I think Jesus has been demoted to a bit part these days. For a supposedly Christian religion don't talk about Christ very much, it's like they don't want to share the glory.
LisaRose
JoinedPosts by LisaRose
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19
Of Minions and Smurfs
by oppostate indidn't take too long for the minions to join the smurfs as being satanic in the minds of some jw's.
whadda-bunch-of-bull-hukey-puckiesi!.
this showed up on jw facebook timelines today.. .
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Decrease of numbers in Jehovah's Witnesses via Deaths, DFings, or Turning Inactive
by flipper inso i'm sure a good number of us saw the chart that i believe the poster splash put on another thread of figures since 1990 regarding how many baptized and % of increase each year .
i started analyzing it ( and i know some referred to it briefly on the other thread ) and guessing of reasons the % of increase didn't match the number of newly baptized.
and of course common sense tells us that either jw's leave the cult each year through death, fading into inactivity, or getting dfed.
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LisaRose
There are some great graphs at JW facts that looks at this information, although they don't have the last few years.
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.pho
They basically used the method as you did. They note that there is a time difference between when a person starts publishing and when they get baptized, but they feel the numbers average out over time. While it's not exact, I do think looking at this numbers in this way does tell you that a lot of people leave or at least stop publishing each year. The increase in publishers is only about half the number baptised, and this is quite a change from prior to 1990.
This is one of the most telling graphs, showing that the number of people leaving has tripled from the rate in the early 1990's. For the 10 years from 1986 to 1995 the rate was an average of 12%; for the 10 years from 1996 to 2005 it had risen to 41%.
So there have been clear indications that a lot people were leaving as far back as 1995. Twenty years of slower growth and a lot of churn, but it seems that it is only recently that the governing body realized they have a serious problem. They are trying to change now , but I think it's too little, too late
JW facts also look at the conversion rate, or how many get baptised compared to the number of bible studies. It's very telling, the number of studies increased, while baptisms plummeted.
Whilst there is roughly one Bible study conducted every month for each publisher, only a minute amount of these ever progress to baptism. Although the number of studies doubled in the 20 years from 1995 to 2014 to 9 million, the number of baptisms plummeted from over 350,000 per year, flatlining around 275,000.
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I just found out that my youngest brother committed suicide
by SnakesInTheTower inmy middle brother called me a couple of hours ago.
our youngest brother, josh, who was 38, was found by his friends in his apartment.
he hung himself.
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LisaRose
I am so sorry, that is just so sad. There is no "should" when it comes to grief, different people process these things in different ways, I am sure at this point you are just still in the denial stage. It may hit you all at once in a day, or a week or a year, or just gradually over several months. I think that when suicide is involved it's more complicated, your sadness may be mixed with anger, so don't be surprised if your emotions are over the place .
We are always here if you need to vent.
Lisa 🌹
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Are we participants in this forum because of bouts of "loneliness"?
by Wonderment ini wonder how many of us here hold on to this meeting place out of "loneliness.
could it be that we harbor feelings of "abandonment" and "loneliness" from being left cold and dry by the wt people and our families?
perhaps we do have a need to reach out to people with similar experiences.
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LisaRose
Hey Mrs. F, it was nice meeting you and Flipper at the lunch in Folsom. My daughter and I enjoyed it very much. Her husband didn't get why she was interested in meeting people she didn't know, he said " I used to be a boy scout but I don't go to boy scout reunions". We both immediately said "but the boy scouts are not a cult!"
I think that what people are looking for when they come here is a connection, someone else who gets it, that knows how hard it is to lose family and friends, that gets the damage caused by being in a high control religion, the betrayal you feel when you realize how much you were lied to. We understand how you can be affected even years after leaving, people who have never been through it cannot.
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16 Jehovah's Witnesses on trial in Russia
by LisaRose ini apologize if this has already been posted, the search function doesn't work on my kindle tablet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/sixteen-jehovahs-witnesses-may-be-russias-most-pacifist-extremists/2015/11/20/6e046610-8898-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html.
as much as i hate this religion, i don't see that it does any good for any religion to be banned.
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LisaRose
I apologize if this has already been posted, the search function doesn't work on my Kindle tablet.
As much as I hate this religion, I don't see that it does any good for any religion to be banned. All it does is make martyrs out of people and make them even more determined to practice their faith. If you are busy defending yourself from attacks from the government you don't have time to think about the issues that exist within the religion itself. Many Jehovah's Witnesses who were put in concentration camps in Germany in WW2 went on to leave the religion after the war ended, they were willing to die for a religion they later abandoned, it wasn't that they had great faith, it was that the persecution made the situation very black and white.
Officially, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned from Taganrog in 2009 for inciting religious hatred by “propagating the exclusivity and supremacy” of their own religion, a charge that defense lawyers say every major religion is guilty of. Unofficially, the case is a potent example of the bizarre and byzantine forms that anti-extremism legislation, primarily meant for violent nationalist and religious groups, can take in lower courts here.
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Decrease of numbers in Jehovah's Witnesses via Deaths, DFings, or Turning Inactive
by flipper inso i'm sure a good number of us saw the chart that i believe the poster splash put on another thread of figures since 1990 regarding how many baptized and % of increase each year .
i started analyzing it ( and i know some referred to it briefly on the other thread ) and guessing of reasons the % of increase didn't match the number of newly baptized.
and of course common sense tells us that either jw's leave the cult each year through death, fading into inactivity, or getting dfed.
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LisaRose
Correction, it's .00821. -
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Decrease of numbers in Jehovah's Witnesses via Deaths, DFings, or Turning Inactive
by flipper inso i'm sure a good number of us saw the chart that i believe the poster splash put on another thread of figures since 1990 regarding how many baptized and % of increase each year .
i started analyzing it ( and i know some referred to it briefly on the other thread ) and guessing of reasons the % of increase didn't match the number of newly baptized.
and of course common sense tells us that either jw's leave the cult each year through death, fading into inactivity, or getting dfed.
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LisaRose
Current mortality rate in the U.S. is 821 per year per 100,000. So you could multiply the population times .0821 to get a rough estimate of how many died. -
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My first post
by thewalker inhi, i just joined the board and wanted to present myself.. i'm active, in fact very active in congregation activities serving "where the need is great" in a foreign language congregation somewhere in western europe.
as a young brother, i'm seen as an example as i'm doing all a good witness should do.. i had doubts years ago but i decided just to ignore them and move to another congregation to preach more.
that worked for some years but i'm now at the exact same point.
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LisaRose
Welcome, your English is very good, so don't worry about that. Your comment about the lack of love is correct, there is no love in most congregations. Jesus said that the way to identify those who are true followers is that they have love among themselves, so what does that tell you about the Jehovah's Witnesses?
The Watchtower makes the preaching work all important, totally ignoring caring and love. How much time is spent talking about the preaching work at the meetings compared to time spent talking about helping others? They record and track hours of preaching, but not hours spent helping each other, or even other people outside the religion. Those who are going through problems are told to pray, study and go to the meetings, things that are of no help to people going through depression or other problems. If Jehovah Witnesses are the only true religion, why are so many going through depression and struggling?
As to what to do or where to go, don't worry about that for now. For now you just need to know whether or not the Watchtower has the truth. Once you figure that out you can start thinking about where to go from there, it will take time to figure it all out, so don't rush into anything. The Watchtower demonizes other religions so that you think they are your only option, don't fall for it. There are decent churches out there, not going to church is also a option. You have been lied to and manipulated, it will take some time to get over that.
These are some things to think about:
The Watchtower uses the date of 607 for the fall of Jerusalem to calculate their last days/Armageddon chronology. Try to prove that is the correct date without using Watchtower sources.
Try to prove, using the Watchtower literature, that Charles Russel predicted the last days would start in 1914 and that Jesus was to return invisibly.
Research the meaning of the word "generation" and show how "this generation" could ever actually mean overlapping generations or more than one generation.
Google "Beth Sarim".
Look into the Austrailian Royal Commission and Jehovah's Witnesses and Child sex abuse, and learn how this religion covers up for pedophiles. Also Google Candace Conti.
Well, that's enough to get started. Thanks for posting, so glad you found us.
Lisa 🌹
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70 inch t.v.'s on stage
by dbq407 inso the other night we had a resolution to purchase two 70 inch t.v.
's to hang on either side of the stage.
and also a smaller t.v.
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LisaRose
I say let them go for it, that way they can see the governing body up close and personal, because they are doing more to drive people out of the organization than we ever could. Can you imagine rubber lips Lett on the big screen in all his glory?
