9/11 saved the Organization from decline.
What happened in 97-98 to reduce the increase?
by Splash 22 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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slimboyfat
Generation change in 1995.
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Splash
Thanks for all of your thoughts on this.
It seems then, there is a 3-4 year delay when a new and ridiculous idea is forced on the sheep, until they make their plans and leave.
These figures suggest that maybe there are just as many coming in (since the number baptised each year is only down a small amount since 1995) but the number leaving increased, and that increased level has been maintained ever since.
We may therefore see another dip in 2016 when the fallout from this latest dodgy new light translates into more leavers.
Splash
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caliber
The steady drop since 1994 is generation change and the INTERNET ....spike after 2001...could that be a 9/11 or after 2001 was likely the implementation of the 15 minute rule(still a publisher ) that held things steady from then on
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If the increases of the 1950's would have been sustained there would be about 60,000,000 JW's by now. That would be about 1 in every 60 people on earth ( post war optimism )
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The red bomb: You can ( 1982/1989-You CanLive Forever ... which replaced the blue bomb, (the Truth book ) 1968 and revised in 1981
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World events ...publications .. the internet all influence peoples minds
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JustVisting
Probably as an indirect result of hatching their evil plot to bed with the UN.
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besty
they will settle at 1% nominal growth.
huge fadeouts in the west and normal growth in southern hemisphere poor countries.
end result = blue collar, old people, poor immigrants in the west and fighting for the evangelical pie in africa, latin america
thats why they are selling up and downsizing - not the signs of health, but long-haul decline
death of a religion.
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L3G
Thx for sharing this.
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david_10
I don't think that the Watchtower Society is the only religion to experience a lower growth rate in the last 15 years or so. I think that the declining percentage increases have affected all of them, some even more than the Witnesses. So I have to ask myself: What is the common force that could affect all of them? The answer would be: The Internet.
God bless the Internet!
David
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LisaRose
For me it was all those things, sort of a cumulative effect. My kids grew up and rejected the religion. I didn't quite buy the generation thing or the UN explanation. I did have access to the internet and while I didn't go to any anti dub sites ( too brainwashed still), I did read a few discussions about evolution and God, things that got me thinking.
Finally, I was thinking about my marriage and how the Watchtower said it was always better to stay, even when you weren't happy, I realized that was complete rubbish, my staying with my loser husband helped no one, not even him. Finally, it all just came together and I had a brilliant glimpse if the obvious - it was all just nothing, those people in Brooklyn were all just making it up as they went along. They were no different than any other religion, worse even. It was like I was in prison and the door justly popped open, suddenly I was free.
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blondie
*** w97 5/1 p. 29 Questions From Readers ***
Could it be said that the recently updated understanding of the word “generation” at Matthew 24:34 allows for the idea that the end of the system of things could be delayed into the distant future?
That is certainly not the case. On the contrary, the recent improved understanding of this matter should help us to keep in constant expectation of the end. How so?
Well, as The Watchtower of November 1, 1995, explained, Jesus applied the phrase “this generation” to contemporary wicked people. (Matthew 11:7, 16-19; 12:39, 45; 17:14-17; Acts 2:5, 6, 14, 40) It was not, as such, a description of a fixed length of time beginning with a specific date.
In fact, “Questions From Readers” in that same issue of The Watchtower focused on two key points: “A generation of people cannot be viewed as a period having a fixed number of years” and, “The people of a generation live for a relatively brief period.”
We often use “generation” in this way. For example, we might say, ‘The soldiers of Napoléon’s generation knew nothing about airplanes and atom bombs.’ Would we be referring just to soldiers who were born in the very same year as Napoléon was? Would we be referring merely to those French soldiers who died before Napoléon did? Of course not; nor would we by such a use of “generation” be trying to fix a set number of years. We would, though, be referring to a relatively short period, not hundreds of years from Napoléon’s time into the future.
It is similar with our understanding of what Jesus said in his prophecy given on the Mount of Olives. The fulfillment of the different features of that prophecy proves that the end of this system is close. (Matthew 24:32, 33) Remember that according to Revelation 12:9, 10, with the establishment of God’s heavenly Kingdom in 1914, Satan was cast down to the vicinity of the earth. Revelation adds that Satan now has great anger. Why? Because he knows “he has a short period of time.”—Revelation 12:12.
It was thus appropriate that The Watchtower of November 1 carried the subheading “Keep on the Watch!” The following paragraph aptly said: “We do not need to know the exact timing of events. Rather, our focus must be on being watchful, cultivating strong faith, and keeping busy in Jehovah’s service—not on calculating a date.” Then it quoted Jesus’ words: “Keep looking, keep awake, for you do not know when the appointed time is. But what I say to you I say to all, Keep on the watch.”—Mark 13:33, 37.