Baptisms at the Sydney International Convention.

BLISSISIGNORANCE

OK......................60,000 attended the convention at the Olympic Stadium and all the news reports here in Oz say there were 500 baptised. Images on the news showing young and old getting dunked gave me the horrors. Seeing the 'great crowd' surrounding the new converts, elders pushing people into the water (would have been the only thing to look forward to seeing as though it was so hot), family members proudly looking on, men in suits, etc, etc .....................made me feel grateful to be at home with family and friends, having a bbq enjoying a couple of beers!!

I just couldn't help but wonder how many pedophiles and sexual abuse victims were there pretending to be righteouss and happy

Cheers, Bliss

gumby

WOW Bliss!

500 is quite a few out of 60,000. There have been reports here........at smaller assemblies, of their being none or only a handfull of baptismal candidates. I guess the aussie witnesses are more persuasive than the american witnesses.

Thanks for the report.

Gumby

willyloman

As a former convention bigshot who spent time in the Most Holy upstairs in administration where we could look out on the proles, and be seen by them as well, here's my "take" on these numbers. It's an "international" convention, and they load up for these. Dubs are like everyone else; they want to be part of the "in" crowd and they're celebrity conscious. These international things are loaded with Bethyl heavies and everyone wants to be there and be seen. If there's an international coming up soon, that's "the place" to be baptized if you can time it right, and a big push is on. Even at that, the 500 figure is less than the traditional standard of 1% of attendance, which in this case was 60,000 (so the 'target' was probably 600). In times past, baptisms at international conventions were huge; I attended one with 40,000 in attendance, and more than 1,100 took the plunge.

BLISSISIGNORANCE

Willy.................................very good points you made and I agree with you

they want to be part of the "in" crowd and they're celebrity conscious

And by the news reports on the TV many young ones were definately there to..................

These international things are loaded with Bethyl heavies and everyone wants to be there and be seen

Good for them.................... let them enjoy the moment!

Cheers, Bliss

stillajwexelder

They know the media/TV etc will be there and I am sure some put off baptism until a major event like this so the baptism numbers could well be artificially high -- remember these days IMHO al lWTBTS figures in the yearbook etc . are a little meaningless -hell my hours I put in are totally false for example -- I realize baptism is a little more difficult to fake but still the numbers are artificial at conventions of this type.

gumby

Can you imagine the early christians saying...."I want to get baptised....when will the next pentecost be" so that I can"?

Nodody should have to wait for anything if they desire to do this. Your friend could baptise you in your bathtub if you so desired. Phillip and the eunich had "no audience".

Gumby ( speaking from a biblical perspective of course)

Kenneson

The press was there too. See "Hold your nose and praise the Lord" at

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/13/1071125710785.html

La Capra

500 out of 60,000....I don't think the number is proportionally high, but low, rather. If a typical circuit assembly or assembly day had an attendance of 1200, the number of baptisms would be ten. When I was a kid, circuit assemblies were about 1000 and the baptisms were generally from 20-30-enough to fill five or six rows in Yuba City (in the late 70s and early 80s). 500 just sounds big, because it is big, but not when you compare it to 60,000. It's less than 1 percent. I can't help it, when there is math to be done, I do it, damn it. Shoshana (the math teacher, soon to be lawyer)

foreword

Hey, I was baptized at an international assembly....I must be special....

DevonMcBride

How many of these 500 were pressured into baptism and not ready to give up their worldly lifestyle? How many only got baptised to please family and friends? How many do you think will either be disfellowshipped, disassociated or faded away in the next few years? How many will be posting on this web site and other anti-JW sites in the near future?

Devon

Baptisms at the Sydney International Convention.

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