Posts by Jeffro

17

Phone witnessing and the Year Book

by Diogenesister in

when the “year book” is published online next year, and the number of new baptisms is roughly the same as it always is, how are they going to deny that their new “converts” are nothing more than born-in kids of witnesses or already “captive” family and friends?.

the “billions” of hours of service are at best pointless and ineffective and at worse often fabricated.. what say you?.

Jeffro

JW Yearbooks were discontinued after 2016. It will be interesting, though, to see whether the numbers bounce back from the 2020 reports influenced by COVID-19.

64

Havent gone to the kingdom hall in ten years but may have to go back...

by Joliette in

made a big mistake of talking about being raised as a jehovah's witness to some old friends and family.

people have told me that i am still a jws even though i've never been baptized.

i'm in school for social services, dealing with student loan debt, and a lot of other debt.

Jeffro

Joliette:

You guys are missing the point. If something ends up happening to me who is going to help me?

Seriously? People have suggested finding another group, whether it's religious or secular. You're just not listening (or you just want the attention?). You think people in other groups won't be there for you, but there's no guarantee that JWs will be there for you either. And what kind of relationship is it if you're only associating with them just to take advantage of them if times get tough?? And why would you only be expecting 'exjws' to help you?

I know the government is a part of the world but you guys get what I mean.

Let go of this 'part of the world' nonsense. The 'government' is only as much 'a part of the world' as JWs are 'part of the world'. It's just the one 'world'. Let go of the false dichotomy.

64

Havent gone to the kingdom hall in ten years but may have to go back...

by Joliette in

made a big mistake of talking about being raised as a jehovah's witness to some old friends and family.

people have told me that i am still a jws even though i've never been baptized.

i'm in school for social services, dealing with student loan debt, and a lot of other debt.

Jeffro

Joliette, you have created a false dichotomy in your head about 'JWs' versus 'the world'. In reality, JWs are just another religious denomination. If you don't agree with the beliefs and/or demands of that denomination but still have religious beliefs, there are plenty of other religious denominations in the US where you would find a support network without the pressures of the JWs. If you are not really religious but just want the support network, try looking for a local atheist group, or just a group centered around something else you enjoy doing.

However, none of those groups are going to help you with your financial issues. Make a budget. Cut non-essential costs and prioritise paying off essential utilities and loans with the highest interest rate.

7

Is Watch Tower still the most popular?

by Ardian in

as per report generated by ttt (tingtopten.com) watchtower is the most popular magazine in the world.

is it still the most popular magazine among readers?.

source: https://tingtopten.com/2020/01/top-10-most-popular-magazines-in-the-world/.

Jeffro

'Most widely distributed' doesn't really mean 'most popular'. Something given away for free to anyone polite enough to take a copy can't validly be compared with magazines that people intentionally purchase. Additionally, 'real' magazines are often hundreds of pages in length with each issue, whereas JW magazines are essentially four sheets of paper folded over.

A tabloidish 'top 10' website isn't really a particularly good source for assessing popularity of pretty much anything, let alone JW magazines.

4

Identity of the GB - Maths Virus Part 2

by Anna Marina in

the identity of the governing body – maths virus 2.

here is my latest video..

https://youtu.be/ooxgjbc2d54.

Jeffro

Your interpretation of Jehoiakim’s 3rd and 4th years is (still) incorrect and indicates some ignorance of the different dating systems used (but is closer than the Watch Tower Society’s interpretation). The rhetorical suggestion that ‘Maybe Nebuchadnezzar was crowned in April” in particular indicates some ignorance of the actual history of the period. Daniel doesn’t count accession years as part of the reign and uses Nisan-based years. 2 Kings uses Tishri-based years for Judah, Nisan-based years for Babylon, and counts accession years as the first regnal year. (This is why you’re generating some additional invented confusion regarding 624 and 625, setting aside their displacement by 20 years.)

The JW interpretation of Daniel 2:1 deliberately uses the word “kingship” instead of “reign” to try to imply that it means ‘vassalage’ though this has no basis in the original text. They do not claim Daniel was taken to Babylon the year before that. (They place the interpretation of the dream several years after Daniel’s training, ignoring the fact that Daniel and his friends were supposedly known as the wisest in the land after their training but then Nebuchadnezzar has never even heard of Daniel when he wants his dream interpreted. In the story, Daniel actually interprets the dream during the training period.) It is good that you point out their mangling of the period. But it isn’t an outstanding revelation that Nebuchadnezzar’s 19th year is the same year according to the made up JW method of counting ‘kingship’ from 607.

Your mispronunciation of ‘vassalage’ is a little distracting. The ‘-age’ in’ vassalage’ is properly pronounced the same way as in ‘marriage’.

23

New JW study book / method announced on JW Broadcast

by Funky in

so did anyone catch the january jw broadcast?.

it's the "spiritual content" of what would have been introduced in the october annual meeting, had the october annual meeting taken place.. morris, splane, and jackson introduce a new jw study publication: "live forever eternally - an interactive guide".. details were sparse, but apparently it is a 256 page book (when in actual printed form), primarily designed to be used in its electronic form, stuffed with links to videos.. it is designed to be "just one book" to be studied prior to baptism, where "all 60 questions that baptism candidates have to know" are found in just one place.. the purported reason is to make jw "bible" studies more "productive", i.e., lead to more baptisms.. splane brought out the governing body's "great concern" that 10 million+ "bible" studies are conducted by jws every year, but the number of baptisms has been stuck at 200,000 - 300,000 per year for decades.

so the thinking is, this new book + a "new method of conducting studies" (again, no real detail, but apparently it involves more "discussion" and less "question and answer").. want to know my thoughts?

Jeffro

Funky:

Splane brought out the governing body's "great concern" that 10 million+ "Bible" studies are conducted by JWs every year, but the number of baptisms has been stuck at 200,000 - 300,000 per year for decades

A substantial number of these 'studies' are JW parents 'studying' with their own children.

15

Will JWs get DFed if they are caught with old JW publications?

by mickbobcat in

i was told that if a jw now gets caught reading or with old jw literature they can get dfed.

i doubt this is true but wanted to know for sure.

.

Jeffro

Short answer is No. Though if someone were seen to be promoting old teachings, then they might be.

21

2020 Service Year Report of Jehovah’s Witnesses Worldwide

by Joker5 in

jw
friends

the 2020 report has been out for a few days.

2020 grand totals.

branches of jehovah’s witnesses: 87. .

Jeffro

alanv

They say lands instead of countries, because that shows a bigger figure. Loads of small islands are part of the report, that often belong to one country, So its simply written that way so the org can brag to the dubs that they are preaching all over the world. In realty over a third of the world has never, ever met a JW.

Despite their claim about 240 'lands', back in reality they actually report activity in 159 countries, and '30 other lands'.

Overrated:

Watchtower math is always exaggerated from reality. They say they have 8 million plus members but dollars to donuts that real number could be 5 or 3 and dropping fast.

The number of 'members' depends on the definition used (setting aside the recent debacle about 'membership' of a local congregation corporation). If counting children of JWs and anyone else who self-identifies as a JW, including 'POMI' individuals, the number may be significantly more than what is reported by Watch Tower (and this probably reflects what would be reported by secular surveys). However, if counting only 'dyed-in-the-wool' members who actively enjoy 'preaching' and would remain in the denomination if there were no risk of shunning, the 'membership' would be considerably less than what Watch Tower reports.

34

Was Jesus Born on December 25th?

by Sea Breeze in

we were told by watchtower that no way jesus was born on dec. 25th.

.

what do you think now?.

Jeffro

The fact that some people believed stories about a preacher who died is unremarkable. We’re talking about people who believed that seizures and psychiatric disorders are evidence of demonic possession. Such people could be entirely convinced, for example, by an eclipse occurring during the execution of an itinerant preacher and subsequent stories.

The claim that there is broad scholarly support for all the points that were provided is simply false and there is no contemporary extrabiblical (or biblical) evidence for anything about Jesus during his lifetime. Also, the contradictory conversion stories of Paul in Acts and Galatians are not particularly good evidence of anything other than that someone believed something.

34

Was Jesus Born on December 25th?

by Sea Breeze in

we were told by watchtower that no way jesus was born on dec. 25th.

.

what do you think now?.

Jeffro

Millie210:

Wasn't there also a line of reasoning from Daniel 9:27 about gift offerings to cease at the half of the year. The times being mentioned there was 7 years. and apparently, it had a greater application in the death of Jesus at which time there would be no more need for gift offerings.

JWs do say that, but it completely misrepresents Daniel. The ‘leader’ in that passage was Antiochus IV Epiphanes. But aside from the specifics, the passage indicates the ‘leader’ to be an enemy of Jerusalem and not the same person as the ‘messiah’. Verse 26 says ‘messiah’ is cut off at the end of 62 weeks, not at ‘the half of the week’ as falsely claimed by JWs.

JWs use the same passage to falsely claim that Jesus died in 33CE (counting ‘62 weeks’ from an invalid starting point), which also has no basis in fact. It is more likely that he was born in 4BCE and died 30CE.