Sad news from the Spanish Front

by Hecce 46 Replies latest jw friends

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  Hecce

  I think the majority of forum friends are aware of the existence of a vibrant Watchtower opposition in the Spanish field. For about 13 years the EXTJ forum was probably the main instrument for that endeavor, sadly the couple sponsoring that site decided to close it at the end of last year. It seems like they were overwhelmed with personal obligations and responsibilities; they were covering a 100% of the expenses without any outside cooperation or publicity.

  After the closing of their Forum, some of the friends started new sites to keep the flow of information alive. The most prominent was abusostj.org; they have done an excellent job in Spain calling attention to the child abuse and shunning issues on newspapers, Radio and TV. Last month the site administrator announced that he was shutting his doors on February 14, he didn’t gave much of an explanation but it might be a legal issue related to the WT legal department (this is speculation).

  Some of the friends are working and creating new forums but a hot dispute is raging right now, there are some bitter accusations going back and forth. I am enclosing two Spanish sites where more information is available.

  https://johnhenrykurtz.blogspot.com/2017/01/por-que-cerrar-el-foro-abusos-tj.html

  https://abusostj.vbulletin.net/forum/main-forum/audiencias-judiciales/433-denuncia-a-la-guardia-civil-por-acoso-comit%C3%A9-judicial-cantabria
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  StarTrekAngel

  This is very sad indeed. The Spanish field is one where the WT is actually gaining ground.
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  kairos

  If a congregation doesn't bring in the funds, though.
  
  I think WT is in financial free fall.
  More than we can imagine.
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  Hecce

  StarTrekAngel

  Yes, it is a bad situation. As far as the growth, is not as much as before; right now the norm at the Circuit Baptism is less than ten and sometimes as low as one. Historically that was the number for one congregation.
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  biblexaminer

  At the conventions, it's almost all children getting baptized.

  And there's fewer converts in number coming in from the field than those passing away. Replacement is negative.

  Children aren't going to cut it. Stats I've been keeping for years show that it's an even split, 50/50 chance as to which kids stay and which kids go.

  And the kids that stay are not devout, and are poor. SO contributions are in decline any way you slice it.
• 

  scratchme1010

  Sad indeed.
  
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  Hecce

  Researching the subject it seems that some of the dispute has to do with the sexual orientation of the closing site administrator.
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  StarTrekAngel

  Thanks Hecce, that is good news.

  I was referring to the whole Spanish speaking field, including Latin America. If we, as ex-JW, plan to have an effect in the growth of this organization, we can not ignore Latin America. There is hardly any good, easy to read and attractive sites that lurkers con go to in their own language.
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  Hecce

  StarTrekAngel

  In comparison with the local churches the WT used to be very aggressive in the Spanish communities . Those roles have been reversed, on weekends you will find the evangelicals churches full of happy people and the KH stagnant with robotic members. The evangelicals are providing services full of music, children's services, games, family fairs and outings and a lot of fun activities. At the KH you have the same stale meetings sprinkled with occasional videos and appearances from the Holy Seven.

  Used to be that evangelicals were fleeced by the churches and they still are but right now there is even more fleecing at the KH.

  To make it short, things don't look good at all.
• 

  Simon

  I think lots of people like the idea of being a forum admin, they probably find the reality less great than they imagined.

  It's easy to get something setup and when it's empty, it's cheap. If it fails to grow it can be demoralizing but if it does then it typically starts getting expensive quickly and also requires a lot more time dedicated to it (all the admin headaches it brings dealing with sometimes crazy unreasonable people).

  Hopefully they can sort something out but there's no reason not to have more than one - presumably if they can't agree it's because they want to do things differently, so just do things differently.