Why is there such a 'high turnover' within the Jehovahs Witnesses?

by UnshackleTheChains 64 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Diogenesister

  Talking about the article dark spilver :

  Was that a necessarily 'bad' thing though from the JWs point-of-view?

  And, I've always thought, it kind of fits in with their theology. That Jehovah "calls" people doesn't really make sense if whole extended families stay jws. It makes more sense ( to me anyway) that individuals become jws. I mean, ok, you might get a few whole families with ' the right heart condition' but if you got one person, who then influenced everyone else's 'heart condition' to become jw's, doesn't it make Armageddon unfair? That you are destroyed because you had the bad luck not to be born into, or related by, a Jehovahs witness?
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  dozy

  Especially in larger city congregations , there are always quite a few people on the verge of the religion , who come along , attend somewhat sporadically for a few weeks , then disappear , maybe to re-appear when somebody calls on them or some world event ( eg 9/11 ) freaks them out or just if they feel that they need some "friends" again. Often their personal lives are pretty chaotic - frankly most of them are too much like "hard work" for the congregation and they are tolerated rather than welcomed. "Spiritual submarines" we called them - bobbing up occasionally then disappearing without trace or reason.
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  tor1500

  Hi,

  Celibacy....nobody standing on line to be celibate....& they only love you when you going to be a witness....

  Folks find out that they love you conditionally....

  Tor
  
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  dbq407

  I would say 80% of the born ins who i was friends with growing up are no longer witnesses. Rarely was someone converted. The few that i know of are no longer witnesses now. I seen first hand as many others have also, that the love bombing attracts a lot of people. Once they are baptized and the love bombing stops....they are gone. A lot of the converts also seem to have mental disabilities, are very poor, or have few friends and Jw's prey on these people.

  I've seen others leave because no one invites them anywhere or to do anything. They'll associate at the hall with them, but thats about it. If you aren't part of the clique, then it sucks for them. Its a sad religion, and not one to go to if you want true friends.
  
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  jws

  Turnover among JWs isn't as bad as say, the waitstaff at a bar. But I think of so many that just aren't JWs anymore. Out of the 13 blood relatives (not counting brother-in-laws) that were JWs, 3 of us died JWs and 2 still are. Nobody below the age of 60 is a JW. And even the older aunts dropped out.

  Why do they have more turnover? I think partially because they keep dangling that carrot of Armageddon and it just aint happening. I see pictures from conventions from the 1950's where the banners read things about the system of things ending soon. 60 years ago? Soon?

  Not to mention the doctrinal changes. Redefining generation, overlapping generations. Which is one people cared about. When they say anointing began/ended and redefining the modern-day <xxx> class, I never cared about. Didn't care. Over my head. But changing the things people notice is not good. They're pulling their long-standing tradition of monthly magazines now. That's going to have a few people asking where this is going.

  And of course the internet. When you claim you're the perfect organization, but then people can see how much you've changed - not to mention how wrong you are - people are going to drop away.

  I honestly hope their new approaches to the preaching campaign fail miserably. If so, there goes the new recruits and they start to take a deep dive.

  I'd also like to note that these 2/3rds that supposedly fell away. It doesn't mean they're not ideologically 80% Witness. Many people drop out, with the thought that it's the wrong thing to do. That they fell in love and are busy with this worldly guy/girl and someday when things settle down, they're coming back. They still generally believe what the JWs teach.

  I had a niece suffering from teen angst and ran away with her worldly boyfriend, got pregnant, got married, etc. Still believed that one day she'd return and felt guilty. And felt guilty her kids weren't being raised JW. I helped her realize that the JWs were NOT worth going back to. Saving further damage to her self esteem and I'm sure saving a lot of pain from her kids.
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  darkspilver

  Diogenesister: Talking about the article darkspilver :
  

  Was that a necessarily 'bad' thing though from the JWs point-of-view?
  

  And, I've always thought, it kind of fits in with their theology. That Jehovah "calls" people doesn't really make sense if whole extended families stay jws
  

  haha, yeah interesting - and you could almost reverse-the-principle as a proof that the JWs are wrong (on the assumption (?) that often the majority of JWs are JWs because of cross-generational family connections).

  It's also interesting nowadays to look at various body of elders and ask: how many of them where 'born-in' supposed to 'converted' themselves?

  My answer is that, nowadays, the vast majority of elders (in first-world countries) are actually 'born-ins'.
  

  
  
  
  
  
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  UnshackleTheChains

  I've seen others leave because no one invites them anywhere or to do anything. They'll associate at the hall with them, but thats about it. If you aren't part of the clique, then it sucks for them. Its a sad religion, and not one to go to if you want true friends

  dbq407

  The social aspect is a huge factor. My good lady is a very sociable outgoing person. She has quite a large circle of friends within the religion. She was a born in and new people as she grew up. On the other hand, I recall the isolation I felt when I was single. I was a convert. I was rarely invited out and it really affected me to the point I thought there must be something wrong with me. It wasn't me. It was this bat shit crazy religion! I was just about to leave when I met my wife. 20+ years later, here I am 🙄
  
  
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  steve2

  I have often wondered how I would have reacted to the message of JW organization if my grandparents and parents had not been JWs. Of course, there is no way of knowing but it captures my imagination from time to time.

  I wonder too if the better aspect of not being raised in it and having no other family members who are JWs is being able to leave with no repercussions for your family relationships.

  Sometimes, people who know me have asked, "How come you're still interested in what's going on in JW organization?" I point to my JW family and extended family members. Simple as that.
  
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  Diogenesister

  Steve2 Sometimes, people who know me have asked, "How come you're still interested in what's going on in JW organization?" I point to my JW family and extended family members. Simple as that.

  Of course, that's natural.

  I also think it's wanting to be with/talk with/text or forum with exjws. We're a rarther nice little community, very diverse and interesting too!😜

  But more than anything we understand each other like no one else can, and that's certainly what drives me to be on the boards or watch YouTube etc.
  
  
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  StarryNight9

  It was my observation that back then the born-in Witnesses were socially stunted, weird and uneducated with the mentality of people in a small town who refuse to accept the newcomers and who suffered from serious envy over people who looked prosperous and had some education.
  

  There are also 2 categories of born-ins. One group is everything you described (including a serious case of "holier-than-thou"). This first group are the ones love-bombing the new recruits and creating the next generation of born-ins. I've heard some pretty mean things said about the new converts they're actively love bombing. Don't be fooled - even members of the first group often have a double life.
  
  The 2nd group typically leaves the JWs or are mentally out. They break every rule they can without getting caught (education, socialization, etc...) - the art of the double life. The push to baptize at a really young age is probably due to this second group. A lot of born-ins wouldn't choose baptism once in their mid-teens.