's Witnesses still manage to grow despite everything - despite the generation change in 1995, despite 1914 having no historical support, despite the fact most other churches are decreasing rapidly, despite all the apostate information available on the Internet, despite the embarrassing history, despite their doctrines looking increasingly untenable such as the weird excuses for why the anointed are not decreasing as expected. Despite all that, and well into the twenty first century, Jehovah's Witnesses still have small net increases even in the most secular countries. This was not meant to happen! Apostate responses to the stubborn failure of the Witnesses to stop growing are interesting too. The Internet is going to mean the end for the Watchtower they say. Any time now, just you watch and see. (where did we hear that before?) But it never happened. Most people have been online for years now - so let's face it, the expected exodus due to the Internet never happened. The other route is to question the figures or say it's 'only because of immigrants' (should immigrants not count or something? plus on a worldwide basis surely it evens out - unless they are importing aliens from outer space) or all the hours are fake anyway. (as if fake hours are a recent invention). On a personal level I would not recommend becoming a Witness to anyone because I think their ideology is not merely without support but also, from my point of view, it stunts a person's potential, and hinders healthy engagement with society. And if I thought it would do any good there are a fair number of Witnesses I would like to try and convince that being a Witness is not enhancing their lives. But as a phenomenon I find the continued growth of Jehovah's Witnesses as a whole interesting. And I can't see much point being in denial about the fact that though we sometimes may wish the contrary, Jehovah's Witnesses are still growing.