that article about jehovah's witnesses having the lowest retention rate for born ins keeps popping up every now again ... i'm just curious if any of you have noticed that this is actually the case.
in the congregation that i grew up in, i'm going to say that 95% of the young people in their teens to mid twenties are either regular pioneering, regular auxiliary pioneering, serving in foreign language congregations or where the need is greater.
both of my younger sisters are regular pioneers - and the young people in their hall even organize 8 pm to midnight service on friday nights of their own accord.
It depends on the congregation I think. However in the congregations I have known retention is poor. In my own family of 4 girls 3 of us are out only one is in. One of my sisters never got baptised and 2 of us woke up and left.
It is a religion that offers nothing for the young. It is telling that the congregation mentioned by the OP is active in the ministry since this is the only way to gain any approval in the organisation.
this is the question that came up in my mind.
now dont get me wrong i know the dates from 607 - 1914 are rubbish, but how would you explain to a witness when they will automatically say, look at the momentus year 1914 was.
that is evidence enough that 607 is correct!.
coincidence which unfortunately hasn't helped them our since then. After all nothing momentous happened in 1975.
i have noticed the extreme lack of love in this group of people who preach love, love, love.. we recently had serious floods come through our area and the jws couldnt have cared less.
our 'worldly' friends did sooo much for us though.
raising money, giving gifts, cards, accomodation and so much support and hard work.. i personally think jws are one of the most insensitive, uncaring religions around.. three religious groups were absolutely wonderful during the flooding of our area.
I think the organisation discourages it's members form offering physical assistance this conditioning means that it often doesn't occur to them to help. They are told that the society helps members, that they are first to the disaster area and that by contributing to the worldwide work they have done enough. All the literature says that preaching is the best help a witness can give.
Some witnesses will go the extra mile and offer help and others are completely unmoved by the plight of others.
as a "faithful witness", i never had to deal with this on a personal level.
i imagine the pressure must be extreme with the elders and others "supporting" you to do the right thing.. do you think you would have given blood to your family member, especially your child if you were in that situation..
If my child needed blood to survive they would have had it. I wouldhave condemned myself before letting them die.
this popped up on the age website today, might have to buy the paper tomorrow..... http://www.theage.com.au/national/jehovahs-witnesses-a-cruel-cult-20130315-2g5x3.html.
I cannot believe the barefaced cheek saying shunning is a myth. The magazines and their own website highlight that shunning is considered an acceptable practice.
There seems to be a lack of control in the official message with people going off message. The usual line is that family members chose for themselves whether to shun or not. Seems that the spokesman is a little rattled which is odd for them. They are under scrutiny like never before, I hope something solid results from this that helps to informn the congregations and improve practice.
so, on sunday i left the meeting and was sitting in my car putting my keys in the ignition, an elder pulled on my door handal and opened up.
i rolled my eyes, this man is annoying...anyway he asked if i was going to be around wednesday.
i told him i should be.
text - "something has come up and I can't make it Wednesday". Next time they ask politely decline, thank them for their concern, but state that it is not possible at the moment and you will contact them when things have settled down.
this morning i woke up thinking about a friend of mine, i will call her sara...here's some of the back story.. we grew up together and have always been good friends, even though we wouldn't stay in touch, we would just pick up where we left off.
sara has always been different, and i never really knew what it was growing up, but i didn't care, she was my friend.
so we lost touch for many years and then about 4 yrs ago when i went back to my home town, we reconnected.
If she is your friend then be her friend. Reconnecting with important people in your life helps when y0ou are on the outside too. The sooner you start the better.
a brilliant, honest, well presented video.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s4hqkiiz5a.
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cedars.
very interesting I woke up partly by looking at the history of the Mormon faith can work both ways.
found this on youtube fyi.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw8yu-r8g-8.
Bit of a marathon but very sad. It is appalling how people show a lack of compassion for one another at a time when anyone with any empathy would show sympathy. Shows the amount of control the organisation has over it's members and a shocking abuse of power.
i recieved this email from an active witness regarding "hate crimes" against members of the congregation he/she attends.
it is interesting as to how the elders are dealing with it.. .
for some time our hall has been suffering minor vandalism.
It is truly sad that someone has been made to feel so upset that they feel that this is an appropriate way to express their rage who ever it is. However victimising elderly women living alone is not acceptable. If the elders wish to keep it within the hall then they should offer CCTV to the elderly ones being targeted so they can determine who exactly is doing the damage.
It is easy to assume that it is someone who has been Df'd but it does not necessarily mean it is so. It is so easy for witnesses to believe someone who rejects the organisation also rejects any moral compass. There are many people with an axe to grind not just those abused by this organisation.
