i bethelite sent this email out - can't really give out names.
we wrote these figures as quickly as possible, but could not keep up 100%).
you get to check these figures out when you get your 2014 yearbook.
If they have the "worldwide" tallied up already, then they have it tallied up for all the individual countries also. I know for the worldwide, poor and third world areas will always have their increases, the earthly paradise "soon" will always have such an appeal to such desperate areas, and individuals.
Anxious to see U.S. figures and Europe. I know statistics can "lie," but sometimes the facts still leak through.
at the moment i am still going to all the meetings (for family reasons).. we have at the moment 1 df person who regularly comes (already df for 1.5 years).. when i opened him the door i always greeted him but in the hall i didn't as others could see it.. now i decided that my conscience can not bear this any longer.
i will greet him also in the hall or when others are around.. if any elders notice it and talk to me, i tell them my conscience does not allow to not greet that person.. did any of you do that too and have some experiences?.
You are too loving for the WTS,,you will be counselled. Because you are going ahead of the organization, and not "waiting on Jehovah."
can anyone here, lay person or professional describe or give insights into the effects the following has on a child?.
when my friend, the middle child of 3 siblings, was five years old, his mother took him by the hand and led him to the house where his father was having an affair with another woman.
she opened the door to confront her husband who was actually in the act of having sex with the other woman, and deliberately exposed her young son to this drama.. .
Absolutely horrible!! Even movies with such content are forbidden for such ages, let alone for something 'real.' What a hateful, despicable mom to impose such a thing on her child.
an average of five kingdom halls being constructed daily, almost 8 million brothers and sisters, dissemination of bible literature in 595 languages, 111,795 congregations worldwide, distribution of 179 million bibles available in 116 languages, 239 countries where jehovah's witnesses have a presence, etc.. need i go on?.
on the other hand........... crisis of conscience, freeminds, the awaa, jw.net, ummmmmm........hmmm........idk six screens or something?
not exactly working out for you guys.
Is your number of worldwide Congs. 111,795 for 2013? Because this shows a little higher than shown on the 2012 Service Year Report. Just wondering.
The Seventh Day Adventists also have higher stats than JWs. Soooooooo,,,,,,,,,,,?
i know that this has been discussed in the past but i wanted to get some fresh opinions.
there are many out there that recognize the "rot" that is in watchtower but still feel that there is a "wholesome" side to it and are trying to bring about change or reform from within.. in 2002 when the rose colored glasses came off for me and i truly started to understand ttatt, i still felt that there was some redemable aspects of the organization.. i felt that russell had some doctrinal things right.
i don't feel like that anymore.
My first response is, No!
Now, they have "revised" their (Holy) New World Translation. I assume they did this "revised" edition and work for a need or reason. Some revision is needed but what? Will these revised words help them to 'revise' or 'reform' their teachings? But for their good? Or, to a stronger hold on their people/workers? Are they secure enough to work within truth and love, or control?
My second response is, No! Not toward the good!
i just read this feom 4jehovah.org.
there is a historical basis for the december 25th date of christs birth.
justin martyr (100-165 a.d.) wrote marcus aurelius that jesus was born at bethlehem as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing.
Here's average weather in Bethlehem for December. No freezing temperatures noted. Sheep and shepherds would be fine in those temps.
Check accuweather.com, for Bethlehem in December. Shows average temps, "historical evidence" averages.
Sorry, can't do a copy & paste. Maybe someone here can put on here for convenience for others?
and possibly preparing for a life with a pension plan before it is to late.
reminder: that's the generation that was told they never will get old in this system.. .
thus, the kick in the butt from wtbts (wt, january 15, 2014, pages 22-26):.
And the GB have no personal experience on taking care of aging parents, nor raising children.
Maybe the GB now are picking on their 50+ year olds because that's about all they're going to have left. Most JW youth are seeing the reality of the JW dilemmas.
The GB will dump more and more on the ones remaining.
after some considerable thought i have decided that i will no longer post on this forum because i want to return to jehovah.
thank you for all the kindness and many interesting discussions over the years.
i wish you all well in the future and the decisions you make.
Very sad for him. I hope he will come back, if this is truly from him. "Fitting in" somewhere, is more about "fitting' into your own heart and mind with personal honesty. There is such an unhappy sound of a 'coercion' and misery in his opening post.
i can't understand why the governing body aka fds has to deside about using a tablet by the speaker at the platform.. why using a tablet anyway at the platform?.
just a toy to keep the youth inside the congregation.. gorby.
Seems in this day and age, that people can take "computer" classes and with their tablets, and don't have to go to an actual class. Of course, they "are not to forsake the gathering of each other." But would seem many would gradually develop into a convenience of that in time. Then again, the WTS knows that their members need to have the elders in their face for the needed control.
i found a copy of this book in my childs room at my home.
i am not a jw but their other parent is.. .
should i be concerned.
Here in Arizona, I went to a court with a non-JW mom (I met through this site in fact) who went to court about concern that her 3 children could be baptized JW. The judge asked the JW father what age the JWs baptize,,the father said "at age of maturity." The judge asked "at what age is that?" The father said that the child is asked several questions by the elders to determine if they were mature enough. Surprisingly. the judge said then that 'he' would question the children also to determine if they were mature." The judge also required that the mother should receive 90 day notice before any baptism of the children and then she would have to inform the court.
A year later I contacted her to see how things were going. She was happy to say that the kids weren't even going to meetings with their dad. Sounds like to her that the father wasn't going to meetings either, at least not when the kids were with him.
I had never heard of a judge requiring that order before.
The non-JW mom also requested that only the 'father' could have a personal Bible Study with the children and not any elders nor anyone else in the cong. The judge granted that also.
The mom also requested the kids not go to meetings at the Kingdom Hall. Of course, the judge didn't grant that. But in all, I was amazed at what she did accomplish.
