Frank Buckles was 13 years old in 1914.
“Jesus was obviously speaking about those who were old enough to witness with understanding what took place when the 'last days' began. ... Even if we presume that youngsters 15 years of age would be perceptive enough to realize the import of what happened in 1914, it would still make the youngest of 'this generation' nearly 70 years old today.”
Awake! 1968 October 8 p.13
every so often it is mentioned that donations are decreasing.
i have never heard that directly from the publications or from the platform.
this is the only place where i have seen this claim.. is there anything factual to this?
As I've said before, the facts that you are looking for are not available to the general public. That doesn't mean that a very strong case cannot be made that the Watchtower is not in as strong an economic position as it has been in the past. A person can be convicted of murder in a court of law with circumstantial evidence only. Circumstantial evidence doesn't make it a fact, but it's valuable evidence nonetheless.
I don't assert anything about their financial situation as fact. That would clearly be a misrepresentation. However, the anecdotal and circumstantial evidence all swing in favor of a weakened financial position for the Watchtower. Just exactly how badly they're hurting is another matter. That's harder to determine.
If your point is that people shouldn't speak about these matters as absolute facts, then you make a valid point. But there is no evidence on your side if you're trying to argue that the Watchtower is in a strong financial position. That position could only be based upon pure conjecture on your part
every so often it is mentioned that donations are decreasing.
i have never heard that directly from the publications or from the platform.
this is the only place where i have seen this claim.. is there anything factual to this?
As I've said before, the facts that you are looking for are not available to the general public. That doesn't mean that a very strong case cannot be made that the Watchtower is not in as strong an economic position as it has been in the past. A person can be convicted of murder in a court of law with circumstantial evidence only. Circumstantial evidence doesn't make it a fact, but it's valuable evidence nonetheless.
I don't assert anything about their financial situation as fact. That would clearly be a misrepresentation. However, the anecdotal and circumstantial evidence all swing in favor of a weakened financial position for the Watchtower. Just exactly how badly they're hurting is another matter. That's harder to determine.
If your point is that people shouldn't speak about these matters as absolute facts, then you make a valid point. But there is no evidence on your side if you're trying to argue that the Watchtower is in a strong financial position. That position could only be based upon pure conjecture on your part
every so often it is mentioned that donations are decreasing.
i have never heard that directly from the publications or from the platform.
this is the only place where i have seen this claim.. is there anything factual to this?
proplog:
What are you trying to prove? What's your point? You are guilty of the same thing you're accusing everyone else of: drawing conclusions without any proof. But instead of using the very strong circumstantial evidence to form a reasonable conclusion, you are coming to the opposite conclusion. What gives?
If I hear that Wal-Mart is closing 5,000 stores nationwide, is laying off employees all over the place and raising their prices, does it make any sense to conclude that they are not having financial difficulties? Quite frankly, your analysis makes no sense. Are you being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative or do you actually believe that donations are not decreasing?
every so often it is mentioned that donations are decreasing.
i have never heard that directly from the publications or from the platform.
this is the only place where i have seen this claim.. is there anything factual to this?
If you want definitive proof, you'd have to look at their books, and that's not going to happen. The only "evidence" the outside world can use to gauge their economic strength is circumstantial in nature. I can't offer you a "smoking gun" any more than the next guy. It's going to take a lawsuit and a court order compelling them to disclose their financial situation in order to know for sure what's going on in Watchtower land.
every so often it is mentioned that donations are decreasing.
i have never heard that directly from the publications or from the platform.
this is the only place where i have seen this claim.. is there anything factual to this?
There are no official figures that I am aware of. If their revenues are indeed decreasing, I would expect them to keep very quiet about that. That's not exactly a sign of "Jehovah's blessing." There is very strong circumstantial evidence, however, that does suggest that their revenues are decreasing. The quality of the literature has been cheapened in the last 10 to 15 years. The books are now soft bound, even the Bibles. There used to be several books released at the district conventions, now there is only one being offered. The Awake magazine was cut back to a monthly as opposed to a bi-monthly magazine. The new JW-only version of the Watchtower is going to debut next year, which will likely further reduce to total amount of magazines being published. Apparently a few hundred Bethelites were just laid off from NY Bethel. It would be pretty naive to think that move wasn't designed to avoid paying the health expenses of the aging Bethel population.
I suppose it could be possible that these cost-cutting moves are not being motivated by a lack of revenues, but I doubt that. The growth of the religion is coming from the underdeveloped world and from poor immigrant populations living in the developed lands. Their membership is decreasing in the first world. Many here have speculated that the donations from the members that are in a position to contribute are decreasing while the poorer members are unable to cover the cost of the literature being printed. While there are no official figures that I am aware of, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming that the Watchtower is having to cut back expenses because the amount of money coming in is not enough to meet their operating expenses.
in the 1950's i remember they used to say what they were disfellowshipped for, whether it be fornication, stealing, etc.
then it was disfellowshipped for "loose conduct", then "conduct not becoming a christian.
" then it was simply "disfellowshipped" or "disassociated.
The change in announcement style is also a public relations move so that they can say that no one is expelled from the congregation. People by their actions "choose" to not be a part of the religion any longer. Yeah right!
a coworker and friend whose family are jw went to the district convention with his jw wife and kids.. he said that about the only thing he got out of friday's session was this hilarious statement in the title.. here's the story-.
the speaker says, .
"why should we trust the faithful and discreet slave?.
Oh. Okay. That makes sense now.
the following figures are from the australian census 2006 as found at http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/census (30th june 2007).
very interesting to see that the number of people admitting to being jehovah's witnesses has fallen over the last 10 years by 3%, whilst baptists have grown by 7% and mormons by 18%.
looks like jws are not the only ones preaching afterall.. .
I wonder what it's going to take for the WTBTS to wake up and realize that their preaching methods are outdated, useless and a waste of time. I think it might take a few years of negative growth before any changes are implemented.
