Thanks for the update.
And after the meeting, the few people I talked to actually just congratulated me on my in-depth statistical research – but nobody connected the dots with anything! I couldn’t believe it
That is an important lesson. They want to believe, so look for the positives. They assume whatever it was you said must be positive, because no one ever is brave enough to express otherwise. It went over their heads so you must be deep. Your mother on the other hand realised what the statistics said, but had to come up with another explanation about Satan.
I had the same with my parents. I discussed a lot of what was on jwfacts.com. My mother came up with illogical, circular reasoning to get around it. At other times she just simply refused to connect that dots as to the point being made. All that happened is that it destroyed my relationship. Instead of leaving and being a weak person, I became hated for being an apostate.
Keep that in mind when dealing with your parents. They will be unlikely to allow themselves to draw the same conclusions that you have. But as your mother showed in her comment, she will begin to class you as being on the side of Satan.
Stuckinarut - So, hang on...am I getting this right? They are boasting about the increase in numbers, but the numbers did not actually increase?
Not quite right. They are Watchtower statistics, and the number of publishers did increase from 6 million to 7.5 million. However, the Watchtower article was boasting about the number of baptisms, when the actual increase in publishers was only half that number, so the growth is nowhere near what they are saying.
