"Theocratic Warfare" and the Annual Report

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite 141 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Quarterback

  Punk of nice: I loved that picture of the WT.

  I'm trying to find a way to print it, and put it in my study.

  LOL
• 

  DT

  I tried to be honest when reporting my time, but it wasn't easy. I mostly lived in rural areas and many of the witnesses, including me, concluded that the rules for counting time were designed for urban areas where you could drive a short distance to the territory and everyone could get out and start their time. This wasn't always possible or practical in rural areas. I even remember a few times when I was out for an entire morning and never got out once. Technically, I shouldn't have counted any time, but I did. It didn't make any sense to sacrifice an entire morning and not be able to count any time, especially when pioneering. I never counted more time than I was out, but I was flexible about when I started and stopped. I also figured that since many employers allow a fifteen minute break every two hours, it wasn't unreasonable to treat the ministry the same way.

  I also saw a lot of inefficiency due to people trying to increase their reportable time. Many times, the car group would drive in one direction so every one could start their time in a nearby territory and then drive a long way in the other direction to a rural territory and do a few doors and take a break. Then they would come back so that everyone could end their time near the Kingdom Hall. The result was that none of the territories were worked efficiently. I think I even suggested a few times that we pretend that we all started our time so that we can get to a far away territory and actually have time to work in it.

  At one time, I was the only pioneer in a small congregation and worked alone almost every day. I also lived in the center of the territory which was very rural. Most of the towns were on the edges of the territory. I just didn't have enough nearby calls and territory to start and stop my time every day. I didn't think it was fair to have to drive a half hour or more before I could start my time so I usually allowed five minutes or so as travel time to an imaginary call and then started my time. I figured that is what would happen if I actually had people to work with and I shouldn't be penalised for working alone and being far more efficient.
• 

  OUTLAW

  Factfinder..

  Your more clear in your last post to me..Thanks..

  Theocratic Warfare Strategy happens all the time for any reason..

  I`m kinda surprised you don`t know much about it..So be it..

  I`ve read stranger things..

  Good luck with your health..Strokes are not a fun thing to deal with..

  I hope your able to recover..

  ......................;-)...OUTLAW
• 

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  This is becoming one of my largest threads ever! Of course, it's also one of the very few threads I've actually started. Anywho...

  @ james_woods: Certainly in computer programming if each calculation includes even slight rounding up every time the numbers get handled, the conclusions are bogus. Oh, and you better count the fetuses in the audience, they're learning too! And that sister might be pregnant, so count that embryo! The pressure as secretary could be huge. Fudging numbers made the job bearable.

  @ LostGeneration: I'm wondering if Brooklyn hasn't already been rounding down the number of partakers that get reported to them.

  @ wha happened?: And really sad how they gauged a brother's "spirituality" based on the numbers on a slip. It's a bad system that would promote men who only cared about the numbers. And usually they're not even good at numbers, so they just want to see 10 somewhere.

  @ Franklin: And at assemblies, anybody that was walking around during the time for the count would get counted each time they passed through a different section. Then get counted again in the bathroom. And again on their way back to their seat.

  @ straighshooter, coco, outsmartthesystem: And it would be so tedious as a pioneer to try to keep track of starting at 9:43 and taking a :17 break, blah, blah. Especially if you couldn't start your time right away because you had to drive over and pick up somebody that called late for a ride after the meeting for field service. It all was very tiresome until we would just shrug and say, "well, it will be close enough to 6 hours today when I talk to my unbaptized niece."

  @ Quarterback: For me to survive as secretary, I juggled numbers like that too. We had to since the report was to be in the mail ASAP. And it looked terrible if we had 70 publishers one month, then 50 publishers the next, then 110 publishers in August to finish the report for the year. Although I suspect that's how "peak publishers" was calculated on the annual report. I don't doubt that the government also fudges the numbers, but then they don't claim to be god's channel. If WT is really god's channel they would know all the numbers without individual dubs having to go through all the paperwork. And your fieldservice coupon works much the same as working on quickbuilds, temporary work at bethel, or some of the other jobs that were counted as "field service time" that were nothing like d2d, but a waste of time nonetheless.

  @ MrMonroe: A couple years ago, the DC drama of the first century Christians in Pella actually had lines talking about return visits and the congregation report. That whole thing was such a total crock of steaming poop. Watchtower rewrites history to match their corporate vision.

  @ xelder: I got stuck with the secretary job in 3 different congregations because I was good with numbers and correspondence. I hated the job, but I was the best of the bunch at getting it done. COs told me some stories about how terrible some congregations were with all their records. My favorite story was of a CO that took all the congregations financial and publisher records and burned them. He reported back to the branch that "the congregation files had unfortunately been destroyed in a fire."

  @ besty, Sapphy: No worries. I know for certain that there are still lots of number fudgers left in Watchtower without us. They are the ones most quickly promoted to MS, elder, pioneer, ect.

  @ stillstuckcruz: A lot of the fake studies are the family studies. The "doorstep studies" were little more than glamourized RVs. One bethelite elder in my hall had "studies" with the same person for years. I think they never even finished one brochure in the entire time. He was putting his time down a rathole. After that guy died, he had to scrounge around until he found another "going nowhere" study.

  @ metatron: Typically, everybody comes out of the woodwork for the CO visit. And the next week is "open mic night" trying to find warm bodies to give all the talks, because everybody goes on vacation right after CO visit or otherwise takes the week off because of everything they had to do to get ready for the visit. And it was important to get a good headcount for his visit as the attendance went on his report. Statistically it would be the target that the average meeting attendance for the rest of the year would be somewhere below the number for the CO visit and above the number of publishers. But you wouldn't want the number in attendance to be too high because then the CO would expect you to be producing new people for baptism all the time.

  @ slimboyfat: I think reality checks have happened in more than one country. One thing I've noticed the past few years is that the country that is highlighted in the yearbook, with their history and experiences, also reports a DECREASE in the annual report that year. Sorry, I don't have my yearbooks with me to confirm which and when. But I noticed that country X was a feature story and then go to the table and there's a decrease in publishers reported. Coincidence? I don't think so. I think they come under scrutiny by Writing and suddenly the numbers are found to be inflated and the country reports a decrease.

  @ bnybyt: That reminded me of Angelo Catanzaro. When he tutored me on record-keeping he had me eliminate decimals on any average. In a bookstudy averaged 11.1, it was to be 12 because you can't have 0.1 person. Once I started rounding up all fractions and using some other accounting tricks every step of the way, the numbers looked better. Not "great", but good enough that the CO was pleased. And that's what really matters when you're an elder. Jehovah is much too far away to be of concern about "honesty".

  @ under_believer: Nothing is such a relief as quitting pioneering.

  @ Sab: As Watchtower is allowed to rate their own performance and numbers, I wish I could grade myself this semester.

  @ GL Tirebiter: It would be fascinating to see the money trail. But Brooklyn won't let that happen. They'll scrutinize every congregation's records, but nobody is auditing their figures.

  @ neverendingjourney: It's part of the culture, from rounding time up to walking the "pioneer stroll", nice and slow, from door to door.

  @ zid: There are still JWs doing d2d and attending the corporate functions, so it hasn't collapsed. But it's obvious that the quantity and quality are on the decline. And it's the smart people like us that do research and see Watchtower for what it is.

  @ JW GoneBad: Watchtower has little to brag about. It's a simple thing to pressure people to give them numbers, then total the numbers, and boast about "new peaks!" What else do they have to brag about? Their social programs?

  @ Gayle: That's very true. When Jesus said to not let your right hand know what the left was doing, as well as other things about doing really doing good, it certainly wasn't in the context that "good" was something to be measured, accounted, boasted from a convention platform. I've had more than one CO say pointedly, "It's about the numbers." What is "good" is not in the Watchtower business model at all. I think Henschel was the last of the GB to say anything to the effect, "the kind thing is the right thing to do." But he's dead now.

  @ punkofnice: I would never have told an attendant to fudge quite that bluntly. As secretary, when I went to compile the figures there would usually be some gaps where the attendants forgot to put in the attendance. What am I supposed to do several weeks later? I pull a reasonably large number out of thin air. And certainly for the congregation book study groups I'd try to keep their numbers high because I was SICK of hearing the CO complain about low attendance at the miserable study of Revelation Climax for the fourth time of the pathetic Isaiah books. Amazing how just bumping up a few numbers would make a CO visit switch from an abusive nightmare of browbeating and insults for low attendance became a visit that was actually tolerable, yet tedious. And I love the WT cover!

  @ Broken Promises: I'm sure that there are many that are still honest in their reports. You know how there is that grid on the time slip for all the dates and placements? Out of all the publishers reports I "secretaried", I recall only two sisters that actually wrote down the exact dates, times, and placements for each day they went out. One would often have two or three slips stapled together with a grand total for the month at the end. Everybody else did like me and just wrote a total at the bottom and stuck it in the box. And at the complete other end of the spectrum, I would call a publisher for their report and they'd say they thought they turned one in, but they gave me some numbers. Sure enough their book study conductor would later remember that they had a slip for the publisher... with completely different numbers. FUDGE ALERT! Clearly the publishers were grabbing numbers out of thin air.

  @ Outsmartthesystem: Particularly when the weather would get bad for an entire week and we've done all our calls, everybody was happy to cram the 8 of us pioneers in one car to try somebody's staRVs scattered all over the territory. Okay, I'm slightly exaggerating, but sometimes things like that were the difference between making your hours and not making them.

  @ breakfast of champions: Yeah, well, Jehovah is also known as the greatest killer of all time! I mentioned Ananias and Sapphira in the OP for a reason. In one of the congregations I was secretary of, I went through the tons of old letters and crap in the file cabinet and came across a letter from the branch sent to the congregation because one of the young pioneer sisters, I think she was the only pioneer in the congregation at the time even, had confessed that she had reported more hours than she actually spent out in the ministry. What was the response from Brooklyn at this confession? The letter included explaining that Ananias and Sapphira were killed by Jehovah for giving a lying report to the brothers in charge of the congregation! I was disgusted that they would bring up such an ugly Bible account. It didn't matter that they then tried to give "comfort" by saying that the confession was the right thing to do and she would be removed as a pioneer, but no other punishment. Duh. Jehovah didn't strike her down for lying about her time because no worthwhile god would give a rats ass about such futile works orchestrated by a printing corporation.

  @ Found Sheep: Everybody loved me as secretary because stuff got done and there was little to complain about numberwise. Watchtower land is fueled by guilt. Never doing enough or being good enough. Finally, we can really be ourselves outside of their watch, and you know what? We're not the terrible, wicked sinners that WT paints us to be.

  @ LongHairGal: As I look back at much of my JW history, there has been a ton of dishonesty that has always been in the system and is growing. Fudging the numbers is just a part of that.

  @ LITS: When I was young, I started very honest on my time. My parents would even use my records to keep track of their own placements and hours. Even as an AP, I was very honest. But when I started regular pioneering, I had to start rounding up (like the other pioneers), or I would have to start going out alone a lot to get my hours. No, it wasn't completely fake, but it wasn't completely honest either, compared to how picky I'd been before. When I went to bethel, the pressure was greater to meet or beat the national average. At first I'd go out with anybody, anytime, even if I was sick. Then I borrowed from next month, and rounded up. The guilt was almost unbearable. Later when I actually became an elder and could start seeing all the other faking going on, frankly, I didn't care anymore. Clearly the JW system made it easy to fudge the numbers. Although the congregation financial accounts were auditted, the publisher reports weren't. Other things were far more important than the stupid numbers as far as I was concerned. So I fudged whatever so that the CO might actually give attention to the elderly or people in need rather than spending the entire visit bitching about the numbers or missing reports or the irregular. The system trained me to feed the number machine. I actually felt really sorry for the people that were trying so terribly hard yet were turning in low numbers. Sure, I added some numbers whenever they forgot to turn in their reports. And yeah, I spoke up in elders meetings and tried to reason that some things are more important than the numbers of a field service report slip. But in the end, that was one of the things that moved me to the KH exit. In bethel there were some really good people, I hope that I was one of the good people, but we were just cogs in a machine. So many could be incredibly cruel and dishonest, and I never understood why. I guess it was about appearances. Clearly, it isn't god's organization. It's just WT disorganization.

  @ Robert7: For quite a while the book study conductors would get a lot of heat if their attendance was low. I don't blame him at all for counting the cat. If the cat took a dump, I wouldn't blame him for counting that too. In reality, don't blame the conductor, blame the crappy litteratrash for sheeples not wanting to attend.

  @ willyloman: In one congregation, when I was in bethel and before I was an elder, we had a group of young pioneers that only worked together during the week and reporting wonderfully. Later it became obvious that most of their time was nothing more than driving around and making social calls.

  @ ShadesofGrey: I'm seeing a real psychologist here at the university. It's helping me to deal with a lot of my JW history, my family now, and dealing with the real world. And she agrees that coming here to JWN must be a good thing for me. My life has changed tremendously in the last few years. But it's finally heading in the direction of being "my life" for a change.

  @ OUTLAW: I wouldn't be surprised if my last congregation is still counting me as an "invisibly present" regular publisher.

  @ Farkel: Exactly! The WT system rewarded the dishonesty. Being honest wasn't good enough. My best wasn't good enough. When everyone else was padding the numbers, they were getting ahead in WT land. When they talk about "reaching out", it was more about "selling out", giving the numbers that they wanted to see. Of those that I thought were staying honest, they always got heat for low hours, and weren't considered exemplary. Many burntout trying or never "advanced."

  @ cedars: I agree that Watchtower is being damaged by the Internet. They might wish that the only risk was facebook or porn, but the availability of facts and people on the web is a powerful force. If I was shopping for a car I'd search the web for reports, shouldn't I do even more research before I commit to a religion? Something else that has been discussed but I'd like to go into more goes along with your observations on the Internet thread is the quality of JWs today. But there's more about honesty that I wanted to include on this thread.

  @ metatron: Those are some good honesty issues you brought up. It has been a complex thing for me to untangle the theocratic web of lies that was built into me from childhood.

  @ DT: I was in both rural and city congregations. Field service wasn't designed for efficiency in either territory. In the country it was driving around. In the city it was standing around.
• 

  factfinder

  cedars-

  you said you feel if the society was being honest they would already be reporting negative growth.

  In the 1978,1979 & 1980 YBs most countries did report negative growth and for 1977 and 1978 it showed that the average publishers declined by 1% in 1977 and by 1.4% in 1978. Both of those years the US reported decreases of 3%.

  sizemik-

  I agree it is very ironic that an organization that calls itself and its teachings the truth and tells us we should be honest in all things sees no problem in telling lies itself.

  ziddina-

  that is amazing what you found out about those companies. I agree that joining a religion is an emotional matter. And when I started with the witnesses there was no internet.

  punkofnice-

  that couple on the cover of the w can still count their time by talking to the trees or birds proclaiming Jehovah's glory to them!

  metatron-

  that is strange how meeting attendence goes up during the CO visit and more share in fs that week only to drop down to normel levels when the visit is over.

  life is to short-

  thank you. I had those mini strokes several years ago and since then my speach, memory, and focus have deteriated. My dear Mom was given a forced stroke by those bastards at Deborah Heart and Lung Center and lost her speech but she fought back and with much effort, and determination along with speach therapy she regained about 80% of her speaking ability. I am familiar with Aphasia because of what happened to my Mom. I did not realize I had it until my best friend became more and more confused by things I was saying.

  I agree there has been a misunderstanding in what I wrote here, or intended to write, and how some have percieved it. Billy surprised me with his reaction- I think he was listening to a different conversation!

  I feel bad for your husband. Two major heart attacks? That's horrible.

  The first one hapenned while he was conducting the school and no one called the ambulence? They made you drive him to the hospital alone? That is absolutly terrible. What uncaring jerks! And no one called to see if you needed help and only one elder came to the hospital? They have real love - are real Christians. I don't know what to say...that is terrible. What a horrible congregation. Uncaring fake elders. How discouraging that must have been for you and your husband. There is no excuse.

  THank you for your kind words. I am was surprised to get comments from so many. I guess there has been a big misunderstanding. I really do not know what life was like for many on jwn in their congs and what they had to put up with. But I saw much wrongdoing and it led to my being here on jwn instead of at the meetings.

  Regarding Billy- he misunderstand just about everything I said, and took it as personal criticism towards him. I do not know why. I sent him a pm but have not heard back.

  I'm sorry that you had such bad experiences at Bethel. But the brother with the baseball bat and threatening language-at Bethel? If I was there and witnessed that there is no way I would have stayed there. And Max Larson just mumbled and did nothing? Of course no one would want to be there with that jerk in charge. I'd be interested in hearing your experiences. If I had gone to serve at Bethel and anything like that hapenned and it was tolorated, not only would I have left Bethel (what a sham) I most likely would have been stumbled out of the truth unless I had close friends in the cong-I'd stay so I could see them, but I'd be out of Bethel. I know a brother who has now been at Bethel for 35 years. He most likly would have stories to tell too.

  Yes, Max Larson pretending not to know what you were talking about and mumbling was wrong. That elder should have been warned he'll be kicked out of Bethel if he keeps that up. But they wanted to keep the tough guy around to deal with union members. Who cares how unloving he is to the brothers and sisters there who could be stumbled.

  I would have been in shock to witness all of that at Bethel-I would have been out of there. I feel very bad for you lits and for your husband. You both were treated in such an unkind and unloving manner by those who claim to be shepherds of the flock. ( I have been badly mistreated as well by such like ones.)

  Thank you LITS!!!!
• 

  cofty

  just wanted to say I have really enjoyed this thread, thanks to everyone. Factfinder I'm sure everybody understands how difficult it is to come to terms with the reality of life behind the curtain. That's not to say there are no sincere Witnesses but many people's experiences are far from the nice public image.

  I remember becoming really stubborn about not cooperating with reporting time in my final months in the borg. It suddenly just seemed so petty and pointless. I had an argument with a fellow elder about it, he brought up at an elders meeting that I had driven directly from the meeting for FS straight to the rural territory that was needing to be worked without knocking doors locally first to start my time. I could not make my fellow elders understand how stupid his objection was and how little I cared about it. It was one of the final straws.
• 

  factfinder

  DT-

  I rember similar situations-when working rural territories-yes we had to go to each ones rvs or stop and do not at homes somewhere so all could start their time.

  OUTLAW- thank you! It has been a number of years since those mini strokes, unfortunatly my memory and vocabulary as well as focus continue to worsen as time goes on.

  The 1.5 billion hours the YB reports is meaningless anyway-even if it were true.

  They don't tell us how many books and magazines were distributed-to me that is more important.
• 

  factfinder

  cofty- thank you. Yes it is a bit hard to take finding out what goes on behind the (Bethel) curtain- but the more I think of it, with the things I witnessed in the congs I guess it should come as no surprise to find out these other things happened too.

  Those elders gave you a hard time over such a petty thing. They are the pharissees Jesus spoke of.

  It gets to be too much nonsense. No wonder you left.
• 

  jwfacts

  It takes all types. There was a family in Hobart congregation that used to count to the nearest 5 minutes with stop watches, but everyone else used to mock them. Most would round up to the nearest half hour.

  What I think is more important is that the preaching work is almost entirely ineffective. It does not matter if people report 1 hour or 10 hours a month, because they will never convert anyone. Walking around the block on a Saturday morning when people are sleeping or taking kids to sport or doing RV's midweek afternoon 5 to a car shows JWs have little intention of being effective in helping others see the truth. Ask any random stranger what JWs believe and I am certain 99 out of a hundred would have no idea what the "good news of the kingdom is".
• 

  factfinder

  jwfacts-

  I agree! My best friend had no idea what witnesses believe. So in spite of all of the literature distributed and hours spent going door to door the past 125 years or so- most people do not know what the good news of the kingdom is or what jws really believe.