So is the GB visit due to riding high on the number increases in certain African countries? That would seem to fit well with traditional WTS thinking. It would also deflect thinking away from the internal problems the org has.
careful
JoinedPosts by careful
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Any information about the special worldwide meeting update and a GB member visit in South Africa?
by iloowy.goowy indoes any one have any information about the special worldwide meeting update and a gb member visit in south africa yesterday?.
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Clergy Accountability Report Child Secual Abuse
by blondie inthere a group is fighting in the legal area to make clergy accountable to report child sexual abuse cases https://www.morningstar.com/news/pr-newswire/20250127ph04780/clergy-accountability-coalition-urges-support-as-legislature-renews-battle-over-clergy-reporting-bill-sb-5375-amid-fierce-catholic-pushback "if passed, sb 5375 would align washington with six other states—new hampshire, north carolina, oklahoma, rhode island, texas, and west virginia—that mandate clergy to report knowledge of child abuse, including information disclosed during private religious rites like confession.
washington is one of only five states where clergy are not required to report child abuse under any circumstances.
" for the past three years, the catholic church and catholic state lawmakers have fiercely opposed similar legislation, even as the church remains under investigation by the attorney general's office for clergy abuse and institutional concealment.
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careful
The whole legal issue still boils down, at least in America, to whether the desire to report CSA trumps the clergy-penitent privilege. While various R&F groups and certain politicians want change in this respect, the fact is that the current US Supreme Court, as well now as the current executive branch, will continue to support the old view that the clergy-penitent privilege, well-ensconced in American jurisprudence, should win out. All branches of the American federal government now are controlled by conservatives who love tradition and hate change in things like this. When you add the clergy pressure from conservative Protestantism (in bed with Trump), the RC church with its emphasis on the sacredness of confession, and Orthodox Jewish rabbis, a legal change in the clergy-penitent privilege vs. mandatory reporting does not look likely.
Legal change outside of the US seems far more plausible.
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Whatever Happened to Those who returned to JEHOVAH
by raymond frantz inhttps://youtu.be/3yylzu0bi_k?si=kku6r9szfenj3h9i.
whatever happened to those who came back to jehovah?
due to slow growth and the constant scrutiny from governments like norway in relation to their harsh disfellowshipping practices,last year in a move that no one expected the watchtower for the first time extended an olive branch to all those who left the organization or were disfellowshipped in the past.considering this practice was introduced over 60 years ago and with a rough estimate that around 100,000 leave jehovah’s witnesses every year the total number is in the several millions.so we should have expected millions to have accepted this invitation and rejoined the organization, the result though was an abysmal few thousands according to a recent jw update.. so now, for the first time, the latest watchtower study magazine for april 2025 gives us an inside view on how this reintegration is coming along, and it doesn't look good!.
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careful
My experience from my congregation is of that of one sister that was disfellowshipped for adultery in the past and now lives with her now worldly husband, she was reinstated immediately after this new policy came into effect because one of the elders was a close friend of hers and she has never been to a meeting since, so basically she only got herself reinstated so she can see her family again.
In practical terms the issues here must be complex. If this sister is married to some worldly guy and had been out for years, then she must have taken up celebrating Xmas, Easter, birthdays, etc., as well as various other "worldly" customs. Is she suddenly going quit all those things just because she's been reinstated? Hardly likely. No wonder she doesn't attend and thus gather to herself all the social pressure from the diverse sisters who will pry into her personal life and report her unacceptable activities!
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The Waters of Babylon Are Drying Up (Now in Denmark)
by Sea Breeze inthe drying up of babylon's waters is a profound biblical motif that illustrates the certainty of divine judgment against those who oppose god.
looks like denmark is starting to hear the outcry of wt victims.
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careful
Thx for this post, SB.
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2025**01**15**Ages For Ministerial Servants and Elders!
by Atlantis in2025-01-15-ages for ministerial servants and elders.. see page 2. .
https://pdfupload.io/docs/1b0b5c00 .
https://imgbox.com/p3a9yjmr.
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careful
They are so hard up for brothers that this should come as no surprise. It follows "logically" on baptism at 8 years old, right?
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The Curious Case of Cameroon in Africa in the World Report
by LaFrancia inwe 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?.
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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.
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Annual Report
by St George of England inthe latest report is now available for download on our favourite website!.
george.
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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.
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Jolene Chu and Ollimatti Peltonen publication
by careful injust 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.
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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?
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Luke 23:43 the NWT
by Ade inluke 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.
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careful
SBF and Earnest keep feeding the troll!
"♫ When with ever learn? ♪ When with ever learn?♫”
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Jolene Chu and Ollimatti Peltonen publication
by careful injust 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.
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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?