i just compared the latest data provided by the german wt and data i found searching for the same page in archive.org.
congregations 2011: 2232. congregations 2014: 2210. kh 2011: 1075. kh 2014: 1034. source: http://www.jehovaszeugen.de/statistik.18.0.html - this is a oficial site for germany.
.
Good news to make you happy!
I wonder how this is reflected on a more worldwide scale. You know how the yearbook has its little bit of info on each country? It would be interesting to see what happened in the rest of the world when they lost all those congs and halls in Germany. Wonder what happened to the people in those halls? What did they DO with all the halls that they don't have anymore?
i have a sweet jw friend.
she is elderly and had heart problems and is hard of hearing.. she is a tiny thing and very loving.
she is a convert and had been "in" for around 20 years.. she came "in "after her divorce.. we started hanging out together a couple years ago when i called her for a ride to the meetings.. .
Whenever two or more are gathered together. . . !
i've read on another thread you need to delete the cached file of the profile picture so that it can be updated by the gravatar user.
i created a gravatar account, added the email address i use on here and uploaded the an image, but nothing happens.
this was 3 days ago.. could you please solve this problem?.
I want to change my avatar. How do we do it?
i am, and my wife never believed me that a sudden bright light can make me sneeze.
apparently a third of humans are photic sneezers.
although the exact mechanism isn't fully understood it may be that a strong signal in the optic nerve can stimulte a nearby branch of the trigeminal nerve.. its time to come out the closet and be proud of your crossed wires.. ....
I am a triple photic sneezer. My dad was a double. My mom isn't at all.
interesting podcast to listen to.
exjws go head to head with ex-mormons on which religion is weirder.
they had judges that determined who won.. http://mormonexpression.com/2014/06/16/episode-258/.
Even excommunicated LDS are not shunned unless they actually did something so offensive to their family that they couldn't bear to be in the same room with them. JWs often don't even know why they are shunning someone other than the elders said so. Seriously?
And day to day life of a Mormon is actually a lot more normal and inclusive and (dare I say) pleasant. There is a sense of theirs being the 'true faith', but it isn't an overbearing self righteous infestation there so much from what I observed. They have a heirarchy system for sure, but while the doctrine was different from other churches, the basics about living a Christian life (being worthy) were much more standard and the (rich) church actually has extensive charitable outreaches as well as evangelistic. The thing is, the charitable works are funded more by their tithes/offerings and the evangelistic are mostly funded directly by those on the missions (missionaries support themselves with help from their personal families and friends). There is definitely a strong American work ethic structured into LDS teachings, as well as encouragement to be educated and involved in community. This is the opposite of WT values.
one of the things i have been wresting with mentally is unraveling the "us vs. them" mentality that has been driven into my skull in the organization.. i am starting this thread seeking advice on how others have come to grip with this.. this is what i struggle with:.
i like the feeling/thought of being among people that live, or try to live, or at least know they ought to live by higher standards of conduct (maybe it is just what i'm used to...).
when you walk out of a convention of people dressed up, clean-cut, shaven, non-smoking, less-profanity-speaking, fairly orderly etc and see what greets you in the streets outside, it is a big contrast.. i am also still trying to understand how a religion that has conned people (so is morally wrong) could also be so well organized and have a lot of truly decent folks among their ranks.
I've been to conventions for business where the same could be said. I was in one in VEGAS and within the hall we could definitely see the contrast because we left the convention of business and business casual attired folks and stepped into the huge casino-where women of questionable morals were offering to keep my husband and I company. There's a disconnect! Good thing it was a LegalShield convention:)
I have been to other churches where this is the same. An SBC conventiton or meeting for VBS teachers has a bunch of people dressed nicely and acting discreetly-and no one gave us a dress code direction at sign up. No one saw fit to comment on the worldly riff raff,either. Refreshing.
(OTOH, going to the mosque-women are very modest with head coverings, but the men, while modest, are definitely dressed for comfort and about 1/3 of them have beards, so they would utterly fail the JW test of conventional business attire. This actually pleases me on the principle of the thing. That our utterly modest and even biblical attire wouldn't make the cut for a KH meeting delights me)
i've been toying with an idea that i think just might have some legs.
so here i am trotting it out for all of you to consider and comment upon.
for many of us, we are extremely frustrated by the fact that we have no way to communicate with our loved ones still stuck in the organization.
I am in Texas and am willing to do this for anyone who asks. I have been on the board and done gift exchanges in the past. I will help whoever asks. Just PM me.
M.
i use to hate when people who made goodbye posts on message boards.
why would they think that just because you no longer post on a chevy truck forum or a los angeles lakers forum the world would crumble around those still left there.
this place is definitely different.
Congratulations on your graduation. All the best for your future success, happiness and family life. You will be missed, but we will survive:)
i use to hate when people who made goodbye posts on message boards.
why would they think that just because you no longer post on a chevy truck forum or a los angeles lakers forum the world would crumble around those still left there.
this place is definitely different.
Congratulations on your graduation. All the best for your future success, happiness and family life. You will be missed, but we will survive:)
i don't mean you advised them and they changed their lives around, kind of saving a life.. i mean right before your eyes, right now, you had to do something to save a person or they would be dead.. how did it make you feel?
did it have any affect on you?.
forty years ago i was working on a construction site and a back-hoe had loosened a large boulder.
Sorta. Not sure if this counts but when my mom returned from overseas travels I waited aLOOOONG time for her to get off the plane and when Ifinally saw her, she was in a wheelchair. She looked like death warmed over (barely).She wanted to eat something and was able to walk once we got to the car in the parking garage so we drove to a Wendy's at her insistence. I wanted to take her straight to the hospital. She had taken ill on her vacation and somehow they let her on the plane when she was clearly (to me) critically ill.
At Wendy's she told me a litte of what had happened and how much pain she had and was unable to eat or evacuate. She wanted the icecream but that wasn't happening. I told her I wanted to take her straight to the hospital and she tried to insist on going home and just seeing her doctor in the morning. I told her that I didn't want them trying to take a gurney down the steep stairs from her cliffside house and risk the necks of innocent EMTs( I was trying to make a joke of it), but I seriously didn't think she would live to the next day. I took her to the hospital ER and told the nurse at triage that she had had a small heart attack in her 30's and was having chest pain (everything hurt and I knew that otherwise she could be hours from an exam (mothers day, sunday) She had had a ruptured colon several days prv (Wed, Ithink is when they figured it happened) and had severe peritonitis. Dr. said she would not hav survived the night. So, in a way I saved her life (she would have toughed it out to save$45 ER co pay)
