Posts by Athanasius

69

Don't count on witnessing Watchtower's demise anytime soon.

by Roger Kirkpatrick in

jw
friends

the fact that there are pomi ex-jws who have been disfellowshiped or inactive for years who still live in constant fear of armageddon indicates that watchtower will manage to exist in one way or another for years, if not decades, to come.

watchtower, like all other religious cults, operate on the premise that "you can fool some of the people all of the time...and that's enough!

".

Athanasius

Though I left the JWs 35 years ago, I doubt that things in the local congregations have improved much since then. But when I was Service Overseer, I noted that in our congregation of 95 publishers, only 10% were turning in 10 or more hours per month. 20% were reporting 5 to 9 hours each month. 70% were reporting 1 to 4 hours.

The hardcore 10% were actually reporting 60% of the congregations hours. Of the 12 teens in the congregation, 10 were just putting in an hour or two until they were able to leave home and leave the religion. So if this is typical of JW congregations today, I'd say that of the 8 million JWs reported by the Watchtower, less than one million are hardcore. Five million are just coasting, and of that 5 mil, over 800,000 are just putting in time until they can leave home and leave the JWs.

Again my observations are based on my experiences serving as an elder in the 1980s. Perhaps things are different in the Borg these days.

6

Ravenna Kingdom Hall

by Lynnie in

another kingdom hall sold off in seattle.

this kingdom hall has been around forever but it's in a very desirable location in seattle by green lake so i'm sure there will be lots of $$.

lots of merging of halls here in the puget sound area..

Athanasius

Hopefully the Watchtower will use the money from the KH sale to get better actors for their videos.

12

New convention video

by Olig in

so i've just seen a snippet of a new convention release, and it's obviously a reenactment (bloody poor one - look at the state of the disposable beards lol!

) of bible times.. the chap speaking is heard saying if your family members turn away and serve false gods, you should kill them!.

https://twitter.com/jfnilsen/status/1133000862719270912?s=09.

Athanasius

Something tells me that the production of these videos cost the Watchtower a few bucks. Stage setup, props, soundtrack, etc. doesn't come cheap. Perhaps this is part of the reason why more money is going out of Watchtower coffers than is coming in.

20

Are there any JW songs that you HATE?

by neat blue dog in

you're probably thinking 'all of them', and it's true that the songbook is riddled with wrong stuff .

but are there any songs in particular that irk your moral sensibilities?.

for me it would be song #26, "you did it for me".

Athanasius

Some of the old JW song books contained Christian hymns in which the lyrics had been changed to fit Watchtower theology. I think that they admitted this when they introduced the "baby sh_t brown" song book in the 1980s, as it supposedly contained only JW lyrics and music.

But like others have mentioned, the new songs were lifeless and hard to sing.

34

Do You See JWs Going From House to House Anymore?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i used to see them in my neighborhood or while driving.

there is a hispanic congregation nearby.

i used to see witnesses out all the time, some even doing the slow pioneer shuffle.

Athanasius

I retired ten years ago, so my wife and I are usually home during the week and weekends. JWs stopped by only two times during this time. Once they left a brochure, as we weren't home. The second time a thirty something JW, possibly a Mini-Serve, asked if we had any deaf persons in our household. Since both my wife and I have excellent hearing, I told him no. I guess he wasn't interested in talking with people who can hear well, as he thanked me for my time and quickly departed.

Other than that, I haven't seen the JWs working our neighborhood, even though there are two congregations within five miles.

82

Do You Think The Obama Administration Should Be Investigated For How They Treated The Trump Accusations?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i hope that the trump administration looks into obama , clinton and all the other players for trying to usurp the legitimacy of the trump presidency..

Athanasius

Perhaps the leftists and rightists who want to debate politics can visit political forums and leave this site free to discuss the problems facing the JW and ex-JW communities.

11

Watchtower can be greatfull they gave Michael Jackson the flick when they did

by joe134cd in

i was just thinking how greatful wt can be that they dfed him when they did.

could you imagine the hammering they would be taking now from the ex-jw community, in light of the recent documentary.

i’m by no means sticking up for them i’m just saying, that’s all..

Athanasius

I think that Jackson disassociated himself from the JWs and avoided being DFd. But I could be mistaken.

31

Jehovah's Witnesses Called At My Door

by Roger Kirkpatrick in

last saturday morning, i answered a knock at my door to see a man standing next to a young boy who handed me a pamphlet posing the question, "how do you view the bible?

would you say it is (1) a book of human wisdom?

(2) a book of myths and legends?

Athanasius

I don't recall if the OP invited the JW dad and son inside and sat them down in his living room for the discussion. If so, the story is believable.

As a JW I remember back in the 1960s canvasing a neighborhood on a cold Saturday morning and being invited inside for a Bible discussion by a religious person. It was so nice to get in out of the cold that we didn't mind losing a religious debate with a friendly person. Plus we got to count easy time for an hour or so and avoid having to knock on other doors and irritate householders in cold weather.

21

Why NO bibles??

by stuckinarut2 in

i know we have all said it before, but it simply blows my mind that the jws doing cart work do not have bibles on the cart to give out to interested ones!.

how can they say they are "bible students" trying to share the "bibles message" and not give out bibles!?.

other christian groups take the commission to share the bible seriously!

Athanasius

Perhaps the JWs in Northern California are different, but when I asked the trolley JWs if they had the Book Of Mormon, they said no. But they did have the Bible. And so they gave me a copy of the new Revised NWT with the gray cover. A few months later I approached another JW literature trolley and they gave me another Revised NWT. They didn't ask for a donation so I got both Bibles for free.

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

Athanasius

After leaving the JWs, I attended Unitarian Church services for a while. Then a classmate invited me to Anglican Church services, which I found more to my liking. Later I was baptized and confirmed in the Anglican Church.

While I remained a Christian after leaving the JWs, others have followed a different path. This may lead one to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, or Secularism. Whether one chooses religion or non-religion, that is their choice and it's not my place to criticize their decision.