just saw this profile pic in facebook.
made me chuckle.
https://www.facebook.com/eleanorconwayuk/photos/gm.119963091878435/10154964287646233/?type=3&theater.
Yes, it's taken in Bishopsgate, London, which runs along side Liverpool Street Station, looking northwards (ie away from 'the city') - the modern office block/tower in the middle is the RBS headquarters at 250 BIshopsgate
https://goo.gl/maps/5s32C5ZPGLL2
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=2498
my congregation had around 25 more people at the memorial last night than last year, and the two other congregations i have family in all experienced a similar increase in about 25 more people present.
umm, i'm surprised, having thought this year would see a memorial decline again.
and i'm kind of disappointed..
jambon1: A bit similar to how they all dropped in 1976 once it dawned on people that the organisation had led them down the garden path with another false prediction regarding 1975.
Sorry, overall worldwide apparently not...
a very small decrease in 1978 though
1970 = 3,226,168
1971 = 3,453,542
1972 = 3,662,407
1973 = 3,994,924
1974 = 4,550,457
1975 = 4,925,643
1976 = 4,972,571
1977 = 5,107,518
1978 = 5,095,831
1979 = 5,323,766
1980 = 5,726,656
FYI I believe, over the last 80 years, the only years to report an overall worldwide year-on-year decrease in attendance are
1978
1996
1998
2005
2012
2015
i'm pretty sure most of us are keenly following the trial in russia via twitter or perhaps some other means, and are awaiting the results of the trial.
after the weekend, and what i presume to be a memorial break, the hearings resumed today.
i noticed however that unlike previous days, when it finally got to the prosecutor's moment to examine 4 ex-witnesses testimony on extremist behavior, the twitter feed relaying the trial information "suddenly" lost contact.
Actually I just thought that @SimonBotes was tweeting in English a summary of what was being posted in Russian on jw-russia.org??
He doesn't appear to be tweeting anything 'original' including the photos he's tweeting??
this morning i woke up from a good night's sleep to a horrible nightmare.
as soon as i woke up i asked myself when am i going to get this cult out of my head.
as a disclaimer i just want you all to know my wife would never do this because she is a hard fast atheist.
mrs phizzy and myself will be eating out, sure in the knowledge we will not have jw's using the same restaurant.. i may have a cigar along with my brandy at the meal's end to celebrate my (our) freedom..
FYI - from Ohio USA
WFMJ Ohio, 12 April 2017
Ohio, Campbell man jailed for allegedly disrupting bible class
Children say the suspect threatened to burn their house down
A Campbell man ended up in jail after police say he put on a mask and disrupted the bible study class at a local church.
Those attending the class at the Jehovah's Church of God on Reed Street Tuesday night say a man wearing a white mask and dressed in all black ran into the room and then ran out again.
...Chalfant, 20, was booked into the Mahoning County Jail where he is being held on $7,000.00 bond.
He's scheduled to appear in Campbell Municipal Court in Thursday to answer charges of criminal trespass, aggravated menacing, resisting arrest, obstructing official business and disturbing a lawful meeting.
http://www.wfmj.com/story/35130631/campbell-man-jailed-for-allegedly-disrupting-bible-class
this was the first memorial that i declined to do any work for the memorial.
i was assigned as a parking attendant after getting downgraded from doing the sound and had no intention of doing either task but i had to attend for my family and continuation of my fade.
i sat there last night listening to the talk and couldn't help but shake my head as my brain attempted to process the bs.
Phoebe: story about how in America, George Wilson
Interesting, don't believe it was mentioned as a reference in the outline - so must have been added by the speaker....apparently from a 50-year-old Watchtower!
Watchtower 1 December 1967, page 720
By Man’s Way or by God’s Way—Which?
Even the Supreme Court of the United States of America has handed down the decision that a person with free moral agency has the right to choose to die rather than take advantage of certain legal provisions for sparing or preserving his life, on what basis? If the person cannot accept the terms or conditions upon which his life will be spared or preserved. [footnote] So, then, if the highest court of the land has no right to force life upon a person on terms unacceptable to him, the medical profession has no right, legal or ethical, to force its unscriptural methods of saving life upon a patient who would rather die than violate his conscience by breaking God’s holy law.
FOOTNOTE:
See the case of The United States v. George Wilson, which arose because this man refused to accept the presidential pardon issued by President Andrew Jackson on June 14, 1830. The decision of the Supreme Court insisted “That the court cannot give the prisoner the benefit of the pardon, unless he claims the benefit of it, and relies on it by plea or motion. The form in which he may ask it is not material to this inquiry; but the claim must be made in some shape by him. It is a grant to him; it is his property; and he may accept it or not as he pleases. . . . A pardon may be granted on a condition precedent or subsequent, and the party remains liable to the punishment if the condition is not performed. . . . Suppose a pardon granted on conditions, which the prisoner does not choose to accept? Suppose the condition is exile, and he thinks the sentence is a lighter punishment? Suppose he thinks it his interest to undergo the punishment, in order to make his peace with the public for an offence committed in sudden temptation? . . . ”
Mr. Chief Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court, reminding the United States Government that “A pardon may be conditional; and the condition may be more objectionable than the punishment inflicted by the judgment. . . . This court is of opinion that the pardon in the proceedings mentioned, not having been brought judicially before the court by plea, motion or otherwise, cannot be noticed by the judges. . . . ”
Hence the pardon that would have spared the life of George Wilson was not allowed to affect the judgment of the law against him.—See 32 U.S. (7 Peters), page 150 ff.
in moscow, a soft rain drizzles.
along the facade of the supreme court stretched a large queue of those who came to the process as listeners.
a large bus is parked at the courthouse on povarskaya street, full of obviously bored police officers.
did anybody (who went to the memorial) notice the opening song?.
keep in mind that this is the most important night of the year for the witnesses.
it is supposed to be all about jesus christ.
Indian Larry: Can you believe the opening song at the memorial tonight?!
Yeah, wifibandit revealed the opening (and closing) song on the updated 2017 Memorial Talk Outline he uploaded a couple of months ago here:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5192731932491776/_post/6215583584485376
my congregation had around 25 more people at the memorial last night than last year, and the two other congregations i have family in all experienced a similar increase in about 25 more people present.
umm, i'm surprised, having thought this year would see a memorial decline again.
and i'm kind of disappointed..
Feedback seems to indicate massive attendances so far...
Over 21 million?
NOTE: I've reuploaded the chart below - I've not double-checked the numbers, just copy-and-pasted them - BUT importantly I did notice that the Memorial attendance figures used for 2002 and 2004 were showing as being exactly the same - appears it was the 2002 figure that was wrong (ie it was showing around 800,000 TOO many in attendance following the events of 9/11)
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6327632889118720/all-memorial-attendance-data-from-1896-2016
fyi.
april 07, 2017. united states holocaust memorial museum expresses deep concern over treatment of jehovah’s witnesses in russia.
https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/museum-statement-on-jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia.
FYI
April 07, 2017
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN OVER TREATMENT OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES IN RUSSIA
