That’s why I think the congregation numbers are so important. They can be checked and so are less likely to be fabricated in the official figures. If the number of congregations starts going down while the other numbers keep going up then it raises questions. We have already seen the number of congregations stagnate or fall in Japan, Germany, even the United States, and elsewhere.
slimboyfat
JoinedPosts by slimboyfat
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42
2018-Annual Service Report!
by Atlantis inif this has already been posted just disregard.. 2018 annual service report one in english and one in spanish.
other news included.
zipped folder.
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42
2018-Annual Service Report!
by Atlantis inif this has already been posted just disregard.. 2018 annual service report one in english and one in spanish.
other news included.
zipped folder.
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slimboyfat
A 1.4% increase, again, this year? I find this very hard to believe to be honest. We really need to scrutinise where this increase is coming from, when/if the full figures are released. It can’t all be coming from Angola and the Congo. And does it offset the decreases in Japan, Germany and elsewhere?
After all the cutbacks, closures, aging membership, scandals, payouts, bans, media exposure, JWs are still growing 1.4%? I don’t know whether to be surprised or skeptical, to be honest. I really expected growth to be zero or negative.
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2018-Annual Service Report!
by Atlantis inif this has already been posted just disregard.. 2018 annual service report one in english and one in spanish.
other news included.
zipped folder.
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slimboyfat
The figure I’m most interested in is number of congregations.
Number if baptisms is down in absolute numbers and down even more as a percentage of publishers. It must be the lowest baptisms/publisher ratio ever recorded. A very poor sign for future growth.
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Do elders still ask inactive members to write a letter to disassociating yourself from the Congregation?
by RULES & REGULATIONS indo today's elders ever meet with inactive members and pressure them to write a letter disassociating themselves from the congregation stating that, ''you no longer wish to a jehovah witness"?.
i was baptized at the young age of 16. after turning 18, i stopped attending meetings, field service, and all jehovah's witness activities.
i wanted to be with my high school friends, go to rock concerts, have a girlfriend, and live like a normal teen.
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slimboyfat
It’s interesting how to read the evidence from the elders manual. It states, “at no time should the elders ask the accused if he wishes to disassociate himself”. On the one hand this is a simple statement what elders should not do. On the other hand it does raise some questions. First of all, the instruction does seem to imply that elders have been known to suggest disassociation in this situation, as an easy way out for everyone concerned, hence the “clarification” that this should not be done.
Plus the paragraph does seem to have a particular situation in mind, where someone is being investigated, and to avoid embarrasssment (discussing sex usually) or process individuals may seek an easy way out for themselves and disassociate to halt the proceeedings. The paragraph acknowledges this as a loophole in the investigation process but instructs elders not to inform the publisher of the loophole in order to abbreviate the process.
What the paragraph doesn’t seem to have in mind is the kind of situation we are discussing here, where elders may suspect a publisher of apostasy or other “wrongdoing” which they cannot prove. It’s entirely plausible, in those particular circumstances, that elders will pressure the individual to “out” themselves, disassociate, and clean them off the books. Many on the forum have experienced exactly that.
In other words disassociation is not to be recommended to publishers when it makes the life of the publisher easier. (To avoid an embarrassing judicial committee) But it seems that elders would and do recommend disassociation when it makes their own life easier. (To “clean out” apostates or gay people or the like)
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Help needed finding an old WT article
by careful ini no longer trust the search engine at the official jw website since they have quietly modified, purged, and expunged—or simply made no longer available—so many old works/pubs., so i'm asking for help finding an old article that likely predates the late 1970s (?).
i think it was an article rather than in a book, but i can't be sure.
the article's focus was on what it means for the anointed to be declared righteous.. it's important, i suspect, for grasping the view that whatever the gb decide is completely god-directed, so that, in effect, even though the org might officially deny it, the gb are viewed as infallible in practical terms.
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slimboyfat
Watchtower September 15th 1971, “How can you be ‘Perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect?’” page 566?
”Despite their [ancient worthies] errors and weakness, the sum total of what they did added up to what God required of them at that time and under the existing circumstances. Jehovah God was pleased with their worship. So, then, if he did not find fault with their sincere effort and overall course, who could rightfully do so? Compare what the apostle Paul says about anointed Christins at Rom 8:31-34.”
https://faithleaks.org/wiki/documents/b/b9/W_E_19710915.pdf
I don’t know about the online search. I used the old 1930-1985 index.
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What changes would stabilize JW membership?
by StarryNight9 ini've seen many topics about how things are changing or might be changing in jw doctrine/culture.
some have extrapolated how those changes would result in declining jw membership.
i'm curious to know what changes others think would stabilize those numbers.
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slimboyfat
Do more till 2034!
1914 + 120 = 2034
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No Watchtower shipment
by LevelThePlayingField init was announced at our clam that there "was no shipment of the october study editions of the watchtower" and that they were asking if people could just use electronic or make their own copies.. is this just happening in ohio, or did you hear the same thing?.
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slimboyfat
The writing is on the wall.
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Our Christian Life And Ministry Answers
by bola inplease i need the answers to the our christian life and ministry from the month of october, 2018 to december, 2018..
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slimboyfat
On this website we prefer questions we can’t answer over answers we can’t question.
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WATCHTOWER Is Trying To Put Cameras In All of Their Kingdom Halls
by minimus inone of my best friends is in the security business.
he told me the other day of how the watch tower has been in contact with his good friend and business associate.
evidently they are inquiring about putting cameras into every kh so that they can do 24 hour monitoring.
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slimboyfat
If they put them in the TV screens then the adoption of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four will near completion.
The ubiquitous telescreens in Orwell’s dystopia served not only as propaganda outlets but as information gathering devices.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescreen
Make a wrong facial expression during a GB broadcast (facecrime)? Zap!
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Watchtower Corp of New York worth over$ 2 billion
by Diogenesister inin the montana sex abuse court case for the first time watchtower has been required by the courts to give a financial statement to the court to assess awards of punitive damages for negligence and (for the first time)malice in non compliance of mandatory reporting laws.. watchtower corp of new york has finances in excess of $2 billion while cc of jw is worth $49 million.
this doesn't include the pensylvania corp or what overseas branches may have.. pretty healthy bank balance by any standards..
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slimboyfat
Corney those figures you present are very interesting. Can I ask are they publicly available? I would interested in both sets of figures for all the years from 2009, or earlier, if availabe.
They look credible to me and I think we can draw some conclusions.
There seemed to be a significant drop in the assets of the Pennsylvania corporation in 2015. It was the same year that Lett issued the call for more donations.
Then the combined assets of both corporations increased from 2014 to 2017 by $315 million, or 19%.
This was the period during which Lett begged for more donations, congregations were instructed to send excess funds to HQs, and KHs began to be sold and the funds sent to the society.
In other words confiscating local KH funds resulted in a $300 million boost in Watchtower assets. That would mean Watchtower gained around $20,000 from each congregation on average. That is a trick you can only pull once, as is selling KHs and assembly halls, because when the local bank balances and KHs are gone they are gone.