And with the continuing birthrate going up each year compared to the number of JW`s the gap / ratio between Jw`s and the population is surely going to get bigger and bigger.
India ... what's the latest?
by no-zombie 22 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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joe134cd
I remember someone telling me that the majority of witnesses are concentrated in one state. I believe when preaching great care has to be taken to avoid unrest.
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Drearyweather
steve2,
Comparing religious membership in India is very complicated task. You are right. Adventist Church in India has around 3000+ churches and number around 917,000.
The main reason for the growth of Adventist Church in India is because of the educational institutions and health institutes started by the Adventist churches during their early missionary stages from foreign contributions. Church structure began to grow around clinics and hospitals founded by early missionaries.
Not to disrespect the Adventist movement - In India, it is easy to recruit people in your denomination if you promise to provide them material benefits.
Majority of the Christian denominations in the country did this to increase and sustain membership. Some local churches provide monthly stipend to the families in their churches to avoid them falling prey to other Christian denominations. In fact, in remote areas, when JW’s approach them during door-to-door knocking, people simply say that they are ready to become JW’s if they give them more money than what their current churches give.
In a remote area, around 50 people turned out for a JW memorial expecting to get a free meal, since a zealous publisher invited them for ‘the Lord’s evening meal’.
In my opinion, with zero charity, zero schools, zero medical institutions, its impressive that JW’s managed around 45,000 in a country like India. No wonder, Lloyd Barry once called Edwin Skinner (JW British Missionary in India) as the ‘dean of missionaries’.
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Drearyweather
joe134cd
The greatest concentration of JW's is in Kerala: around 30%.
South India has around 67% of the witnesses
Central India has around 20% and North has around 13%
Yes, preaching is done very carefully in India. In some states it is more difficult to preach than in banned middle eastern countries. It won't take long for a mob to trash you into pieces if they smell religious conversions. Even in affluent states.
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Gorbatchov
Everyone is equal. Some are more equal than others.
G.
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steve2
45,000 after more than 100 years in a land of nearly 1.5 billion is peanuts - no matter how you dress it up Drearyweather .
It is no coincidence that a good third of Witnesses live in Kerala - the state that is perhaps the most "Christianised" in all of India. JWs - like other heterodox Christian groups - ride on the coat tails of the hardwork of Christendom's missionaries - NOT their own missionaries.
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Drearyweather
Steve2
45,000 after more than 100 years in a land of nearly 1.5 billion is peanuts - no matter how you dress it up Drearyweather .
True, numerically, 45,000 in 1.5 billion after 100 years are peanuts. But for me, measlier is the number of other combined Christianity figures: Only 2.3% of 1.5 billion after 2,000 years of missionary activity. It fell down from 2.6% in 1971 to 2.3% in 2011 even after continuous inflow of foreign funds and foreign missionaries. A group of Bible Students broke after CT Russell's death, but they number only 2,500 now.
It is no coincidence that a good third of Witnesses live in Kerala - the state that is perhaps the most "Christianised" in all of India. JWs - like other heterodox Christian groups - ride on the coat tails of the hardwork of Christendom's missionaries - NOT their own missionaries.
In all states of India, Kerala ranks 8th in the total number of Christians. The first five most Christianized states in India have very little JW presence. In fact only 4 congregations exist in all of these states combined (Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram & Arunachal Pradesh). The branch office is located in Karnataka, which has only 1% of Christian presence (18th in line). So I find it difficult to agree that JW’s thrive only in Christianized states and were able to grow due to Christendom.
Christendom’s missionaries used the then prevalent casteism, social stigma, denial of education, religious discrimination and untouchability to convert masses to Christianity. Christendom and JW’s both were introduced to India in different ages of time (almost 2,000 years apart) and in different political and religious climates. Both did their hard work. Ultimately, now both are existing side by side in affluent metropolitan cities of India, with JW’s even reaching up to the Supreme court to enforce their rights.
But still, you are entitled to have your opinion in this matter, and I welcome it.
However, as a citizen of India and breathing the ever intolerant religious and cultural situation of the country, I still feel that JW’s have done pretty well with their numbers.
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alanv
The point is the vast majority of Indians have no idea about the JW message. A third of the world has never heard their message. This can be easily checked in the 2017 Yearbook. The org cant say the preaching has been completed in all the earth if that is so.
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Crazyguy
The vast majority of the world doesn't know the JW message. The ones that have heard of the cult only know that they don't take blood , don't celebrate holidays and think they don't believe in Jesus. Thier witnessing work has been a huge failure!!
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Drearyweather
alanv
The point is the vast majority of Indians have no idea about the JW message
JW's are not unique. In reality, with over millions of deities in Hinduism itself, vast majority of Indians have no idea about their own religion, let alone a foreign American religion like JW’s. Vast majority of these Indians have no idea about the other Christian religions too, even after 2000 years of missionary and conversion activities and many Christian ministries have far more vigorous preaching methods than JW's.
A third of the world has never heard their message. This can be easily checked in the 2017 Yearbook
Yes, a third of the world has never heard their message. There are many countries in the world who have not allowed this kind of missionary activity in their country and thus probably will never hear the JW message and in fact messages of other Christian ministries too. If they allow, I feel results would be different.
The org cant say the preaching has been completed in all the earth if that is so.
Sorry, I’m not completely sure about this. Do JW’s claim that they have ‘completed’ their preaching in all the earth? I hear them saying that they have ‘reached’ to all parts of the earth. I feel there is a great difference in these two terms.