by What Now? 63 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
"There are even cases in which Witless teenagers got DF'd en masse because their pioneering involved sleeping together while counting time."
Being young pioneers they perheaps were striving to get in to Gilead, and thus had interest in trying the "missionary position"?
I have heared about some wild parties at the assembly camping....but that was after I left the organisation.
It appears they are: many I know are not JWs if held by their standard...they are only a JW by name. This applies to those who appear to be the BEST! It would seem that there are a lot that have two personalities. They may claim to be one how "good" are you (they)?
SW
In addition to my earlier more extended response, I forgot to add that the part of What Now's post that caught my eye was the young ones going out in service Friday nights from 8 pm until midnight. Who is supervising them? Are there no older ones with them? Or is it exclusively a young adults "club"? Who could you find out on Friday nights at that time that you could potentially witness to? Most young people out on the streets that time Friday nights would most likely be in some degree of intoxication or under the influence of drugs. To even think of approaching members of the public so late at night is risky. Do the elders know of this and if so, why aren't they ensuring these young JWs are keeping themselves safe? And what of their parents? What parents would happily allow their child to be out in public settings witnessing to people at that time?
It sounds pretty dodgy to me - and I couldn't imagine any body of elders or parents approving of this. It sounds more like a lovely excuse for the young witnesses to get together and socialize.
In my 50 yrs as a JW about 70% of the young people I knew all over the circuit are OUT .
And the young people I know now count their time like a very lazy mystery pioneer .
People are doubling down their bets- hoping to win the Jehoover's jackpot of eteeranal life in the new system of things--
I completely agree with the assessment steve2 has given about this night-witnessing arrangement. It is unsupervised and the elders and parents who have allowed it are clearly naïve. These young people are using their time alone to explore things that are hardly spiritual in nature.
Many older people are clueless about how youth spend their time. When I taught in high school, I saw plenty of youths who led double lives. They would come to school dressed one way, but would change into different outfits they had stashed away in their lockers upon entering the building. The clothing they wore were not items their parents would have permitted them to wear at home. When the school day ended, they would change back into acceptable wear. Their parents had no idea this was going on until the kids’ teachers informed them.
I’ve engaged in night witnessing but certainly not on a Friday night and not into the late hours either. The night and the hours these young people have chosen should have immediately raised suspicions and not have been allowed. There are plenty of other alternatives for witnessing on the weekends that don’t involve going out on Saturday morning. But I also believe that neither the elders nor the parents of these young people really want to know what is going on. They are willfully and deliberately ignorant, as is so often the case.
Quendi
My teen told me last week she stopped believing this was "the truth" a year ago. She also asked me if I had ever heard of cognitive dissonance a few weeks ago. If she only knew what I've spent the last four months researching. Lol. Part of the reason I didn't think she was taking to "the truth" is that we don't have anyone her age group in our hall. There are a couple in other halls, but I can honestly see why she isn't interested in hanging out with them. They are really slow for their age and fully indoctrinated. I've been pretty laid back with her since middle school, encouraging sports, making sure college is focused on etc. She's allowed to go to high school dances - they are strictly chaperoned - so then again, maybe we've been on the fringe anyway. Last year, I did see a new single mom of three start studying and six months later get baptized. They've been completely love bombed in our hall, so maybe for them this is a step up. I guess every hall is different.
out of 26 from my od cong, 12 left, 5 left then came back, 7 have been good little hardcore witnesses into their 30s. the other 2 i dont know their status.
I created a report on the 40 people I grew up with. Only about 10 were still JW's by the age of 40, so it exceeded the 66% mark.
I don't see the JWs going anywhere soon. It will take decades. Most of those in at 40 will die in it, because they have too much to lose, so that gives them another 40 years. Even cooky religions like Mormons are still growing in Australia, (out growing JWs), so the indoctrination methods of cults works very effectively.
What I expect is that the internet has slowed growth, and eventually it will halt and start to gradually decline. What really is needed is for the government to introduce into school curriculums a course on critical thinking, teaching how to identify rhetorical fallacies and indoctrination methods. That is needed to help JW youth to recognise Governing Body statements as mind control.
verifying retention rate objectively is not easy either, since small doubts in the late teens with some added kicks in the butt might lead to leaving the religion at 35. if i look at youngsters from around 20, about 60% is still there, but once you take this up to youngsters we still remember that are now around 30, then 70% has left, if not more. the lack of quality of the content in WT publications and the lack of social activity organized by the congregation are definitely contributing. Some just don't fit in the kind JW life, and would have left anyway, even if everything was done right. their effort to keep up the appearance of being gods only mouthpiece is going to drive 1000's away, no matter how good their mind control techniques are. most witnesses have at least once in their life the need to verify if the truth is what it claims to be, and then it is game over for the WTBS
Hoffnung
