OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  36

  Estimating future growth or decline of Watchtower

  by shepherdless in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have seen a few posts here, in various guises, in relation to whether watchtower is in decline.

  plenty of people respond, but it is all fairly anecdotal, or "gut feel".

  some of it has been wishful thinking.. as of late 2015, watchtower's numbers suggest it is still growing marginally, but there are various anecdotes on this site of publishers typically being older, and younger ones disappearing.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I haven't been in about a year, so I may be a little off, but I'd estimate the median age of my former congregation to be about 45. That may be a little conservative, though - it may be closer to 50. I think there's roughly 90-100 publishers assigned to the congregation with an average sunday attendance around 50-70. This is in the southern US.

  I like this approach to estimating the decline. It will at least give us a reasonable estimate on the upper limit of how things will trend for the cult. I definitely agree that it will be a mostly slow decline with no mass exodus (unless something really big happens) and the decline will be mostly driven by the old ones dying off over the next decade or two. The problem, though, is that JWs aren't even keeping up with population growth rates so the decline will be more than what you'd estimate using normal models. To get more accurate you'd have to adjust the life expectancy figure to account for the young ones that leave, but that would be a tough thing to estimate.
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  12

  What do ya think would happen?

  by brandnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  lets say..an assembly is arranged at a stadium for 30,000 jws to meet.

  now lets say only about 1,000 jws show up.. do you think the show would go on?, or do you think it would be canceled because it would not generate enough money?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  At that point most of the cost would already be committed to so they might as well get on with it. You can bet whoever failed to plan it properly would be getting demoted, though.
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  27

  Unbelievable! Is this even allowed? Two elders from my hall RANDOMLY stopped by my apartment!

  by macys in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok wow.

  i am really really pissed.

  i had to really hold back and bite my tongue.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I'm not sure why you keep acting surprised that this is "allowed." As far as I can tell the only time the elders are directed not to harass someone is if there's some legal aspect to it and they're trying to avoid liability or if someone's claimed that they'll commit suicide if the elders keep calling (which, I guess, really goes back to the legal liability thing). Since you're trying to get reinstated they're very likely to keep dropping by to see if they can get any dirt on you - they'll want to make sure that you're not still doing whatever you got DFed for, and they're not super likely to just take your word for it. Also, the memorial is coming up and lately it seems like the elders are being asked to call on DFed and inactive ones in preparation for the memorial/conventions/CO.

  The unannounced call by 2 elders is the rule, not the exception. In most cases asking them to call before coming does not yield any results.
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  24

  The official relationship between Jehovahs Witnessses and the Watchtower? I'm confused.

  by Joliette in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can anybody answer this for me?.

  whenever i tell people i'm ex jehovahs witnesses, they always assume that i'm against the jehovahs witnesses, but i am more so against the watchtower then anything.people assume that i'm anti-jehovahs witness, but now that i've done more research i've realized that its the watchtower thats more harmful then the jehovahs witnesses, even though theres a lot of jehovahs witnesses i dont like, i'm not against jehovahs witnesses as a group.. can anyone explain this to me?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I'd explain it like this: I'm not against the members of the people's temple, I'm against Jim Jones.

  The JW conflation of god with the watchtower is seemingly pretty universal. I told my father that I could no longer conscientiously support the watchtower society in any way, and his immediate response was "we all have to prove to ourselves that Jehovah is real." I'd said nothing about Jehovah, but that was his immediate reaction. You're going to have trouble creating a distinction between the cult and their god in the mind of any JW, no matter what you say.
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  10

  Worthy of imitation?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the society says that ancient biblical characters (and their faith) are worthy of imitation right?.

  so let's start a list of examples:.

  - lot.

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  OneEyedJoe

  They were just imperfect men! God knew their heart condition was good, thats why they didn't get punished!

  Abraham - heard a voice telling him to kill his son, and actually took action in order to follow the instructions.

  Elisha - asked god to kill a bunch of kids because they made a joke at his expense
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  83

  if you had the slightest of doubt about leaving leaving the watchtower org. go to to jwsurvey.org NOW!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  and we are suposed to trust these guys with our lives?

  !

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  OneEyedJoe

  JW survey should submit their videos for consideration, then proudly declare that they've won the same award as the JW cult. No better way to demonstrate that they're phoney awards than by "winning" one and documenting the process that it took to get it.
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  31

  A poll of sorts: How long have you been a "fader" for?

  by SecretSlaveClass in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm curious about the following:.

  1) how long have you been a fader for?.

  2) how often do you still get pressure from congregation members and/or family to return as an active witness?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  1) 1-2 years depending on how this counting.

  2) I seem to get the ol' unannounced 2 elder visit every 6 months. Due to the dynamics of my family, I think it's pretty clear that I'd have no problem cutting them off, so they don't push too hard.

  3) I don't know any other faders personally

  4) I actually look forward to the prospect of being DFed. Only reason I haven't DAed is at the pleading of my still-in wife.

  5) kinda hard to tell. I didn't have many cultist friends, but the ones I did have haven't completely cut me off so I guess I'm not being shunned. There might be some in the congregation that would shun me, but I never bump into them so I wouldn't know.

  6) no. As stated earlier, I've only faded as a compromise for my wife.

  7) I haven't done any cult activities for about a year

  8) the cult still controls my wife, and thus has a good amount of power to make my life miserable.
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  7

  Whats it like being an atheist and still going to meetings?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  anyone fall into this category?

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  OneEyedJoe

  I any imagine it's much different than if someone was a believing Christian going to meetings knowing it's a cult. You just want to tell "WAKE UP!" at everyone sitting there listening to lies and terrible reasoning, wasting their lives. It's very frustrating. When I was going to meetings still, I also had some symptoms of PTSD, but I'm sure that's not because I was/am an atheist.
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  27

  I am losing

  by NoMoreHustle in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i haven't posted anything for a bit, but wanted to express how i am losing this battle.

  it has been over 3 years now since i woke up about watchtower.

  the battle that i am talking about is the tug of war with my wife (i adore her immensely), watchtower is winning, she simply will not give in to my so-called negative thoughts about the religion that we are in.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I'm in the same boat. I'm no longer pretending to be in the cult - I'm trying to build a normal life while my wife is acting like a boat anchor fighting to maintain status quo. It's tough and it may not work out.

  Anyway, I've got no advice for you... Nothing's worked for me. But you're not alone.
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  24

  Please, tell me.

  by andrewlya in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi, i am a christian and i would like to know jehovas witness's belief in god and whether you believe jesus is god.

  please, any statements back up with biblical verses,thank you and god bless, in jesus's name.. i am new on here, so please be patient with me :).

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  OneEyedJoe

  What LG said. They believe Jesus is "the firstborn of all creation" and the son of God. By virtue of the fact that he's the son, he cannot be equal to god. Furthermore the JW bible renders John 1:1 as "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." Note they change this verse from what most translations use (the word was god) to "the word was a god" to imply that this is a statement of his status as a spirit being that is more powerful than a human, but not THE god. Whether this is a faithful translation or not I'll leave up to you to determine. But it is known that the JWs have modified their version of the bible to suit their doctrine, so it wouldn't surprise me if this were a case of that.

  Regardless, I wouldn't worry about comparing your religion to this cult. Without knowing your denomination, I can still pretty much guarantee you're better off where you are than in the JW cult. If you're trying to learn about JWs to help someone out of the cult, I would start somewhere other than doctrine.