OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  1

  Is the Watchtower Trolling?

  by runForever in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the public edition jan 1, 2015 is talking about a survey of praying to jesus and makes this comment:.

  youth crossed out the name jesus on the survey.

  and wrote god instead.. it then goes on to say no one talked to a heavenly creature that is not god without being spoken to first?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Well they're certainly old pros at crossing out Jesus' name and writing in Jehovah.
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  24

  Watchtower circulation jumps up!

  by factfinder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the jan. 1, 2015 w shows an updated printing of 52,946,000 copies each issue in 228 languages.. this is an increase of 7,002,000 copies per issue over last year, this is the biggest increase i have seen in the printing of the w per issue for any one year.

  thus, including the study edition over 70 million copies of the w are now being printed each month.. .

  i wonder if awake!

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  OneEyedJoe

  They're probably counting downloads from jw.org. wasn't there something that said you could count it as a placement if you email someone a pdf of an entire magazine? Why wouldn't they follow their own rules when they count circulation? This cult certainly isn't above a little creative accounting.
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  23

  What would make them leave?

  by Separation of Powers in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in your experience, what would the org have to do that would cause the most people to leave?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  If the past is the best predictor of the future, then the combination of a new round of date-setting (that will inevitably fail) and a highly visible coup of the leadership might knock a few loose. The combined failure of 1914 and the JFR's takeover reportedly knocked loose 3/4th of the bible students. The group had less momentum then, though (and was much less controling/culty) so I wouldn't expect to see the same result if it happened again. More like 5-10% loss, tops.

  To knock someone out they have to be convinced that any scandal isn't the result of a "few imperfect men" but is a systemic problem. At this point the WTS has so much control over the individual JWs that most won't let them venture far enough into unsafe waters (the internet chief among them) to come across such evidence before shutting it down.
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  17

  Could it be the number of jw under 5 million?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i was thinking about this last night, in the year book they publish the number or peak and average publishers.

  as we know a publisher could simply be a child getting out in service regularly.

  if two parents baptized have to small children that are publishers then they are counted as four.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Yeah, the number of adult baptized members that are active in the ministry is much smaller than the number of publishers. But it's always been that way (at least since I can remember) so I don't think this would have any relation to the selling of property, etc. If anything the ratio of adult baptized members to peak publishers has been increasing in the last decade as the retention rate for the youth drops.
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  14

  Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i don't post here much anymore, but i am working on a project with a few academics from my area who are in the psychology field.

  we are looking for printed evidence in their literature that jehovah's witnesses train their publishers/pioneers to target people who are suceptible to being recruited - i.e.

  people who have experienced a loss, or who are emotionally vulnerable.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Found another one for ya:

  In the Bible teach book, page 162, paragraph 19:

  Many people truly are “ sighing and groaning ” over the wickedness that is taking place in the world today. ( Ezekiel 9:4 ) Perhaps you know some people who feel that way. Why not speak to them about your Bible-based hope for the future?

  http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102005146

  Also, looks like searching for references to Ezekiel 9:4 might turn up some results.
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  14

  Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i don't post here much anymore, but i am working on a project with a few academics from my area who are in the psychology field.

  we are looking for printed evidence in their literature that jehovah's witnesses train their publishers/pioneers to target people who are suceptible to being recruited - i.e.

  people who have experienced a loss, or who are emotionally vulnerable.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I think KMs are probably the place to look first, and maybe the WT. Yearbooks will be good for direct examples of people preying on the weak. You might also try search terms such as "right-hearted" (not sure of the hyphen) or "heart condition" as well as references to "When someone you love dies" as the mention of that brochure is probably always going to be in an experience that indirectly encourages the R/F to prey on the emotionally weak.

  From a quick search on the online library so far I was able to find:

  http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102006014 - This was on the back cover of the Awake, clearly meant to appeal to a HH who recently lost someone in death. It looks like the brochure is featured roughly once a year on the back of the awake.

  Yearbook experience of a student giving the propaganda to their teacher after a death: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/302013013?q=%22When+someone+you+love+dies%22&p=par

  Another nearly identical experience in a yearbook: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/302009010?q=%22When+someone+you+love+dies%22&p=par

  Sample presentations designed to regress a HH emotionally to a time when they lost a loved one (these will also work exceptionally well on someone who's very recently experienced such a loss):

  http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202013330

  http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202011089

  An announcment about the "special" public talk after the memorial, which is the most attended regular sunday meeting of the year, and all are encouraged to bring interested ones and UBMs. The title of the talk was "does death end it all?" http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202013049

  And I saved the best for last. Paragraph 5 will be of interest to you, where they are encouraged to reach out to UBMs when they are in the hospital or have recently lost someone: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202010406
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  14

  Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i don't post here much anymore, but i am working on a project with a few academics from my area who are in the psychology field.

  we are looking for printed evidence in their literature that jehovah's witnesses train their publishers/pioneers to target people who are suceptible to being recruited - i.e.

  people who have experienced a loss, or who are emotionally vulnerable.

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  OneEyedJoe

  sorry I'm not going to be much help either, but I'll try...I don't know if this is in print, but there's often encouragement to use the "when someone you love dies" brochure anytime we happen to run into someone who's experienced a recent loss.

  Also, one of the reasons we're told to go back to houses where we know the people don't want us to call anymore is because their heart may have changed. The inevitably someone will cite an experience where someone was always rude at the door, then one day they called on them in d2d work and they were receptive after having lost a loved one.

  Also, just a cursory examination of most of the WT/Awake magazines will make it obvious that they'll appeal more to people who are overly worried about the condition of the world, which would betray emotional turmoil. In addition, we're often told that we're looking for those who are sighing and groaning over the conditions in the world (I think they may cite Romans 8:22,23 when this is referenced, maybe that's something to search for?)
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  31

  I need some input: I have come to the conclusion my wife blames me for her lack of spirituality

  by goingthruthemotions in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so lately my wife and i have been arguing alot.

  not big arguments...but more of a bickering.. you see, over the last year i have stepped down as an ms and we moved halls.

  last november was around the time i woke.. during this time we still have family studies....but only from the bible.

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  OneEyedJoe

  However it goes, please share the progress/results...I can feel my wife getting to where yours is and I'll take every bit of real-world experience that I can get so I can be prepared.

  Wishing you all the best!
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  24

  What would you do?

  by ctrwtf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i travel alot for business and check into a hotel, start putting away my things and lo and behold in a bureau drawer, find a couple of wt's a couple of awake's and two tracts.

  1. throw them in the trash and forget about it.

  2. leave them where they lay and forget about it.. 3. leave a note for the housekeeper asking to lay off the cult recruitment.. 4. bring it to the attention of the management, and possibly get the housekeeper fired.. thanks for your input.

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  OneEyedJoe

  5. Burn 'em
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  74

  GB Doesn’t Believe in 1914 Anymore – My reasoning

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have heard a lot of talk over the last year or so if the gb will eventually ditch 1914 and some have even made the claim that most, if not all of the gb do not believe in 1914. ive given this some thought and in the past i wasnt sure.

  this annual meeting puts 100%, without a doubt in my mind that the gb do not believe in 1914. id even go as far to say that they talked about that date and have a game plan in mind.. here is why i feel this way:.

  there were a lot of changes with the parables at this annual meeting.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Cults aren't about a rational explanations for the authority of the leaders. They're social constructs and as such they rely on social pressure to maintain the obedience of the r/f. The jw "Bible study" with potential recruits likewise isn't about providing arguments that stand up to scrutiny - it's about putting two nice looking people in a room with a potential recruit pressuring them to accept the answers given in the wt publications. All it is is a show - two people are in front of you, demonstrating that they accept the validity of what is written so you instinctively feel like you're crazy if you don't accept it. That's why people in a weakened emotional state are the ones to get recruited - they don't have enough emotional fortitude to stand up to these people and press the questions.

  All this means that they can simply state that they're the fds, and it likely won't affect their recruitment, because it's not about logic and facts. If it were, cults wouldn't exist. As long as there's an answer to every question (and by that, I methe one jw will say something in response and the other jw will nod approvingly) the social pressure will take care of the rest. If something doesn't make the ones susceptible to cults will just think "it makes sense to them, so I'll just accept it for now and come back to it if it still doesn't add up" the problem is that this gives the cult time to indoctrinate you and you never come back to it.

  Also, let's not pretend recruitment is stellar as it is. In the developed world, they're already getting only the dregs of society... Most of these folks aren't the type to spot logical fallacy.

  That's why I say they can drop 1919 and not lose anything. It's because there isn't a single new recruit that was on the fence until the 1919 appointment is explained, but jumped in with both feet after.