OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  15

  U.S. JWs: 36% White, 27% Black, 6% Asian, 32% Latino (PEW)

  by Gayle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://baptistnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/30426-racially-diverse-nation-isn-t-mirrored-in-most-religious-groups.

  seventh-day adventists and muslims about the same.

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  OneEyedJoe

  And the racial trend, in 2007 whites were 48% now they are 36%, either many whites left or blacks and latino are getting new recruits.
  

  I gave up looking for the official JW numbers to scale this properly, but regardless this definitely indicates that the cult is losing whites. For the demographics to shift this significantly, there would've had to been a 33% increase in cult membership in the US and all of that increase would've had to have come from non-whites. Obviously that didn't happen. More likely is that they lost a net of somewhere around 80k whites (I'm assuming a membership of roughly ~1million in the US) over that period of 7 years but made up for the loss with some growth in the black/latino groups.

  I'd appreciate if someone where to check my math on that because it seems rather significant if they're losing over 10k a year from one race alone. It probably means that they're losing significant numbers in the other groups, but there's just more disadvantaged ones in the black/latino groups for the cult to take advantage of and replenish the flock. Even assuming that no blacks/latinos are leaving, this still represents some substantial churn.
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  21

  Guardian of Doctrine Admits 'Doesn't Really Matter If Jehovah is Accurate' say it how you want...

  by LostGeneration in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  tough to watch this whole video, the way he talks gets pretty annoying, especially after the rc hearings:.

  http://tv.jw.org/#video/vodstudio/pub-jwban_201506_1_video.

  go to around 8:20 where he gets into the pronunciation of jehovah.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Since WHEN in the jehovahs witness religion, has what is popular, well known and established mattered?
  

  It matters exactly when it's convenient for it to matter. Just like the bible.
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  33

  Guardians Of Doctrine (GOD) and the Governing Body

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i don't know if gb member g jackson really meant the gb were 'god', with his 'guardians of doctrine' comment at the arc.

  it's nice and conspiracy to think so, i suppose.

  i honestly don't know.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I somehow doubt that this was intended to reinforce the conflation of the GB with god. Especially since the GB no doubt hope that none of the R/F were watching that exchange, and the term "guardians of doctrine" is not used in any literature so far as I can tell.

  It wouldn't surprise me one bit, however, to learn that this is an inside joke among the GB - describing themselves as guardians of doctrine when they really mean god. These men seem to get a kick out of wielding power over others, and having a secret language by which they can flaunt that power while sounding relatively innocent to anyone who might hear wouldn't be unexpected.
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  59

  What does your baptism mean to you now?

  by GiftsinMen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was baptised on 1st sept 1990, 25years ago today.

  it is still a date with deep meaning for me.

  i never dedicated my life to serving any man or any organisation, this was my choice - as a grown adult - to serve my god through jesus christ.

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  OneEyedJoe

  My baptism was the result of fraud on the part of the WTS and emotional manipulation on the part of my father. As such, it is at best meaningless and at worst a symbol of my being taken advantage of and manipulated by those I trusted for the first ~30 years of my life.
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  15

  U.S. JWs: 36% White, 27% Black, 6% Asian, 32% Latino (PEW)

  by Gayle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://baptistnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/30426-racially-diverse-nation-isn-t-mirrored-in-most-religious-groups.

  seventh-day adventists and muslims about the same.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Actaully the black demographic had a 5% increase. Of course, I wonder how many of those are immigrants as well.
  

  Crap, you're right. Even so the increase in the latino population is proportionally much larger. I wonder how these numbers track against the demographics change in the US as a whole, too. That might well have something to do with it, though I'm pretty confident that the US population didn't change nearly as much as the JWs did, so there's still definitely a lot of churn indicated.
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  28

  Intro and Thoughts

  by ThinkerBelle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking on the board for almost a year now and i think i'm ready to come out of hiding (although, i'm so nervous as i type this).

  i'm not ready to share everything about my story, but the basics are that i'm a born-in, elder's kid, baptized as a teenager because i was tired of hearing people ask me "all your friends are baptized, when are you going to get baptized?

  ", married an unbeliever (was df, but came back shortly after) and we have two kids.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Welcome!

  I can definitely relate to the adrenaline rush of that first post and the paranoia that came with signing up on this site. That in itself really says something about this cult - the fact that almost everyone in your position relates a similar feeling of fear as a result of that first post really shows how controlling this cult is. When even anonymous speech is a frightening concept, something's wrong.

  As difficult as this process is for anyone, it sounds like you're in a pretty good position, all things considered. Definitely keep learning and researching, but remember that there's no rush. Just because you're leaving one belief system doesn't mean you need to jump into going to another church or whatever. It seems that a lot of those that leave still have trouble with the concept that there's time. Armageddon isn't coming, and you have time to figure things out at your own pace.

  I wish you nothing but the best on this journey.
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  15

  U.S. JWs: 36% White, 27% Black, 6% Asian, 32% Latino (PEW)

  by Gayle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://baptistnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/30426-racially-diverse-nation-isn-t-mirrored-in-most-religious-groups.

  seventh-day adventists and muslims about the same.

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  OneEyedJoe

  There's a lot of churn in the cult, and it looks like they're losing members and replacing them with immigrants that make an easy mark, having left their entire social structure behind. Doesn't bode too well for the cult, but unfortunately there's always money to be made by exploiting the poor, so if they restructure some I'm sure they'll be able to manage this shift just fine.

  It's not much to go on but since there's a comparable drop in the blacks and whites, this seems to indicate something that will probably be pretty obvious to most here - the largest factor at play here is social support. A quick google search turned a comparison of income by race (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104552.html) which if I'm reading this correctly shows that blacks tend to have a lower household income than both whites and hispanics. If income (which usually tracks reasonably close to education) were a huge factor then I would expect to see the demographics shifting towards blacks and to a slightly lesser extent hispanics. Since it's only shifting to hispanic, that indicates to me that this is more about immigration than education or income.
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  29

  United Nations Global Peace And Security Announcement September 2015 / Attack On Christians

  by Timothex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the united nations will shortly announce global peace and security.

  this will result in the attack on the true religion [ jehovah's witnesses ] lead by pope francis and intern will bring armageddon / paradise.

  please brothers and sisters share this information with everyone!

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  OneEyedJoe

  I think you've got your eschatology a bit off - the cry of peace and security comes, then the governments turn on false religion and that's completely wiped out leaving only JWs. It's only at that point that they turn on JWs.

  Interesting that it seems that the governments (especially in Russia, China and Austrailia/UK here of late) are turning on JWs while leaving "christendom" alone. In any event, if it happens like you say it oughta be a great light show - I'll be sure to grab a drink and sit a chair out on my balcony for the best viewing.
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  25

  I feel trapped...I might return to the Borg....

  by JustHuman14 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have being thinking quite a while before posting.

  actually i haven't post for quite a long in the forum and i guess i'm one of the old ones, since i became member since 2001.. after leaving the borg for almost 16 years and disfellowshiped 10 years ago.

  you can see my relevant post:.

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  OneEyedJoe

  From what I've read on here it seems that reinstatement takes a minimum of 6 months, but there's been a recent push at elder's schools to keep them from reinstating in less than a year. It can depend a lot on the congregation, though so maybe you'll get lucky. I know for some it takes multiple years. They'll also likely grill you and try to get you to confess any and all sins that you committed in the last decade, and I suspect that will also influence the amount of time that it takes for you to be reinstated.

  Best of luck to you!
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  15

  Give Jehovah Only 6 Months!

  by naazira in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  main question: what do you think would happen if jehovah's witnesses stayed away from the watchtower organization for 6 months?

  instead of "us" staying in their world for 6 months.

  personally, i think they would be like the amish youth on rumspringa- many to never return.. i came across a thread here, where the poster said that their parents told them to give jehovah's org 6 months.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I can see the "commit to it completely for 6 months" thing working on a lot of people who are just beaten down but don't know TTATT. The way cults work is to get you to participate in spite of your better judgement and that causes cognitive dissonance, which forces you to have a better view of the cult (your participating in cult activities is contrary to your negative feelings about the cult so you either have to change your actions or your feeling about the cult - if you've committed to trying it for 6 months, most likely it will be the latter).

  What I'm wondering is if this 6 month trial period is an institutionalized thing. Is it a recommended tactic in the elder's manual or at the elder's school, or is it just a fluke that a couple elders hit upon the same thing? It always interests me to see what bits of the cult indoctrination and mind control come from the top. It seems like most of it does, but there have definitely been a few cases that I've seen where it seems like a few elders or a CO have happened upon some particularly unique method of controlling people that isn't used by the organization as a whole.