Hi, AndersonsInfo.
Thank you for many replies.
Since I do not speak English at all, I cannot talk with you ordinarily.
So, when I write a text in English, I am doing my best.
Your experience is precious.
Please teach us many things.
Thank you.
10 Years Japan losses 5,400 Publishers and 638 Kingdom Halls! Why?
by Witness 007 88 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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possible-san
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slimboyfat
Sociologist Bryan Wilson wrote an interesting discussion of Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8381/japan.html
It is too old to have dealt with the recent decline, but it discusses some of the reasons for the earlier success of Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan.
Of course the idea that the increases were mainly due to Lloyd Barry is not credible.
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Doubting Bro
(Hopefully, that's thank you very much possible-san)!
What you are describing is very similar to what we see in the United States. I would imagine the reason why our numbers haven't fallen off like Japan's is because of the large growth in the immigrant community.
We look forward to hearing more from you and others in Japan.
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insearchoftruth
I would imagine the reason why our numbers haven't fallen off like Japan's is because of the large growth in the immigrant community.
Is there any way to see the growth broken out by english and non-english speaking congos....probably not.
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possible-san
Hi, Mr. Doubting Bro.
Thank you for your reply.
It was mainly that Jehovah's Witnesses increased in number in Japan in the second half of the 20th century.
In Japan, Nostradamus's prediction about 1999 was in fashion.
And Japan feared the "Soviet Union" at that time.
That fear to them and the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses were connected.
But no fear of those exists now.Moreover, the doctrine of "the generation of 1914" was changed.
Many people have noticed that deception.
All members of the Governing Body born after 1935 are fakes.
The doctrine like this which seems to be foolish is not believed other than people brainwashed.
So, I think that many people left from Jehovah's Witnesses, IMHO. -
TheOldHippie
Slimboyfat - thanks for the Bryan Wilson link; he has written valuable comments on the situation in Africa too.
As for those leaving in the USA - if it is not yelled at as being a "racist" question: Are there any differences between the number of / rate of Whites, Hispanics and Blacks leaving?
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AndersonsInfo
slimboyfat: You said, "Of course the idea that the increases were mainly due to Lloyd Barry is not credible."
I think you are referring to what appears to be what I said in a previous post, but I didn't say that. My statement was referring to pioneers and I used the word, "pioneers." Lloyd loved the pioneers and talked about Japanese pioneers in morning worship, etc. Whenever there were pioneer increases we heard about it. It was funny to us and sometimes someone at our table would mumble, "Here we go again" and we'd laugh.
It's mostly women in Japan who are the pioneers and according to Bryan Wilson's essay (written in 1977, three years after Lloyd left Japan) most converts heard about the religion through the door to door work. One can see why Lloyd pushed pioneering.
One time in the Writing Dept., I was introduced to a quite a large group of Japanese woman and one young man who were being given a personal tour. Everyone in that tour was a pioneer. And the tour guide was one of Lloyd's closest friends in the department, a woman, not Japanese. It was obvious that Lloyd asked her to tour the group. Also, quite a number of times in the almost four years I was in Writing, I'd find myself in the elevator with members of the Japanese Branch Committee or maybe just one of them. I can't think of any other branch committee members that had such a close relationship with a GB member. Lloyd never gave up his attachment to his past assignment. He stopped there often when he was on zone trips in that part of the world and often the Bethel family would hear about Japan when he was giving his zone report.
I never said that the increases were mainly due to Lloyd. That would be silly. And remember I was quoting what I was told about Lloyd by a man who knew him well, who was in his office chatting often. Insiders make statements from personal knowledge; outsiders speculate. I'm an outsider now and I speculated that perhaps the decrease that started in Japan the same year that Lloyd died could be linked. However, perhaps I should qualify my statement because of "possible-san's" posts and say, "albeit in a small way."
By the way, I've read Wilson's book examining JWs in Belgium. The book was in the Bethel library. And thank you for pointing out Wilson's study of what was responsible for Watch Tower's successful inroads into Japan. Very interesting.
Barbara
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slimboyfat
Barbara you are right you did not say Lloyd Barry was responsible for the increases in Japan. Sorry for being so abrupt.
When you mention the book by Bryan Wilson on Witnesses in Belgium I think you mean The Social Dimensions of Sectarianism: Sects and New Religious Movements in Contemporary Society that has a chapter reviewing the results of a survey conducted among Belgian congregations.
Johan Leman has also written an interesting series of articles on Witnesses in Belgium. The most recent appeared in the journal Social Compass in 2008. I don't have access to this article, but I have read the earlier ones and they were very interesting.
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AndersonsInfo
Thank you slimboyfat for responding to my last post so kindly and for the name of Wilson's book I remember reading so long ago. I'd like to reread it now. Interesting about Johan Leman's articles. I'll have to read what I can locate. I'll follow the link you provided and see what's there.
Barb
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
I had occasion to discuss the subject with some heavies while I was in Bethel and got some opinions. Personalities and the economy didn't seem to be much of a factor since new blood replaced old and financial trouble should have caused more to flock to dubdom. Probably the single most devastating event for the Witnesses in Japan wasn't something directly to do with the Witnesses:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway
3/20/95 an apocalyptic cult launched a Sarin gas attack in Tokyo. Suddenly, householders found listening to high-control 'armageddon soon' religious groups distasteful and unappealing, rather than trendy and popular. So gaining new recruits suddenly became very difficult.
The second biggest factor was probably "this generation". It was the 1975 for Japan. All the enthusiasm for the "new system" was suddenly put on hold, without any new target date in view.
Barb, when I was around Writing, both Lloyd Barry and Jim Mantz were Japan cheerleaders... until there wasn't much to cheer about. Branch dedication, international conventions, nothing could get their territory out of the doldrums. The momentum and enthusiasm were gone. Even most of the Japanese dubs didn't seem to understand what had happened and why.
Actually, I'm surprised that the lose hasn't been greater over there.
B the X