Posts by sspo

13

JW- Mormons- Seven-day adventist The more they preach- fewer come in

by sspo in

keeping members a challenge for lds church .

mormon myth: the belief that the church is the fastest-growing faith in the world doesn't hold up .

by peggy fletcher stack .

sspo

seeker4

Last congr. , it had 154 pubs but usually on a sunday at most there were 120 in attendance and as you well know they count also a week old baby since they feel he is learning.and listening to God's word.

Really then if you eliminate all the babies and unbaptized ones the numbers would be very low.

For decades book study and TMS and SM were always low and every visit of the CO, the elders got the blame for not trying to make theses meetings more interesting and lively so that the friends would show up and don't forget the shepherding program so we could get these people at the meeting.

How about blaming the Society for coming up with boring information, going over the same book over and over again or listening to 2 sister going over a 4 minute talk ( how often did we use that info). Did anyone ever pay attention to a Wat. and awake presentation from the stage? How could you remember a 4 minute presentation and use it in the field?

Even the Public Talks, for those that have been around for decades we have heard the same talks over and over again, no wonder many feel that the meetings are boring and stay home.

13

JW- Mormons- Seven-day adventist The more they preach- fewer come in

by sspo in

keeping members a challenge for lds church .

mormon myth: the belief that the church is the fastest-growing faith in the world doesn't hold up .

by peggy fletcher stack .

sspo

Keeping members a challenge for LDS church
Mormon myth: The belief that the church is the fastest-growing faith in the world doesn't hold up

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune

Keeping members a challenge for LDS church
Mormon myth: The belief that the church is the fastest-growing faith in the world doesn't hold up

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune



	Mormons sing hymns in Independence Square in Accra, Ghana, during Gordon B. Hinckley's 1998 visit. (Rick Egan/Tribune file photos )

The claim that Mormonism is the fastest-growing faith in the world has been repeated so routinely by sociologists, anthropologists, journalists and proud Latter-day Saints as to be perceived as unassailable fact.
The trouble is, it isn't true.
Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has more than 12 million members on its rolls, more than doubling its numbers in the past quarter-century. But since 1990, other faiths - Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal groups - have grown much faster and in more places around the globe.
And most telling, the number of Latter-day Saints who are considered active churchgoers is only about a third of the total, or 4 million in the pews every Sunday, researchers say.
For a church with such a large, dedicated missionary corps constantly seeking to spread its word, conversion numbers in recent years tell an unexpected story.
According to LDS-published statistics, the annual number of LDS converts declined from a high of 321,385 in 1996 to 241,239 in 2004. In the 1990s, the church's growth rate went from 5 percent a year to 3 percent.
By comparison, the Seventh-day Adventist Church reports it has added more than 900,000 adult converts each year since 2000 (an average growth of about 5 percent), bringing the total membership to 14.3 million. The Assemblies of God now claims more than 50 million members worldwide, adding 10,000 new members every day.

I found it interesting that both the JW and mormons after spending so much time in evangelizing they are not doing as well as Seven-day ad. and other religions
.

31

No to soaps.

by Moomin in

during the time leading up to my baptism and even more so afterwards, my study conductor and her friend were always telling me how i shouldn't be watching the soaps.

(i had mentioned to them at some point how i enjoy watching emmerdale and coronation street).

they described them as being unwholesome and encouraging of immoral ways.

sspo

In one of the watchtower article, i beleive it was in the early eighties that they talked about soap opera and they had an example of a sister hooked on them, coming home early from service to watch them.

Eventually she fell into immorality because she was comparing her husband to those on the soap and how he was not as romantic and good looking, fantisize so much until she fell to adultery. What about the other 50k to 60k that also fall to immorality and other wrongdoing, WHAT ARE THEY WATCHING?

Of course at that time i used to use that example in one of my public talk.

SORRY

10

Made up ideas by "the Society"

by Anomalous One in

.

interestingly enough, the homepage of www.watchtower.org has the gall post a link ripping the trinity because, if true, "it should be clearly and consistently presented in the bible.

guess they don't like anyone infringing on their rights to create.

sspo

144000 going to heaven, let's see how many scriptures we can find to back that up, only place , Revelation written in signs and symbols.

15

Open Letter To The Society

by Outaservice in

jw
friends

dear brothers,.

you might want to consider this letter in the 'questions from readers' section of the watchtower.. my question is this: i would like to join the catholic church and at the same time keep my standing and position in the congregation!

the reason being is that i have heard that the vatican has a very good and complete library which i would like to avail myself of.

sspo

Hey I like that, it would be interesting to see what their response would be.

Don't forget no one can DF the GB. They have immunity since they belong to a differnt kingdom.

10

Watchtower Ironies - When I was a babe

by Mysterious in

jw
friends

anyone else find it amusing how many of the things they do are ironic?

they talk about "babes" that eat spiritual milk and not solid food, and yet their publications are milk.

they never teach people to think for themselves (chew) at all.

sspo

What did Karl klien of the GB say as quoted Ray Franz

That the society is constantly sucking from the harlot breast.They have 1000's of books written by the scholars of what they call babylon the great.

Is there any scholar at Bethel. The only one that came close, i hear was Fred Franz but if i'm not mistaken he did not have much schooling himself.

17

watchtower press release

by candidlynuts in

this irks me.. a press release means the watchtower sent it to the paper right?.

it not only pushes child baptism it makes a celebrity of them.. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/cu0608/s00241.htm.

youths who are bucking the trend.

sspo

Back in 70's i saw a few 6-7 years old getting baptized, i would like to know from the elders that used to approve these baptism if that was not infant baptism?

I wonder what happened to those kids when turned teenagers?

73

Circuit Overseers

by Outaservice in

.

our congregation had some of the best circuit overseers money could buy!.

outaservice

sspo

Never seen a circuit overseer and wife refuse money or a good meal.

On the other hand i have to give them credit for doing what they do along wih their wives.

go out in service 5 days a week whether they feel like it or not.

On the other hand they themselves would say that they would rather do circuit work than be an elder in a cong.

Elders have to make a living, deal with their families such as wife and kids and publishers problems, work on talks,shepherding,judicial problems.

The CO tries to give assistance to the elders if they experincing problems but at the end of the week he takes off and the elders are stuck with the problems.

12

Why is it we can't let go and get on?

by restrangled in

jw
friends

dear all,.

why can we not get on with our lives and let go of what we have all been through?

why are we all still so angry and frustrated?

sspo

About 7 years ago, my best friend faded along with wife and kids.

He moved to a new area, bought a house and never went to the KH again, never got DF or Da and he has done real well. Went Back to his "worldly family and friends"

Does not know much at all about 607/1914 / The UN scandal and all the other issues that we constantly talk about, so ignorance has been good to him, he does not feel cheated and deceived and when he meets other witnesses he can freely talk to them and they treat as a freind.

The difference that many on this board have lost family due to DA and Df and that hurts like hell because often you are left alone in the world.

On this board, we are also reminded constantly of other going thru the injustices of the Watchtower and we feel their pain and our own anger flares up.

I do beleive that a break from this board is also good, so far in my case i have not been able to do it because of the turmoil in my own life that the "truth" is putting me thru.

21

Women in the Org.

by snarf in

does anyone know of any links or have any info on women's role in the congregation and why the jw are either right or wrong?

i always felt they were wrong, but it was always just a gut feeling.

does anyone have any info on if any women held positions of authority during the bible times concerning a congregation.

sspo

Always wondered if Paul forbade women in teaching in the cong. why is it that they can give talks in the school

are they not teaching? The difference on the #4 talk between sisters and brothers is that the sisters are sitting down.

1 tim 2:11

Let a woman learn in silence with full submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence

Why does not the GB follow the counsel given by paul? They pick and choose