Posts by thedepressedsoul

56

Demon attacks on JW in past, where'd they go?

by thedepressedsoul in

in the 80's and 90's (maybe even earlier) i remember hearing lots of witnesses talk about "demon attacks".

whether it was someone studying the bible who then started having strange things happen in their house to people bringing stuff home from yard sales and getting personal attacks and horrible dreams resulting in them dystroying stuff they brought home or getting rid of it.. .

i also remember hearing a sister say she had to pray in a home with a study because the study started to get attacked.

thedepressedsoul

Glad to know I'm not the only one who noticed this. I remeber being told them before bed by a relative. I loved hearing them and in return she'd love to tell me them! Oh to be a kid again.

56

Demon attacks on JW in past, where'd they go?

by thedepressedsoul in

in the 80's and 90's (maybe even earlier) i remember hearing lots of witnesses talk about "demon attacks".

whether it was someone studying the bible who then started having strange things happen in their house to people bringing stuff home from yard sales and getting personal attacks and horrible dreams resulting in them dystroying stuff they brought home or getting rid of it.. .

i also remember hearing a sister say she had to pray in a home with a study because the study started to get attacked.

thedepressedsoul

How did the GB make the stories stop though? Did they stop writing about them, write against them, say it couldn't happen etc...

I just find it funny how big of a deal they were and how it made so many people believe the demons were real and attacking "God's true people" and now they all but stopped.

56

Demon attacks on JW in past, where'd they go?

by thedepressedsoul in

in the 80's and 90's (maybe even earlier) i remember hearing lots of witnesses talk about "demon attacks".

whether it was someone studying the bible who then started having strange things happen in their house to people bringing stuff home from yard sales and getting personal attacks and horrible dreams resulting in them dystroying stuff they brought home or getting rid of it.. .

i also remember hearing a sister say she had to pray in a home with a study because the study started to get attacked.

thedepressedsoul

In the 80's and 90's (maybe even earlier) I remember hearing lots of witnesses talk about "demon attacks". Whether it was someone studying the bible who then started having strange things happen in their house to people bringing stuff home from yard sales and getting personal attacks and horrible dreams resulting in them dystroying stuff they brought home or getting rid of it.

I also remember hearing a sister say she had to pray in a home with a study because the study started to get attacked. I know 99% of this was probably some being paranoid or half crazy.

What made these reports stop though? I never hear anyone talk about this stuff anymore or never hear of new accounts of these things taking place. It seemed like a big thing in the 80's and 90's and now it's stopped. Did the demons get tired of attacking JW's? Now it seems more that Satan can attack you through the TV, Internet or slowly start to get to you through your spiritual weakness. What caused the change?

4

JW.org funny statistics

by thedepressedsoul in

i went to alexa.com to see some stats on jw.org.

for some reason it still mentions it as watchtower.com but i'm sure that'll be updated at time.. .

two funny statistics i noticed.. .

thedepressedsoul

I went to Alexa.com to see some stats on JW.org. For some reason it still mentions it as watchtower.com but I'm sure that'll be updated at time.

Two funny statistics I noticed.

1. Education of people visited: Most had no college or very little college that visited. Seems like that part is working in their favor.

2. Sits visited immediately before JW.org

Google

Facebook

Yahoo

Youtube.

That can't be good. You type JW or Jehovah Witnesses in any of them and you are flooded with info they don't want you to see.

Where do they go next? I don't have the upgraded version but that'd be interesting to see...

PS is there a way to spell check with the blog format? Thanks!

26

E-Watchman? Thoughts?

by thedepressedsoul in

i stumbled upon the website e-watchman today and while i didn't have time to read over everything i found this thoughts so far quite interesting.

recently when reading matthew i can't help but feel that jesus warnings about the pharisees also applied to the gb and elders.

actually everytime jesus brought them up i realized how similar they are.

thedepressedsoul

I stumbled upon the website E-Watchman today and while I didn't have time to read over everything I found this thoughts so far quite interesting. Recently when reading Matthew I can't help but feel that Jesus warnings about the Pharisees also applied to the GB and Elders. Actually everytime Jesus brought them up I realized how similar they are. (Reading the bible for the 1st time completely neutral and with an open mind to see what I take from it)

Some of his idea's seem a little wacky too. Has anyone else looked into that site and if so, what was your take from it?

Over the fence on the WT but still on the fence about god.

15

Not willing to meet with Elders? DF?

by thedepressedsoul in

if a person says that they are not willing to meet with the elders or does not meet with them, will that get them df'ed?

there is a rumor about a person who has left the truth (went inactive) about being imoral.

they do not have the 2 person witness so they can't take actions because of this.

thedepressedsoul

From the book, "There must be either two witnesses or a confession of wrongdoing"

15

Not willing to meet with Elders? DF?

by thedepressedsoul in

if a person says that they are not willing to meet with the elders or does not meet with them, will that get them df'ed?

there is a rumor about a person who has left the truth (went inactive) about being imoral.

they do not have the 2 person witness so they can't take actions because of this.

thedepressedsoul

If a person says that they are not willing to meet with the elders or does not meet with them, will that get them DF'ed?

There is a rumor about a person who has left the truth (went inactive) about being imoral. They do not have the 2 person witness so they can't take actions because of this. However, the person will not meet with the elders so they can see if it's true or not. Can they df someone for that alone?

My thoughts were you needed 2 witnesses or a confession. If a person never meets, they never get that confession or are able to make a ruling. Anyones thoughts?

26

Luke 12:45 - Does that mean the F&D can go "bad"?

by thedepressedsoul in

the more i read the gospels the more i get the feeling that jesus warns about organized religion or those that overbear on your faith telling you completely how to worship god.

let's say luke chapter 12 is talking about the f&s.

does vs 45 on mean that the f&s can turn bad so to speak?

thedepressedsoul

The more I read the gospels the more I get the feeling that Jesus warns about organized religion or those that overbear on your faith telling you completely how to worship god.

Let's say Luke chapter 12 is talking about the F&S. Does vs 45 on mean that the F&S can turn bad so to speak? When it talks about beating its servants could that mean requiring money, being overbearing on their faith etc...?

Scripture I always wondered about since they base the F&S off of that scripture, they can't just ignore part 45 since it shows that they can tech be doing wrong and pay for it when Jesus comes.

Thoughts?

143

Letter to BOE: Adjustment in process for appointing elders and ministerial servants

by pixel in

hello, you read it here first!.

governing body of jehovah's witnesses.

to all congregations.

thedepressedsoul

I said in a post a while ago that power would be taken from the local elders over time. People thought I was nuts!

This is just the 1st step. There are too many power hungry Elders and too many problems with them to not remove their power.

I bet close to 80% of people who leave the org leave because of a way an elder treated them or what an elder did to them. Most people I talk to have a very bad taste towards certain elders and they eventually leave because of it. Trust me, you are going to see more and more power taken away from Elders. It'll be interesting to see what elders resist giving up the power.

37

The genius of the new donation arrangement

by thedepressedsoul in

ive given this new arrangement a lot of detailed thought and how greatly it benefits the wt and how much it puts a strain on each congregation.. first, let me explain how the old arrangement worked.. you had 3 donation boxes in each kingdom hall.

one for worldwide work, one for kingdom hall construction and one for congregation contributions.. the congregation contribution box accounted for about 60-75% of all donations.

the world wide work box probably accounted for 20-30% and the kingdom hall construction for about 5% of the contributions.

thedepressedsoul

I’ve given this new arrangement a lot of detailed thought and how greatly it benefits the WT and how much it puts a “strain” on each congregation.

First, let me explain how the old arrangement worked.

You had 3 donation boxes in each Kingdom Hall. One for Worldwide Work, one for Kingdom Hall Construction and one for Congregation Contributions.

The Congregation Contribution box accounted for about 60-75% of all donations. The World Wide Work box probably accounted for 20-30% and the Kingdom Hall Construction for about 5% of the contributions. Do you see where the problem for the WT is? The largest portion of the contribution does not go to the WT but for the Congregations benefit. The big fat piece of meat goes to the congregation, while the WT is getting two of the smaller contributions.

Now, the Congregation Contribution box goes towards paying hall expenses, TOA (Traveling overseer arrangement) KHAA (Kingdom hall construction worldwide), loan payment (If the hall has one) and FOD (Funds on Deposit). TOA is usually around $70-$100 per month depending on the publisher count and the KKA is around $40-$70 per month, again depending on the publisher count. This comes out of the Congregation Contributions though and not the other two boxes

Let’s look into the FOD a little further, this is a thorn in the WT side. The FOD is where the congregation sends its extra cash (The Kingdom Hall keeps a small buffer in their checking to cover all bills). The FOD is held by the WT and the Congregation puts all its extra cash it had for the month into the FOD, which the WT uses. The problem is, it’s technically not the WT money. Think of it like a savings account, they can use it but when the hall wants the money back they can withdrawal a portion or all of the money and the branch has to send it. That money is never a firm, reliable use of funds since the WT has to send the money back to the congregation when they need it.

The WT needs to do something, there is all this money from the Congregation Contribution, around 75% of the hall contribution, and they have no access to it. How can they have complete access to it without the Congregation having a say of when it needs the money back?

I give you, the new donation arrangement!

Let’s look at this new arrangement more in depth and see how it completely benefits the WT while keeping the congregation in an endless loop of sending them money.

FOD, that is now going to be kept at a pretty low balance now vs how all the money used to be stored there. The congregation will only keep a small amount there for “repairs and a buffer” while the rest of FOD balance will be forwarded to the WT and the congregation will never have control or access to that money again. The FOD will still be allowed to be used by the WT but the congregation will have access to their very small buffer for needed repairs. After May, the WT will receive a pay day from all the various FOD being sent to them for 100% control and use without ever having to pay a dime back to the congregations.

All the congregation will now be sending a huge chunk to the branch out of the Congregation Contributions, that 75% they now have access to a large portion of it without ever having to give some back to the congregation. The largest part of the Kingdom Hall donation, a big chunk of it now goes to the branch. They have a reliable, large steady income from each congregation on top of the World Wide Work, Kingdom Hall Construction, KHAA, and TOAA. They have successfully tapped into that 75% of the income that they could not have before, risk free.

Each congregation is now “strapped” to meet a certain quota each month, both for their bills and for the WT chunk. The only benefit I see that the Congregation gets is an updated hall every 10 years or so without a loan payment. That should be the case though since they are tech paying a loan payment for the rest of that halls existence.

The thing the WT was looking for was a way to tap into that 75% of income without the ties that the FOD had. It looks to me like they have achieved that goal.