Posts by OneEyedJoe

39

CO visit; going to meeting.

by SG098 in

hello everyone!just a little background info, i haven't been to a meeting in over a year.

my wife has asked me to go with her tonight to help watch our son since it's the circuit overseers visit...my wife wants to be able to pay attention and get something out of the meeting since our son is 1yr old he can be a handful some times.. a few things of note about the situation:.

- i'm going to the meeting no matter what.

OneEyedJoe

In the future you might suggest that you simply watch your kid at home and let her go to the cult meeting by herself. Aaaaaand that's the end of my unsolicited advice.

On to the solicited advice:

When people say "We miss you" I always try to respond with something like "Really? I haven't heard from you - you should come by for a visit and we can have a few drinks." In my mind the goal is to make them as uncomfortable as possible and to force them to realize that they've just lied to you - they don't miss you, they've just been told to tell you that they miss you by countless talks over the years. In most cases, the people telling me that they miss me are folks that I've literally never had a conversation with (in one case it was someone that I've never spoken a word to and know nothing about her beyond her last name). Because these people really don't know me, the suggestion that they come by for drinks tends to make them very uncomfortable.

"Are you going to start coming back?" - My response would just be "No" said in a firm, decisive voice.

"Wasn't that a wonderful meeting?" - "You know, I really can't say that I enjoyed any of it."

I guess your responses would really depend on your goal, though. In my case I don't care if any of them shuns me, and in some ways I'd prefer it. If you're looking to keep some relationships intact then just keep your mouth shut.

6

Positive comments about JW's today, have your heard any recently?

by James Mixon in

in the 60's and 70's you would hear these comments from non- believers,.

my neighbor is a jw and they are good people, my sister is a jw and i admire their.

dedication.

OneEyedJoe

When I was still active I'd frequently get people at the door telling us that they appreciate the work we're doing (after telling us in no uncertain terms that they're not interested in a discussion). But I live in a particularly religious area, so that probably weighs in heavily.

Since leaving, I've told two people I work with about my JW past. The first was mostly unfamiliar with JWs (thought JWs were essentially Amish haha) with the exception of the memory of throwing a surprise birthday party for a friend and being confused by the the fact that it made the JW friend very uncomfortable. So I think in this case JWs were mainly viewed as irrelevant.

Later, I was in conversation with another coworker and somehow the subject of cults came up (not my doing at all) and while the topic of conversation was primarily scientology, she interjected "Or like the jehovah's wittnesses - I just want to grab them and say 'what makes you think this [religion] is a good idea?'" Obviously from the context she didn't have a positive thought in relation to the cult, and when she said this her tone was that of someone who was dealing with an insane person. (Of course I took this opportunity to pretend I was a JW and make her feel really bad for a few minutes before telling her that I'd left and substantiating her thought that they're a harmful cult)

So from my limited experience, the opinion of JWs (at least in the college-educated under-30 crowd) ranges from "who are they again?" to "what the hell is the matter with those insane cultists?"

20

Statistics - Spreadsheets - Opinion

by berrygerry in

so, spent a fair bit of time on the stats.. the 2010-2015 numbers are available here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0bwv5uvzb3-67axpzavk0m0nttfe&usp=sharing.

also there are spreadsheets of: ratios, peak-pubs, and the best is a combo of ratios, peak pubs & average pubs.. you can play with these by "select all" and "sort" according to your preference.. if you would like any other combination, i would try to create it and post it for you.. of interest:.

as has been noted, the biggest standout of 2015 is the increase of only 18k in peak pubs while having 260k baptized.

OneEyedJoe

Cookiemaster makes a good point - there's been a marginal increase in publishers, but a decline in hours. This could indicate that the flock is getting less invested as a whole which would likely mean that there's been a corresponding increase in those that are fading and reporting fake time. Perhaps if JWs were free to report reality without repercussions we would already be seeing a decline in the cult. That's before accounting for the many JWs that are currently still recruiting but would stop if they were free to do so.

30

What are the economics of cart witnessing?

by slimboyfat in

on another thread shepherdless sketched out the past business model of jws and its demise.

until 1990 they were a straightforward publishing business with the tremendous advantage of free labour in production and free distribution agents.

since then they've been relying on donations for literature to keep the old model going.

OneEyedJoe

The only money I see them making on the carts is from the "suggested donation" when they sell the carts to the congregation. A recent article of theirs has stated they've sold over 165k carts, so even if they're only making $10 profit on each one they've made a pretty good chunk of change.

How this balances out with the literature that gets taken from the carts without being paid for, I have no idea. I'd guess they're giving away more literature, but then again everyone talks about how they just sit there and everyone ignores them so maybe not.

33

Creative day 7000 years, is this correct and how did the Org come up with this idea?

by Crazyguy in

any body know?

OneEyedJoe

Yeah they definitely said at one point that the creative days were 7000 years long. I believe the reasoning went that the day of rest was the same length as the creative days, and if we've been here ~6000 years then adding the 1000 year millineal reign you get 7000 years for a day. I could be off on that some but I think that's basically the reasoning.

38

Re: New Songs for Memorial

by pixel in

to all congregations.

re: new songs for memorial.

dear brothers:.

OneEyedJoe

Yes, why new songs on a special holiday? Wouldn't you want some traditional songs that everyone knows how to sing already? To me this is way to make families sing these songs at home. Practicing the song is further brainwashing for parents and children. Many will do it because they won't want the congregation to sound terrible singing a song they have never even heard.

I think you're on to something. They got rid of the bookstudy (for whatever reason, I know there's a few theories on why, none of which actually involve gas prices) and now I think they're struggling to replace the extra indoctrination with something. Sure they've given you the family worship night as a requirement to fill the void, but without the pre-planned content that JWs are so used many don't keep at it. If they give just a little content and "encourage" them to do it during the family worship night (that you're definitely doing regularly, right?) then it gives them more of a push (and a guilt trip) to actually self-indoctrinate more regularly.

63

Watchtower crackdown on anointed expansion - are they reaching for a solution to the expanding numbers problem?

by slimboyfat in

if this has been discussed i missed it.

i think the january study watchtower is a concerted attempt to reduce the numbers claiming to be anointed.

but i love the sneaky way they go about it this time.

OneEyedJoe

I think they also do have something on the publisher card for tracking if publishers profess to be anointed. I don't know if I've seen it on a publisher card, but I know its been on many application forms for serving at bethel, etc.

51

Your Opinion Pleeease

by thankyou in

jw girl non-jw guy.

tenuous boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

what is more likely to strengthen a relationship?.

OneEyedJoe

I get it... You're a good guy and you want to help but she doesn't want your help at the moment. Your reward is going to be heartache and you deserve better than you've gotten from this girl How hard should you have to work to get someone to let you be there for them? Cult or not she hasn't been appreciative of you and you deserve better.

There's only so much you can do... Eventually she has to do it for herself.

51

Your Opinion Pleeease

by thankyou in

jw girl non-jw guy.

tenuous boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

what is more likely to strengthen a relationship?.

OneEyedJoe

SBF - look at his posting history... It's not the type of situation that looks promising at all.

I know it's not easy to let go and move on, but I promise it'll be better in the long run, at least in your case from what I've read. You're volunteering for a world of heartache when you have no obligation to this girl. This cult has ended marriages... You trying to stay in touch with this girl that's tried to separate herself from you is not a situation that's likely to work out for you.

51

Your Opinion Pleeease

by thankyou in

jw girl non-jw guy.

tenuous boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

what is more likely to strengthen a relationship?.

OneEyedJoe

Just let go, dude.