If Jehovah Witnesses believe only 144000 will rise to heaven why do they go door to door recruiting and therefore reduce their chance of being one of the 144000?

Answer 1

Whilst they believe only 144,000 are going to heaven, they believe that there is an unlimited number with a physical hope of living forever on a Paradise Earth following Armageddon.

The Watchtower 1st Sept 1989 page 19 says''Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant [the remaining ones of the 144,000 still on earth today] and the 'great crowd'[those with an earthly hope] as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil.'

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There is also the purely practical aspect that unless any cult or church continues to recruit new members, it will fade away as people either leave it or die. The same of course is true for any human organisation, religious or secular; but a cult is not very likely to reveal its apostasy rate because it wants you to believe it's so good no-one will want to leave!

Answer 2

Because not all wish to go to heaven, the majority want to live here on earth in the "new world".