Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 08-31-2014 WT Study (FULL POTENTIAL)

by blondie 36 Replies latest jw friends

  • clarity
    clarity

    Blondie ....me too...I miss you & your great overviews!

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    This is just hilarious, that only males have any value ...

    well, except for using the women to 'service' the males

    in any way possible!!!!!

    Yet who makes up the majority of witness population?

    Who is doing the biggest load of the 'work'?

    The WOMEN ...that is who!

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    The Pew Survey of Religion and Public Life a nd Jehovah's Witnesses

    Jerry Bergman, PhD

    Introduction

    The Pew Survey of Religion and Life Association researches the intersection of religion and public life to better understand the role of religion as a whole in public life in America today. The 2008 survey reveals a great deal of information about religion in society as well as about the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) religion. The national representative sample used for the survey, which was called "massive," was 35,000 Americans over 18 years old. Witnesses are only 0.7 percent of the population, or in this study 245 persons, which was considered statistically reliable by the researchers.

    The findings related to Jehovah's Witnesses

    One major finding was that Jehovah's Witnesses "had the lowest retention rate of any religious tradition" – only 37 percent of those who were reared Jehovah's Witnesses still identified themselves as Witnesses as adults (2008, p. 26). The survey also concluded that the religious tradition most likely to switch affiliation (including to atheism) included not only the Witnesses but also the unaffiliated. The "affiliation change" data also included persons who were reared in one faith and switched to another faith. For the JWs, more than two-thirds of those who listed their faith as Witnesses were reared in another faith, or were not affiliated with any specific faith, as a child.

    Also of interest is the fact that 80 percent of those who were reared in a religion are currently not affiliated with any religion (p. 27). This supports the finding that large numbers of Americans leave the faith in which they were reared. One reason for changing ones faith is mixed marriage and young people today are more likely to be in a mixed marriage than older adults were, supporting the trend today to marry outside of the religion in which one was reared. These findings support the common conclusion that the Witnesses are today a revolving door religion.

    Education

    The Witnesses had one of the lowest levels of education of all the religions surveyed. Nineteen percent had only a high school education or less, the lowest education level of all religions surveyed (p. 56). This compares to eight percent of atheists and only three percent of all Jews. In contrast, only three percent of the Witnesses had a post graduate degree and six percent were college graduates. This compares with 21 percent of atheists who had post graduate degrees, and the same percent were college graduates. Of the Jews, the comparable numbers were 35 and 24 percent (p. 56).

    Income

    About half (42 percent) of the Jehovah's Witnesses had incomes below 30,000 and only nine percent had incomes above 100,000 dollars. Only those involved in historically black churches had incomes below the Witnesses (p. 60). Of the Jews, a mere 14 percent had incomes below 30,000 but 46 percent had incomes above 100,000 dollars, or over 5 times the level of the Witnesses. Of those who labeled themselves Protestant, 32 percent had incomes below 30,000 and 15 percent above 100,000 dollars.

    Gender

    More females identified themselves with some theistic religious tradition than males for most all religious traditions, including the Witnesses. Of the Witness, the divide was greater than for most all religions, namely only 40 percent of all Witnesses were males, and 60 percent were females. For Protestant traditions the average gender divide was 46 and 54 percent, respectively. For the unaffiliated, the level of men who accepted this label was 59 percent and women 41 percent, the reverse of the Witness ratio. Also of interest is the fact that 14 percent of the Witnesses were divorced or separated, higher than all groups except historically black churches and "other faiths" (p. 67). No doubt the strain of Witness teaching also strains mixed marriages.

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    Note:

    These rates were from 2008........I think the majority

    of women is even higher today.... perhaps that is why

    they are crying for ...more men! Ahh, aren't we all!! ;-)

    clarity

  • DATA-DOG
    DATA-DOG

    It's perfectly written to accomplish what the GB want, which is a continued cycle of confusion that paralyzes the reader into a stupified state of passive subservience. Here is an test that anyone with a WT CD-library can do. Just look at the KMs through the decades. Just scroll though as quickly as possible. You will soon notice a nauseating pattern. The same BS repeated over and over.

    Now imagine the mental and emotional impact of reading articles that induce cognitive dissonance day after day, week after week, year after year. It becomes clear just how damaging the JW treadmill of "study" really is. The result is a mentally and emotionally impaired reader who believe that "progress" is a static activity. They become incapable of making their own decisions and outsource their reasoning to the GB. The GB are all too eager to accept this position as "spiritual" advisor, and accept payment.

    1) The GB claims divine authority and the sole right to interpret.

    2) At some point an unwary and ignorant person accepts this claim.

    3) The GB strengthen the validity of this claim in the minds of JWs through revisionist history, information control, and propaganda.

    4) The GB prints contradictory articles that reinforce cognitive dissonance in the mind of the loyal reader.

    5) Paralyzed by cognitive dissonance, the reader shuts off the pain and discomfort by repeating point #1.

    Wash, rinse, repeat. The best thing that any faders or doubters can do for their health is to immediately STOP reading the WT magazine, the AWAKE, the DAILY TEXT, and ANY OTHER WTBTS PUBLICATIONS. Only then will you have any hope of progressing towards your full potential.

    DD

  • Over%forme
    Over%forme

    Like so many others, I have missed your comments.

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    Progress toward what? They seem to think of progress in terms of wasting one's life serving joke-hova. Deadening oneself to one's natural inclination is not exactly progress--that is like turning a device off and expecting it to do something worthwhile while it is off. Do they turn their computer off when they are going to use it? Do you turn a light off if you wish to use it? Do you turn the ignition of your car off when you wish to drive? Yet, that is exactly what joke-hova is trying to get people to do. Turning off parts of their mind, parts of their potential--there is much more to life than constant boasting session attendance and field circus.

  • Imminent1975
    Imminent1975

    Thank you Blondie, I appreciated your comments, I know it is a lot of work. Thanks Again

  • SAHS
    SAHS

    It’s good to see your insightful comments on the Watchtower Study again, which certainly does help put things into a more logical and objective perspective for us all.

    I gave the comment in paragraph 15 of that Watchtower Study this morning. (Our congregation recently voted to try switching the Sunday meeting to Saturday morning instead, supposedly to facilitate better field service success on Sunday morning.) The question on paragraph 15 was “How did Paul express appreciation for his brothers?,” and I related my answer to where the paragraph stated: “In Romans chapter 16, Paul gave recognition to more than 20 fellow believers for qualities that made them dear to his heart.”

    I went on to highlight in my comment the following verses of Romans chapter 16:

    Vs. 1: “Phoebe, our sister, who is a minister of the congregation . . .”

    Vs. 6: “Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.”

    Vs. 12: “Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, women who are working hard in the Lord. Greet Persis, our beloved one, for she has worked hard in the Lord.”

    I then concluded my comment with the following: “This shows that at that time women had a respectable and dignified role as workers and ‘ministers’ in the Christian congregation.”

    Romans chapter 16 seems to indicate that even the apostle Paul himself gave women more confidence and consideration of their roles in working, or ‘ministering,’ in behalf of the Christian congregation. I was thinking that this could imply that women in the first century could work at various tasks which today the WTS would require a “ministerial servant” – i.e., a male – to perform. Although, I’m sure that this logical deduction would have effectively been completely lost on the audience, as would be most such logical thoughts daring to venture outside of the silly and confining “box” of the WTS mindset.

  • crazyhorse
    crazyhorse

    LOL!!! Ding's comment is spot on and funny.

    Today, an elder asked me if I had studied this WT and I said no and he started having pep talks about how there's a need for young men to serve and I told as I have told before that I don't want any "position" in this org and that's MY personal decision. He then said that means i am opposing Jah. I was like whaaat. I still told him no doesn't seem like opposition to me...he sounded offended.

    Why do they like making everyone who doesn't have a "privilege" guilty? Makes me sick. Nothings good enough. You must grow endlessly to your full potential...as if spirituality is a competition

  • blondie
    blondie

    Great comments all. Your comments make things come to mind.

    Made me remember that Philip's four daughters were prophets, their gift of the holy spirit. Few men had that gift not even Philip.

    (Acts 21:7-9) . . .. 8 The next day we set out and arrived in Caes·a·re ′ a, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelizer, who was one of the seven men, and we stayed with him. 9 This man had four daughters, virgins, that prophesied.

    (Proverbs 27:17) By iron, iron itself is sharpened. So one man sharpens the face of another.

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    Altho I've been away for decades, just skimming your post trigered heart palpitations. I have great difficulty with reading comprehension with WT material. The wording is different from mainstream sources.

  • Listener
    Listener

    We just need to look at how they treat people at Bethel to see that often there is little opportunity for them to reach their full potential. They will proudly tell stories of how certain individuals have been carrying out menial tasks for years on end. Instead of encouraging young brothers to keep their rooms clean they have sisters clean it for them. They are made to work long hours on boring tasks. Their pages and pages of rules on life at Bethel is very restricting.

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