Posts by slimboyfat

89

Babies Who Are Not Dead From An Abortion

by minimus in

jw
friends

a woman gets an abortion.

the baby is supposed to die because of the abortion but doesn’t.

should that living baby be put to death or should the baby be given medical help to survive?.

slimboyfat

On second thoughts I think I’ll hold my counsel on this!

108

New Upcoming Changes - No More Publisher Record Cards & Reporting Hours

by thedepressedsoul in

publisher record cards and reporting hours will be going away.

.

coming soon.. made this post 4 years ago, it happened - https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/24020002/kingdom-consolidation-sales-coming-reliable-source.

slimboyfat

The effect of dropping the charge for the literature is very obvious from what followed in the organisation. I find it slightly odd the point even needs to be argued.

The fact that income from literature dropped considerably when the charges stopped is shown by the progressive downscaling from hardbacks to paperbacks, to fewer pages and less often, to discontinuing yearbooks, calendars and practically everything else.

The organisation scaled down its literature because the “donation arrangement” ruined their previously profitable enterprise. They didn’t scale down because contributions form the literaute was increasing under the new regime. That’s nonsensical. If contributions for the literature increased, then the incentive would have been to produce more literature, not less!

The fact that we have an internal letter that mentions this decrease in income in the early 1990s merely confirms what is already obvious by their actions: that dropping the literature charge was a financial disaster for Watchtower.

Incidentally, and almost redundant given all the other evidence, it’s also worth mentioning that in previous discussions of this topic, a number of contributors to the forum who were elders during the period have confirmed that donations following 1990 were far lower than the previous income through charges for the literature.

108

New Upcoming Changes - No More Publisher Record Cards & Reporting Hours

by thedepressedsoul in

publisher record cards and reporting hours will be going away.

.

coming soon.. made this post 4 years ago, it happened - https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/24020002/kingdom-consolidation-sales-coming-reliable-source.

slimboyfat

redvip there was an internal letter within a year of dropping charges in 1990 that stated income from literature was down. Every downscale in literature since then indicates the trend continued.

Don't forget that the bulk of Watchtower profit came from selling special and luxury items to JWs: insight books, deluxe Bibles, tapes, videos, yearbooks, Kingdom Interlinear, concordance, calendars, daily text, bound volumes, Bible stories book, individual magazine subscriptions...

I think we tend to forget just how huge Watchtower publishing used to be, and just how many items they sold to JWs, before you even begin to factor sales to the public.

The profit on each item may not have been massive, but they certainly weren’t selling at a loss, and with a captive market of millions it's easy to see how Watchtower we’re rolling in the money until the 1990s when the cutbacks began.

Any income prompted by donations for the dwindling literature today is negligible by comparison.

108

New Upcoming Changes - No More Publisher Record Cards & Reporting Hours

by thedepressedsoul in

publisher record cards and reporting hours will be going away.

.

coming soon.. made this post 4 years ago, it happened - https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/24020002/kingdom-consolidation-sales-coming-reliable-source.

slimboyfat

Don’t doubt the ability of the GB to make decisions that are against their interests.

The decision to stop charging for literature in 1990 was a monumental unforced error and a gross overreaction to having to pay taxes.

They could have chosen to pay the tax and keep charging for the literature and they would be in a far better position today.

So it’s entirely possible they will stop recording time for fairly trivial reasons (overreacting to data concerns, or worries about publishing declines) and it have dramatic unintended consequences for the organisation.

62

OK, We Need To Talk About The Crazy New Great Tribulation Video...

by pale.emperor in

if you haven't seen it already, skip to 1:14:30 in lloyds video and watch the craziness unfold.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2y7f7-k5wo.

i'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.. they're digging themselves a great hole here, in about 30 years time they'll be claiming this video was a mere "speculation" and that "some people" got the wrong ideas..

slimboyfat

It seems easier to stretch a “short period of time” to Satan (a spirit creature - who knows how he experiences time?) than it is to stretch a human generation.

For example they could possibly still be arguing that Satan’s “short” period is still going on in 2050 or 2100, but surely impossible to stretch a “generation” that far.

So if they drop 1914 and the generation, but keep 1919 as the establishment of true worship, then they have an endtime narrative they can essentially stick with indefinitely.

62

OK, We Need To Talk About The Crazy New Great Tribulation Video...

by pale.emperor in

if you haven't seen it already, skip to 1:14:30 in lloyds video and watch the craziness unfold.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2y7f7-k5wo.

i'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.. they're digging themselves a great hole here, in about 30 years time they'll be claiming this video was a mere "speculation" and that "some people" got the wrong ideas..

slimboyfat

The difference between 1914 and 1919 isn’t 5 years. It’s the difference between being tied to the “generation” timescale and not being tied to a specific timescale.

With 1919 they get all the benefit of claiming authority as the faithful slave, without having to justify the generation prediction.

62

OK, We Need To Talk About The Crazy New Great Tribulation Video...

by pale.emperor in

if you haven't seen it already, skip to 1:14:30 in lloyds video and watch the craziness unfold.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2y7f7-k5wo.

i'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.. they're digging themselves a great hole here, in about 30 years time they'll be claiming this video was a mere "speculation" and that "some people" got the wrong ideas..

slimboyfat

1919 does give them more time than 1914 because it is not tied fo “this generation”.

1919 simply marks the re-establishment of pure worship and the endtime can stretch from that date indefinitely.

Keeping 1919 affirms the authority of the GB-faithful slave chosen in that year, without tying them down to 1914-generation teaching.

For example Seventh Day Adventists believe the endtime and investigative judgement began in 1844 and continue to stretch this out.

108

New Upcoming Changes - No More Publisher Record Cards & Reporting Hours

by thedepressedsoul in

publisher record cards and reporting hours will be going away.

.

coming soon.. made this post 4 years ago, it happened - https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/24020002/kingdom-consolidation-sales-coming-reliable-source.

slimboyfat

The GB are no doubt aware, at least to some extent, of the downsides to stopping counting time. And in ordinary circumstances they may avoid making the decision to stop recording time. Yet they may simply be facing a scenario where it seems to them that the disadvantages of collecting time now outweigh the advantages.

They may be worried that data protection laws will harm them in future if they continue to collect this information. Plus they obviously realise that trends indicate they are entering a period of decline, and they see no advantage to continuing to collect and publish this data in these circumstances.

Plus there is a more basic point, that the Watchtower has often justified reporting time and placements on the basis that this information allows the organisation to plan their publishing activity efficiently. (I don’t have a specific reference for this, but I’m sure I’ve read and heard this justification multiple times) As they move away from print media altogether they may simply be facing up to the logic of their traditional rationale for reporting preaching and concluding that it is no longer necessary.

Having said all this, I think this change has the potential to have a huge impact on the organisation far beyond what the GB may anticipate. It could deflate morale and accelerate the ongoing collapse of the organisation.

62

OK, We Need To Talk About The Crazy New Great Tribulation Video...

by pale.emperor in

if you haven't seen it already, skip to 1:14:30 in lloyds video and watch the craziness unfold.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2y7f7-k5wo.

i'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.. they're digging themselves a great hole here, in about 30 years time they'll be claiming this video was a mere "speculation" and that "some people" got the wrong ideas..

slimboyfat

Okay, I have a different take on this.

It seems to me this video will age well, and it could be part of a long term strategy to establish a credible and enduring presentation of their endtime expectations.

The video, at least the part I saw, mentioned 1919 many times, but I don’t think it mentioned 1914 once. The new Ezekiel book has 27 mentions of 1914 whereas it includes 50 references to 1919. Moreover 1919 features in many of the paragraph questions for emphasis, whereas 1914 appears in none. Which is pretty astonishing when you consider that the official line is that 1914 was predicted by scripture, whereas 1919 is derived from 1914 by extension and by events of that year.

I suspect they may be preparing to drop 1914 altogether and replacing it with 1919. The reasoning offered may be that while 1914 was based on faulty chronology, Jehovah nevertheless used these expectations providentially to gather people for pure worship in 1919. The basis for 1919 will simply be the evidence that a group of people emerged in this year with true Bible teachings and embarked on the modern preaching campaign, severing the link to a specific chronology, and 1914.

If that’s the plan then this video could still be played even after 1914 is dropped.

Obviously the advantages of dropping 1914 are multiple, including no longer defending a dubious set of historical and exegetical claims, plus no longer having to define “generation” in increasingly incredible ways.

Plus I find it a bit odd that a main objection from Cedars is that the video presents as if the GB really believe this “crazy” endtime scenario. I guess I just don’t find this so surprising. If you believe what JWs believe, then this video is a pretty straightforward presentation of what JWs believe. It’s crazy if you don’t share those beliefs, but just a simple presentation of the facts if you do share those beliefs.

108

New Upcoming Changes - No More Publisher Record Cards & Reporting Hours

by thedepressedsoul in

publisher record cards and reporting hours will be going away.

.

coming soon.. made this post 4 years ago, it happened - https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/24020002/kingdom-consolidation-sales-coming-reliable-source.

slimboyfat

Sir, have you noticed that field ministry has been downplayed slightly in the new elder book in the section on recommendations?

The old elders book said that appointing someone as an elder who is not zealous in the ministry would have a dampening effect on the congregation. The new elders book doesn’t include this comment.

Maybe this was in the pipeline when the new elders book was prepared.