https://onlysky.media/ccassidy/jehovahs-witnesses-changing-course-on-reporting-evangelism-hours/

This is a long article on the Watchtower. IMHO it is a good read. I used to tell new ex-Mormons to read up on the antics of the Watchtower as there are so many similarities to Mormonism and it can be studied somewhat dispassionately. Apparently the Evangelism hours reported by JWs have been falling fast so the leaders decided to stop the reporting. It is a parallel to the LDS church reducing requirements for stake and wards in terms of the number of active members. It is a way of hiding bad news. Some excerpts below:

Back in the good ol’ days, Jehovah’s Witnesses had to spend a lot of time, well, witnessing. That’s Christianese for trying to recruit people to their religion through hard-sales techniques and emotional manipulation. Their leaders didn’t set a formal quota, but they expected the flocks to at least meet the national average.

Laypeople in the religion submitted their witnessing timesheets to their church leaders and everything. If they didn’t do enough witnessing or submit reports at all that month, then their standing in the church suffered dramatically.

Most of the leaders had to do even more of this stuff, and their rise through church ranks depended mightily on their timesheets…

Jehovah’s Witnesses laypeople have been well-trained by now to leap onto whatever their Dear Leaders call “new light.” This stuff has been around almost from the very beginning of their group, which was founded in 1870…

Meanwhile, the mother ship maintained strict rules about how publishers had to count their time spent on evangelism. They even had rules for those who were too sick or infirm to do the job. Evangelism, for Jehovah’s Witnesses, was literally a job—just one that didn’t pay them anything and never set concrete expectations of them.

This past October at one of their big meetings, the Governing Body (GB) of the religion announced the change. Now, instead of having human beings observing their tracking sheets, Jehovah’s Witnesses should be accountable only to Jehovah himself. They should still do the same stuff, just without formal tracking…



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2023 09:23AM by Eric K.

Interesting. They only time that I've seen them is on my rare trips to a particular train station. They set up a table there, but don't actively reach out to people to engage. I suppose they are waiting for people to come to them. They look thoroughly disinterested in proselytizing. Perhaps their church has come to realize this.

We still get visits at our house about once a year. The tables are also visible during fests and such.

Oh, yeah. I get a proselytizing letter once every few years. I recognize the return address now, and just mark it "Declined -- return to sender." Perhaps the woman will save herself the postage next time.

They're at my door every other week for months at a time.

To me, that would be harassment.

Once I answered the door in a vulnerable moment. I don't even know why I answered the door, I guess it was just by rote. It was obvious I had been crying, and just said "now's not a good time" and closed the door. That was enough for them to "come check on" me over and over.

I stopped answering the door a year or so ago, realizing I didn't owe it to anyone to answer my door. As annoying as they are, they've got nothing on the verizon door-to-door salespeople. At least the JWs go away after ringing the bell once or twice.

I ended the visits by, when the last time they came, answering the door and saying "no thanks, I already belong to a cult."

They laughed, went away, and never came back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2023 12:18AM by Lot's Wife.

That impressed me too.

anonynon Wrote:
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> They're at my door every other week for months at
> a time.

I've seen them twice in thirty years.

That's because when they visited, you looked livid.

Spin, spin, spin.

Last year I was still getting occasional handwritten letters from "neighbors" pushing JWs.

Maybe some people thought it was easier to sit in front of the TV writing letters to evangelize instead of hoofing around the streets. I think the pandemic made a lot of people appreciate not having to go do church things.

Thanks. It's interesting to see how they all try to hide bad news.

dagny Wrote:
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> I think the pandemic made a lot of people appreciate not
> having to go do church things.

I think so too. What a big relief for a whole lot of folks.


> It's interesting to see how they all try
> to hide bad news.

Yes!

It amounts to lying, in my book. They should come up with some new doctrine that their numbers will decrease and why (some made up teaching). That at least would be more honest. (As honest as it can be when trying to cover stuff up).

This is stunning. A major shift from their most visible public presence. Because I am absolutely positive that many JWs will NOT choose to express their faith by going door to door if there is a way to get out of it. I never knew many who loved that part of their belief system, especially as it was basically mandatory.

When I was in, I was excruciatingly shy. I never got over feeling like I was not only disturbing, but severely bugging, every single person who ever answered a door we knocked on. It was exceedingly rare to come across anyone who said wow, you're the answer to my prayers, come on in. (In fact, that would have been considered a miracle in my book). And we were told not to courteously just take no for an answer but to keep on pushing our persuasion techniques. It was always awkward and unpleasant for me - understatement. If someone said "not interested" my more longtime JW companion preacher person would ignore that response and carry on spouting their rehearsed sermon. I would shrivel up inside and start backing away. I always believed that no means no so just quit pushing.

You're right, Eric, about there being parallels between the WatchTower Society (JWs) and Mormonism. I never missed it when I left (in fact, it was a relief - big time) but I did feel hurt that I lost my "friends" in one fell swoop. JWs are not permitted to speak to ex-members. Even those I considered close friends took that doctrine to heart and I was totally shut out. It was a relief not to be nagged about leaving, for sure, but I did miss some people I had felt close to. It's understandable that once you've left you're no longer in such close contact but it was shocking to me to find that every member I had known just wrote me right off, other than one pal I had met in Quebec who wrote to me once after I left and to my ongoing regret I didn't respond. I was still conditioned to avoid doing anything that might hurt a fellow JW's faith. I thought if I corresponded with her while I was being shunned she would reap negative consequences. How's that for far-reaching and extreme control exerted by the mother ship? They're still inside your head even after you've escaped.

I had noticed that lately door-knocking didn't seem to be their major thing much any more and especially once COVID hit they found new ways to "witness" - such as setting up little stands in the streets displaying their magazines. Their technique, new to me, was to just smile and say hello without getting up in people's faces to try and proselytize passersby. (But just don't make eye contact or they pounce).

Also, as an ex-member, if approached by a stranger JW who doesn't know you're basically exxed (even if not formally, that they ever informed me about) - because you chose to leave so you're automatically shunned and written off - you are supposed to tell them you're an exxie and they can't get away from you fast enough. Like you have satanic powers or something and they're going to be cursed if they say hello.

It's embarrassing to say that when I met some Mormons who became friends (I thought) I started going to church with them and then you know the rest. It took me twice to get the message to avoid these basically isolationist-type groups, where they preach a "we're the only ones who are right" kind of theology. The JWs are much more isolationist-leaning than Mormons, believing in being literally apart from the (wicked) world as much as humanly possible. But the two groups have some main features in common, for sure.

It seems a safe bet that JW leaders have given up trying to force people to do the door-to-door activities, because they just aren't doing it, so to cover that up they've come up with this new twist on it. They can say do your proselytizing anyway but you don't have to report it, so they can continue saying we're "preaching the good news" but it won't be obvious in black and white any more that members just aren't doing it regularly no matter how much they are nagged by leaders about doing so.

I would place a huge bet on the fact that many, many members will choose to spend their time in pursuits other than preaching the word and will find ways to quiet any annoying consciences so they can avoid what to many was a less than thrilling part of being a member of the WatchTower Society.

Plus, their math has fallen apart about the onset of Armageddon, in addition to all their other failed prophecies as to timeline for the final reckoning. Those early JW leaders who calculated numerous timelines for the End Times obviously needed BoJ to teach them a bit of arithmetic. Or someone to suggest that prophesying is a tricky business that they'd be better off staying away from.

Every time I think about my JW interlude I am thankful anew that I got out. Too bad it took my dad crushing his leg in a bad fall to extract me from their net. But thanks Dad! Your words wouldn't likely have dissuaded me but your brush with death got me out of their clutches. One of the Quebec group I knew tried to get me to ignore the home situation (father critically injured, mum and young sibs needing my help) saying "we're your family now". That woke me up in a NY hurry. They thought spending my life knocking on the doors of strangers who shooed me off their property more often than they wanted to chat was more crucial than helping my family. Isn't that just so sad?

Too bad I needed a refresher course about avoiding offshoot religious groups - I did the same thing all over again when Mormon friends ensnared me, for a time. My only explanation for why that happened was that I did have JW friends I cared about so it wasn't all bad, and that moism is kind of JW-lite so it felt familiar and, surprisingly, it appealed to me - and same technique - members befriended me, then preached at me, then got me into their respective dunk tanks, then shunned me when I chose to leave. Unpleasant both times. But now I know.

Whenever I think of it I'm happy and relieved that I'm not spending my life with the JWs. It would be like waiting for Godot - no matter how many times leaders say the end is nigh - it never arrives. And boring beyond belief. Their theology is hardly deep or interesting stuff.

Although with current world events I'm sure my former pals are expecting imminent worldwide destruction to occur and their "new world order" to arrive any day now. What a tragedy to be happy at such a grim prospect.

It's such a very depressing message.

Not my style.

It's amazing how these groups keep on going. And especially that they still gain converts. Not enough people, myself included, think to research them before getting involved. It's hard to say no to friends at times.

Especially when they're promising you Paradise.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2023 03:40PM by Nightingale.

There are in a college town, set up adjacent to the school's large grassy area, on a public sidewalk perhaps once a week. Their presence seems regular.

They arrive in a pair with a rolling suitcase that somehow pops up a poster support for a very bland and uncreative large ad offering free Bible lessons. I walk by them most weeks. They have never greeted me in any way.

I'm yet to see any potential victim engaging with them.

I usually answer the door, and yell into the house "Honey, It's the Mormons again!" even if I am alone at home

They rapidly try to explain they are someone else

I reply "You knock on my door, you want to preach to me, you may as well be the same."

Their Kingdom Hall is caddy corner to my local post office. I took a look yesterday when I went to my box. The parking lot was full! Not a single parking space was available.

I always walk up to their display and ask for a pamphlet. They are very laid back and almost apologetic for standing there.

Now the two older ladies in my neighborhood were very aggressive. They used to have specific Watchtower articles which explained why Mormons were evil and wrong. They used to try to sell their little booklets.

What I did instead was to trade "cult" literature. My mom used to have blank family group sheets in a folder near the front door. I ended up with their articles- never read them. They went straight to the fireplace. Really burned well.

Truth be told- Magazines, articles, tracts and pamphlets never CONVERT anyone. What does?

Friendship, genuine interest, church activities and a sense of community does.

They were done in the same style as the old Soviet propaganda posters...

Propaganda Pictures from North Korea look eerily similar to Watchtower Publication Pictures

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/2yg8q0/propaganda_pictures_from_north_korea_look_eerily/

For the former Soviet Union, it was known as "Soviet Realism" -- mediocre art and architecture showing a bright, shiny, glamorized future.

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For the former Soviet Union, it was known as
> "Soviet Realism" -- mediocre art and architecture
> showing a bright, shiny, glamorized future.

Yep, that's it ;)

anybody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They were done in the same style as the old Soviet
> propaganda posters...
>
> Propaganda Pictures from North Korea look eerily
> similar to Watchtower Publication Pictures
>
> https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/2yg8q0/prop
> aganda_pictures_from_north_korea_look_eerily/

Creepy.

Kim's Paradise
https://i.imgur.com/jjF7MHH.jpg

Kim's Apocalypse
https://i.imgur.com/PQu1Gwr.jpg



JW's Paradise
https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/spirits-of-the-dead/paradise-earth/


JW's Apocalypse
https://twitter.com/MrEwanMorrison/status/1359629127326777344/photo/1

A pair of MoMo missionaries crossed paths with a pair of JWs Witnessing;


Was there a conversation between them?

What was discussed?

Did they offer to switch roles temporarily?