Posts by careful

16

The Curious Case of Cameroon in Africa in the World Report

by LaFrancia in

we know that in africa warwick/watchtower is adopting a policy of more congregations with fewer publishers in each congregation.

this explains the growth of congregations in the 2024 world report.. cameroon world report 2019 vs. 2024.. with the same number of publishers the congregations grew by about 13%.. will there be many more curious cases out there?.

careful

According to the article "Languages of Cameroon" on wiki, there are "at least 250 languages, with some accounts reporting around 600." Given how powerful Geoffrey Jackson has become on the GB and his bent for separate language congregations, this is probably the major reason for the oddity that LaFrancia has noted.

Most likely he has convinced the GB to break up earlier-formed larger congs. with multiple langs. spoken in them into smaller, individual separate ones with just one lang. spoken in it.

88

Annual Report

by St George of England in

the latest report is now available for download on our favourite website!.

george.

careful

SBF:

It’s funny how people assume any indications of distractions or exaggeration are peculiar to JWs when in fact you get the same in other groups, often more so.

Agreed. I had a conversation with some game wardens in New England and they explained how fishing and hunting licenses have gone way down among the youth who had traditionally been strong supporters of both sports for over a century. When I asked what the youth are doing with their time instead, they said "playing games on their cellphones." It's actually damaged the tax income for this state and they've had to revamp their budget because of it. Furthermore, sales of hunting and fishing gear have also plummeted, damaging the sporting goods industry there.

I was speaking to a Jewish woman about the youth in their synagogue, that is, the few who still attend because their parents want them to. She told me of two teens who I happen to know. She said they attend but are 100% disengaged the entire time, spending the entire hour plus on their cellphones, oblivious to what the congregation is doing.

The fact is that the cell has, for very many youth, become the center of their lives, and this is bound to affect Witnessland too. It's everywhere.

9

Jolene Chu and Ollimatti Peltonen publication

by careful in

just published in cambridge university press's elements in new religious movements series, a short book or oversized pamphlet is now available by two witnesses, jolene chu from warwick and ollimatti peltonen from the selters branch.

https://www.amazon.com/jehovahs-witnesses-elements-religious-movements/dp/1009509764.

it's small, just 84 pages, including the bibliography.

careful

Chu is a long time Watchtower researcher and formely working at NYT.
Worked with James Pellechia.
Chu worked also for the Watchtower surviver fund organization.
This all in the 90's.

Thanks, Gorb. How does that relate to their both not taking official line on higher education to heart, and then broadcasting that with the GB's blessing?

113

Luke 23:43 the NWT

by Ade in

luke 23:43 - and jesus said to him, "positively i say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

nwt places comma here , giving a totally different meaning to the verse.

now the average jw uses this to back their doctrine and it seems in itself virtually impossible to reason with them on it.

careful

SBF and Earnest keep feeding the troll!

"♫ When with ever learn? ♪ When with ever learn?♫”

9

Jolene Chu and Ollimatti Peltonen publication

by careful in

just published in cambridge university press's elements in new religious movements series, a short book or oversized pamphlet is now available by two witnesses, jolene chu from warwick and ollimatti peltonen from the selters branch.

https://www.amazon.com/jehovahs-witnesses-elements-religious-movements/dp/1009509764.

it's small, just 84 pages, including the bibliography.

careful

An interesting observation from the Chu-Peltonen little book:

on p. 2 in the Foreword, written by non-Witness British minority religions scholar Eileen Barker, she notes that both Chu and Peltonen “hold academic degrees.”

Then just one page later, in the Introduction written by Chu and Peltonen, they state that both of them were “raised in Witness households.” These are interesting contrasts, don’t you think? Here the authors, obviously with the GB’s blessing, are admitting—without being obvious to their intended readership—that they and/or their Witness parents rebelled against the org’s directions not to attend institutions of higher education themselves, or in case of Witness parents, not to send their children to such places.

What’s up here?

3

Long live consistency

by psyco in

.

(the kingdom interlinear translation of the greek scriptures, wt 1969, p. 23).

between yahweh (more correct) and jehovah (more familiar), they decided to use the more familiar (jehovah).. between stake (more correct) and cross (more familiar), they decided to use the more correct (stake).. 🤣🤣🤣.

careful

There is only one later edition, not "editions." It was published in 1985. On the last page of the Foreword the opening line of the old paragraph that begins "While inclining to view the pronunciation 'Yah•weh´' as the more correct way, we have retained ..." has been changed to "While many are inclined to view the pronunciation 'Yah•weh´' as the more correct way, we have retained ..." That's it. So they, Fred Franz really, backed off from the personal view that Yahweh is "more correct," whatever that's supposed to mean.

85

Reddit thread - ‘Organization Finally Suggesting to Plan for Retirement’

by LongHairGal in

jw
friends

this information is supposed to be in the upcoming march wt.

(i don’t go on jw dot org).

it would sound like they are hinting at a change in thinking.. in my opinion, any such change would be yet another slap in the face to faithful pimis along with those other recent changes.. there are so many heartfelt responses on that thread and a lot of justified anger.. don’t know what to say except that i’m so glad i never listened to the religion all those years ago.

careful

liam2 days ago
careful
If this is true, it is a big change.
The redditer who posted this on exjwreddit took one paragraph that had the phrase; "Retirement" and made it seem like the Watchtower is telling everyone that they should make Retirement a priority.
That's not what the article is saying. See link below.
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5167152030547968/reddit-thread-organization-finally-suggesting-plan-retirement#5357201380605952

Many thanks for the info and link, liam. It sounded too far off the long-held party line to be true. My impression is that the ex-Witness group on reddit is not the most critically and accurately thinking bunch!

There have been plenty of unexpected organizational changes in the last few years, but this supposed one seemed too bizarre.

31

Wythenshawe Kingdom Hall - Sold

by AdamCzarnobay in

jw
friends

i was slightly surprised to see that wythenshawe hall has been sold.

it's now a mosque.

this one had an attached flat where the co and his wife lived, i wonder what accommodation they put them in these days..

careful

dozy:

How "Lutheran" really is the university? It might be that its something of a historical name without a direct connection nowadays

Check out these links:

https://calendar.lr.edu/event/lutheran-theological-southern-seminary-opening-service

https://calendar.lr.edu/event/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-3rd-annual-prayer-breakfast

Doesn't appear to be entirely secular, eh?

9

Jolene Chu and Ollimatti Peltonen publication

by careful in

just published in cambridge university press's elements in new religious movements series, a short book or oversized pamphlet is now available by two witnesses, jolene chu from warwick and ollimatti peltonen from the selters branch.

https://www.amazon.com/jehovahs-witnesses-elements-religious-movements/dp/1009509764.

it's small, just 84 pages, including the bibliography.

careful

Just published in Cambridge University Press's Elements in New Religious Movements series, a short book or oversized pamphlet is now available by two Witnesses, Jolene Chu from Warwick and Ollimatti Peltonen from the Selters branch.

https://www.amazon.com/Jehovahs-Witnesses-Elements-Religious-Movements/dp/1009509764

It's small, just 84 pages, including the bibliography. Peltonen gave a talk at the Cesnur convention in Bordeaux, France in June on those who come back to the WTS after leaving. It was called "'Reaffiliation and “Reconversion' to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’s Community: Motivating Factors Behind the Process.

After a 7-page intro, there are 5 headings: History, Doctrine, Identity, Organization, Interaction.

Here are the two copyright pages:

Among the interesting things here that struck me in this abstract is how toned down "false Christianity/apostate Christendom" is. It's simply called "mainstream Christianity" with nothing negative attached. Although this publication is billed as unofficial, surely the GB had to read and approve it. Is this yet another example of the many changes taking place in their collective mind?

Your thoughts?

31

Wythenshawe Kingdom Hall - Sold

by AdamCzarnobay in

jw
friends

i was slightly surprised to see that wythenshawe hall has been sold.

it's now a mosque.

this one had an attached flat where the co and his wife lived, i wonder what accommodation they put them in these days..

careful

Thanks for the further work, blondie. I wonder how being a professor of religion at a Lutheran university works into that scenario. I also wonder if the so-revered GB is even aware of such a thing, or if they are aware of it, whether they simply don't want to touch it. They might lose an appointed man (assuming Foster is such), something in short supply these days.