Is The WTS Getting Desperate for Males? KM Aug 2009

by Hopscotch 54 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Hopscotch
    Hopscotch

    Just thought this article was interesting in view of what has been said in the last couple of years on the forum about the declining number of elders and servants and those reaching out. Add to that the large percentage of young teenage boys who leave 'the truth'. I can't ever remember this much space in a KM being devoted to converting men.

    Para 2 states: "When a family head accepts the truth, he often influences others in the family to join him in pure worship". So firstly they think that by getting more males in they will get more females and their kids. (By the way isn't this thinking a bit outdated these days).

    Then Para 9 under the subheading Train for the Future, it states: "Men who respond to the Kingdom message and reach out for privileges in Jehovah's service, may come to be among the "gifts in men", Christain elders who use their abilities and strengths in behalf of the congregations of Jehovah's people". So secondly, it appears that they want more males to solve their elder shortage problems.

    There is also a push to get to unbelieving husbands.

    So is it just me who thinks this or are the WTS really getting desperate for men?

    Below are the scans of the article. By the way they are from the Australian KM.

    Hopscotch

  • Awakened at Gilead
    Awakened at Gilead

    Preach to men - they make up 50% of the population, lol.

  • Billy the Ex-Bethelite
    Billy the Ex-Bethelite

    After the August "convert men to brothers" article, the September will probably have a "convert sisters to brothers" article.

  • AllTimeJeff
    AllTimeJeff

    "Preach to men - We need new ones, the old ones are on to us...."

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    Some sisters have been doing a SEARCH FOR MEN for several decades.

    I think this is a real concern and this is the best (totally lame) idea they could come up with.
    "Y'all need to preach in the evenings, weekends, holidays to reach the men because men are working while women are lounging around at home."

    Don't the folks in the ivory tower hear that women folk work too? Don't they realize the men in the congregation work and want to have some personal time on evenings, weekends, holidays?

    Oh, I forgot that the end is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo close that they can smell it. No time for personal time.

  • Mary
    Mary

    This isn't really a surprise. There are fewer and fewer 'qualified' men who are willing to take on the added responsibilites in the congregation, especially as there is no monetary reward involved. Not that they should be doing it for the money, but many brothers are most likely in the same fix as the rest of the world right now: they're financially strapped and simply trying to keep their heads above water. They might be taking on a second job, just to keep the roof over their heads. They don't have the time to even make it to all the meetings, let alone be burdened with all the additional responsibilities when you become an MS or elder.

    Ever since they axed the 'generation' doctrine, more and more are finally waking up and realizing that they WILL be retiring in this System and they better have something saved for a rainy day, because God knows the WTS won't be helping them out financially at all.

    Basically, all the false promises the Borg dangled to everyone has come back to bite them in the ass. The younger generation may not be content being a Cheese and Cracker bro---they want something more and if that means leaving the religion, then that's exactly what they're doing. Now they've got a shortage of qualified brothers but apparently it's better to be short on the males, then to let a woman take on some responsibilities.

  • verystupid77
    verystupid77

    Don't the folks in the ivory tower hear that women folk work too? Don't they realize the men in the congregation work and want to have some personal time on evenings, weekends, holidays?

    No they do not realize that. I am so bitter. I married an elder and we had no time together when we were first married well for most of our married life. The Brog came first and I was second or third of fourth depending on who was in line well I was alway last in line. The CO knew this and told me to just buck it up because the new system was sooooooooooo close. Then I could have all the time I needed with my husband.

    Yeah the good times.

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    When I first saw that article, I knew I was (and am) in trouble--and not just getting disfellowshipped, either (worse than that). They know that I am single with no prospects--and would love nothing more than to have me go back and stick with just men. That, to them, would be a way for me to fit in without ever having to see a human female ever again--and still do what the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger wants. All for an estimated 2 or 3 additional men actually becoming unbaptized publishers, and countless thousands of hours wasted trying.

    Just wait until the hounders see that article in my Hell. I am sure they are going to be thinking of me when that comes around their area--even worse than the general roundup of earlier 2009 was. Besides gaining back one of their men, they hope to have me go on all those calls where men are around, to unbelieving husbands when the wife and [female] children are gone (any boys would be targets, however). And, with the prospect of being able to use me to do this nationwide (through the Value Destroyer Training School) and setting them up to plunge the whole world into the Second Dark Ages (or die trying) is going to be more than enough for them to put up with the sky high cost of force-reindoctrinating me. (Notably, having more men gets them farther per person than "sisters" because of the way they treat the "sisters" and insist on continuing to).

    In practice, the effort is going to have extremely little or no effect. I will be quarantined from the opposite sex, never so much as seeing a female human, and yet finding out that most of the men are either not interested or will research the religion and decide to either drop out or bumble along (the bumblers are the ones they will forcibly draw me closer to, in hopes of pushing them all the way). They also want people out in field circus on evenings, weekends, and holidays for this project--no more time to do anything else. Witlessing to work mates is usually a good way to lose one's job, especially in today's economy--and get kicked out of businesses where they want to get some work done that is work.

    All that, and I expect 4 years' work to produce (at the most) one or two more men in the cancer. That compares with the humanoid that dragged me in in the first place having about 6 in 4 years, in the mid 1980s, regular pio-sneering and being ruthlessly efficient in not taking "No" for an answer. Any way you look at it, they have planned for me to waste more time trying to build this cancer.

  • TheOldHippie
    TheOldHippie

    This is nothing new, I am afraid. Some 25 years ago, I remember we were told in a talk to look for "elder material" in the unbelieving spouses of JW sisters and try to make special efforts to make them into JWs and thereafter elders. So this has been going on for decades.

  • easyreader1970
    easyreader1970

    You can really see the evidence that there is a severe "brother" shortage.

    Many times, the microphone carriers are 50 or 60-year-old men. Twenty years ago, this was a position given to teenage boys. But there are no more teenage boys. And if there are some teenage boys in the congregation, they generally are not up to the standards that the JWs require to be seen.

    There are also very few elders and ministerial servants. Older brothers are not able to scale back their duties because there aren't enough people to give the responsibilities to.

    Where I live, congregations regularly have to import brothers from other congregations to fill the empty spots. Sometimes these brothers have to drive an almost unreasonable distance to support the needs of the congregation.

    Personally, I am hoping that this shortage will contribute to the slow erosion of the Organization.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit