How Many JWs Are 100% Committed?

minimus

I think MOST are not. I think most do what they must simply to continue their social and family life.

leavingwt

I suppose it's RELATIVE.

However, it is my opinion that ANY person walking around with a Suicide Card in their wallet is "Committed".

This doesn't mean they attend all of the meetings or follow all of the rules.

As Bill Maher said about the 19 hijackers on 9/11, "They were not cowards."

Anyone with a Suicde Card in their wallet has signed a legal document, allowing medical personnel to let their a$$es bleed to death, based upon what some stranger in Brooklyn told them, if they are unconscious.

That is "Committed" (enough) in my book.

Room 215

Minimus, it's impossible to say for sure, but certainly far fewer percentage-wise than in the past. Does anyone think, for example, they can get today's JWs to support an 8-day convention, including volunteering for food service, or have them knocking on doors to find rooms for out-of-town delegates? Or, for that matter, to get out-of-town delegates to accept lodging in a "worldly" stranger's apartment in a strange town?

BluesBrother

Any comments we make are, of course subjective and based only on what we see personally.

I have had reason to deal more with the extended family recently..They are all as committed as they ever were . I see my nephew spontaneously Witnessing informally to someone we met. I see them speaking animatedly about their faith and the worldwide work and The Kingdom. Of course they all carry Blood Cards and their children have the child's version.

I see that they are as committed as ever. Until we see numbers dropping,it is wishful thinking on our part to say that the dubs are not committed

Finally-Free

I think 100% of them should be committed.

W

Quirky1

Good one FF!!

OUTLAW

15-20% are Hard-Core..

....................OUTLAW

SuspiciousMinds

This is an interesting question. On the surface it seems that many do not seem all that committed, but like leavingwt pointed out, these same ones carry the suicide card on them in the event of a medical emergency. I find that most JWs (even if they attend every meeting and are out in service every Saturday) spend almost no time doing "personal study" or preparing for meetings. They make almost no effort to study Bible prophecies and study the corresponding interpretations provided by the WTS. If a main doctrinal point is changed (in the subtle way that the WTS loves to do it), most JWs don't even notice or care.

My mom is an intense JW nazi - always has, probably always will be. My dad is an elder but he does not seem committed at all. He works full time, makes a good income, takes nice vacations, spends a lot of time fixing up the house and property. I don't remember him ever going in FS on Sunday or mid-week on vacation. I'd be surprised if he reports double-digit hours more than once or twice a year. He's a well-respected elder, but sometimes I get the impression he doesn't really believe it. This makes my situation difficult, because they haven't found out we are inactive and have stopped attending meetings. I know how my mom will react but I have no idea what to expect from my dad.

SM

undercover

Finally-Free beat me to it...

But seriously, from the ones that I know personally, I'd have to go with Outlaw's estimate...about 20 percent are hardcore.

I was thinking about this the other day... Having been inactive and eyes opened for a while now I've watched all my dub associates differently. It's interesting to note that almost all of the ones my age are just putting in time. They've lost the zeal...the End is not around the corner for them. They're planning retirements, buying bigger houses. Careers, not just jobs, are important to them. Life is important to them now. They're not living for a promise of the future...they're trying to get the best out of this life.

The generation behind me is even more lackadaisacal about the whole JW thing. They have never experienced the looking forward to a date. 1975 is ancient history...history that has been revised and they don't even understand the import of it. They're clueless about the "generation of 1914" teaching as well. I've watched the kids grow up without that pressure of 'the world will end before you graduate/marry/have kids/need a career/ schtick and they have adapted to the 'world' much better than my generation did. I've seen them join school clubs, sports teams, make worldly friends, go to college, get a degree and real careers. I've seen them fit right in with the world around them much more than we ever did. The only time these JW kids stand out is around the holidays...then they just lay low for awhile.

I think the Society has noticed it as well...thus the import on the 'end' again and sticking close to the bOrg. Avoiding DFd people and anything that can open one up to 'apostate' thinking. The Society sees the younger generation slipping away. Instead of using this generation to mainstream the religion, they're making the mistake of upping the cultishness of the religion, condemn and demonize everything.

And it's backfiring. Many young ones are leaving the JW faith because they were free of the fear of imminent doom that we had and they see the BS. If they don't see the BS, then they selfishly see that living a life of denial is no fun and decide to walk away. Since they haven't been imbedded with a sense of the world ending tomorrow, they're not fearful of the unknown as we were.

At times we look at the younger generation of dubs and maybe we're a bit jealous..."they get away with this and that..." "they don't know what's like to..." on and on. But actually I see it as a good thing. The Society is losing its grip. The religion will continue to exist and attract a certain kind of people, but for the born-ins, each generation that passes will find more freedom and more will leave. Over time, the JW religion will revert back to a small, insignificant sect made up of ecentrics and oddballs.

passwordprotected

Close JW relatives of mine are carrying out serious renovations of their home (some of the renovations are of renovations that were carried out just 2 years ago...). This is costing them a lot of money, money they have borrowed. If they truly believed the end was imminent, they'd be content with sustenance and covering.

Other JW relatives of mine (one of whom is an elder) pay large amounts of money into a pension fund. If they believed the end was imminent they wouldn't believe they'd ever need to draw a pension (they are only in their early 40s).

An elder in the local congregation has been paying a large sum of money into a trust fund for his daughter for the past 17 years. If he believed the end was imminent, even 17 years ago, he wouldn't have believed his daughter would reach the age of 18 and thus be in a position to benefit from the fund.

How Many JWs Are 100% Committed?

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