Yeah, the number of adult baptized members that are active in the ministry is much smaller than the number of publishers. But it's always been that way (at least since I can remember) so I don't think this would have any relation to the selling of property, etc. If anything the ratio of adult baptized members to peak publishers has been increasing in the last decade as the retention rate for the youth drops.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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17
Could it be the number of jw under 5 million?
by Crazyguy ini was thinking about this last night, in the year book they publish the number or peak and average publishers.
as we know a publisher could simply be a child getting out in service regularly.
if two parents baptized have to small children that are publishers then they are counted as four.
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Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?
by dontplaceliterature ini don't post here much anymore, but i am working on a project with a few academics from my area who are in the psychology field.
we are looking for printed evidence in their literature that jehovah's witnesses train their publishers/pioneers to target people who are suceptible to being recruited - i.e.
people who have experienced a loss, or who are emotionally vulnerable.
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OneEyedJoe
Found another one for ya:
In the Bible teach book, page 162, paragraph 19:
Many people truly are “ sighing and groaning ” over the wickedness that is taking place in the world today. ( Ezekiel 9:4 ) Perhaps you know some people who feel that way. Why not speak to them about your Bible-based hope for the future?
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102005146
Also, looks like searching for references to Ezekiel 9:4 might turn up some results.
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Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?
by dontplaceliterature ini don't post here much anymore, but i am working on a project with a few academics from my area who are in the psychology field.
we are looking for printed evidence in their literature that jehovah's witnesses train their publishers/pioneers to target people who are suceptible to being recruited - i.e.
people who have experienced a loss, or who are emotionally vulnerable.
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OneEyedJoe
I think KMs are probably the place to look first, and maybe the WT. Yearbooks will be good for direct examples of people preying on the weak. You might also try search terms such as "right-hearted" (not sure of the hyphen) or "heart condition" as well as references to "When someone you love dies" as the mention of that brochure is probably always going to be in an experience that indirectly encourages the R/F to prey on the emotionally weak.
From a quick search on the online library so far I was able to find:
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102006014 - This was on the back cover of the Awake, clearly meant to appeal to a HH who recently lost someone in death. It looks like the brochure is featured roughly once a year on the back of the awake.
Yearbook experience of a student giving the propaganda to their teacher after a death: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/302013013?q=%22When+someone+you+love+dies%22&p=par
Another nearly identical experience in a yearbook: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/302009010?q=%22When+someone+you+love+dies%22&p=par
Sample presentations designed to regress a HH emotionally to a time when they lost a loved one (these will also work exceptionally well on someone who's very recently experienced such a loss):
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202013330
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202011089
An announcment about the "special" public talk after the memorial, which is the most attended regular sunday meeting of the year, and all are encouraged to bring interested ones and UBMs. The title of the talk was "does death end it all?" http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202013049
And I saved the best for last. Paragraph 5 will be of interest to you, where they are encouraged to reach out to UBMs when they are in the hospital or have recently lost someone: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202010406
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Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?
by dontplaceliterature ini don't post here much anymore, but i am working on a project with a few academics from my area who are in the psychology field.
we are looking for printed evidence in their literature that jehovah's witnesses train their publishers/pioneers to target people who are suceptible to being recruited - i.e.
people who have experienced a loss, or who are emotionally vulnerable.
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OneEyedJoe
sorry I'm not going to be much help either, but I'll try...I don't know if this is in print, but there's often encouragement to use the "when someone you love dies" brochure anytime we happen to run into someone who's experienced a recent loss.
Also, one of the reasons we're told to go back to houses where we know the people don't want us to call anymore is because their heart may have changed. The inevitably someone will cite an experience where someone was always rude at the door, then one day they called on them in d2d work and they were receptive after having lost a loved one.
Also, just a cursory examination of most of the WT/Awake magazines will make it obvious that they'll appeal more to people who are overly worried about the condition of the world, which would betray emotional turmoil. In addition, we're often told that we're looking for those who are sighing and groaning over the conditions in the world (I think they may cite Romans 8:22,23 when this is referenced, maybe that's something to search for?)
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I need some input: I have come to the conclusion my wife blames me for her lack of spirituality
by goingthruthemotions inso lately my wife and i have been arguing alot.
not big arguments...but more of a bickering.. you see, over the last year i have stepped down as an ms and we moved halls.
last november was around the time i woke.. during this time we still have family studies....but only from the bible.
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OneEyedJoe
However it goes, please share the progress/results...I can feel my wife getting to where yours is and I'll take every bit of real-world experience that I can get so I can be prepared.
Wishing you all the best!
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What would you do?
by ctrwtf inso i travel alot for business and check into a hotel, start putting away my things and lo and behold in a bureau drawer, find a couple of wt's a couple of awake's and two tracts.
1. throw them in the trash and forget about it.
2. leave them where they lay and forget about it.. 3. leave a note for the housekeeper asking to lay off the cult recruitment.. 4. bring it to the attention of the management, and possibly get the housekeeper fired.. thanks for your input.
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OneEyedJoe
5. Burn 'em
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GB Doesnt Believe in 1914 Anymore My reasoning
by thedepressedsoul ini have heard a lot of talk over the last year or so if the gb will eventually ditch 1914 and some have even made the claim that most, if not all of the gb do not believe in 1914. ive given this some thought and in the past i wasnt sure.
this annual meeting puts 100%, without a doubt in my mind that the gb do not believe in 1914. id even go as far to say that they talked about that date and have a game plan in mind.. here is why i feel this way:.
there were a lot of changes with the parables at this annual meeting.
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OneEyedJoe
Cults aren't about a rational explanations for the authority of the leaders. They're social constructs and as such they rely on social pressure to maintain the obedience of the r/f. The jw "Bible study" with potential recruits likewise isn't about providing arguments that stand up to scrutiny - it's about putting two nice looking people in a room with a potential recruit pressuring them to accept the answers given in the wt publications. All it is is a show - two people are in front of you, demonstrating that they accept the validity of what is written so you instinctively feel like you're crazy if you don't accept it. That's why people in a weakened emotional state are the ones to get recruited - they don't have enough emotional fortitude to stand up to these people and press the questions.
All this means that they can simply state that they're the fds, and it likely won't affect their recruitment, because it's not about logic and facts. If it were, cults wouldn't exist. As long as there's an answer to every question (and by that, I methe one jw will say something in response and the other jw will nod approvingly) the social pressure will take care of the rest. If something doesn't make the ones susceptible to cults will just think "it makes sense to them, so I'll just accept it for now and come back to it if it still doesn't add up" the problem is that this gives the cult time to indoctrinate you and you never come back to it.
Also, let's not pretend recruitment is stellar as it is. In the developed world, they're already getting only the dregs of society... Most of these folks aren't the type to spot logical fallacy.
That's why I say they can drop 1919 and not lose anything. It's because there isn't a single new recruit that was on the fence until the 1919 appointment is explained, but jumped in with both feet after.
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New Jehovah's Witness Podcast - Press Release
by God_Delusion inhi guys,.
here's the press release for jw podcast, where we discuss the show and the presenters.. i'd love to hear your feedback!.
http://www.jwpodcast.org/2014/10/15/new-jehovahs-witness-podcast-show-announced.
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OneEyedJoe
I think they failed to get the symbol trademarked due to possible confusion with the existing trademarks for JWPlayer. Should be fair game...not that they won't try.
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GB Doesnt Believe in 1914 Anymore My reasoning
by thedepressedsoul ini have heard a lot of talk over the last year or so if the gb will eventually ditch 1914 and some have even made the claim that most, if not all of the gb do not believe in 1914. ive given this some thought and in the past i wasnt sure.
this annual meeting puts 100%, without a doubt in my mind that the gb do not believe in 1914. id even go as far to say that they talked about that date and have a game plan in mind.. here is why i feel this way:.
there were a lot of changes with the parables at this annual meeting.
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OneEyedJoe
On the topic of 1919, I'll repost what I said in another thread :
I don't think they really need the 1919 appointment, honestly. I'd be willing to bet that 90% don't even know the significance of 1919, nor do they care. They've already been doing without it in spirit for years. Here's how it works:
1. JWs are the only true religion (they're the only ones known for d2d work, they have brotherly love, etc, etc)
2. God is a god of organization (twisting the scripture "god is a god not of disorder but of peace")
3. Obey those taking the lead (Heb 13:17)
4. The GB is taking the lead in the organization.
And that's all it takes. The GB is to be obeyed, they don't have to deal with the pesky details of a 1919 "appointment" that can easily be demonstrated as false. Just unquestioning obedience.
I'll add that the small number that do understand the significance of 1919, are made up almost exclusively of those who would be loyal to the organization through anything anyway. Removal of 1919 would be a non-event to most, and just another bit of new-light to be accepted without thought to a few. The line of reasoning above is the only reasoning that I ever recall hearing as justification for loyalty to the GB. 1919 is only discussed sporadically when they do one of those "hard" WT lessons on it, and then it's only mentioned off-handedly in one paragraph.
I believe emphatically that the overlapping generations BS is just a stop-gap until they can get rid of 1914. If you've read CoC, you know that they often discuss things like this for years before taking action (they were discussing what to do about the generation teaching in the 70s, but didn't touch it till 1995). 1914 may remain in some form or other, but it won't be the start of "this generation" past 2034, and may well be gone much sooner. The overlap is fairly obviously designed to buy time until those that remember the emphasis on 1914 die off or at least are sufficiently senile or dependent on their JW children that they won't make waves.
The other possibility is that they're just buying time until they die, and they'll let GB 3.0 handle cleaning up their mess.
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Evolution isn't happening right now?
by rebel8 inwoman: professor haldane, even given the billions of years that you say were available for evolution, i simply cannot believe it is possible to go from a single cell to a complicated human body with its trillions of cells organized into bones and muscle and nerves, a heart that pumps without ceasing for decades, miles and miles of blood vessels and kidney tubules, and a brain capable of thinking and feeling.
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haldane: but madam, you did it yourself!
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OneEyedJoe
I personally think this type of argument for evolution does more harm than good because it has rather obvious flaws. Whatever works for ya though...