Posts by OneEyedJoe

20

Melbourne's Herald Sun -- "confessions of a Jehovah's Witness"

by MrMonroe in

all the dubs pouring into melbourne, australia for the international convention gonna choke on their cornflakes when they read this .... http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/former-jehovahs-witness-lifts-lid-on-stifling-doomobsessed-religion/story-fni0ffsx-1227092921890.

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OneEyedJoe

That's a great article, written just right. Just enough in there to stir up any doubts that an active JW might have without setting off the "appostate" alarm bells. They don't make any accusations except for the revisionist history, and most dubs know of at least one instance of that (1914). The fact that it also seems to be aimed at the general public, not active JWs, it provides yet another excuse for the doubting JW to read it - I want to see what the public is being told about us (to use in my ministry, of course!).

Plus it also makes JWism sound like miserable drudgery to the public (which, of course, it is) and will add just a little more to the public apathy towards the cult.

24

Watchtower circulation jumps up!

by factfinder in

jw
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!

OneEyedJoe

With just a monthly public Watchtower and monthly Awake, it now covers a distribution time that two editions of the Watchtower and Awakes used to, so it would make sense that it is far higher than the past. Add to that it is now being left in the streets on trolleys for free pick up. I couldn't find any print numbers on the study edition? That must have dropped off dramatically since it became an internal only magazine, and even more so now JWs are encouraged to download it instead.

A great point, paul. If the circulation hasn't doubled since they switched from two magazines a month to one, then it really should be interpreted as a decline.

59

September 24, 2014 BOE

by wifibandit in

.

OneEyedJoe

Viva la Viva nailed it:

Agreed.

I also agree that this is definitely not to help JWs explain 1914 to others, it's to shut down any doubts that are coming up due to the fact that 100 years have gone by and not one damn thing has happened. if someone at the door asks about 1914, there's no way that they're a potential bible study...they're asking because they know a thing or two about JWs and they're trying to sow seeds of doubt. That's why the 1914 stuff is always at the very end of their indoctrination manual - for them to have any chance of convincing someone of it, they have to wait until they're already deeply invested.

Also, just because they're doing this big 1914 shebang right now, doesn't mean that they're not planning on scrapping it eventually. Right now they're doing damage control and buying time. Afterall, they can't be seen as having capitulated to the passage of time by changing/abandoning 1914 on the 100 year aniversary. Or maybe they just don't quite have the votes to change it yet. Personally I'm about 50/50 on whether they change 1914 before 2034 or a few years after. They do love to set dates, and the current GB is far enough removed from 1975 that they may well believe the lies they tell about what happened then (that some witness privately speculated that 1975 would be the end but the WTS never promoted the date). If they believe the lie that they've been forced to tell for years, then they'll probably see 2034 as valid because they're predicting it, not "some witnesses." 2034 is a long ways off, though, so I don't expect them to start pushing it for another 10-12 years. In that time a lot of things (including 1914) could change.

1

Is the Watchtower Trolling?

by runForever in

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?.

OneEyedJoe

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

24

Watchtower circulation jumps up!

by factfinder in

jw
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!

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.

23

What would make them leave?

by Separation of Powers in

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.

17

Could it be the number of jw under 5 million?

by Crazyguy in

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.

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.

14

Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?

by dontplaceliterature in

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.

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.

14

Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?

by dontplaceliterature in

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.

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

14

Trained to Exploit Emotionally Vulnerable People?

by dontplaceliterature in

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.

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?)