a more detailed look at the just released american religious identification survey (aris) shows witnesses have increased from 1,331,000 in 1991 to 1,914,000in 2008. that is 583,000 more people, or a whopping 43.8 percent growth.
they now make up 0.8 percent of the u.s. population.. who says jws are in the decline?.
(http://b27.cc.trincoll.edu/weblogs/americanreligionsurvey-aris/reports/aris_report_2008.pdf).
The poll likely allows self-identification as the criteria to judge whether someone is a JW - which allows hundreds of thousands of disfellowshipped people, who still somehow belive "it's the truth", to call themselves JWs when an anonymous "worldly" pollster asks them.
I think you have something there sir82.
Isaac
i love inspirational quotes.
i read through them from time to time and i always feel better after sharing the thoughts of yesterday and today's greatest minds.
"if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.
I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men."- George Eliot
wondered if anyone else is going to be watching this programme tonight... .
documentary: the end of the world cult .
on: channel 4 (4) .
Well we see where this mutt's prediction ended up....
Isaac
why oh why can't i seem to shut up!......i am not the ragin open doubter/apostate i was two years ago and who raged on for a year.....making me a shunned being to most of my so called friends and causing my wife scars on her soul..........but why the hell do i feel so compelled to wake up my retired mom and dad and wife/son/?......and the other jw friends that will still come over for one of my famous grillouts (just ask changeling, newlite, robert7, and wings)???.
i know it is tough enough for me to move on socially at 45 but how much harder for my parents?
why the hell do i so want to alert/wake up them and my wife and son and anyone else i care about to the lies we have believed since birth?.....after all, they do have a right to believe what they want, and i (hope) i respect their position.....so wtf is wrong with me there??.........oompa.
As mentioned, you're probably a caring individual who wants to help them. It's tough to see people believe in BS and know that it's such and then just keep quiet. Of course, that's also the JW excuse for knocking on doors.
Isaac
i am now a jedi, so trust me on this.. .
why dis-associate, you are just playing by the wts rules?
how can you dis-associate anyway, you never thought you were baptised as a watchtower society member, you thought your dedication was to god, so why formally disassociate from something you did not formally join?
I wish there were a legal way of pursuing the "minor" issue. Of course it would make little difference. One would still be an apostate in their eyes anyway.
Isaac
hello everyone hope there is room for another newbie.. i feel like i know all of you from reading your posts over the last months.. and i must thank you all for your great and very informative posts.
it has really reinforced all the things that i had been feeling for years.
my husband and i were both raised in the "truth".
Welcome OutOfService. I had a lot of the same feelings when I left.
Isaac
i noticed that he did not have a welcome mat here yet, so lets welcome him here.
.
Welcome Hittman.
Isaac
seems like new york state legislature is trying to make it easier to bring lawsuits against sexual abusers.
new york state wants to temporarily lift the statute of limitations for lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of children.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/nyregion/12abuse.html?hp.
Wow, I was just going to post this too. We're on top of our stuff here. I say any NY JWs and ex-JWs should start thinking about their pasts and how they could utilize this law if passed. Being a New Yorker I'm willing to help in any way I can.
Isaac
the 2008 service reports shows that jehovah's witnesses preached in 236 lands.
the preaching work is banned in communist countries such as china(which have over 1.3 billion people) and korea.
there might be underground preaching work but not enough to even cause a concern.. my question: how does the wts explain what will happen to all these people who will never hear their message?
This is Jehovah's problem. We should just do our job and preach to everyone we meet.
Isaac
i made a big effort to get to the watchtower study today.
i have not been to the meetings much for months, but i figured this was a pretty historic "study" and i wanted to see reactions and how it would go down locally.
well a few things struck me as a bit odd in the study itself, and in the audience response as well.
I'm glad this was bumped up. I didn't catch this when it was posted. It's just a case of a new set of people who don't do their research being conned by an old game. WT is so full of s**t it's criminal.
Isaac
