i was reading some old posts from years ago and ran into this one by past member richard:.
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/68638/truth-hot-bath.
i did a google search and the book referred to is now available for free on the link below.
Yes I’ve got this book. It suffered somewhat because it prematurely predicted the collapse of JWs over the 1975 date. But in other ways it was a good book from a relatively high profile defector.
Another old book well worth checking out is “Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah’s Witnesses” by Alan Rogerson.
https://archive.org/details/MillionsNowLivingWillNeverDieRogerson
a newly published article by british sociologist david voas argues jehovah's witnesses may be about to experience a collapse in numbers.
contrary to claims by american sociologist rodney stark who predicts strong future growth for jehovah's witnesses, voas shows that jehovah's witnesses' efforts at recruiting new members have become increasingly unsuccessful over the past few decades: the rate of increase has steadily declined, and the number of hours each publisher must preach to produce an extra convert has gone up substantially.
voas suggests a reason for the stagnation may be that there is a natural limit to the number of people in a given population that are susceptible to conversion to sectarian groups like jehovah's witnesses - the 'carrying capacity' of the population, and that the limit has largely been reached.
Golden oldie thread on JW collpase. Interesting to note that a sociologist saw fit to talk about possible “collpase” of JW numbers.
I wasn’t convinced about collpase back then. But the facts have changed, and so has my opinion! Not like the collapse deniers, holdouts in the face of the facts.
the star has a previous first-look production deal with the network to produce unscripted series following the success of her emmy-winning show “leah remini: scientology and the aftermath.” according to the hollywood reporter, remini will produce a special for the network during the break following season 3 of the acclaimed docuseries.. it notes that jehovah’s witnesses, while based on biblical teachings, have come under fire over the years for similar practices to the church remini left years ago.
for example, practices of ousting or shunning members who have dissenting views, a blanket refusal to participate in politics and government as well as not celebrating christmas or birthdays are all things that the special will reportedly cover.
additionally, the religion has predicted the literal end of the world several times, obviously to no avail.. .
Yes they do appear very stressed, especially Loesch and Herd. I think they are in real trouble and they are finding it difficult to conceal.
The only exception I would say is Sanderson, who always appears pretty cheerful.
i am shaking all over right now.
i think it's worse that the bunker video.. i used to think there was no way that these people would actually "drink the cool aid" if you get my drift, but seeing this video i am now not sure it could never happen.. having a wife who i love dearly trapped in this cult is really freaking me out right now...
Among many other things, one striking thing about the video is just how few JW survivors are depicted. It’s as if to acknowledge that JWs are becoming fewer in number. I remember the old illustrations of JWs going “up to the mountain of the house of Jehovah” included huge crowds of people from lots of nationalities in a line.
Are we supposed to think this scene happens in the United States or Russia? Is this scenario supposed to play out many times all over the earth. Is it a single congregation, or is it metaphorical somehow? (Synecdoche, where part represents the whole) The video leaves a lot of questions.
Maybe it is all worked out and makes good sense if you’ve payed attention to the context. But somehow I have a feeling that trying to make sense of the details might be as fruitless an exercise as trying to understand the “overlapping generation” teaching. No matter how hard you try there’s just no sense to be found.
at least three media venues have undertaken the daunting task of unpacking the insidious dark side of jehovah's witnesses' organization.1.
douglas quenqua is a writer based in new york.
his work has appeared in the new york times, wired, redbook, and cnbc.
Yes I think we are at some sort of turning point. WT is being overwhelmed on multiple fronts.
You know I was thinking the other day about older JWs I knew when I was young, now dead. I’m kind of glad they didn’t live to see this. It’s sad.
it’s quite affirming to see the horrific material that they’re serving up at the convention this year.
aside from blatant homophobia, the scenes at the end of the convention that are discussed on another thread stoop to new levels of fear mongering.
it seems to occur to nobody inside the organisation that this kind of material could trigger fear, deprsssion, anxiety, stress.
It’s a pity there are no hardcore WT believers on the forum because I’d be interested to read a believer’s perspective on this video. I wonder how they would defend it. Or would they say it’s no big deal?
I guess they might say that if you really believe Armageddon is coming then it’s entirely appropriate to portray it and give a warning about obedience because it will save lives. People who object to it object mainly because they don’t believe in Armageddon. Plus they would say the literature has always portrayed Armageddon visually. This is just the latest medium. Plus they would say you don’t actually see any guns fired or actual violence in the video it’s all implied. Mmm. That’s the best I can do for a defence. Anyone got any better ideas?
we just enjoyed a wonderful evening seeing richard dawkins live in sydney.
it was an event to promote his latest book, and was another opportunity to expand our "god given" brains!😜.
https://thinkinc.org.au/dawkins/.
Scratch you’re a pure riot! Lol
i was talking to my sister in law the other day about death, and i mentioned something about the afterlife, i don’t remember what i said but it was nothing shocking .
but she squealed, “we don’t believe in the afterlife!
!” and i reasoned, well we kinda do...life after death is the after life..and she just insisted no no it’s not the same thing.
it’s quite affirming to see the horrific material that they’re serving up at the convention this year.
aside from blatant homophobia, the scenes at the end of the convention that are discussed on another thread stoop to new levels of fear mongering.
it seems to occur to nobody inside the organisation that this kind of material could trigger fear, deprsssion, anxiety, stress.
Yes they are shrill, because they are facing a crisis that threatens the very existence of the organisation, due to scandals, no money, incredible doctrines, poor leadership...
i have to make a token appearance at the k.h.
once a month or so and this week went to a different hall.
and believe me they are all still totally oblivious to all the negative news about the pedophiles and shunning that have come under scrutiny by the media and other governments.
Methodists in Britain are down nearly 90% from their peak and on current trends are due to disappear altogether within 20 years.
If the churches I’ve visited in Scotland are any indication, they could disappear even faster than that. There are only a handful of people left in each of the 40 (at last count, maybe fewer now) Methodist churches in Scotland.
That’s not collpase?
