Is the number of JWs leaving increasing?

by dozy 18 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  dozy

  I don't mean JWs getting stumbled or bored or getting DFd for immorality- there always have been a certain number of those all the time.

  I've been out for a few years now but am curious to know from "still ins" if there is any evidence of increasing numbers of people leaving for classic "apostate" reasons - ie either fading or getting DFd because they have done research & realise that this isn't "The Truth".

  When I was a JW occasionally I would hear of someone suddenly stopping going to meetings & hearing through the grapevine & JW gossip mill that the person no longer believed it was the truth or had expressed doubts in the "Slave" etc. But it didn't happen very often ( though it was increasing somewhat in the years before I left).

  One would imagine with the internet & increased information available to all that this would be happening more often. Any evidence of this , anecdotally? Or statistically - is the membership of sites like this and other ex-JW forums increasing ( assuming that a certain percentage of ex-JWs would gravitate to these sites. )

  I ask this as one ex-JW I speak to reckons that most of the "low hanging fruit" has gone - ie most of the JWs who were inclined enough and honest enough with themselves to do some investigations had already left by now.
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  alanv

  Although many may get disfellowshipped for immorality, that is only because they no longer believe it is the truth, so they feel it is ok to continue in immorality. It is very unlikely that those that get kicked out for that still believe everything the gov body says is true. Otherwise they would be repentant and not get disfellowshipped.
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  DesirousOfChange

  I speak with an increasing number who "doubt" it is really The Truth(TM) anymore, or who doubt that this Governing Body really is "in touch" with God's Spirit. Even an old timer who has believed the Partyline for decades has to be wondering what is wrong. Quite simply put..........Armageddon hasn't come yet. Nor has the "New World". All of their life-long hopes of being part of the "Millions" to never die have never materialized.

  But are they leaving? No. By the time they come to this realization, the Org is still the centerpiece of their lives. Without it, they'd have nothing.

  On the other hand, younger ones are leaving for 1 of 2 reasons: 1) they are disinterested and leaving it behind to pursue a "normal" life; 2) they are interested enough to look deeper and uncovering TTATT. Of course, many are braindead like their parents and just fail to ever find the ambition to get off of the squirrel cage. They are the "future" of the Organization.

  Doc
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  OnTheWayOut

  There are no sources of accurate numbers on this, but with the freedom of information being just a click away, with goofy things like "overlap generation" and "The Governing Body is the entire FDS," with crushing young people's career hopes, a betting man would bet that most of the teens and young adults who grew up in it are leaving and new adults are not coming into the lies.

  Scientology has tried to hide their terribly dwindling numbers and JW's are kind of sort of not dwindling so much yet as they were still baptizing plenty of pre-teens and barely-teens and still reaching out in a few third-world countries. But I believe they already entered into the fantasy realm with their statistics and peaked between 7 and 8 million members. They are desparate now as their young baptisms are growing up and leaving and there are no real crowds to replace them.
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  insidetheKH

  as far as i know from my own experience and knowledge of several congregations.. NO
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  punkofnice

  I think the on-line age has woken many up to the fact that the 'truth(TM)' is actually a filthy scam of a cult.

  Even hard lined, dyed in the wool dubs will begin to think the GB have lost their way.

  Entropy. Inevitable but the WBT$ will find a way to survive.
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  Phizzy

  I would love to know an accurate answer to the question, Dozy. They have always had a huge number leave every year, but is it greater now ? who knows ?

  I think that what is certain is that recruiting new members is becoming increasingly hard in the Internet age, and retaining new members is hard too, they may join for a year or two, but the reality of what the religion really is sinks in and they are off.

  It is a moribund religion which is in total denial, so don't expect to ever get any truthful, accurate figures.
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  Londo111

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/282061/1/How-do-you-measure-a-Jehovahe28099s-Witness

  This was kind of what I was getting at here. How would one accurate gauge? What metrics would one use to measure?
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  berrygerry

  The other change is the 15 minute a month reporting.

  Elders visiting seniors residences encourage them to report. (The instructions for recording are to save the time up until it reaches an hour, but to count the person as an active publisher for every month).

  Just a trick to boost the number of publishers.
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  GoUnion

  I hav only been out around 7 months but among many of my active friends from the Midwest area, there have been many many divorces among mid to late twenties and a good number have stopped attending, singles as well.

  i think the push for pioneering and the advice to do more is to keep a smaller number, but to keep them in a bubble and keep them zealous. its considered sifting and allows for more precise control.