Posts by sir82

35

10 Year Growth Chart

by HiddenPimo in

here are some visuals to help show what is going on with the jw numbers game.

i am not a numbers guy and there maybe a few errors (info directly from grand total pages on jw.borg).

.

sir82

Interesting - 2015 was a really bad year, then things started improving.

Wasn't 2015 when they started JW Broadcasting?

For all the criticism it (rightfully) gets, it does seem to have at least contributed to the rebound.

Oh, and others have noted dozens if not hundreds of times on other threads - it is probably misleading to contrast "number baptized" vs. "publisher growth". There are many hundreds of thousands of "unbaptized publishers", and probably a significant portion of them never progress to baptism (mainly bored teenaged kids of JWs just counting the days until they can leave).

And even ignoring that, keep in mind that the "deficit" includes people leaving in any form - disfellowshipping, fading, and death.

29

JWs: No Infant Baptism! (just children)

by neat blue dog in

here's a new article that came out:.

do jehovah’s witnesses baptize infants?no.

the bible does not endorse infant baptism.

sir82

I've noticed a trend lately that they announce the age of the youngest one baptized at an assembly, and I've also noticed that the younger the age, the greater excitement in the voice of the speaker and the louder the applause from the audience.

13

Would you be OK with someone removing "Jesus'" name from the New Testament?

by Wonderment in

would it be all-right with you if a translator removes "jesus'" name completely from the new testament and replaces it with a substitute, like "master" throughout?.

sir82

Your question makes no sense.

Every ancient manuscript of the NT - 100% of them - contains Jesus' name, over and over and over to the 100th power over again.

To remove the name "Jesus" would be at best, gross mistranslation, and more properly characterized as textual vandalism.

In contrast, no ancient manuscript - 0% of them - contains the name "Jehovah". They. Just. Do. Not. Exist.

Inserting "Jehovah" into the manuscripts to replace "Lord" or "God" is quite simply, a mistranslation. There is no documentary evidence to support it.

It is a point worth debating to consider whether some ancient manuscripts contained "Jehovah" in places where direct quotations from the Septuagint were made. There is no direct evidence of it, but it is within the realm of possibility.

But that is of course has nothing to do with the absurdity of the OP. The writer is either incredibly stupid or incredibly deceptive - either way not worth any more time.

38

No Need To Preach In Every Country Anymore

by pale.emperor in

speaking to a pimo from my hometown yesterday.

he told me that in the watchtower study (10 nov 2019) regarding “the great tribulation” the elder on the platform said that there’s no need for jws to preach in every country in order to fulfil the prophecy, and therefore the org has already fulfilled that prophecy.

and that there’s nothing else left to wait for now but for “the great tribulation” to come.. gasps of delight came from the audience.. has anyone else heard this?

sir82

what is properly termed “collective punishment” I.e. the punishment of a whole community for the crimes of a few
,or its leaders.

Yes, this is what the WTS uses when pressed about the impossibility of everyone receiving a witness, and the absolute unfairness of God annihilating someone for failing to act on a message they never heard.

I'm pretty sure there was at least one "Questions From Readers" on this back in the 60's or 70's.

It's also what is used to justify the recorded genocide carried out by the Israelites in Canaan. It was entirely "proper" and "loving" to slaughter thousands of infants and babies because their parents were doing "pagan" stuff.

It is of course perfectly nuts, and as noted, exactly what every regime which has engaged in genocide has used.

38

No Need To Preach In Every Country Anymore

by pale.emperor in

speaking to a pimo from my hometown yesterday.

he told me that in the watchtower study (10 nov 2019) regarding “the great tribulation” the elder on the platform said that there’s no need for jws to preach in every country in order to fulfil the prophecy, and therefore the org has already fulfilled that prophecy.

and that there’s nothing else left to wait for now but for “the great tribulation” to come.. gasps of delight came from the audience.. has anyone else heard this?

sir82

Dingbat elder's personal opinion.

He's realized the impossibility of proclaiming a "worldwide witness" (my rough estimate is that at least half of the world's population has never so much even met a JW, much less "received a witness"), so he has taken it upon himself to tell the congregation "here's what Jehovah really means to say".

I suspect he did it to experience the reaction you describe - to hear excited gasps of approval. It feeds his ego, makes him feel important and special for a few minutes.

I'd bet he makes such important proclamations in nearly every part he is assigned.

49

If I was still PIMI, I'd be terrified

by neat blue dog in

just looking at the pictures in tomorrow's wt study makes me think of the nightmares i used to have as a child.

and nowadays the pictures are sometimes more realistic, so for any who are truly mentally in, this has a terrible effect on them and even their life choices.

looking in as a pimo or pomo it seems almost comical that adults would believe in this sci-fi bible fan-fiction, but it's not funny when we remember that all ages of the r&f are being manipulated by the gb by these cheap and evil means.. .

sir82

That "warroom" illustration always kills me.

Like ol' bumblehead Herd is gonna be on the "10 most wanted" list of....well, anyone.

"Red alert! Code zebra alpha foxtrot! The geriatric black guy is heading down to the commissary to get more of his Little Debbie stuffed cookies! Call out the SWAT team!"

Sheesh.

25

JW.org's new miserable picture

by neat blue dog in

in the new article about the international convention in manila, the picture of the crowd is pretty telling.

they look so drained and miserable!.

.

sir82

Love the guy in the black coat in the first picture. Looks like he's about to hock a loogey.

6

Assembly day cleveland ohio Willoughby ass hall

by nowwhat? in

thought i was done going but want to keep family happy.

anway they found away to make the theme about love as dry and monotone as a corporate board room meeting.

932 attendance.

sir82

There is a fixed amount, $ per publisher, for each person belonging to a congregation assigned to that assembly. Last I remember it was $10 a head.

What most likely happened is that they shuffled the circuit around a bit. Likely there were 1100 - 1300 publishers assigned to that assembly in the past, but now the number assigned is around 800.

Add in kids who are not yet publishers and you get an attendance of 932.

By the way, the $10 (or whatever) per publisher is supposed to be a hush-hush, top-top-top secret. So you didn't hear it from me

21

January 2020 WT, earthly hope

by neat blue dog in

one of the latest wts rehashes this core jw theology.

i know it's old hat, but i feel it's always worth pointing out, as it's one of the major things to wake me up and it's relatively easily proven using the bible alone.. throughout the bible, there aremany examples of men of faith who re-ceived holy spirit; yet, they did not havethe hope of living in heaven.

john the baptistwas “filled with holy spirit.” (luke 1:13-16) jesus said that there was no mangreater than john, but then he said thatjohn would not be included in the heav-enly kingdom.

sir82

Ah yes, the old "you worms better stop partaking of the emblems! Stop it! STOP I SAID!" article to be considered a few weeks prior to the 2020 Memorial.

Those articles seem to be having less and less effect, as the count of partakers continues its double-digit percentage growth, roaring thru the 20,000s and on up to 30,000+ soon.

But of course, the WTS being the WTS, they have no new ideas, no creativity, no nothing, so they just keep repeating the identical message and hoping "well, maybe this year they'll will listen..."

17

The new JW Bible

by silas hobbs in

jw
friends

i was recently informed that the new jw bible was reviewed by some academic type person who rated it as one of the best translations available.. has anyone heard of this person and if so what is his reasoning for giving it such a compliment?.

sir82

FWIW:

All translations, 100% of them, will have some bias somewhere. It's impossible to not have bias when translating such a large collection of books written by different men with different viewpoints from different cultures over many centuries.

The NWT, after discounting its obvious biases*, is probably a pretty decent translation for 98 - 99% of its contents.

* examples: the comma in Luke 23:43, 1 Corinthians 7:36 (bad enough when it was "toward his virginity", now it is inexcusably biased as "by remaining unmarried"), many if not most of its insertions of "Jehovah" into the NT, etc.