so at the international convention 235 were baptized.
the attendance was 34k.
that's resents less than 1% its about .6%.
Time Magazine Feb. 25, 2008
"An even more extreme example of what might be called "masked churn" is the relatively tiny Jehovah's Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds. That means that two-thirds of the people who told Pew they were raised Jehovah's Witnesses no longer are — yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts. Notes Lugo, "No wonder they have to keep on knocking on doors."
so at the international convention 235 were baptized.
the attendance was 34k.
that's resents less than 1% its about .6%.
The question is...how many from the field?
.
That's the $64,000 question.
In my 40+ years as a JW, whenever a speaker from the platform asked the cong. by a show of hands how many came in to "the Truth" from D to D witnessing, the result was always the same: most likely: 0; or, maybe one or two out of a cong. of 150 publishers. The vast majority were relatives/children of JWs.
The fact is most who become JWs, who aren't children of JWs, learn of the religion in the same way that every other religion gets converts: they learn about it through a workmate, a person in the religion that befriends the person, or through heresay. Very few actually convert as a direct result of the public witnessing, which makes the focus on D to D work even more ridiculous.
so at the international convention 235 were baptized.
the attendance was 34k.
that's resents less than 1% its about .6%.
Don't also forget people dying
This refers to those still in, right? LOL.
.
Compare numbers from a few years ago to today. It wasn't that long ago there were 4 million JWs putting in less FS time annually than now...and baptisms were at 360,000 per year.
Now you have 8 million JWs counting nearly 2 billion hours per year...and baptisms are 250,000 +/-. And half those are children of JWs.
Only in WT Land could this be interpretted as growth and "progress".
this is not meant to be a slag off the bible thread.. i had a question asked me the other day and it was: 'do you live by anything from the bible?'.
i had to think about that one because i was force grown in the filthy, disgusting cult of the paedophile loving watchtower(r).. you know what?
i really don't know if i just naturally am a great bloke or if any 'nice' bits in the bible influenced me......or has western culture been influenced by the bible for good and bad?.
Yes, I live by the Bible's wonderful standards:
I treat my slaves well
I hate anyone who doesn't serve my god
I support genocide against all people but my own
I sold my daughter into slavery but got a very good price
I sacrifice an animal everyday, because god likes the smell of burning flesh
I don't touch the skin of a pig by playing football
I make sure all of my clothes have the correct fringe sewn on them (and I never mix two different kinds of fabric together- never!)
I never shave the hair around my temples
watchtowers official view:.
you also ask why one can be disfellowshipped for taking a blood transfusion but not for taking blood fractions.
while both may affect the life of an individual, the expression "life-sustaining" in connection with blood transfusions is synonymous with the idea of taking in food for nourishment.
The Bible required that animals killed for food had to be bled , and the blood not eaten.
.
The Law did allow an Israelite to eat the unbled meat of an animal they found already dead (this means all the blood was still in the meat). And it allowed Israelites to sell unbled meat to Gentiles.
It goes back to the simple rule that when a life is taken the blood is poured out in acknowledgement of that life. In a blood transfusion, no donor has given their life, therefore, there's nothing to "give back" by pouring out the blood.
this weekend we visited the convention.
my findings:.
- no jw.org marketing here at this moment.
"The Bethel speaker told us that a new translation is not expected in our language".....No longer a Bible Society
Compared to other religions, WT has never been a Bible society. In fact, its original name was Watch Tower Tract Society, not Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
WT is just going back to its roots.
with the official letter from the gb to all bodies of elders, a stylized jw.org banner can now be appended to kingdom hall signage.. what an auspicious year this will turn out to be for the organization!!.
among other outcomes, the "link" with the old, baggage-ridden "watchtower bible & tract society" recedes into the background.
furthermore, now you don't pretend to need feet trudging door-to-door - your worker is done at the press of a few directed fingers.
will pdf downloads be counted as literature "placements"?
They already are. If a JW refers someone to JW.Org and that person downloads literature, the JW can count it as a "placement".
I'm sure it won't be long before a JW can post a Facebook page, and every "like" they get from a non-JW will be a "return visit".
XBE: The thing is, how many people always, and only rely on an official site of a company or organization for information about that entity?
I've talked to business owners who track their website use, and they say most people spend less than five minutes on the site and are only seeking basic information, like an address/directions or a phone number. They do not read the articles or other informational aspects of the business.
But what do you expect from WT? This is the same Organization that feeds JWs a Tic Tac...then calls it a "spiritual banquet". WT has never been big on substance, just appearance.
watchtowers official view:.
you also ask why one can be disfellowshipped for taking a blood transfusion but not for taking blood fractions.
while both may affect the life of an individual, the expression "life-sustaining" in connection with blood transfusions is synonymous with the idea of taking in food for nourishment.
smiddy: They seem to completely ignore the fact that blood fractions are prosessed from stored blood donated by people
To add to WT's idiocy, it approves the use of someone else's stored blood for fractions but still bans a JW from storing their own blood for future use!!
Logically, wouldn't it be safer to you use your own blood for an upcoming surgery/procedure than someone else's? As is usual for WT, their absurd policies actually expose a JW to even more danger than they'd normally be subjected to had WT just stayed out of it.
please follow the sequence of events connected with a bethel and see what you can conclude!.
1) when brach committee took a decision like a money-minded corporation, a conscientious bethelite (who is my close friend) wrote to the gb.. 2) gb took the bc into task, and directed bc to reverse its decision in that particular case.. 3) in time bc took revenge on the bethelite and removed his bethel-eldership on fabricated charges.. 4) gb withdraws the very arrangement of bethel eldership from all its branches!.
5) after one year, bc felt that their revenge was neutralized because of the unexpected withdrawal of bethel-eldership itself, again fabricated charges with the help of false witnesses and dismissed and disfellowshipped that bethelite.. 6) after two years the two bc members who orchestrated all the above events were sent out of bethel in great dishonor, virtually into wilderness ordinary publishers!.
WT is like any other corporate environment: sharks and piranhas can and do turn on each other quite frequently. It's the nature of the game- when you put a bunch of arrogant, self-serving a**holes in a group, large or small, and the water gets bloodied, there's a continual cycle of purgings, alliances and executions as each jockeys for position.
i guess it was bound to happen..... just saw a facebook post where the user updated their profile picture to be the blue square jw.org logo.. .
don't know whether to laugh or cry.
worship the borg, you people!!!
And if they tattoo it on their butt, where it belongs, will the eldubs have to see it to approve it?
Only if it's on an Elder's ass....it will be inspected by the wannabe ministerial servant or new elder hopeful who's already down there kissing it.
