Posts by OnTheWayOut

17

A Total Waste of Time "In The Field"

by OnTheWayOut in

so i am walking down the street in a spanish neighborhood and two men, obviously jw's, are standing between houses writing furiously on their tiny slips.

i am nearly a block away approaching and they just kept writing the whole time i walked up.

i finally arrive to pass them and they are still both writing.

OnTheWayOut

Village Idiot, I do like that they bother people less.

Sir82, yes. Elders have important things to do. No time to talk to people.

Thanks you, John Aquila.

Brand New, me too.

westiebilly11, so true. A further waste of time- hold up the best time-wasters as examples. I wonder if, due to the cost of literature, platform skits at conventions will include wonderful examples of cart-witnesses being there all day to "save" people with the holy literature, but apparently Satan got to everyone that day and they placed nothing, but earned their way into heaven for the 8 hours apiece at the cart. (Oh, and they did not get skin cancer because they had umbrellas.)

tim310rd, that is my actual picture. I look hispanic. I get what you are saying, but there was definitely no attempt whatsoever to talk to me or other, clearly Spanish-speaking people walking by. This time was being counted in completing a door-to-door territory, not reaching people on the street. Reaching people on the street is for others, the cart-witnesses......well......for cart-witnesses to be out there where the angels can guide the right-hearted people to approach them and interrupt their conversation and ask for a good magazine or brochure that will wind up bringing them into the truth by it's magic quality of being just what they needed to read.

17

A Total Waste of Time "In The Field"

by OnTheWayOut in

so i am walking down the street in a spanish neighborhood and two men, obviously jw's, are standing between houses writing furiously on their tiny slips.

i am nearly a block away approaching and they just kept writing the whole time i walked up.

i finally arrive to pass them and they are still both writing.

OnTheWayOut

So I am walking down the street in a Spanish neighborhood and two men, obviously JW's, are standing between houses writing furiously on their tiny slips. I am nearly a block away approaching and they just kept writing the whole time I walked up. I finally arrive to pass them and they are still both writing. One looks up and says "Buenos Dias" to me and I walked by. No followup, no attempt to share their message with me.

I won't even bother saying how they were wasting time because they weren't bringing anything of value to the "householders." Let's forget about that and focus on how "productive" they were.

I am pretty sure they were taking vigorous "Not-at-Home" or "Not-Interested" notes. They were working doors, not people. I was a person and not a door, so no need to say anything to me. And I am sure that on Friday morning, a huge percentage of the doors would go onto their slip of paper as not-at-home. If they spent long enough writing vigorous notes, they could be sure not to ring too many more bells before time for a break. I am sure after taking their vigorous notes, someone will call again and try again and find the majority still not-at-home. After several JW's count several hours in that territory, the notes will be thrown away and the territory will be marked as "worked" until several months or even a year from now when it is started all over again.

I imagine this time around, they will speak to less people than the number of hours they count and the number of old magazines they "place" at the unanswered doors will make them proud of their service to Jehovah and feeling guilty enough to drop a few bucks in the box. Those old mags will go straight to the junkmail pile which ends up in the trash or maybe straight to the trash. In the old days when there was the tiniest bit of substance to their reports on beetles in rural Africa or waterfalls in North America, a child might have cut out the pictures. Now, there's not too much of that in there. Meanwhile, several people were walking on that street not being bothered by these evangelistic diligent note-takers.

What a joke they have become.

62

WT is shorting literature orders by congregation with a problem contributing enough for literature $3500 just for mags

by oppostate in

at our meeting last night there was a talk about having run out of magazines for the last three months.

it's expected this will continue to happen.

the "branch" has not sent the requested number of magazines.

OnTheWayOut

It's all available online. The elders can print the mags for the members who don't have access.

WTS can only wave this stuff in people's faces. They can't really enforce anything on them. When they cancel an order, close a Kingdom Hall, send the C.O. with a message- it hurts a bit, but the members start skipping recruiting when they have no product, start skipping meetings when it's a longer drive, start caring less what the C.O. has to say.

75

Our hall is asking for money...

by thedepressedsoul in

i guess the branch isn't happy with the amount being sent each month since we are way lower than our loan amount.

we now have to another financial survey to see the max amount that can be given.

it is "encouraged" for all to be in attendance and give much forethought and consideration to the amount you can donate each month.

OnTheWayOut

This whole pledge thing is going to back fire on them big time and dry up any desire to give as the unconscious of even the more devote worshipers moves them to give less and less.

I so disagree. You are somewhat correct in that members will give less and less as they realize they don't have to. It happened with literature and it will happen with donations just for the good of the worldwide work they think they are giving to.

BUT

Watchtower already took tons of money and all the Kingdom Halls. They already won. Some congregations will give more than they think they need to and many will give barely what they think they need to. Sure, the rest won't give as much, and as time goes on, this monthly amount will go down. As the money goes down, they can simply not remodel Kingdom Halls and the local members will do their best to keep up the place without LDC. They will close halls that they feel are not profitable.

Personally, I look at Scientology and see Watchtower going the same way. Scientology has the money and is not really concerned about retaining and recruiting so many new members. Watchtower will keep the money and suffer with less members.

75

Our hall is asking for money...

by thedepressedsoul in

i guess the branch isn't happy with the amount being sent each month since we are way lower than our loan amount.

we now have to another financial survey to see the max amount that can be given.

it is "encouraged" for all to be in attendance and give much forethought and consideration to the amount you can donate each month.

OnTheWayOut

If the vote is truly anonymous, I am torn on putting ZERO down or putting a high number down and then not actually donating it.

If they know who filled out what, I would write NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WHAT I GIVE!

29

My Parents Lost Forever?

by Hold Me-Thrill Me in

jw
friends

my father served in the second world war.

he served in the south pacific.

he loved his time in the military and my mother was more than supporting.

OnTheWayOut

You can put emotional spins on it, but does that change reality? Does a sincere JW make what he believes correct, or does emotional satisfaction in one's beliefs make them true?

Good people, bad people, people who are indifferent. YES, I believe they lived their lives and are gone.

It's really not even a "BELIEF." Until otherwise demonstrated, there is no afterlife or resurrection and dead is dead. The burden of proof is with those that choose to believe something other that what we have seen.

25

Crises of conscience

by Deltawave in

i have just read the book crises of conscience in less than 3days!

i could not put it down!

even in front of my jw wife and her family.

OnTheWayOut

Hey, congratulations on your new-found freedom of mind. Stick with your decisions.

My first real book that "they" wouldn't want me to read was Steve Hassan's COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL. Ray Franz' COC was next.

In both cases, I was glued to the book just like you. It was about 9 years ago, and I had never even heard anything about Ray Franz and his being kicked out.

I think the awesome thing about COC is that Ray was in the Governing Body, and he was a writer for Watchtower. So he knew how to write in such a non-controversial way without bitterness and heavy opinions. Plus he knew what they were doing at the Ivory Tower.

I tried writing about Jehovah's Witnesses, and it was just a bitter read loaded with heavy judgement. I had to abandon it.

10

It's weird what happen to your mind when you leave the Borg

by James Mixon in

a visit to my ophthalmologist yesterday.

he told me i have 22-20 vision, so .

i ask if i have 20-20 vision why do i need glasses to read the news paper.. he laugh and told me most people need glasses after they reach 45 years of age,.

OnTheWayOut

When I read, I have to take off my glasses that help me see distant things more clearly. I have weak reading glasses but don't really need them for my smartphone and laptop, but definitely use them for reading print.

I get your point about Noah or Enoch, but a believer will say there just wasn't much at all to read. (And a JW will say how they were closer to perfection.)

29

"do not go beyond the things written"

by stuckinarut2 in

thanks to bu2b and splash who mentioned this quote in another thread!.

but i thought it deserved a thread all of its own, such is the impact of this:.

the very best example of going beyond the things written comes from a 2008 watchtower.

OnTheWayOut

That example clearly shows that the leaders expect that what "is written" includes the Watchtower publications.

10

I Went Into "Cult Mode" The Other Day..

by humblepotato in

jw
friends

if you recall, i'm just coming to grips with ttatt and atheism after a few years of doubts.

made a long post around here, a while ago, talking about the very subject.

but, anyways.... so the other day, my wife was telling me how she was just exhausted and "peopled out.

OnTheWayOut

You have to learn to make her feel good about skipping. Whatever works for you. Make her a nice dinner off the grill or take her to a nice restaurant that day. Buy her flowers. Here's one: make a massage appointment. Plenty more things I am sure you know that would help her feel good.