Posts by jwfacts

16

Where are the JWs on cross dressers?

by mickbobcat in

so if a man lets say is heterosexual, married and happy but likes to in the privacy of his own home wear women's cloths and his wife is ok with it.

i know a person could just shut their mouth and who would know but i am talking about jw who is very concerned about telling the truth to the dubbers.

my guess is it would not be a dfing matter but they would not be a ms or elder.

jwfacts

"The Law showed Jehovah's strong feelings against clothing that does not make clear the distinction between male and female - what has been described in our day as unisex fashion. (Read Deuteronomy 22:5.) From God's stated direction about clothing, we clearly see that God is not pleased with styles of dress that feminize men, that make women look like men, or that make it hard to see the difference between men and women." Watchtower 2016 Sep Study Ed. p.18

Circuit Overseer program for elders in 2015/16 s-337a-16-E 5/15 makes the same point. It also says "the elders may determine that the person no longer qualifies to share in the ministry."

15

Most doubts aren't created by apostates. They are created in a Kingdom Hall.

by pistolpete in

i found this interesting perspective on reddit.. post;.

i remember the moment the first real crack in my faith happened as a jehovah's witness.

i was sitting in the kingdom hall during the watchtower study where, as is common, the article was talking about how the israelites as a nation abandoned jehovah.. "but wait," i thought, "having a nation represent him here on earth was part of his plan.

jwfacts

Watchtower uses information control, which prevents most JWs looking at apostate material. A person usually has doubts before being able to bring themselves to look at other points of view.
Apostate information is useful in confirming the doubts are founded.

7

More bad press for the Borg, in Australia

by shepherdless in

more bad press for the borg in australia.

this is on the webpage of the national broadcaster:.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-13/austraila-talks-trust-religious-figures-dropping-covid-pandemic/100202940.

jwfacts

https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics-australia-jehovahs-witnesses.php has the Aus statistics.

It is surprising that the number of publishers hasn’t dropped since the ARC. On the otherhand, growth has been stagnant for a long time.

An interesting statistic is that the number of people that identify as JW on the Australian census has not grown since the 1980’s, despite the number of Publishers increasing. Australia has had significant population growth, so the ratio of Australian JWs is in decline.

7

More bad press for the Borg, in Australia

by shepherdless in

more bad press for the borg in australia.

this is on the webpage of the national broadcaster:.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-13/austraila-talks-trust-religious-figures-dropping-covid-pandemic/100202940.

jwfacts

I didn't know this had been printed. I was there, in fact that is me walking in the door with a mop of hair in the video. Nice surprise.

20

Sample Disassociation Letters

by Vanderhoven7 in

what do you think of the following sample disassociation letter from 4jehovah.org ?.

if you are looking to disassociate from jehovah’s witnesses, here is a sample letter you can modify for your use:.

i have decided to disassociate myself from the ____________ congregation of jehovah’s witness.

jwfacts

I do not see the point in this letter, and the writer is trying to be too clever for their own good.

If a person does not want to disassociate, it is best not to do anything, just fade. By stating you do not agree with certain teachings of the Governing Body, you then admit to being what Watchtower regards as apostate and liable to be disfellowshipped.

Whilst one of the criteria to avoid being disfellowshipped is not recognising the authority of the elders and Watchtower, another is whether you are considered as one of Jehovah's Witnesses by the congregation and community, and hence they can still disfellowship you on that ground.

The elders will not provide names of accusers, or put things in writing, particularly to someone that just said they don't recognise their authority. Nor will they be frightened off from announcing a the person is no longer one of JWs, since it has been almost impossible to win a case when sue an elder for such a statement.

If the person genuinely does not want to be harassed by the elders, then write a letter saying that any calls and visits are causing distress and that an AVO will be sought. But the tone of this letter does not make it sound like harassment is the cause behind why it was written.

5

Sale of kingdom halls

by inbetween09 in

we all know of kingdom halls being sold for the past few years.

recently i ran into an elder from a nearby congo, and he told me, that they were in the process of selling their hall, but sudenly it was paused, and he expressed it like the gb put a stop to all selling projects world wide.

any of you heard about that ?.

jwfacts

It would make sense that they may be putting the sale of Kingdom Halls on hold for the time being due to limited demand. I read this week that 50% of office space in Sydney CBD is currently vacant. There is discussion of rezoning to allow some to be sold off as residential. Since Kingdom Halls are built to suit commercial requirements, many would have fallen in value over the last 12 months.

It is likely Watchtower will still want to sell off more Kingdom Halls when the market turns. There has been little publisher growth, and with online meetings becoming normalised, I imagine some PIMI JWs will chose not to return to the Kingdom Hall in the future, particularly older ones. There is not going to be much need to increase the number of Kingdom Halls for some time. Hopefully, 2019 will be the year that holds the record for the most Kingdom Halls ever.

21

JW's coming on to this site to preach.

by Overrated in

jw
friends

webmaster for removing jw's that come on here to preach their crap.

i don't want to hear their fake stuff.

i come here to recover from their damage and to help others.

jwfacts

Discussions on this site with JW apologists have been very effective over the years in showing observers how their arguments hold no weight and rapidly collapse under scrutiny. There is benefit in allowing JWs to post.

I agree that reading what JWs post can be traumatic. I gave up arguing online, as JW apologists have no intention of holding a logical conversation or willingness to consider other points of view, and I would get stressed over the discussion.

12

Is "Active Publishers" a new concept?

by jwfacts in

i just saw the congregation analysis report for 2020, a form i have not noticed before.

it asks for the number of "active publishers.

" this is a term i have not seen specified before.

jwfacts

I just saw the Congregation Analysis Report for 2020, a form I have not noticed before. It asks for the number of "Active publishers." This is a term I have not seen specified before. Average publishers has long included baptised and unbaptised preachers, and there has always been the concept of being irregular if preaching at least once in the last six months, and inactive if not reporting for more than 6 months. In the past though, the annual report include average and peak publishers. Is there a reason for requesting Active publishers?

From a statistical point of view, Active publishers is going to be higher than Average publishers. I am wondering if this will lead to replacing Average publishers with Active publishers to make the annual report look better, and make historical analysis difficult.

27

How do you switch off the thoughts of being raised JW and feelings of anger

by Zeds Dead in

raised as a jo blow and married into it.

37 years in it and now last 7 years out of it which feels great.. have memories of being a kid in school in the uk and just hating everything about being the jw kid.

bullied, embarrassed in front of others and self-esteem went into the toilet.wished i was born into a different family.. what angers me is the messaging i would receive at home when i talked about being bullied.

jwfacts

It doesn’t seem possible to totally get over it. This year I have been taking a bit of a break, spending less time online or talking about JW topics, and it does not pop up in my thoughts as much. But I can’t stop the frustration I feel when I hear my young niece got baptised because Covid is proof of Armageddon, or everytime a news arises that I know will have JWs salivating that Armageddon is imminent.

27

Baptism during Covid - pool must tough the ground?

by jwfacts in

the july 2020 announcements mentions that baptism can be held in an “inflatable pool” as long as it touches the ground.

the pool must not be “on a terrace, flat roof, balcony, etc.”.

has anyone ever noticed that as a requirement?.

jwfacts

Thanks for the replies. Makes more sense now that it is a safety concern, and not some strange new Scriptural requirement.