Lol so.... someone on the spot explains why this dosent mean the wt is going broke and slims response is to say ‘yes this means the wt is going broke’. Who would thunk it
Developments in the India Branch
by MaxPayne 58 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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LV101
SDA religion has serious money and many more adherents -- huge growth around the world. They aren't as wacky (more mainstream and respected by society) as WT and promote higher education and health - Loma Linda/Redlands, California, one of the 7 (? - think it's either 5 or 7?) Blue Zones of planet earth for longevity. SDAs in Loma Linda rated No. 1 in the world. WT can't win at helping humanoids in any capacity.
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Ireneus
Behind the details, it's all about a cry that we don't have enough fund. Yet in how inspiring way the letter is made--I feel envy on their ability to say something and to imply something totally opposite.
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joe134cd
LV101 - let me explain. The SDA church claims about 20 million adherents. That includes everyone and everyone, and probably those who haven’t stepped foot in a church for years. The jw religion has 8.5 million but we must remember that figure could be doubled if not tripped in some countries. I would put the lds / sda / jw with an equal membership of around 10-20 mill a piece.
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LV101
joe - gotcha. I know lds claims Xs but hadn't heard that about SDAs -- wouldn't surprise me. I've read/heard SDA's nos have been increasing but have no facts. I have life-long friends in Calif who socialize, run marathons, etc., with SDAs and have so much respect/admiration for them -- same with lds which has worked so hard to change it's image. WT is still is a mess.
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2+2=5
The jw religion has 8.5 million but we must remember that figure could be doubled if not tripped in some countries
What figure are you doubling and why?
I doubt the WT stats are reliable.... but multiplying already dubious figures by 2 or 3 doesn’t help.
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Londo111
If you take into account how other denominations measure membership and apply that to the JW, I would think double would be accurate. Take in the Memorial figures, which includes the inactive or the unbaptized family members who were raised JW and attend at least that one meeting a year.
The Watchtower measure of membership is much more stringent. At minimum, a person has to report an hour (or 15 minutes for the elderly and infirm) in "field service". To be a full member, there are superstrict standards that many people have a hard time meeting. Some, like Serena Williams, float along the periphery. In other denominations, they'd be counted and there wouldn't be the high barrier keeping them from membership.
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joe134cd
I would estimate that the 3 American religions (LDS/SDA/JW) would have around the same amount of ACTIVE membership. That's a good point that I forgot to mention. Although the SDA officially claims a membership of 20 million, the JW memorial is also around 20 million as well which would probably be a more similar comparison. For instance in the census for this country there are more people claiming to be JWs than sda. Another thing that would suggest to me the 10-20 million adherents is that the LDS claims about 16 million adherents but unofficial reports would suggest that 30% of that figure could be fully believing active members. I'm sort of on the verge of thinking that perhaps there could be more active JWs than there could be active LDS.
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slimboyfat
I absolutely agree there are more active JWs than Mormons and your figures are spot on too. Mormons claim a membership of 18 million, but worldwide “activity rates” average around 30%. So that indicates a worldwide active membership of around 5.4 million Mormons, which is well below the number of JW publishers which is over 8 million.
I am not as familiar with how SDAs count their members, but I think it’s likely there are more active SDAs members than JWs. There are some developing countries, such as India, where SDAs outnumber JWs ten to one, or more. In western countries JWs tend to outnumber SDAs, particularly in Europe.
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OrphanCrow
"We are purchasing floor space in an office building for the branch office and Bethelites will live nearby in apartments purchased by the organization."
Hmm.
I wonder if the WT/org is getting "advice" from one of their own? Or, maybe, that "floor space in an office building" is somehow connected to their good buddy Lorenz?