It Seems More Witnesses are Exiting Since 1995 - From Your Responses

by flipper 22 Replies latest jw friends

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  flipper

  I started a thread last week about when each of you exited the Jehovah's Witness cult. I received about 41 responses from different people on the board and the years they exited the witnesses. I went back and analyzed the dates you gave me and it was apparent from your replies that 25 of you left between 1998 and 2009 a period of about the last 10 years. And 16 of you left the witnesses in a 20 year period between 1973 and 1993. I'll break it down year by year so you can see for yourself. I know it's a small survey only covering 41 individuals - however I wonder if this is definitely a trend as we've been hearing about on the board from all over in Jehovah's Witness land ? What do you think ? Look forward to your comments and takes on this. Here are the years and how it played out. I'll go from the latest years backwards

  2008 - 9 people exiting

  2007 - 2

  2006 - 2

  2005 - 5

  2003 - 2

  2002 - 1

  1999 - 2

  1998 - 2

  Total leaving 1998 to 2008 - 25 people.

  1993 - 1

  1992 - 2

  1991 - 1

  1990 - 1

  1989 - 2

  1988 - 1

  1986 - 1

  1981 - 1

  1979 - 2

  1975 - 2

  1974 - 1

  1973 - 1

  Total Leaving 1973 to 1993 - 16 people .

  Anyway - just the result of an informal poll. Look forward to your thoughts
• 

  drwtsn32

  Definitely not a scientific poll by any means, but you already know that.

  I think the biggest flaw in the poll is that people usually come here to JWD/JWN when they are thinking of leaving or have recently left. That alone will skew the results greatly and make it appear that more people have left in just the past one or two years.
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  Chalam

  No doubt the internet is doing its "evil work" ;)

  Thank God for technology :)
• 

  MissingLink

  This method is no good for a few reasons:

  1) The longer people have been out, the more likely they've moved on and don't need these forums any more, and therefore wouldn't have responded to your poll.

  2) People who left 30 years ago are less likely to be using the internet at all.
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  OnTheWayOut

  More people will come on here as they are ready to come out or ready to deal with their recent departure.
  Many will not come on here at all.

  As stated, not a scientific poll.

  I state (with no absolute proof) that if you count the "born-ins" who never got baptized, there are more
  ex-JW's than JW's in the United States and probably in many other countries. Could you imagine over
  a million coming to these support forums?
• 

  flipper

  Thanks for the responses. I agree with what you all say.

  DRWTSN 32- I agree that newly exited cult members come here to get help and support and may skew the numbers - however it does show that due to the internet a greater number of people exiting the witnesses are showing less fear to seek out information and help though. It may or may not indicate that more are leaving. True.

  CHALAM- My point exactly. No matter how many are leaving - at least they are not under information control thanks to access to the internet.

  MISSING LINK- As I mentioned, I agree with you that people who have left years ago may not reply to the poll , true, but some still have replied who left between 1973 to 1993 , 16 at least who must still feel a need to be here. And very true ; people who left over 30 years ago might not even use the internet or a computer. So these figures may or may not indicate more have left in recent years. A poster recently on this board posted a thread on the fact that if every person baptized in the witnesses had stayed in the cult the last 15 to 20 years - the total number of witnesses would be 10,000,000 not just 7,000,000. So, allegedly the point being that in 15 to 20 years of people coming into the witnesses , in the same amount of time approximately 3,000,000 have left as well. So - I thought that was interesting. And who knows if more of them exited in the 1980's as opposed to those who left since 1995 - but if I were a betting man, I'd say more have exited in the last 14 years.

  OTWO- Jerry- Yeah, I realize this isn't a scientific poll. LOL! I'm certainly no scientist by ANY stretch of the imagination - however you make a good point on all the large numbers of born-ins who never get baptized who stop going , especially in the U.S. It would be great if many of them came to these support forums. Maybe we could all get together and hasten the fall and demise of the witness cult ! Hell, let's start a revolution. Columbus took a chance
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  steve2

  There is a phrase used among professionals who conduct surveys to describe a quick and circumscribed attempt to measure something and to use the results to make sweeping generalizations: Cheap and nasty. They are endemic on the internet. I bet they could be conducted on a pro-JW site: Most of the responses would described the Watchtower as "wonderful". And you'd be right to describe the paltry results as "cheap and nasty".
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  flipper

  STEVE 2- Interesting points. I'm not trying to make sweeping generalizations - as I know there are variables out there determining whether people check this site out or not, yes those exiting more recently will respond more abundantly. I get that. I guess it's just interesting to me to see that people exiting in the last few years are MORE WILLING to come on here and research as well. It may or may not be indicative of how many more have left in recent years than past years - this thread is just an observation of responses I got, that's all. Anybody can interpret it anyway they want
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  Bubblie

  Mr. Flipper I left in 2005 so you can add another one. I haven't been coming on here much anymore. Too busy and too occupied with more important things that take up too much time.

  Kit
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  crazycate

  All I can say for certain is that 1995 was a turning point for me. Not so much for the change of "understanding" about what the generation was, but because of the way it was handled. It brought back my feelings from 1975 and made me start thinking about all the doubts and concerns I had felt for years.

  Cate