Posts by sir82

61

Bethel Downsizing Spin

by Cellist in

jw
friends

there's an article on e-watchman giving the latest spin.

i don't know how to cut and paste, but i hope everyone goes and checks it out.

it is truly nauseating.

sir82

Let me re-phrase that..."the majority of the deliverers don't really honestly truly care if if anyone listens".

If the publishers really, honestly, truly believed that Armageddon was coming "real soon now", within a matter of weeks or months, and they really believed that people's salvation depended on their response to the preaching efforts, would their presentations really be along the lines of "Good-morning-here's-the-latest-Watchtower-as-you-can-see-it-asks-a-very-interesting-Bible-question-can-I-leave-it-with-you...not-interested-OK-have-a-nice-day."

Of course, there ae a few that really are motivated to want to help people, and are really sincere in their efforts. But in my 40+ years of experience, I think by far the majority are primarily interested in being seen by the elders and/or their peer group as appearing to busy, and really can't wait for the coffee break to start.

19

JWs celebrating their 40th birthday?

by M.J. in

.

i heard that its common for jws in a certain congregation to make a big deal when someone turns 40--to the point that they actually throw a party.. is this something that happens out there?.

i just thought it sounded pretty odd.

sir82

Haven't heard of this, but if it gets common enough, expect to see Watchtower articles and/or assembly talks on this topic.

61

Bethel Downsizing Spin

by Cellist in

jw
friends

there's an article on e-watchman giving the latest spin.

i don't know how to cut and paste, but i hope everyone goes and checks it out.

it is truly nauseating.

sir82

And, by the way, I fully agreee that the reason for the "downsizing" is economic, and very likely due to concern about medical claims. Other threads have commented about how the majority of those being "let go" are in the 40-60 year old range, the typical age at which corporation workers are downsized.

61

Bethel Downsizing Spin

by Cellist in

jw
friends

there's an article on e-watchman giving the latest spin.

i don't know how to cut and paste, but i hope everyone goes and checks it out.

it is truly nauseating.

sir82

Are there only a million+ folks left in the U.S. to be witnessed to? Does it mean that ~299,000,000 (approximate U.S. population) people have already been approached, or approximately 74,000,000 households (base on 4 personnel per family), doors have been knocked on?

No...what it means is this: Each congregation has an assigned "territory", a splotch of land ranging in size from a few city blocks, to a few hundred square miles, depending on the location of the congregation (urban or rural). 99.7% of the US population falls within the borders of one of these territories.

But there are a million or so folks who live in an area so, so isolated, that there is no Kingdom Hall for dozens or hundreds of miles within their house. Think of ranchers & farmers in Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, etc.

In theory, these folks are witnessed to by "specal pioneers", or or covered once every year or 2 by a group of publishers who go out to "unassigned territory" for a few weeks or so.

Regarding your question on effectiveness, no it is not effective at all. Millions of hours are wasted on a message that no one wants to hear, and that the deliverers have little or no interest in spreading.

45

Brooklyn reorganization tied to "Deliverance at Hand" District Convention?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

a few days ago, someone posted an email that was sent by a sister in bethel.. a follow up post gives some more info on the reorganization in brooklyn bethel and the district convention theme.. any comments?.

http://e-jehovahs-witnesses.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1247&st=0.

the brooklyn move is fascinating, to be sure.. .

sir82

There will not be a new book this year. Just a lousy tract. If you are wondering, I am not guessing, I know this as a fact.

Can you leak the title? Or at least the theme?

Not even a new brochure this year?

So, with no new book at the DC this year, that means another "repeat" at the CBS, after the 4th(!) time thru the Revelation book.

42

Loss of Elders

by metatron in

jw
friends

large numbers of jw congregations are going to be trouble long before they lose their last elder to death or resignation.. most congregations i know have at least one - and often several - elders who can barely function at all, due to illness, old age.

or just plain inability to accomplish anything.

the society seems loathe to remove these men, despite their 'elder in name only'.

sir82

In one of my previous congregations:

There are 2 elders over 80, one is virtually comatose, so drugged up on pain-killing meds that he is does no more than occupy a seat on the occasions when he can attend a meeting. The other, the service overseer, is legally blind.

There is another in his mid-70's who has already started down the slippery slope of dementia.

Another is 60ish, with enormous health problems.

Two more are in their mid-30s, one is an accomplished "shirker", the other has the reasoning ability of a pre-teen.

The PO, around 70 or so, left the congregation to move to Florida to be near his family there. This left the congregation in an uproar, as there was no one competent enough to be PO in his absence.

The solution? Name as PO a 50-something elder who has been removed as an elder 3 times previously, after each of his 3 oldest children got either D-F'ed or reproved. He was recently appointed again, for the 4th time. He has a young-teen daughter, more precocious than the other 3 combined....everyone knows it is just a matter of time until she does something to get D-F'ed / reproved, and he has to step down again. But until that time comes, he is the only one "able" to serve as PO.

41

Come One Come All Deliverence is near Get your Convention Program here

by Tea4Two in

"deliverance at hand" is the theme for the jehovah's witnesses district convention may 26 to 28 at the resch center.

serving parts of wisconsin, michigan and the upper peninsula, the convention opens the season for district meetings throughout the united states.

nearly 11 million people attended the 2,981 district conventions last year.

sir82

the session's final discourse "No Opposing Weapon or Tongue Will Succeed."

The afternoon sessions are "Keep a Scriptural View of Health Care," "What Spirit Dominates Your Life?" "Maintain a Threefold Cord in Marriage," "Young People, Remember, Now, Your Grand Creator" and "Are You Living with Jehovah's Day in Mind?"

And of course the new publications are always released during the last talks Friday and Saturday.

But I can't imagine what release would go with "No Opposing Weapon or Tongue Will Succeed". It almost sounds like something just for JWs, along the lines of the "Proclaimers" book. Perhpas it is a brochure highlighting the various Court rulings in JWs' favor? Of course, no mention will be made of all the out-of-court settlements made in cases involving the JWs.

And the last talk on Saturday, "Are You Living With Jehovah's Day in Mind?", also doesn't seem like that message would appeal to people at the doors. My guess is it is a book-length version of the "Keep on the Watch" brochure, trying to beat the friends into living an anxiety-filled life of constantly expecting Armageddon "real soon now".

Seems like there may be a bit more "beating of the friends" than usual in this convention.

41

Come One Come All Deliverence is near Get your Convention Program here

by Tea4Two in

"deliverance at hand" is the theme for the jehovah's witnesses district convention may 26 to 28 at the resch center.

serving parts of wisconsin, michigan and the upper peninsula, the convention opens the season for district meetings throughout the united states.

nearly 11 million people attended the 2,981 district conventions last year.

sir82

"Young People, Remember, Now, Your Grand Creator" and "Are You Living with Jehovah's Day in Mind?"

Get ready for some more college-bashing!

30

FLUFF: Tell us your favorite weird movie, and...

by GentlyFeral in

jw
friends

all right, now that we're talking about movies again, let's turn each other on to some of these:the best movie you thought you'd hatemine are: perfect blue my first exposure to intelligent anime.

come to think of it, this is definitely a "best weird movie," too.fight club i'd been avoiding it for years because of the violence.the truman show i mean, jim carrey's mugging plus cliched preachments.

well, that's what it could have been.basquiat a depressing ending to a story of mixed accomplishment and really bad judgement, complicated by mental illness but the scene where he hallucinates a work of art he has just designed, and smiles it explains so much.

sir82

Did anybody ever see "A Boy and His Dog"? Written by Harlan Ellison, starring a pre-Miami Vice Don Johnson as a horny teenager in a post-nuclear war world, traveling about looking for women with a telepathic dog who has a gift for finding them. Definitely way up there on the weirdness-meter.

I can't listen to "Stars and Stripes Forever" without thinking of the end of this movie.

Another bizarro one is "Dark Star", an early 70's low-budget sci-fi semi-spoof. The best scene there is when the space ship crew is attacked by an alien, with the same size and shape as a beach ball. One of the guys shoots it, and the escaping air from it causes it bounce wildly off the walls, ceiling, floor, etc.

61

Bethel Downsizing Spin

by Cellist in

jw
friends

there's an article on e-watchman giving the latest spin.

i don't know how to cut and paste, but i hope everyone goes and checks it out.

it is truly nauseating.

sir82

It sounds fairly authentic. If so, there are some very interesting "nuggets" to be found here...

Statistics given in the talks noted the number of English congregations that lacked sufficient brothers to take the lead.

So, apparently, in the US, there are fewer and fewer elders & MS. And the younger generation can't be bothered to "reach out" for "privileges". If Bethel speakers are openly admitting this in talks to the "family", the problem is very likely approaching the crisis mode.

Even those Bethelites that have been here for 20 or more years have mixed feelings about the initial request to serve elsewhere. With few exceptions they see

Huh? There are a "few" who don't "see Jehovah's hand in the matter"?!?! Wait a minute, we're the "happiest people on earth", living in lockstep unity in our spiritual paradise! You mean to say that there are "some" Bethelites who are so outspoken in their disdain for being downsized, that they make their feelings well-known to the downsizing "survivors"? Methinks the rumble of discontent must be pretty large & noticeable for it to get a mention in such a spin-happy letter.

Should those who were privileged to work inside the house now feel too important to care for the work on the outside?

I couldn't help but think of 19th century slaves in the US. Didn't the "inside" slaves look down upon the "field hands"? Surely there is no elitism in Bethel, is there?!?!

maintain a close contact with the organization and help strengthen the local brothers faith in the decisions made by the Governing Body.

Hmmm, almost sounds like they're being sent out to "spy"....Nah, couldn't be!