You're also only accounting for those that were baptized. Many (perhaps millions) more were raised in the cult but were never baptized and left as they got older. I think there's a pretty good chance there are as many or more exJWs than JWs.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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Are there more ex-witnesses than current witnesses?
by stuckinarut2 infor years the society has said that over 40,000 a year are disfellowshipped.
add to that the 10's of thousands who simply disassociate or fade.... so by that logic, would it be correct to assume there are actually more former witnesses on the earth than the number of current active witnesses ?
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REAL Miracles!!
by pale.emperor inyou all like miracles?
wanna hear some real miracles that have happened?
this is all true folks!
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OneEyedJoe
Coded logic - I've heard nearly that exact same story several times with slight variations each time - once they were tipped off to the fact that it was demonic because the painting was of a woman who's eyes follow you as you move about the room. Even full in, I thought "I guess they need to destroy the mona lisa too."
At least twice I heard the story told by someone who claimed it was their study that it happened to - i.e. they'd just started studying when they bought it and were advised to get rid of it because it was demons attacking her for studying.
This is so clearly a complete fabrication.
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Faith Strengthening Literature
by TheLiberator ini have shared these links with some.
they were passed on to me awhile back.
very encouraging.
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OneEyedJoe
I prefer to choose factual literature that will educate me over things chosen specifically to fortify an arbitrary belief that I already have. -
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REAL Miracles!!
by pale.emperor inyou all like miracles?
wanna hear some real miracles that have happened?
this is all true folks!
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OneEyedJoe
I heard a miracle story first-hand once. Guy (who was deathly afraid of dogs) was going d2d and was approaching a house that had a small courtyard at the front door and some of the porch was obscured by bushes. There was a dog on the porch that came hurtling towards him out of the courtyard and he raised his service bag and screamed "save me Jehovah!" and just before the dog reached him it was as if it hit a brick wall and stopped dead and he was able to run away and escape the dog.
Definitely a miracle. Or, you know, the dog was on a chain. nah definitely a miracle.
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"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free"
by stuckinarut2 inah yes... how do the words attributed to jesus feel now?.
"you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free ".
knowing "the truth about 'the truth'" puts so much extra meaning into those words, right?.
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OneEyedJoe
On a little bit of a tangent - the JW usage of that scripture is a great example of how the cult emulates the Animal Farm world by redefining words. Truth=cult lies and freedom=forced to follow never ending rules about everything in your life. -
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Finding my mental condition getting worse not sure what to do?
by Crazyguy ini'm pretty sure i have ptsd because of this cult.
i now experience headaches pretty much daily and find myself poping excedrin migraine pills 3-4 a day.
also i'm drinking alcohol a bit to take the edge off.
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OneEyedJoe
Feel like your mental health is declining? Seek help from a competent mental health professional. It really is that simple (at least as a first step). Try to stay away from anything habit forming, you'll just end up with two problems instead of one. -
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A violation of the separation of Church and State?
by Londo111 inso i went to dmv this morning.... can someone explain how this does not violate the separation of church and state?.
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OneEyedJoe
I'm not suggesting discrimination. People of all beliefs are welcome to the government service provided there. However, should any religious group be allowed to proselytize and promote their views on state land?
Typically the rule is that if they allow one group, they must allow any group. The other option is to allow no one to do it. That's why you end up with things like this:
C/N: Colorado said that religious organizations could proselytize in schools and have the schools distribute their literature to kids. Christian organizations passed out bibles and pamphlets, so atheists passed out satanist stuff to mock theism.
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78 to go and hopefully something good comes of it. Please do your part and sign up. Thanks
by Tenacious inonly 78 signatures are needed in order to send the request to the irs that they revoke or at the very least investigate the borg.
come'on guys, support it.. click here to support and sign up!.
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OneEyedJoe
Signed it.
It would probably be beneficial if the statement also included a mention of the fact that the WTS actively encourages its membership not to do charitable works.
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Could they make not donating a disfellowshipping offence?
by purrpurr ini'm wondering at how far the borg could go in begging for money?
their halls are already resembling the"money changers in the temple".
as they get sued more and more due to their pedophilic paradise their coffers will be ever more drained.
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OneEyedJoe
They can do whatever the hell they want. That's part of the allure of being a cult leader. Though I don't think they will, mainly for the reasons already stated here. They'd have trouble selling it, and there are enough of those that are donating that would stop if they push too hard and in the wrong way.
They've already shown their plans on how they're going to try to raise the funds, and they're fairly clever. Things like the congregation-level tithe work perfectly because it puts the pressure on the elders to pressure the members. The elders aren't getting directly beaten up about their contributions, but since they have to give local needs parts and announce the shortfall, many will give more to avoid seeing themselves as hypocrites. At the same time the members see the pressure from the elders as a local issue, not a systemic one and they have their excuse for the hypocrisy.
They're doing the same thing with the assembly hall costs - raising per-publisher rates to create a group debt, then pressuring everyone to pay it off. They're also doing more special events with live streams and ordering that any funds donated at the kingdom hall for those events be sent in to the org. They do a pretty good job of keeping everything a group debt and letting elders do the legwork. They also do a pretty good job of making the R/F think they're actually getting something whenever there's a money grab - assemblies, "forgiven" loans and the LDC handles your remodel, etc. Of course they don't actually get anything, but as long as they create the appearance most JWs will go along because they don't want to see it for what it is.
In line with what Vidiot was saying - they'd probably not make it a DF offense anyway, because the whole point of such a policy would be to get people to donate more, they would probably use punishments that are more easily revoked once it has the desired effect. If you started DFing people for not donating (especially those that just couldn't raise the cash at the time) a lot of those would never come back. If you use social pressure, they'll stick around and start donating when they can.
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Quick question...
by Vidiot in...why the f**k do i so often see banner ads for "jehovah's witness dating" here?
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OneEyedJoe
We sometimes get people that wander in here thinking this is a site full of active JWs, do you really think the automatic systems that serve banner ads by keywords are going to do so much better?