I never noticed the 'revolving door' aspect of it before, but I went to a funeral in January in the hall I grew up in. Its only been 3 years since I moved from there, but I only reconised less than half the congregation, all the rest people who'd moved into the area and I don't know what happened to the rest who weren't there.
The Revolving Door; Does Nobody Notice?
by shamus 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Guest 77
Shamus, during my lifetime, I've been in and out of this org. for periods of time. I don't often run into JW's except for my mom and daughter, but even then, I don't look upon them as JW's, but people. In fact, I find it unreasonable and ignorant to view people by their religion or ethnic origin. By the way, I'm treated like a son by mother and my daughter shows respect/honor for me. What more do I need?
Ironic how some JW's have no qualms to say hello to me, while others turn their faces, as one poster said, as if though we have leprosy. How many JW's once upon a time viewed others with disdain or just follow the rules of the org. and then later experience the shoe being on the other foot? Things do have a way of returning, don't they?
My being in and out for periods of time has served as useful conditioning. They no longer play an influential role in my life. I consider them as people and I leave it in the hands of my Creator to judge them. The name of the game is to be at peace with yourself.
Guest 77
-
-
Elsewhere
There is a small number of Hard Core JWs who all hang around with each other... then there are the rest of the people who come and then disappear on a regular bases. The ones who come and disappear are not really noticed by the hard core jws who are too busy looking at each other admiring just how good of jw's they are. I should know... I used to be one of them and no, I hardly paid attention to the people who were coming and going... I only paid attention to the people who where at the hall all the time.
It's like a social club, you only miss the ones who are there all the time.
-
ozziepost
It's because of this "revolving door" that the Borg has overcome its disastrous failed prophecies.
After the 1975 debacle there were about 8 lean years, followed by increases due to the changed collective memory of the R&F. Simply put, the R&F had changed.
Similarly, decreases have been seen since the changed "generation" teaching. Now, apparently, we are seeing once again an upturn. Again, because the R&F have changed.
A revolving door? More like a revolting door!
-
DanTheMan
Of course the hardcore dubs can always trot out the towerspeak that they always trot out when somebody "falls away"
he/she never made the truth their own
he/she never grew deep roots
he/she was stumbled too easily
he/she never developed a deep love for Jerhover
he/she let their sinful inclinations overpower them...
etc etc etc
The social clique dubs just say "that dude/chick was weird anyway - you going to the new Bond movie with all of us Friday?"
-
-
nobody told me
People leave 1 or 2 at time. Out of sight out of mind. It's not until years go by until you realize how many people have left. I can not remember the last time someone from the outside got baptized. All JW kids. The kingdom halls in my area are all experiencing a decline. On the tail end of being an elder, the CO's and DO's felt that the rank and file in New England, USA, were being distracted by recreation. What would your family want to do on a Sunday, go snow skiing, go to the beach, or go to the watchtower study?
-
Stacy Smith
It is not quite a revolving door. Their membership has doubled in the last 20 years.
Go back just 5 years. Has it gone up since then? It doubled because of the iron curtain falling. Now numbers in those countries are falling. Here in the states it's been the same for a decade. In order to keep it from dropping they've made it very easy to be counted as a publisher by only requiring 15 minutes a month. Since no one spends only 15 minutes a month in a car group they've removed any requirement to join a car group.
I've only been gone for a couple of years yet my friend at the hall says about 1/3 of the congregation is new. The congregation is the same size. So yes, it's a revolving door.
-
jayhawk1
Believe me when I say, I hope the Watchtower dries up and goes away, and yes there is a revolving door in the USA. However, the Society is still growing.
In 1993 there was 4,709,889 members.
In 2003 there is 6,304,645 members.
How accurate are those numbers? How should I know. However, this is what they claim. So occording to them, yes in the last 5, 10, 20 years the membership is growing.
On a side note, the 15 minute rule is new to me. Maybe I should become a fake active publisher again. Not!