Has a critical mass of exJWs been reached?

by truthseeker 52 Replies latest jw friends

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  truthseeker

  It took the better part of 15 years but I believe we have finally arrived at that point where there is now a critical mass of former witnesses.

  Thousands of exJWs come together on forums like this one and discuss findings, ideas and research. There have been documentaries and even a movie made about life in the Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Ex JW websites, online forums, and discussion boards that set the wheels in motion in the early to late 90s have matured into powerful tools of social change within the organization.

  The lies and false doctines taught by the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society are plainly accessible with just a cursory Google search.

  Active elders leak BOE letters, often weeks before they hit the notice board in a Kingdom Hall.

  Social media has allowed exJWs to connect with those still in as well as those who have left.

  The Society have no game plan because information is power and they have lost the information war. All they can do is cry wolf and warn the rank and file not to listen to apostates.

  I don't know what future the Society will face in the next ten years, but changing world events, social trends, and reactionary change from headquarters based on their own faulty Biblical chronology has got them cornered like a raging animal.

  It doesn't look good.
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  ldrnomo

  Good summary of the Watchtower's situation. They are definitely losing their ability in growing thier membership. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in 10 years.

  It's fun to watch the de-construcion of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
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  villagegirl

  Hard core dubs are what I would like to see free.
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  mariu

  Well, I read predictions of the imminent implosion of the WTS "because of the Internet" well over a decade ago. Didn't happen so far.

  That said, and taking a step back, it's obvious that the situation is very very different from 20 years ago. It's become dramatically easier to connect with ex-JWs. There's an abundance of information for people with doubts or on the way out (or on the way in, for that matter). The whole cult approach of restricting information and isolating apostates doesn't work any longer.

  This, coupled with a growing apathy towards religion in most developed countries, translates to stagnation in the Watchtower world. This organisation is nothing like the successful competitor to mainstream churches it used to be. And those times aren't coming back.

  At least in the "Western world", looking at the strong trend of fewer and fewer baptisms since the 1990s, I see them slowly shrinking over the next decades. I don't see an implosion at all. Hardcore members will keep hanging on, and even small and stagnant religious groups can live pretty much indefinitely.

  BTW, one interesting phenomenon I see fairly recently are "demi-apostates". That is, people who are somewhat half-believing. They choose to stay in the org despite some major flaws they see, they think the WTS still has some/many things right, yet post on ex-JW forums without regrets. According to the WTS, such people shouldn't even exist. Goes to show that they're losing more and more control.
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  Phizzy

  I too am doubtful that they wil suddenly implode, or that there will be a large exodus.

  The problem the WT has is that it always was a Ponzi Scheme, they have always leached members, but now they are not adding new ones at anything like the rate they were in the affluent countries, where most donations come from.

  In the U.S even the Amish expect to double in number in the next ten years ! Will JW's double in the U.S in that time ? I doubt it.

  They are without doubt a moribund organization, but they will take a long time to die, look how long it took the mainly celibate Shakers to die out !

  The Property Scam, the Convention profits, plus still considerable donations, coupled with cost-cutting will keep them going financially, at least till this GB is dead and gone, so what do they care about attrition ?
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  designs

  Those who show up at Assemblies with Big Signs were usually religious nuts and it offered no alternative to a JW who was questioning the Org.. Now the xJWs are more secular, educated, political and just better balanced in terms of socializing. That makes a huge difference for those still inside wondering what its like on the outside.
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  punkofnice

  I believe the internet has been a hinderance to the WBT$ fraud.

  As soon as someone becomes interested they may well come onto the net and be put off reading TTATT.

  I think most of the 'growth(tm)' comes from within the cult.

  Apart from that I feel the WBT$ paedophile protection and real estate scam will just slow down. It's a big business built to survive at any cost.
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  Frazzled UBM

  Don't underestimate its resilience! Any organisation that can survive despite wrongly predicting imminent Armageddon for 100 years is not going to wither and die in a hurry.
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  emeth

  guys look it up on this forum ... there are threads from 10 or more years back that said and predicted the same. In the meantime the witnesses added millions of extra publishers. Even in secular western countries their number remained the same or showed growth.

  the last 2 years they even started to emphasize on their website & use of the internet and leading people towards it. They managed to draw a million visitors a day to JW.ORG and with the august 2014 event in mind we can be sure that that nr of unique visitors per day will grow.

  look for example to the growth of bible studies

  in 2011 8,490,746

  in 2012 8,759,988

  in 2013 9,254,963

  that means that they added about 500,000 biblestudies in the year 2013. That is about 100% more than the number of biblestudents added during 2012

  i am sure that they keep growing and that the internet wont change that ,. even not for a bit

  l
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  mynameislame

  I have noticed that anything a JW posts online will quickly be met with a reply from one or more ex-JWs