Posts by berrygerry

27

More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

by Tempest in a Teacup in

jw
friends

i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.

comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.

berrygerry

"That's why I am not keen on using the number of congregations as a measure of growth or stagnation in jw organization. Worldwide - and even nationally - numbers that comprise congregations vary enormously."

I had thought similarly.

However, I added the congo numbers to the Western country spreadsheet, and they have generally dipped proportionately to the publisher dip (Canada and Britain increased - probably foreign language)

https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=76DDE14542F75FED&resid=76DDE14542F75FED%21131&authkey=AA73ZGpctkb3kBg&em=2&AllowTyping=True&wdDownloadButton=True

( 87 fewer total congos in the Western countries listed - 32499 in 2016, 32586 in 2015 )

117

2017 Yearbook released

by bohm in

jw
friends

i saw this on reddit:.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

berrygerry

"You seem to be comparing peak and average"

2016 Average to 2015 Average

(Peak numbers are meaningless)

117

2017 Yearbook released

by bohm in

jw
friends

i saw this on reddit:.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

berrygerry

Western country stats:

Country	. . .	2016	. . . .	2015	. . . .	Increase /	. . . .	%
						Decrease

Australia		66689		66753		-64		-0.0959%
Austria		21353		21216		137		0.6457%
Barbados		2513		2506		7		0.2793%
Belgium		24818		24661		157		0.6366%
Bermuda		444		448		-4		-0.8929%
Britain		134517		134491		26		0.0193%
Canada		113954		114123		-169		-0.1481%
Denmark		14622		14564		58		0.3982%
Finland		18397		18496		-99		-0.5353%
France		127087		125519		1568		1.2492%
Germany		164243		163871		372		0.2270%
Ireland		6407		6281		126		2.0060%
Italy		250249		250277		-28		-0.0112%
Japan		214173		213818		355		0.1660%
Netherlands		29490		29508		-18		-0.0610%
New Zealand		13895		13929		-34		-0.2441%
Norway		11535		11472		63		0.5492%
Spain		110393		109457		936		0.8551%
Sweden		22238		22236		2		0.0090%
Switzerland		18838		18611		227		1.2197%
USA		1198026		1195081		2945		0.2464%
Total		2563881		2557318		6563		0.2566%

117

2017 Yearbook released

by bohm in

jw
friends

i saw this on reddit:.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

berrygerry

Sorry - link inoperative.

11

The 31 date blunders of Watchtower

by FatFreek 2005 in

dates (ad) of events once taught by watchtower as significant but no longer supported since nothing happened.. .

"but bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble.

zion's watch tower 1894 jul 15 p.226 incredibly, today’s jw’s dishonestly prefer to rewrite history, claiming "jehovah's witnesses pointed to the year 1914, decades in advance, as marking the start of "the conclusion of the system of things.

berrygerry

Exhaustive list here:

http://www.bible.ca/Jw-Prophecy.htm

52

You wake up one morning and see

by A Believer in

jw
friends

the un has banned religion.

what are you're thoughts?.

also changes to it seem to be on the way.... http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/trump-vows-israel-vote-161224040133216.html.

berrygerry

I used to chase that WT carrot.

http://www.un.org/en/sections/what-we-do/maintain-international-peace-and-security/index.html

21

Aid to Bible Understanding - can you help summarise any useful sections?

by Fernando in

randall watters presents the fascinating backstory of the "aid book", and the brouhaha surrounding it, in this article:.

"the watchtower bible and tract society: the critical years 1975-1997".

so far it seems the project to research and write the "aid to bible understanding" revealed serious doctrinal and institutional flaws that the gb wanted to preserve nonetheless.. it seems what ray franz and his team were learning, and were largely blocked from presenting:.

berrygerry

Eve created in the same year as Adam:

page 538
At the age of 130 another son was born
to her. Eve called his name Seth,

SETH [appointed, substituted] . The son of Adam
and Eve born when Adam was 130 years old.

11

1 bilion property revenue since august 2016 and still they have not enough

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

read in the new york business review that jw.org made 1 bilion property revenue since august 2016.. unbelievable, isn't it?

they are one of the richest religion organizations in cash flow, for sure.. the co asked us this morning to "overthink wat we can share, to support the work and make jehovah happy".. g..

berrygerry

"Recently, Jared and a group of partners acquired several vast properties in Brooklyn from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for two billion dollars; they are filling them with hip, techie tenants such as Etsy and WeWork."

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/22/ivanka-trump-and-jared-kushners-power-play

21

Aid to Bible Understanding - can you help summarise any useful sections?

by Fernando in

randall watters presents the fascinating backstory of the "aid book", and the brouhaha surrounding it, in this article:.

"the watchtower bible and tract society: the critical years 1975-1997".

so far it seems the project to research and write the "aid to bible understanding" revealed serious doctrinal and institutional flaws that the gb wanted to preserve nonetheless.. it seems what ray franz and his team were learning, and were largely blocked from presenting:.

berrygerry

Pages 884, 885 Aid Book

By combining the vowel signs of 'Adho •n ay' and
'Elo • him' with the four consonants of the Tetragrammaton
the pronunciations Yeho •wah' and Yeho
wih' were formed . The first of these provided the basis
for the Latinized form "Jehova (h) ." The first recorded
use of this form dates from the thirteenth
century C .E . Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of
the Dominican Order, used it in his book Pugeo
Fidei of the year 1270 .

Deleted in Insight Book.

21

Aid to Bible Understanding - can you help summarise any useful sections?

by Fernando in

randall watters presents the fascinating backstory of the "aid book", and the brouhaha surrounding it, in this article:.

"the watchtower bible and tract society: the critical years 1975-1997".

so far it seems the project to research and write the "aid to bible understanding" revealed serious doctrinal and institutional flaws that the gb wanted to preserve nonetheless.. it seems what ray franz and his team were learning, and were largely blocked from presenting:.

berrygerry

Baptism - Aid book - page 188

Regarding the practice of infant baptism, The
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol . III, ed . of 1946, p . 84,
states : "The whole early period knows baptism only
for adults, who join themselves of their own resolve
to the Christian community. Infant baptism appears
sporadically towards the end of the second century and
was indeed practised also during the following centuries,
yet only as an exception ."

Paragraph deleted in Insight Book.