Posts by Mephis

31

Make your predictions!

by Coded Logic in

the more specific the better :) here are mine:.

i predict that within the next two to three years (2017-2018) we will start seeing negative numbers in growth.. i predict that within the next thirteen to fifteen years (2027-2030) the number of jws will be less than 4million.. and i predict that by the time the first person sets foot on mars there will already have been a major split in the organization with either one of the gb or a branch overseer starting a new religion..

Mephis

Within 20 years, the religion will be limited to small family groups and a large number of elderly single women.

The bulk of every meeting will be watching videos made centrally, with the couple of men still remaining giving a local slant.

JWs will be told to watch only the official channel. Read only the official publications. Nothing else, they'll be told, is needed. They'll be increasingly insular and isolated from broader society. Identifiable by the time warped fashion sense. A minor culty group to join a thousand other minor culty groups fading into irrelevancy to all but the lingering remnants of faithful believers.

The end will still be 'close'. It may even have begun arriving with the impact of climate change and 'Babylon the Great' falling to secular society. Yet more invisible fulfillment of prophesy only they can see. They'll draw parallels to the days of Noah more and more. They'll be told that having children is how paradise will be filled and implored to make more babies for Jehovah. They'll relax things on divorcing 'unbelievers' in line with that.

One charismatic individual will dominate things internally at Brooklyn once more. He'll decide that, yet again, the Faithful Slave is an individual. Him. Doctrine will shift according to which side of the bed he woke up on. They'll dive back into apocalyptic language and fear mongering, and it won't help them win anything but scorn.

12

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st August 2013 for Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain

by OrphanCrow in

downloadable as a pdf here.. i did a search and couldn't find this posted on the forum.

if it has been and this is a repeat post....i apologize.. there is lots of information in that pdf that may be of interest to our members who like numbers and money and misc info pertaining to wts organizational structure, etc..

Mephis

cognac19 minutes ago

Please keep in mind these are the financial statements of Britain. This won't give us a full picture...

Oh definitely. But it does provide some perspective and also even some insight into Jdubs in microcosm. So we know that just from cash reserves held in Britain, the borg could cover almost entirely the maximum level of restitution likely to be demanded in Australia for the abuse there. It perhaps can also give some idea of per publisher donations per year, as well as possible cash reserves built up over the past century or so. The other thing to note is that in spite of the problems, Bethel here is still sitting on a large pile of cash - and that's on top of a £16m cash grant to unspecified places in Europe in just one year. Things may change, of course, but surely they'd be pulling that money to the US if they really needed it? As of August this year though, not so.

63

Raining before the Flood?

by GrownMidget in

i remember at my teen years when i was studying with a brother that he said to me that there was no rain before the flood.

instead there was this mist that you have.

never before or after this have i heard something like this.

Mephis

Thanks for posting that John Aquila. It all makes much more sense when seen through the prism of how an ancient people tried to explain things. But once you get into trying to marry it up with science, it all goes a bit wonky. And that's really the fundamental problem of treating the bible as a history book, as a science textbook, and, dare I say it, even a guide to morality (slavery? just saying.).

12

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st August 2013 for Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain

by OrphanCrow in

downloadable as a pdf here.. i did a search and couldn't find this posted on the forum.

if it has been and this is a repeat post....i apologize.. there is lots of information in that pdf that may be of interest to our members who like numbers and money and misc info pertaining to wts organizational structure, etc..

Mephis

One of the things which jumps out at me every time I look at the accounts they have to file in Britain (whether local or national), is the amount of cash they have on hand and available. So they're broke? But they have £50m held at Bethel in London. Cash. The local circuit assembly hall to me has £300k in cash in its own bank account. The problem is how they're spending it, not on the amount they're getting, I'd suggest. Unless something huge has happened in the US differing to Britain, and I know there's some reliable people saying donations have absolutely tanked there, it just looks like stagnant donation levels (or even falling ones) colliding with grandiose expansion plans. The £9m write off of debts from congos in Britain is a decent wedge of money, but they've also pulled £12m out of the accounts they've held in trust, so they're in profit...

12

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st August 2013 for Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain

by OrphanCrow in

downloadable as a pdf here.. i did a search and couldn't find this posted on the forum.

if it has been and this is a repeat post....i apologize.. there is lots of information in that pdf that may be of interest to our members who like numbers and money and misc info pertaining to wts organizational structure, etc..

Mephis

Their income from donations dropped from £22m to £17m over the course of a year.

There's actually more recent accounts (for 2014): http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends61/0001077961_AC_20140831_E_C.pdf

Those one shows a massive increase in donations of cash and goods taking them to £35m (double the previous year). A huge chunk of that may be the drop in money held by the branch on behalf of local congos from £39m to £27m.

63

Raining before the Flood?

by GrownMidget in

i remember at my teen years when i was studying with a brother that he said to me that there was no rain before the flood.

instead there was this mist that you have.

never before or after this have i heard something like this.

Mephis

Imagine what the atmospheric pressure would be like with all that water in the atmosphere. Actually don't imagine, find some footage of what's needed to work in that kind of pressure when humans explore places like the Marianas Trench. I guess Noah may have been thickskinned... very thickskinned... and titanium boned or whatever... Genesis and science don't play well together, who knew?

And that was cruel posting the song St.George. Going to have to bleach my mind now as the tune to it popped out when I started to read the words. Urgh.

12

new letter about cuts london

by rege brazzy in

jw
friends

.

2015-10-29_boe-making_the_best_use_of_dedicated_funds.pdf source jwleaks.

.

Mephis

Dear Brothers:

As you know, a number of adjustments are being made in order to make the best use of dedicated funds. At this time, we would like to make you aware of some of these adjustments.

The Governing Body has directed that a number of branch and Assembly Hall construction projects be delayed, reduced in scope, or in some cases, cancelled. In the case of our branch relocation project in Chelmsford, this will still go ahead although it will be reduced in scope. However, Kingdom Halls will continue to be built or renovated in proportion to whatever the brothers are able to contribute for this purpose. In addition, all branches have been asked to reduce the size of their Bethel family.

Support for special pioneers and temporary special pioneers will continue in developing lands. However, in more affluent countries, where a large number of regular pioneers are zealously engaged in the preaching work, the number of temporary special pioneers will be reduced significantly. There will also be some reduction in the number of special pioneers. We feel sure that many regular pioneers will be willing to move to the areas where temporary special pioneers were formerly assigned so that the Kingdom work will continue unabated. And no doubt some who were previously serving as temporary special pioneers will be willing to continue in their assignments as regular pioneers. It is a source of great encouragement to see that, during September, there were 13,148 regular pioneers in Britain, which is a new all-time peak. In Ireland there were 791 regular pioneers.

Please be assured that these adjustments are not being made because of a lack of financial support on your part. Far from it! You have been very generous in your support of the Kingdom work. And in your letters and cards you show a high level of spirituality and great appreciation for all that Jehovah is doing on behalf of his organization. The response to jw.org, public witnessing, JW Broadcasting, and the expanded use of videos at the conventions this year has been simply overwhelming!

However, it must be acknowledged that the Kingdom work is expanding at an accelerated pace and the Governing Body can only do so much with the funds at their disposal. Every family head realizes that where the household income is limited, he must carefully budget available funds so that his wife and children will have the necessities of life. At Philippians 1:10 we are told to “make sure of the more important things.” In harmony with this wise advice, the Governing Body desires to give priority to those activities that contribute the most to the spiritual welfare of God’s people and the advancement of the global preaching work.

Consider, for example, the announcement at the Annual Meeting that beginning in January our public magazines will be published bimonthly. There is no question that an abundance of spiritual food has been produced—so much, in fact, that many have found it difficult to keep up. This adjustment will not only allow available funds to be used effectively; it will help us to keep up with our spiritual provisions.

Re: Making the Best Use of Dedicated Funds

October 29, 2015 Page 2

We will be reducing personnel at Bethel. Some Bethel family members will be invited to serve in the field. In addition to their regular work, Bethel family members will be caring for many of the services that were previously provided by fellow Bethelites. The response of the Bethel family to these adjustments has been heartwarming! Please make all of these adjustments a matter of prayer.

Much of this information was presented in an announcement at the Annual Meeting. We encourage all to view this programme at the earliest opportunity. It is available on JW Broadcasting at tv.jw.org.

May Jehovah continue to bless each one of you for the love you show for his name.

Your brothers,

Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

PS to coordinator of the body of elders: Please arrange for this letter to be read at the first Service Meeting following receipt

12

Judge questions whether confession privilege should extend to Jehovah's Witnesses

by GodZoo in

a us judge is considering whether it is constitutional to have a law that protects the clergy of just one religious denomination from disclosing what is said to them in confession.

(including what's said in judicial confessions by peodophiles.

)http://www.christiantoday.com/article/judge.questions.whether.confession.privilege.should.extend.to.jehovahs.witnesses/70169.htm

Mephis

Not sure what point you're trying to make to me OC. But, no, I don't believe Applewhite's testimony was influenced by internet concerns over the Catholic confessional, if that's what you're suggesting.

12

Judge questions whether confession privilege should extend to Jehovah's Witnesses

by GodZoo in

a us judge is considering whether it is constitutional to have a law that protects the clergy of just one religious denomination from disclosing what is said to them in confession.

(including what's said in judicial confessions by peodophiles.

)http://www.christiantoday.com/article/judge.questions.whether.confession.privilege.should.extend.to.jehovahs.witnesses/70169.htm

Mephis

There's a distinction there I think OC. Catholic confession is to the priest and stays with the priest. A JW judicial committee, as others have already pointed out, involves three elders plus more elders plus any other elders in other congos who are told, plus the CO, plus the branch. And then whoever in future years then gets access to the files. It's less a confession and more an announcement to an audience of unspecified number. But that number doesn't include the authorities who can protect a child and serve justice on an abuser.

Applewhite's reasons were her own, but I'd suspect that it was easy money for not a lot of work. She was carrying out a literature review and then testifying on it.

It shouldn't really impact upon Catholics, although there's some interesting discussions within other churches with sacramental confessions on when a priest will refuse to keep it to him (or her) self. The formulation often used is 'some things you tell me may not be things I can keep to myself'.

26

Our assembly expenses were $16,900 for ONE DAY - Please share yours

by nmthinker in

~2300 in attendance.

one day cost of $16,900!.

this was at romeoville, which was built ground up in the 90's and was fully paid for by the illinois circuits!.

Mephis

The cost charged to accounts for Manchester Assembly Hall (Northenden, a listed building and former art deco cinema) for an entire year were £99,629. This excludes a cost of £48,381 for 'refurbishing' the building. Income for the year? £190,141.

If anyone was sat there last year (2014) and told there was a deficit, well, you can do the addition and subtraction.There's a reason the circuit has £289,000 sat in its bank account...