Posts by OneEyedJoe

42

Western Decline is a Reality - 2015 Memorial Attendance

by berrygerry in

as has been observed in western congos, the decline is real.. usa is 12.475 % less -2015 vs 2014.

OneEyedJoe

Yes, strictly speaking you are correct. But the increase in 2014 followed two years of far bigger drops in memorial attendance compared to 2011. That drop has now reversed but still represents much slower growth in memorial attendance numbers. As I said a few posts back, the best way to describe the US and territory patterns in recent years is "fluctuating" attendance patterns.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. I was just striving to trace all things with accuracy and admit when my recollection had been wrong :)

I believe 2011's memorial was on Sunday April 17. A sunday memorial would have definitely explained the uptick in attendance.

42

Western Decline is a Reality - 2015 Memorial Attendance

by berrygerry in

as has been observed in western congos, the decline is real.. usa is 12.475 % less -2015 vs 2014.

OneEyedJoe

I stand corrected - there was a 0.36% increase in 2014 once the merged branches are accounted for, pulling numbers from the thread below.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/282591/october-2014-kingdom-ministry-km-10-2014-pdf

Even so I think it's clear that we've reached stagnation at the very least, and decline as a percentage of the population.

42

Western Decline is a Reality - 2015 Memorial Attendance

by berrygerry in

as has been observed in western congos, the decline is real.. usa is 12.475 % less -2015 vs 2014.

I'm 99% sure they added some other stuff to the US branch for the 2014 numbers. I distinctly remember a thread about this time last year talking about the memorial numbers and when you stripped out the newly merged territories, there was a decline in 2014 in spite of all the hype.

33

Ever wondered

by NoIdeaWhatToBelieve in

i was very hooked on the rc videos, really interesting to watch.

i started questioning stuff a couple of months ago.. however there is still a scenario that makes me wonder.

considering the israelites as god's chosen people and the kings as anointed, the bible shows many bad decisions the people made, including the rulers that were anointed.

OneEyedJoe

You pose the exact example that I use to explain my stance to separate myself from the watchtower society. Many times in the Bible the ones who were "just following orders" so to speak were punished for following someone that they presumed was gods chosen representative, when that person or entity was violating gods commands. It happened with many bad kings and it happened in the first century when loyal Jews were killed when Rome destroyed Jerusalem.

Personally, I don't believe that the watchtower society was ever "gods organization" but explaining it this way seems to make it more palatable to active jws. I think there's plenty of examples in the Bible that demonstrate that each one is responsible before god not only for their own actions, but also for their allegiances. It would be wise, therefore, to examine the organization to determine if it really is the standard of moral purity that one would expect (and indeed that it claims to be) from gods chosen representatives.

11

Crisis of Conscience

by FreeGirl2006 in

do you think that any of the clueless, amnesiacs that appeared before the rc will have a crisis of conscience over the abuse situation?

seriously, with the grilling they received from our new heroes, they would have to be sociopaths not to do some long hard thinking about the lack of empathy and compassion the borg displays as a top down policy towards abuse victims.

i can understand these idiots not having an awakening within the confines of their daily lives since they stay cloistered in their belief system, but the rc forced them into the real world with their questions and one would hope, made them think.

OneEyedJoe

I think that typically the more people are forced to defend a belief, the more entrenched in it they often become. I think most of them will probably walk away content to see this as persecution for upholding god's righteous standards and give it no further consideration.

39

Why I have renounced Atheism and become a believer again

by cantleave in

i have always said that if a god showed itself i would follow the evidence and renounce my atheism.

i have now seen enough to start believing again, i am so happy, i feel a inner contentment, when he connected with me i really knew it was him.

if you are not a believer you will not understand this, but trust me, look at the evidence, open your heart to him, let him in and your life will change for the better.

OneEyedJoe

oh man I was so ready to be super annoyed by this post, but that was some good stuff, thank you.

Praise be unto him, the mighty flying spaghetti monster. May he touch you all with his noodley appendage.

20

November 2015 magazine covers

by wifibandit in

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OneEyedJoe

I had the same initial thought about the "is religion dying out?" cover as the one I had when my wife made a point of leaving out the "Is science replacing the bible?" magazine a month or so back. My thought was "Let's hope so."

I love the WT study articles. Train your kids to serve the cult! Good to see they're still loosing kids!

23

the rumor again surfaces....

by sowhatnow in

someone please tell me how or if i can find proof that the rumor [that is pasted below] that was posted by a friend [still in, but should know better] on my face book page is false, [which of course we all know it is,] this makes me so angry, i have to stick my neck out and comment on this post but need something to back me up....anyone want to enlighten me where this got started?

i need proof he never said such a thing, it seems to me its false.

whats interesting is this, the bible in the photo accompanying the statement below is the latest version.... [photo].

OneEyedJoe

That's such a subjective statement that it should be obvious that it was never used on Jeopardy. Furthermore, it's meaningless unless they'd be willing to concede that an endorsement for another translation by Jeopardy would be damning for the credibility of the NWT.

12

another abuse that most JW children go through is severe "spankings" at the hall..is that still going on?

by wwjdnwt in

i was born into the jw's religion.

was an active jw for over 30 years.

i remember when i was a child my mom would take me in the bathroom and switch me so hard with the nice little switch she got from the tree outside.

OneEyedJoe

Still happens here, but like others have said it's not quite as bad as it was in the 80s.

12

Big Concepts That JWs Won't Even Allow Themselves To Consider

by JW_Rogue in

because of the belief that the bible is quite literally the word god jws must shut out many logical concepts and theories.

it's not just evolution although that is a large one.

i know when i was in there were certain concepts that made sense to me but i would try not to think about them too much.

OneEyedJoe

Well of course they don't think about those things. They can just point to me and say "he allowed himself to consider those concepts, and now look where he is! He's in the world!"

Thinking about stuff like that was definitely instrumental in my waking up.