Memorial partakers (page 3)

Can someone please explain to me then, if the number of partackers going up is so damning to the WTS cause, then why don't they fix the count? They did it at KH's all the time to pad the numbers, I'm sure they could easily get away with it. This has me perplexed, because I know how corrupt they are in other areas, so there must be some advantage for them to let the number rise.

sir82

Can someone please explain to me then, if the number of partackers going up is so damning to the WTS cause, then why don't they fix the count?

The WTS has a strange relationship with numbers. They fudge and play with them all they want to, up until the numbers are committed in writing some place, and from that point on they are virtually "sacred".

For example, field service reports. They know perfectly well that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of JWs regularly fudge their reports (counting coffee breaks, time driving to/from other territories, time spent riding around doing other peoples' return visits, secretaries "estimating" numbers for missing reports, etc.) but scarcely say anything about it more than once a decade or so.

But once those numbers are committed to a report, they are positviely anal about recording every last digit to the utmost precision.

Same thing with Memorial partakers. They would prefer that elders not count obvious "nut cases" as partakers, but once the number is reported, the Society is utterly scrupulous about reporting it accurately.

There have always been nut cases partaking, and elders don't count them. What is happening now is that due to the changes from the 2007 WT, many many thousands more are partaking - and of those new partakers, a significant portion are not so obviously insane, so the elders count them just to be safe. And voila, the number goes up every year.

Mad Sweeney

Sir makes a good point but it needs clarification. These new ones aren't being counted "just to be safe." A new partaker will very often meet with the body of elders to discuss his/her calling and convince them it is genuine. This is little different from when a Dub buys a new home or considers a new job; they go to the elders for approval first. So the elders usually know who's going to partake ahead of time and if they haven't been talked with beforehand, you can bet they'll be spoken to afterwards.

So in summary the number of perceived REAL anointed is ACTUALLY growing. These aren't loons or visitors or apostates. They're rank and file Dubs who feel like they're going to heaven and have gotten (or will get) the approval of the body of elders BEFORE BEING OFFICIALLY COUNTED.

For clarification, I know this information second-hand and anecdotally. I haven't seen any written policy to the effect. I just know that this is how it has happened around here and am assuming it is similar everywhere.

freydo

Well they're going to have to do something. How high will the numbers have to go before they do something dramatic? As I stated before on another thread, imo this issue is more important to their house of cards than the issues of 1914 and the generation thing put together.

TheOldHippie

"This is little different from when a Dub buys a new home or considers a new job; they go to the elders for approval first. "

??????????????????? To quote Johnny Cash during the San Quentin show: "You don't really mean that?"

donuthole

@MadSweeney

I can confirm what you are saying. After I partook the first time it wasn't long after that I had "shepherding call" from two elders who attempted to validate my claim using the Watchtower magazine.

1. Did I have a drug use history?
2. Was I undergoing emotional stress due to my father's health problems?
3. Had I had mental problems in the past?
4. Did I read apostate information to make me think I was anointed?

They also used the old 1935 argument and the reasoning that if a replacement would be needed it would be someone with a long history of Kingdom service. I kindly informed them that it was between me and God and I didn't need them to validate it - not able to convince me otherwise they left, only telling me to pray about it.

I didn't last a year after that - as they disfellowshipped me just prior to the next memorial. (The official announcement was read the following week.)

undercover

It doesn't really matter if the numbers go up or down. Most dubs buy whatever story is given as an explanation as to why it fluctuates.

Partakers have gone up over the 10,000 mark and yet most dubs just took in stride as if nothing was amiss.

I started a thread about what a JW told me when I expressed (mock) surprise as to why the number has risen. They had been given a reason that was obviously dubious, yet they repeated it as if it were Holy writ or something...and this from a normally analytical and logical minded person. I was dissapointed on how easily they had subscribed to the theory presented them without even pausing to consider the facts.

It really becomes disheartening when you think you're starting to make some progress in freeing someone from the grasp of the WT cult only to see them defend it on the flimsiest of reasons to support them. Those of you with JW family can attest to it. You can actually see a difference between the JW personality and the real personality...and the way they process real information and news compared to WT prescribed information and news.

Memorial partakers

Darth plaugeis

JWinprotest