Many Bros and Sisters just go out because they have to or because they want to be accepted by others in the hall. Most go out in door to door but may not go on RVs or try to start Bible studies. Leaving literature is easy but getting involved in a strangers life can be a big responsibility. Especially if you get a needy, clingy Bible study with mental issues.
What went wrong in your congregation?
by The Rebel 39 Replies latest jw friends
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The Rebel
actually this is going back many years, but the P.O and the most zealous of Elders,were both recruited from the d2d and they made rapid advancement to their esteemed positions.
I wonder if they would be so easily converted today?
The Rebel.
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getanewplanstan
The people at the door instantly realize that they will be expected to also go D2D if they join. Not a motivator to people of European ancestry, among whom privacy is a higher priority, perhaps more so than other cultures. -
adjusted knowledge
The product JW offer is terrible. No amount of marketing is going to fix that issue. A polish turd is still a turd. I don't blame the publishers. I found it a hard sale to pitch in the 80s and 90s. I don't know of a single convert from preaching in my congregation during those two decades.
The whole religion has a potential for great growth but requires major changes. With free labor and a strong faith base of followers they could accomplish a lot in the community to attract followers. However truthfully the GB don't want to attract all followers. They target only the ones they can control, thus the slow growth.
The meetings are boring and the religion is fanatically controlling. They have major beliefs that are physically dangerous and emotionally damaging. The message is not uplifting and their reading material is both bland and targeted to the uneducated.
End of the day I think it boils down to this.... The community as a whole looks at JWs as a bunch of weirdos.
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The Rebel
One would think the response from the d2d would be an eye opener for many witnesses?
personally, when I was involved in d2d I was never without good return calls and studies. This was partly because I feared and hated cold calling, so return calls gave me the incentive to avoid this.
The Rebel.
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Listener
The whole process is just weird.
First a cold call then return visits then hours in bible study then they're ready for the Kingdom Hall meeting on a Sunday, then witnessing, more study and over 100 questions before they're ready for baptism.
Why isn't it possible just to invite persons to meetings? It would scare most people off without the in-depth indoctrination process, they wouldn't understand a word being spoken.
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Vidiot
adjusted knowledge - "The community as a whole looks at JWs as a bunch of weirdos."
And it's been worn as a badge of pride (to varying degrees) amongst the R&F.
These days, though, I think more and more people are clueing in that the WT Org, however, is more than just weird... its ideology is offensive to anyone with a smidge of decency, and its worldview and lifestyle are increasingly harmful - to those in and to those out.
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Tenacious
When I was a teen FS was very productive. Back then you could already see the small cliques and smugness and haughtiness of the elders with many trying to position themselves for privileges.
Yet, brothers and sisters were more caring and sincere with the congregation working in unison when required without complaints.
Today it's a much different picture with much backbiting, backstabbing, gossip (VERY BIG), ass kissing (HUGE), cliques (YOU DON'T JOIN WE ASK YOU), shunning weak ones, and the mother-lode of all, appointed men especially elders, behaving as if they are better more spiritual than you.
And just add all of this the fact that with the advent of the internet people in general are starting to uncover *hit that you could only know by buying old literature or an old Witness awakening. The WTS sure did help in this department though by digitizing everything.
It's very eerie how the Apostle Peter specifically mentions these hard times in 2 Peter 2:1-3.
I honestly do not believe that if the WTS could do it all over again, they would digitize all of the old literature for all to see. But in an effort to save money (their second most cherished prize, power being # 1), they did it.
Jehovah God is now bringing the hammer down on these hypocrites false prophets and I for one am dancing jig.
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Ding
I think JWs' interest is waning as the end gets pushed further and further back.
They don't cover our territory anywhere near as often as they used to.
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Vidiot
Ding - "I think JWs' interest is waning as the end gets pushed further and further back. They don't cover our territory anywhere near as often as they used to."
This.
The WTS's "Golden Age" really is well and truly over... it's just taken a few decades for the reality (and irony) of the old magazine title change to really make its way down to the boots on the ground.