Doubting Bro

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Posts by Doubting Bro

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  8

  If JW's went the way of the WCG

  by startingover in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i had a discussion with my loyal jw wife about what she would do if the jw's did an about fact like the worldwide church of god.

  i found this blog after our discussion and i really thought the comments were expressed very well and described exactly how i feel leaving the jws.. http://ironwolf.dangerousgames.com/exwcg/.

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  Doubting Bro

  Wow - just substitute WTS for WCG and bingo! Interesting to me that they use many of the phrases that JWs use.
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  88

  10 Years Japan losses 5,400 Publishers and 638 Kingdom Halls! Why?

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  japan had a handful of witnesses after ww 2....this number skyrocketed to 222,912 by 1998!

  then something happened.

  publisher figures didn't stop, they dropped by thousands over the next decade!.

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  Doubting Bro

  (Hopefully, that's thank you very much possible-san)!

  What you are describing is very similar to what we see in the United States. I would imagine the reason why our numbers haven't fallen off like Japan's is because of the large growth in the immigrant community.

  We look forward to hearing more from you and others in Japan.
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  426

  One of the Governing Body had a stroke yesterday

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on may 19th, theodore jaracz had a stroke.

  he's in very serious condition in the hospital.. that's all the information i have for now.. barb.

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  Doubting Bro

  I'm sure they'll just move another hardliner in to replace him. The thing with the WTS, no individual counts. They just plug someone else in an keep moving. Cults have no concern for ANY individual.
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  22

  Is there a GROWING AWARENESS among Jehovah's Witnesses that SOMETHING is REALLY WRONG with the Organization?

  by BonaFide in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hope i can explain this clearly.

  years ago, we all knew what a child molester was.

  but there were a lot of misconceptions, mishandled situations in and out of the congregations, and just a general non-awareness of the seriousness and pervasiveness of pedophiles.. not anymore.

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  Doubting Bro

  I agree with lwt. There is always going to be a small minority that will awaken. Of those numbers, some will walk away and others will hang around for various reasons with family being the #1.

  BF - You may be transferring your awarness of the problems with the org to the average person in the congregation. I have a tendancy to do that as well because I can't see how anyone could possibly NOT see the issues. But, then I remember when I was a true believer not all that long ago.

  Did I get any smarter? No, just decided to honestly question a few things which lead to a very quick conclusion that not only are there serious problems with the WTS, they've never been God channel.

  I do think that the average JW is much different than the average JW of 20 years ago. The generation change in 95 killed whatever urgency there was in the movement. It took a while to bear fruit, but the apathy has certainly set in now.

  Now, if you want to talk about the teenage to young adult population - I think we're seeing a different story. They're the ones that are leaving in droves either on their own or being df'ed. And if the WTS doesn't do something to stem that tide, they'll begin to see numbers decrease as their loyal ones die off.
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  22

  Apostate CO?

  by Marmite in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what would you think if a co said the following things from the platform?

  during a talk entitled the spirit and the bride keep on saying "come" he goes off at a tangent talking about how from 1920 to 1925 we said "millions now living will never die".

  he went into great detail about how at first the title was "may" but was changed to"will".

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  Doubting Bro

  I've got to say that is highly unusual. I did have a CO who used to say some crazy things complaining about the org, making fun of previous leaders and giving me his take on various doctrines and prophesy. However, as odd as he was, he'd never say that stuff from the platform. The only time he would mention any of his non-borg approved comments were when it was just us. Even if I turned him in, his credibility would trump mine so I guess he felt like he could say whatever he wanted to.
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  88

  10 Years Japan losses 5,400 Publishers and 638 Kingdom Halls! Why?

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  japan had a handful of witnesses after ww 2....this number skyrocketed to 222,912 by 1998!

  then something happened.

  publisher figures didn't stop, they dropped by thousands over the next decade!.

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  Doubting Bro

  Possible-san,

  We really appreciate your contribution to the board. I have a few questions for you:

  1 - Do the Japanese JWs practice shunning the same way that it's done in the West?

  2 - Are there large family groups of JWs or are there mainly just first generation converts?

  3 - How many children stay in? Here in the US, about 1/2 to 2/3rds actually leave.

  I see your point regarding converts looking to the internet for information prior to moving forward with studies. I think to a large degree, that's what we're seeing here in the US, especially among the English speaking population (although I'm sure its starting to be true with the Spanish speaking population as well).

  The problems facing the WTS across the globe are 1) horrible retention rate (which frankly they've always had) coupled with 2) a slowdown in new converts (which is a fairly new development). You can ignore the current JWs if your conversion rate is fast enough to make up for those leaving or being tossed out. However, now that converts have slowed down in the developed countries where the bulk of the revenues are coming from, those going out the backdoor are starting to show in the numbers.
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  11

  Excuse me, but this is sickening (DA Contributions)

  by winstonchurchill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a letter from the wts was just read to our congregation: during upcoming district assemblies, there will be credit card terminal available so people can donate using their credit/debit cards.. maybe it's old news, but i just found out last monday, and i find it terribly disturbing.

  the wts/jw's is becoming more and more mainstream, not different at all form those churches that are only after your money... oh, wait!

  maybe tey are only after our money.. .

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  Doubting Bro

  The ironic thing for me is that I've heard several times speakers talking about how "Christendom is so greedy that they have even installed ATMs in their churchs". Now, they're doing the same thing on the DC level. I had no idea this was already happening in Europe. They must have used the European market as a test market before rolling it out in the US.

  Honestly, how long before they institute tithing?? You know somewhere that idea has been floated about.

  It's all about the Benjamins!
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  19

  Is it true that a Gilead missionary murdered two other missionaries?

  by BonaFide in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a missionary, i lived in several missionary homes (graduates of mts sometimes lived there with gilead grads).. so of course at first we were all formal and nice.

  in time, we kind of got on each others' nerves.. and at first we all told these great experiences from mts and gilead.. after a few months, those stories lost their luster, and we all started to tell the inside scoop about our congregations, bethel, etc.. so one of the gilead missionary couples told me that while they were in gilead, brother jack redford told them confidentially that there had been a murder in a missionary home a few years ago.

  i seem to remember it was in the south pacific.

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  Doubting Bro

  Thanks for the confirmation Barb.
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  40

  No More Work on Saturdays at Bethels Worldwide

  by Lost-In-Translation in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a letter was read at tonight's meeting announcing that the governing body has decided to stop work on saturdays at all bethels worldwide.

  bethel workers are encouraged to now spend saturdays with their local congregation in field service.

  the new arrangement goes into effect june, 2009.. what do you think are the motives for such a change?.

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  Doubting Bro

  I think they've significantly reduced the amount of literature being produced just with all the changes that have been made in the last few years - 1 awake per month instead of 2, 1 big run of WTs and 1 much smaller members only WT, less reprints of books for the book study since the books are covered much slowly now due to the change in the meetings.

  There's really no reason to make those volunteers work the extra 4 hours. I wonder if they aren't going to eliminate one of the magazines. I think the next to go would be the public WT. They could just produce Awake at 1 issue to offer to the public and have the WT as a members only rag.

  Next up will be tract campaigns increasing that will take the place of any book campaigns. I honestly don't pay attention to the offers of the month any longer but next time I pick up a KM, I'll take note of what those offers are. It used to almost always be a book, but that could easily change.

  It's all about saving money and utilizing assets most efficiently. I agree with loosie that more layoffs must be in the works.
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  38

  Elder says that there're apostates who are organized in Spain

  by cattails in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  an elder said that there are apostates organized in spain to make the sale of the spanish branch money go to the congregations that provided the funds.

  he has photos of the place from an email and had heard this from a circuit overseer who just visited there.

  has anyone heard confirmation of this?.

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  Doubting Bro

  I'm honestly surprised they still worked 1/2 day on Sat. Just look at the reduction in the number of WTs & Awakes they've done in the last couple of years. They went from 2 full WT runs of 20m or so world wide (40m total) to 1 full WT run (20m) + 1 members only run (7m) = 27m or a 33% reduction. Awake production was cut by 50% (2 issues monthly to one).

  Also, the change in the CBS makes it so they don't need to print as many books since its taking a whole lot long to muddle through those puppies. More savings!

  I would love to compare how literature placements are doing vs 10 years ago. My bet is that they have been pretty flat.

  Awaretoday - have you heard how many bethelites are being laid-off. I think we knew there were phases that started a few years ago. I thought they were pretty close to where they wanted to be now. Also, welcome to the board!!