drew sagan

Joined

• started 216 topics
• posted 4,120 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by drew sagan

• 
  22

  2005 SERVICE YEAR REPORT

  by Mary in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  country

  % increase

  baptized

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  The 1.3% increase is blowing my mind! These are some of the lowest numbers the organization has had in decades.
  Looking back over the past 15 years only once did the percentage fall under 2%, I think a there is a general trend starting here. The society is still getting enough people to join to make up for those are leaving or becoming inactive, but the gap is getting smaller. How many more years before a negative? Most likely it will be a while, but I think this 2005 year report is something that is really worth noting.
• 
  16

  Guardian Article on Watchtower vs. Quotes

  by sixsixsixtynine in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  .

  this has already been mentioned on another thread, but thought i'd start a new one dedicated to the story:.

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1687735,00.html.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  Well, I'm glad he posted. I didn't notice this thread before.
• 
  42

  Film: Grizzly Man

  by MegaDude in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what a whacked out character timothy treadwell was.. this documentary and story, told mostly through treadwell's own video, is about a man who wanted to be a friend of grizzly bears and perhaps maybe be a grizzly bear.

  he took off for alaska where for long stretches of time he would "commune" with these huge killer bears and film them.

  he seemed to think he had nothing to fear because he was operating at a higher level of spirituality and that the bears sensed it.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  It's playing where I am right know, I think I'm going to finally go and see it.
• 
  13

  Governing Body in the early Church???

  by greendawn in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  back in early christain times did god really have an organisation with a governing body that gave to the r&f "new light" and "spiritual food" in due time, as the wts claims?

  did that early church operate like the wts does today?

  did the apostles behave like the gb does today?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  The first century christians had a governing body like my pet cat has a degree in horticulture.
  If you think real hard you will realize how Christ came to REPLACE man made religious structre and not create more of it. Of course, he new that people would not be able to handle this so he gave us that illustration about the WEEDS.
• 
  41

  Are you supposed to enjoy field service????

  by lucifer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are you supposed to enjoy field service?

  find joy in god's work?

  i hated service, hated getting up early, hated wearing dresses/skirts,hated bugging people early on the weekend, hated "preparing" for service (all i did was read the little blurb on the inside of the awake lol) hated being grouped with elder ihatecoffeebreaks and sister letsdoonemoredooreventhoughits12.......one day brother ihatecoffeebreaks asked me why my time was dropping in service and i said "because i hate service" ( i mean i was taught to be honest right?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  I was along the lines of what coolhandluke posted. I enjoyed it at first, but then got tired of all the stress being put on magazines and books. I started to offer scriptures and NO LITERATURE. I was a regular pio for a while like this. I finally gave it up. Now I dodge service as much as I can (still got my family situation). I can't bring myself to teach things I don't agree with.
• 
  10

  Keep in Step!

  by Rooster in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  keep in step!.

  22 kingdom interests on the earth have been entrusted to "the faithful and discreet slave," which is represented by the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.

  (matthew 24:45-47) the governing body is primarily concerned with providing spiritual instruction and direction for the christian congregation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  From one single scripture! You are so right jeeprube! How could a phrase that is mentioned ONCE in the bible translate into HUNDREDS (IF NOT THOUSANDS) of referances to a specific group of people here on the earth, the ONLY GROUP THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD AND CHRIST!
  I have tried and tried to understand this reasoning. My final conclusion on the matter is that doctrines like these are not fully understood by the believer WELL AFTER his conversion to the faith. At this point they no longer question, simply accept.
• 
  18

  JWs and depression

  by jstalin in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  question:.

  it seems that there is a high rate of depression amongst jws.

  does the jw religion cause depression, or are depressed people drawn to the jws?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  I've found it amazing to see how many members of the congregation I am associated with suffer from some form of depression. Of course, there are also many people who suffer from it as well, I myself have a number of non witness family members that have depression.
  Does the Watchtower Society contribute to the depression amongst its members? I feel that it really depends upon the situation. If someone is generally well liked in the hall, has lots of friends and is well supported then the KH may be a place that helps them battle their depression. I have seen a few people at the hall where you can tell that they get their strenghts from their good friends at the hall. On the other hand i've seen people who are on the "outside" when it comes to friendships, and these seem to be the ones that really suffer. They feel that the congregation has let them down, Jehovah dosn't love them, ect. ect. ect.
  Don't get me wrong, the entire mindset of the religion plays into the minds of the members as well. I've also seen many of these ones (regarless of their friendships) feel "unworthy" because of their place in life.
  There are so many problems in this world, I really don't feel that people who are depressesed need something else to make them feel unwanted and alone. I see the KH like the many other "social" places of gathering. It can have it's pros and cons for these people, sometimes much more cons than pros.
• 
  6

  Ethnic and Social Campaigns of the WTBS.

  by Dune in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i was coming to the kingdom hall from field service yesterday during the spanish congregation's meeting.

  i was amazed because our congregation averages about 85 people for meeting attendance weekly and about 8 (when its supposed to be 25) for the book study.

  but the spanish congregation had over 170 and to add to that, they just split about 4 years ago!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  I totally agree with you in every way. I have noticed the same things being mentioned time after time at meetings, assemblies and conventions. I'm glad i'm not the only one who thinks that there is a reason. Here is what I can add up from it all:
  I took a look at some of the numbers the Society has published for this service year, and started to compare them to the reports from the last decade. This latest report given by the Society shows the lowest rate of growth in over 15 years. People simply do not want to become a part of this religion. Finding people to convert is getting harder and harder for them in many places all around the globe.
  The foreign launage field is one spot where they are actually having success. The reasons why they find more success there can be debated, but the general (sterotypical) factors that you mentioned are mostly the cause.
  Next years report will prove to be interesting,
• 
  32

  Gimme your best excuses

  by justsomedude in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok folks, i know there are some creative people on this board so help me out here.

  i'm successfully fading so far, but every now and again i get some well meaning zealot ask me about my missing the 5 weekly brainwashing sessions and the priviledge of hocking crap door to door.

  as sort of a reverse reasoning book, lets see some good conversation stoppers that wont give away my position.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  I would use the "i'm looking at other halls that need me to serve where the need is greater".
  
  If that dosn't work for you, how about the good old...
  
  - Have to put more time in at work
  - Not feeling well (works for many of the elders I know)
  - Have been attending, you just haven't noticed cause I have to leave a few minutes early.
  - New job causes me to travel, I attend all the meetings, but not here. You wouldn't believe how strong the brothers are in (insert place far away here)
  
  Good luck man, wish you the best.
• 
  19

  awake helps to educate people...

  by DannyBloem in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  regardless of my last topic on non-information (non spititual information) i have to see this:.

  in my experience this is actually true, the awake helps people to get some general knowledge.

  especially jw''s in developing countries seem to have a bit more of general information because of reading the awake then others do.. can you agree on this one?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  drew sagan

  I think I got more "education" from that magazine Highlights for Children