did anyone notice that the graph of publisher growth in the jan 1st watchtower has been deliberately "tweaked" to give the impression of higher growth in the period 2000 - 2010?
i've tried to illustrate this by superimposing the actual graph line over the one from the watchtower ( which is the narrower line in the graph.
) the period up to 2000 exactly mirrors the actual figures but the artist has decided to edge up the last decade , for obvious reasons.
Interesting find. It is in the January 15th study edition magazine.
I think they have done what SBF suggested, and used the 2012 numbers, since the line continues straight from 2000 to 2012. This is deceptive, since each other period was a 10 year span. They have also kicked the dotted lines up to be steeper than the previous period, to indicate that are predicting a higher growth rate from 2013 and beyond.
when i first heard about the new "generation" explanation i was confused because i didn't see clearly how they were explaining it.. now it looks like they finally figured it out for themselves and it is no longer confusing.. it is now a simple, ignorant, bold face lie.. this is from the january 1st watchtower.
(and i hope to hell someone from writing gets wind of this).
paragraph 15 page 31 blue stands for the exact words in the watchtower.
I am stunned by this article. They are putting themselves right back in the position they were with the original generation teaching, by adding an end date to the generation teaching. This new definition has, till now, been left vague enough to all it to run for quite some time, but the January article makes it clear that the overlapping ones are also advanced in years.
"They were anointed with holy spirit during the time that those of the first group were still on earth. ... Today, those in this second group are themselves advancing in years. Yet, Jesus’ words at Matthew 24:34 give us confidence that at least some of “this generation will by no means pass away” before seeing the start of the great tribulation. "
This is really trying to increase the urgency, based on the generation definition being a short period. It seems the current GB are trying to keep the status quo for how the organisation has always been, and then let the next lot of GB members have to pick up the pieces from the mess they leave behind.
Further, as you mention, there is no reason to conclude this generation applies to two groups of annointed. It is one of the more blatant examples of the Watchtower adding an interpretation that simply has no basis at all. I wonder how JWs will take it? They are walking dangerous ground dwelling on this teaching again.
the story of why the new bible has a grey cover (silver sword) moved me to ask you all what your favorite jw urban legend is?.
one of my favorite jw urban legends.
a sister is out in service alone.
He was one that I used to think was amazing.
A Jehovah's Witness in Australia buys an old Harley Davidson, then discovers from an inscription under the seat that the bike had been a gift from Elvis to James Dean, and sells it for millions of dollars.
It wasn't until I came to JWN that I found out this was an urban legend, though I had always wondered how the bike had ended up in Australia. It turns out that there were numerous JW stories I had been told as a kid that were common urban legends.
on the current thread about blood simon made an interesting point that the stats are skewed because we don't know how many jehovah's witnesses secretly accept blood.
what are your thoughts about how high this figure may be, and did you or anyone you found out about ever accept blood?.
as a side note.
On the current thread about blood Simon made an interesting point that the stats are skewed because we don't know how many Jehovah's witnesses secretly accept blood. What are your thoughts about how high this figure may be, and did you or anyone you found out about ever accept blood?
As a side note. Terry made an great point
What parent actually believes Jehovah will forever condemn a child because the parent has agreed to medical treatment? Answer: NONE
Why then do JW parents let their children die? Is it about themselves? Are they afraid it is them that will die as a result, or is it more the fear of being disfellowshipped.
so i've been sharing some a little at a time with my sister.
she is married and very scared of actually learning too much.
she doesn't want to ruin her marriage.
Jeffro - What encyclopedias have you been reading?! (Yes, it was almost certainly just a typo.
from jw.org (while waiting for new bible to download, i clicked on the link for "christian," which asks the following question...).
"are we christians?
we are christians, for the following reasons.
SFPW - I consider elder, CO, pioneer, etc. more or less labels, not necessarily titles.
Oh, come on. They are as much titles as are Priest, Bishop or Pope.
SFPW - nobody in the congregation is more elevated than anyone else in the congregation.
Really? Yet an elder can judge a persons heart, disfellowship them, and be the reason that their family never speaks to them again. This judgement from the elders to put a person in a disfellowshipped is enough for the congregation to believe they will die at Aramageddon.
And that is just elders. The GB are a several levels more elevated than elders.
SFPW - A CO can't tell you what to do and neither can an elder.
I have already mentioned disfellowshipping, the ultimate power trip of telling people what they can do. Do you really believe what you write?
i've been lurking here for a year or two now (since i stumbled across ttatt and was stumbled by it), i even started an account some while back and asked a couple of questions.. but i never actually stood up and said hi... so hi, my name's jon and i'm a dubaholic.. .
i was "born in" in the 80s - and grew up on a liquid diet of cheap suits and revelation book pictures (i mean really, group after group just staring at the pictures while not listening, i must have spent more time staring at those pictures than i have any work of art in my life, literally hours at each lurid picture).
i "left" in my teens, but apparently lacking any kind of actual sense, returned to studying with a childhood friend from the congregation in my twenties (although i was never baptised, my entire small family were dubs, so i saw more witnesses than "worldly people" on a regular basis.. they love bombed my arse for years!)..
Welcome.
grew up on a liquid diet of cheap suits and Revelation book pictures
Too true.
so i've been sharing some a little at a time with my sister.
she is married and very scared of actually learning too much.
she doesn't want to ruin her marriage.
Legacy - has anyone ever thought about contacting a museum or another form of history of Jerusalem in Jerusalem.
Hi Legacy, there has been a lot of research into this, and no university or encyclopedia says 607. They almost universally agree that the year was 536/7.
Comatose, as Annomaly wrote, 606 was worked out simply by subtracting 70 years from 536, which is based on a misinterpretation of the Scriptures.
as a young teenager, i would look at "apostate" books at the city library.
i was always intrigued as to what was sooo bad and other than a few writings of some that seemed like they hated the witnesses, i would clandestinely look at literature, especially in "christian" bookstores.. it took years for me to finally disconnect.
i will say that ray franz' books enlightened me the most!.
As a young teenager, I would look at "apostate" books at the city library.
Same here. However, since I only read a couple of pages at a time, and it was ususally just experiences and gripeing it did not have any affect. I was approached by an apostate whilst street witnessing in a market, and he said some interesting things, but not much sunk in either. It was my on thoughts about the justice of God killing billions at Armageddon that disturbed me most of all, and then flicking through Studies in the Scriptures during a boring Watchtower that kicked off my travel to apostasy.
that text reminds me of one of a handful of problems peculiar to the ex-jw community.
second only to the wild beast's internal divisions, is the divided makeup of the ex-jw populace.
you know the one thing that indicates jehovah's blessing upon the worldwide association of kingdom proclaimers, is not only the continued success of the preaching work, but along with it the unity and love amongst the brothers and sisters.
The simple, the spineless and the lazy want all the answers given to them on a plate, regardless of whether it is accurate or not.
A House Divided Against Itself Falls
Really? There are a billion Catholics, I guess that means they display better unity than Watchtower followers. A good principle, but you have stretched it out of context.
