AllTimeJeff

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Posts by AllTimeJeff

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  74

  Jehovah's Witnesses May Have Peaked in Membership at 8 Million (+/-)

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't have all the details of their new "service year" numbers, but i have read enough on jwn to state my opinion pretty strongly.. memorial attendance for 2015 was down.while they kept saying they were going to build a bunch of new kingdom halls, and everybody is still in recovery from watchtower taking all the local money away, they say pretty much that there isn't enough money to build new kingdom halls.putting gb members on the videos at jw .

  org has allowed people to really put a face and personality to these guys and remove the mystery of how they should be such deeply spiritual serious men.

  instead they see silly thoughts about tight pants and, really everything that comes out of lett's mouth is delivered ultra-goofy, along with the money reports.. the gb lost credibility a little more with every new light that shone down, with the strangest one being "overlapping generation.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Flipper, I don't think that they'll admit old doctrines were wrong any time in the immediate future. Like water on rock, time will have its way with these clowns. I suspect a disruptive circumstance will occur that will force their hand.

  just another thought, scandal could do it. So they're investing money in hedge funds while consolidating their real estate holdings? And no one is profiting off it illegally? Or maybe it's something as benign as coveting thy neighbors wife. Regardless, that could do the trick.

  After close to 10 years away, I personally am glad I got off the boat while the hole in it was relatively small. It's still a good time to leave.
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  74

  Jehovah's Witnesses May Have Peaked in Membership at 8 Million (+/-)

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't have all the details of their new "service year" numbers, but i have read enough on jwn to state my opinion pretty strongly.. memorial attendance for 2015 was down.while they kept saying they were going to build a bunch of new kingdom halls, and everybody is still in recovery from watchtower taking all the local money away, they say pretty much that there isn't enough money to build new kingdom halls.putting gb members on the videos at jw .

  org has allowed people to really put a face and personality to these guys and remove the mystery of how they should be such deeply spiritual serious men.

  instead they see silly thoughts about tight pants and, really everything that comes out of lett's mouth is delivered ultra-goofy, along with the money reports.. the gb lost credibility a little more with every new light that shone down, with the strangest one being "overlapping generation.

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  AllTimeJeff

  OTWO, the GB is naive and foolish to underestimate all the former Bethelites and missionaries that will flood the congregations. Whereas before you could explain away the occasional disgruntled, you're going to have a hard time dealing with this sub-community that can email, research JWs on the Internet, and generally be a pain in the ass to the GB. There is zero love lost.

  This was a factor in why I left. They kicked out a 19 year old Bethelite who played Halo while I was at Gilead. He had no place to go. I heard other stories. While being mugged was the final straw, I had no delusions about wasting any more time on these guys. They would throw my ass out an African street with no way to go home? They crossed a line with me they clearly didn't know existed.

  The funny thing is, if this GB was really loving, they'd have something that the Knorr GB did cultivate to an extent, loyalty to them. It seems the word is out, GB 2.0 is loyal to no one but their power.
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  56

  One reason behind the slow steady decline of JWs

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello first of all to those that remember me.

  i'm doing well, 10 years since my missionary trip to cameroon.

  i've met a couple of goals.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Btw, the idea that this younger generation of GB is "anointed" is total bull shit on their part and a naked power grab. I thought I was anointed for a day, I really did, after my attacks in Africa. I was just upset and trying to attach meaning to it. These guys? Total yahoos. And now they're stuck with a declining publishing cult that was dependent on printing for their income. Be careful what you wish for...
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  56

  One reason behind the slow steady decline of JWs

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello first of all to those that remember me.

  i'm doing well, 10 years since my missionary trip to cameroon.

  i've met a couple of goals.

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• 

  AllTimeJeff

  Good points everyone. I'd like to stress that Knorr was a dick unless you were in his inner circle. As in all business, knowing how to network pays big, and some in the JW business did it a lot better than others. Who you knew and how you portrayed yourself was more important than who you really were.

  It seems such a silly point to discuss WT leadership, but it's a huge reason why they are where they are. I agree with you Dunedain, this is 20 years in the making. Like all businesses and organizations, the last decade introduced disruption. And I often wonder whether GB 2.1 has realized (and perhaps even admitted within their circle) that all of Franzs stuff was wrong, he really was a false prophet, and now they are stuck on the wrong side of the bell curve. Do you selfishly ride it our and make sure you're taking care of, or do you admit that "we were wrong?"

  The latest attempt at explaining the word "generation" probably provides the answer.
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  51

  My first post

  by thewalker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi, i just joined the board and wanted to present myself.. i'm active, in fact very active in congregation activities serving "where the need is great" in a foreign language congregation somewhere in western europe.

  as a young brother, i'm seen as an example as i'm doing all a good witness should do.. i had doubts years ago but i decided just to ignore them and move to another congregation to preach more.

  that worked for some years but i'm now at the exact same point.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Good post. Thanks for sharing. Just don't be afraid anymore. Fear is what keeps the flock in line, not love.

  In today's crazed instant on world, if JWs were really about love, they'd get a lot of publicity for it. They're not. They're known for door knocking, shunning, and now, allowing pedophiles to run amuck. You're free to judge whether any of that adds up.

  Don't be scared to do what's right for you either. Though a romantic thought, you don't need to stay around for others unless that's a real calling. If it isn't, and you truly want to claim a life of your own, that isn't selfish. That's smart, and you'll find that your example will help more than you realize.

  Live. Well. 👍🏻
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  56

  One reason behind the slow steady decline of JWs

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello first of all to those that remember me.

  i'm doing well, 10 years since my missionary trip to cameroon.

  i've met a couple of goals.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  AllTimeJeff

  Good thought OTWO. Knorr was a man of his time. There really is no "man of this time" for the GB to rally around.

  Magnum, thanks for the updates. It is definitely not the cult I remember. 😂 My only thought on all the recent changes is, they're running out of money. Sucks to be them.
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  40

  Creepy things jw's have said to you

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's mine: i'm 14 years old, just baptised and a old boy married elder of about 60 odd comes up to me and says " ooooooooooh!

  "purrpurr"!

  your getting such a lovely figure on you!

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  AllTimeJeff

  PS. That was creepy to me because it was the first time I sensed higher ups didn't believe this shit. I realize that's not the point of this thread.

  As far as "creepy" stuff, I can think of elder meetings and JCs where "what were you wearing at the time" and "Were you penetrated in any way" were asked of poor scared women who were indoctrinated to believe that we elders had their best interests at heart. So disgusting what these dirty old men got away with, and the harm that was inflicted.
• 
  40

  Creepy things jw's have said to you

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's mine: i'm 14 years old, just baptised and a old boy married elder of about 60 odd comes up to me and says " ooooooooooh!

  "purrpurr"!

  your getting such a lovely figure on you!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  AllTimeJeff

  Lawerence Bowen. Gilead instructor to class 119 in 2005, when giving homework for the next day on the first 2 chapters of 2 Kings. "Tomorrow, you are going to learn about the modern day fulfillment of these two chapters that you will find.......... fascinating."

  It was the way he said it. He didn't believe it at all. Almost smirking as he previewed it. Sure enough, that next day, when I was "taught" that Elijah was the prophetic modern day type of Rutherford, and that Knorr equated as a prophetic type to Elisha, and that this was what the first two chapters of 2 Kings was really about, it was then, in class, that I uttered to myself for the first time "This isn't the truth." (Still went to Africa anyway, confused as hell)

  I wonder if in 10 years, GB 3.0 will say that 2.0 was prophecied as Judas... That'd be a fun WT study...
• 
  74

  Jehovah's Witnesses May Have Peaked in Membership at 8 Million (+/-)

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't have all the details of their new "service year" numbers, but i have read enough on jwn to state my opinion pretty strongly.. memorial attendance for 2015 was down.while they kept saying they were going to build a bunch of new kingdom halls, and everybody is still in recovery from watchtower taking all the local money away, they say pretty much that there isn't enough money to build new kingdom halls.putting gb members on the videos at jw .

  org has allowed people to really put a face and personality to these guys and remove the mystery of how they should be such deeply spiritual serious men.

  instead they see silly thoughts about tight pants and, really everything that comes out of lett's mouth is delivered ultra-goofy, along with the money reports.. the gb lost credibility a little more with every new light that shone down, with the strangest one being "overlapping generation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  AllTimeJeff

  Great topic. I would like to draw attention to a couple of key bad points in time for the governing body.

  1975 came and went and nothing happened. People left. But the bills were still being payed.

  The Internet happened in the mid 90s. Slowly but surely, money has dried up. While it is true that what happened and the slowed growth after 1975 was masked because of all the growth in non-Western countries, it is clear that the governing body has been in its death throws since the Internet. All that is happened lately is that momentum is gaining and growing faster and faster. ( oh yeah, they also lost their biggest pedophile case in court. That cooked their goose. )

  What's amazing to me is, after all the demonization that the governing body has gone through to make sure that their flock doesn't research them on the Internet, now they have completely done a 180 and asking everyone to get all of their information from the Internet. It is this kind of "leadership" that demonstrates just how far gone the governing body really are from being viable.

  Nothing demonstrates more that the witnesses are indeed a business than the fact that printing is dying. Clearly that was the source of their income. The other source of wealth for the witnesses has always been their properties. Which is why you see the sale and consolidation of branch and kingdom hall properties. All the governing body is doing right now is panicking. They are hoping to buy time and settle all of their lawsuits. It seems reasonable to predict that at the time when this storm passes, you will likely see an admission that previous prophecies were in fact wrong, there will be some fake humility, and at that time they will consolidate and run their business as a smaller version of themselves, so long as they can still run it and live off the donations of their flocks.

  What they have been trying to do is hold onto the bloated memories of what they used to be in the 1960s and 70s. Clearly, they are realizing that times are changing, and that they are way behind. Less meetings. Less printing. All things lead to the website.

  All things lead to the website?! Don't they realize that information on Jehovah's Witnesses is a Google search away? Of course they do. By now they realize that that the Internet is not going away. For the sake of their survival they will change, because they can no longer hide. When they do that, it will be the ultimate admission of their hypocrisy.
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  18

  My new Religion is The Truth.

  by LAWHFol in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what exactly is religion?

  why all of the pain?

  you either love religion (usually the one you call home), you hate it.. or you're somewhere in between, and you say "let bygones be bygones".

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  AllTimeJeff

  I am not optimistic that the West will figure this out. In times of stress and crisis, it seems that fear rules, which turns off brains. When brains are turned off, one needs a person or group to do their thinking for them. Enter, "Religion", stage right.

  Btw, religions aren't being "persecuted". They're being called out and held accountable. If one chooses to believe that they'll spend eternity with Jesus in heaven, that's their choice. Just don't stand there and expect to not be called out on it. And please don't whine about it. Your rights are not going away at all, save one: God willing, you'll no longer be allowed to inflict your beliefs on others in the name of the law. Your "rights" to hijack, define, and inflict your preferred meanings on words like "love" and "marriage" are gone. That's not persecution. That's taking away your "rights" to persecute others. Sounds fair to me.