Posts by the comet

447

Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

by LaurenM in

do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

Another ruse?

by Pistoff in

could the stopping of construction be just another ruse to squeeze money from the rank and file?.

it will certainly generate buzz like nothing else..

It doesn't feel like a ruse for more money, but I wouldn't put it past them to do something like that. They go full tv evangelist style, saying god told them to stop construction, cause he needs more money!!

It just reminded me actually, didn't they say a few yeas ago, I think it was guy pierce, they weren't sure it they had "Jehovah's direction/spirit" or something like that when going ahead and starting with Warwick?

33

A simple explanation for the financial changes

by JeffT in

jw
friends

as i've mentioned from time to time, i'm a retired accountant.

i have tried many times to come up with some logical, sound business reason why the wtbs has made the big changes in its financial arrangements: taking the congregations savings, the monthly donations per congregation etc.

i finally came up with the answer.. the leadership of the watchtower society is batshit crazy.

the comet

You're probably right. I like to think of them as a business, sometimes it helps to understand why they do what they do. At the end of the day though, they are an end times cult who believe god is directing their organization. Or in simpler terms...they are straight up bat-shit crazy.

119

Latest rumor - all WT construction "suspended", except for Warwick

by sir82 in

jw
friends

heard 4th-hand, but from a full-on believer, so not likely to be an "apostate lie":.

apparently, at bethel's morning worship this morning, it was announced that all worldwide wts construction is "suspended" for an indefinite time, except for the new world headquarters at warwick.. also, the "relocation" of remote translating teams is also suspended.. finally, there will be a "worldwide" reduction in bethel personnel.. all this came to me in a non-english language, and,as noted, 4th-hand.

so it is possible something may have been lost in translation and/or in the multiple steps between bethel morning worship & me.. but if true, it would be quite stunning.

the comet

Sir82- my guess would be Warwick has gone way over budget..the free labor they bring in isn't getting the job done, they're having to pay for outside help. Possibly the ARC has them spooked.

119

Latest rumor - all WT construction "suspended", except for Warwick

by sir82 in

jw
friends

heard 4th-hand, but from a full-on believer, so not likely to be an "apostate lie":.

apparently, at bethel's morning worship this morning, it was announced that all worldwide wts construction is "suspended" for an indefinite time, except for the new world headquarters at warwick.. also, the "relocation" of remote translating teams is also suspended.. finally, there will be a "worldwide" reduction in bethel personnel.. all this came to me in a non-english language, and,as noted, 4th-hand.

so it is possible something may have been lost in translation and/or in the multiple steps between bethel morning worship & me.. but if true, it would be quite stunning.

the comet

If you roll back the timeline this past year it's pretty clear what happened.

The bean counters at corporate HQ saw they were facing a financial issue, solution..raid the cong bank accounts and have every cong send a set amount every month. This gives you a cash injection and now you have a pretty good idea what your monthly income will be. Spin this as a streamlined arrangement and a "forgiving" of loans.

The problem wasn't fixed by doing that though. The bean counters saw what they collected and found out, nope, still not enough! Solution-the may broadcast. Lett begs for more money. That was their last ditch Hail Mary chance to salvage all their construction projects. It didn't work.

the final, and only choice left was what was leaked today..layoffs and suspending all but the Warwick project. i think they're in major financial trouble, long-term.

8

THE BART EHRMAN debate is available now

by Terry in

go to the live streaming site and sign up or sign in:.

http://livestream.com/accounts/12497542/events/4350731.

skip to 9:02 and the debate begins.. _______________.

the comet

Thanks for posting this...looking forward to watching it.

62

What is the most strange action of a witness while out in field service?

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

i was paired with this older "brother" when i was a teenager.

he was very very strange.

he was a nice guy but goofy.

the comet

I remember being out in rural territory all day with an elder, his wife and a pioneer sister a few years older than me, I was about 15. Well at the end of the hot summer day the elder announces, "geez a cold beer sure sounds good about now!" We were working a town about an hour away from home so he stops by a gas station picks up a 12 pack of beer, gets behind the wheel, cracks one open and hands them over to his wife to pass out to us! Best drive home from service ever! By the time we got home we had polished off the 12 pack. Nothing like that ever happened again and none of us talked to anyone about it. If service could be like that maybe I'd consider going out again...

44

I'm not so sure a bigger awakening is going to happen anymore

by bradford in

jw
friends

when i left in march officially i started reading the forums here.

i had this excitement that more people would be leaving soon because of the crazy broadcasts, the crazy "new light" that the gb was dishing out, and more recently the australian royal commission lighting up geoffrey.

this past saturday i had an elder stop by to chat for the first time since i left.

the comet

I don't see a mass awakening in the cards. Like a few other posters said..apathy is what will get them. The organization has ways to combat this, not as many brothers reaching out? More videos and talks beamed in from HQ for meeting parts. Lower the requirements for "special" service, drop the pioneer hours. Child baptism, make them captive before they know what's going on. In the end though they can't win..it's just going to be a long slow decline for them. I don't have a ton of hope that people my age (mid 30's) and older will wake up, my hope is for the children today. Most of the people having kids today take the religion about half as serious as their parents, hopefully their kids continue that trend.

4

Free DEBATE in Dallas between Bart Ehrman and Dr. Justin Bass Friday 9-18

by Terry in

https://www.facebook.com/events/1666142046937367/.

from ehrman's blog:.

for anyone in the dallas area: on friday (two days!

the comet

Any chance this is filmed and put on YouTube?

110

Just had a former elder friend tell me, “This Overlapping generation is crap.

by John Aquila in

last night i ran into a former elder friend, he is in his late 70s.

he asked how i was doing and i asked how he was doing.

then out of the blue he tells me; .

the comet

Problemaddict- 100% agree

sometimes when I read stuff on this forum I think, geez these people must be around some hard-core jw's! Nobody around here gives a second thought to doctrine. This month alone I've asked 9 witnesses if they've seen the September broadcast. They range in age from 17-33. 7 said they had and 2 said they were going to soon on their family worship night. The 7 that watched it..when I asked what they thought about the generation bit with splane, none of them had a clue what I was talking about!! They had watched it but it flew right over their head..they weren't paying attention to it..I can't say this enough..doctrine doesn't matter to people under 30!! They don't know and don't care.