Posts by OneEyedJoe

20

Two JDubs just knocked on my door !

by Phizzy in

the exclamation mark in the title above is because i was surprised, as i know that i am a "do not call", but this was what i presume were now two elders,(i have not been told their present status), so they reckon they are equipped to handle me, lol.

it was a friendly chat, as i knew the guys for decades.. during the course of our chat i was able to lead them towards jwfacts.com, i did this by a circuitous route which i will not bore you with, but right at the end i said that bro russell had said no matter what the source of truth was, it was still truth.. i am hoping they do not fear going to the site, i also pointed out that paul grundy says if anything is wrong on his site, e-mail him and he will correct it.. i did get a couple of digs in, said the gb were now like rock stars, one guy said "i don't think they would like you calling them that", so i said " o.k, tv evangelists then".

he had no reply to that barb !.

OneEyedJoe

Is there a drive to 'reactivate(tm)' ex JWs? I know the elders are supposed to do this from time to time, but, is the corporation pushing this to get money?

I don't know how normal this is but the letter about the memorial included instructions for the elders to visit every DFed one in their territory (and the letter to be read encouraged normal JWs to invite inactive ones) to push them to attend. There's been several signs like this that they've taken notice of stagnant numbers and are trying lots of things to get them moving up again. I think they're realizing that the public at large doesn't have much interest in joining their cult so they're hoping to find the ones that left but haven't completely cleared out the indoctrination. Considering there's probably as many exJWs out there as active JWs, it probably appears to their delusional eyes as a field ripe for harvest.

9

January 4, 2016 BOE Re: Use of Visual Aids

by wifibandit in

pdf

OneEyedJoe

In short: Control for control's sake.

Why the hell should they care if a visual aid that someone uses in the congregation has some animation to it or not? Makes no sense. Obviously they'd probably want to warn congregations not to, idk, screen a movie at the KH since that might violate the terms of use, but the way this is worded it rules out a powerpoint slide with transition animations (which can often be very useful in helping people to pay attention to the right part of the slide as the speaker is talking).

Just more stupid overly controlling cult nonsense.

49

Steven Lett asks for money again

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

the 2016 january tv.jw.org broadcasting has a clear message: jw.org needs more money!.

the 2 months of donation increase is not enough: the thousands of projects are not a 2 month project.. so: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you (heh heh heh) and send us more!

personal conclusion: if i had any doubts that the society is sincere, this openly money grabbing has made my perception complete.

OneEyedJoe

I'm not going to watch it...but for those that did - did Lett remove his rolex or rings for this one like he did the last time? I think I remember that he removed his rolex last time, but if the image above is from this month's begging session it looks like he may have not only removed the rolex but the infamous pinky ring as well.

21

We are not a cult!

by Londo111 in

i thought the writer here did a good job comparing the faqs of several high control groups.

hopefully this will be useful to someone out there.. http://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/we-are-not-a-cult/.

OneEyedJoe

Good find, thanks. I think I posted a comparison of the scientology, lds and jw "we're not a cult" ones a while ago, but this was far more thorough. I think the very existence of the "Are you a cult?" question in the FAQ should be sufficient to judge the group to be a cult. It's very unlikely to be a frequently asked question if the group isn't a cult. You don't see catholics or lutherans or whatever spending a lot of time trying to defend against accusations of being a cult, and if they do they're defenses of christianity as a whole, not their own particular brand of it. Cults meanwhile have well exercised defenses and only defend themselves.

78

January jw-tv broadcast with Lett

by bohm in

jw
friends

lett is back with a vengance!.

* the last money-begging effort increased donations by 15% for two months; a letter by a 13 year old who donated is read out loud.

* since last may "so many good things have happened".

OneEyedJoe

How do they actually spend money "in the field?" Aside from special pioneers (which are being let go, so that can't be it) what money are they spending to further preaching? Maybe you could include money spent supporting COs, but really most of the COs expenses are taken care of by a special resolution at the individual congregations, so they shouldn't be expected to donate more to the WWW for that. They're cutting back on literature, so that's not how they're spending more in the field either. Where's the money going?

Something tells me that they got feedback from the May broadcast that "we aren't giving more money if you're just going to keep spending wastefully" and they're trying to walk the line by showing some fiscal responsibility without making it clear that they've really botched things up to this point (and that they clearly do not have god's blessing). Something tells me, though, that their "we need more money so we can spend it in the field" nonsense isn't going to get them much unless they're going to be more specific. Especially since starting at the beginning of this month they stopped paying the special pioneers that got the boot.

Edit: Looks like John Free and I had a similar though...

20

Really beautiful Watchtower article about truth

by Anders Andersen in

this is the singlemost best watchtower article i have ever read.. it almost brought tears to my eyes (please note the almost ;-)).

"what is truth?

"this question is one which every sincere christian should ask and seek to answer.

OneEyedJoe

JWs do accept truth wherever they find it. It's just that for them "truth" means whatever the WTS says. So if an apostate/infidel were to preach to them the doctrine of the watchtower, they'd recognize it as truth and embrace it.

20

Is Religion dying out? An exaggerated view from the WTBTS

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

awake!

november 2015. is religion dying out?

millions of people with differing viewpoints have chosen to take an identical action.. .

OneEyedJoe

Atheists being at the bottom of that chart seems surprising to me....everything I've seen indicates that atheists (or at least the "not affiliated") are the fastest growing religious group in the US. It doesn't make sense that their retention could be so low...

23

Is the term "worldly" outdated?

by A.proclaimer in

jw
friends

yesterday i had to listen to the co from a spanish congregation on the phone.

he said the fds has been gradually moving away from the word "worldly" and teaching jws not to use the term anymore.

has anyone heard this in their congregation or heard the term "non-believers" used before?

OneEyedJoe

I wouldn't say it's outdated exactly. It is no longer officially used and there's been some token admonition to stop using the term, instead favoring nonbeliever or non-JW. However, I only think I heard it officially advised against once which seems entirely insufficient given the decades of use the term got.

Because I've seen no decline in the frequency with which the term worldly is used, I would be more inclined to categorize this as a new insider doctrine. It's yet another in a long line of things that are hidden from potential recruits and the world at large in order to protect their image, but once in long enough it will be learned.

6

A 2016 new years resolution for the world

by bobld in

jw
friends

all gov't of the world permanently delete remove from their constitution "freedom of religion.

" why remove from the constitution because we will have world peace.i have move to say about freedoms of.......... who will nominate me for the nobel peace price?.

just two ex freedom of religion.ultra-orthodax jew refuses to sit next to woman on airplane.female saudi student died after male medics were prevented from entering the women only campus the list goes on and on.what no human right u.n.. how about this hundred years ago catholics weren't allowed to read the bible(some say they were illiterate)but the pope or holy see they must go to church or they would burn in hell for ever an ever.was this religious freedom or mind control by the holy shit.this mind control still goes on to this day..

OneEyedJoe

If you're OK with people having freedom of religion then what's the problem with it being in the constitution?

57

Reasons for Stagnation in Growth. AKA YearBook Numbers!

by ttdtt in

so why has the growth flatlined?

why is less time spent in the ministry?

why have aux pios droped by 1/3rd?.

OneEyedJoe

I don't think you can really compare the mormon numbers to the JWs. From my understanding, the mormons use some neat tricks to pad their numbers. If the JWs counted people like the mormons do they'd probably be in the 15 million range as well. Mormons count anyone who's ever been on the roster unless specifically removed (in JW terms DF/DA) and this can sometimes include people who have moved away and died. You'd have to count everyone who's faded to really have a comparison.