Dis-member... that is a good point, many JWs visit the site through various devices; (1) at home, (2) at work, (3) on a tablet (4) on a cell phone ... etc. So just that person could be considered as 4 unique visitors in one month! On the other hand, if a household has only one computer with 4 active members, they will all be counted as one unique visitor. So, I believe this should balance out.
StephaneLaliberte
JoinedPosts by StephaneLaliberte
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Only 1 out of 6 JWs (and friends) visit the JW.ORG web site!
by StephaneLaliberte inin a 2013 article currently on jw.org (reference 1), the jws bragged about how their website is translated into 300 languages and that it reaches, according to alexa statistics, 890,000 unique users every day.. what about the monthly stats?
the site websitetrafficspy.com (reference 2), which draws its statistics from alexa, reports that there are an estimated 3.2 million unique visitors every month for jw.org.*.
since the 2013 memorial had an attendance of 19.2 million (reference 3), this could be understood as 1/6 of the jws and their friends visited the site on a monthly basis.. this is not unexpected as the internet itself is used only by 39% of the planet at this time (reference 4).. hence, the number of languages in which the website is translated does not offer any guaranty as to its information being accessed or even be accessible at all to most of the planets population.. .
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Only 1 out of 6 JWs (and friends) visit the JW.ORG web site!
by StephaneLaliberte inin a 2013 article currently on jw.org (reference 1), the jws bragged about how their website is translated into 300 languages and that it reaches, according to alexa statistics, 890,000 unique users every day.. what about the monthly stats?
the site websitetrafficspy.com (reference 2), which draws its statistics from alexa, reports that there are an estimated 3.2 million unique visitors every month for jw.org.*.
since the 2013 memorial had an attendance of 19.2 million (reference 3), this could be understood as 1/6 of the jws and their friends visited the site on a monthly basis.. this is not unexpected as the internet itself is used only by 39% of the planet at this time (reference 4).. hence, the number of languages in which the website is translated does not offer any guaranty as to its information being accessed or even be accessible at all to most of the planets population.. .
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StephaneLaliberte
wow.... no posts.... am I the only one who sees this as a big deal? They just spent the month of august preaching the word about their web site as if it is a game changer while 60% of the planet's populationcan't even access it. Doesn't anyone see the contradiction or total BS in this?
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Only 1 out of 6 JWs (and friends) visit the JW.ORG web site!
by StephaneLaliberte inin a 2013 article currently on jw.org (reference 1), the jws bragged about how their website is translated into 300 languages and that it reaches, according to alexa statistics, 890,000 unique users every day.. what about the monthly stats?
the site websitetrafficspy.com (reference 2), which draws its statistics from alexa, reports that there are an estimated 3.2 million unique visitors every month for jw.org.*.
since the 2013 memorial had an attendance of 19.2 million (reference 3), this could be understood as 1/6 of the jws and their friends visited the site on a monthly basis.. this is not unexpected as the internet itself is used only by 39% of the planet at this time (reference 4).. hence, the number of languages in which the website is translated does not offer any guaranty as to its information being accessed or even be accessible at all to most of the planets population.. .
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StephaneLaliberte
In a 2013 article currently on JW.ORG (reference 1), the JWs bragged about how their website is translated into 300 languages and that it reaches, according to Alexa statistics, 890,000 unique users every day.
What about the monthly stats? The site Websitetrafficspy.com (reference 2), which draws its statistics from Alexa, reports that there are an estimated 3.2 million unique visitors every month for jw.org.*
Since the 2013 memorial had an attendance of 19.2 million (reference 3), this could be understood as 1/6 of the JWs and their friends visited the site on a monthly basis.
This is not unexpected as the internet itself is used only by 39% of the planet at this time (reference 4).
Hence, the number of languages in which the website is translated does not offer any guaranty as to its information being accessed or even be accessible at all to most of the planet’s population.
* If John visits the site on Friday and Saturday, he will be a unique visitor on the daily stats for Friday and for Saturday. He will also be a unique visitor for the monthly stats. He will not be counted as 2 users even if he visited the site every day of that month.
References:
1: http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/publishing/jw-org-over-300-languages/
2: http://jw.org.websitetrafficspy.com/
3: http://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/2014-yearbook/letter-from-governing-body/
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Outrageous Comment
by Yondaime inwhat was the most outrageous comment you ever heard during a wt study?.
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please share your experiences..
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StephaneLaliberte
A week after my sister passed away, two elders visited me. They came with their bible and a WT publication and, as in a casual pastorial visit, made me a 15 minute study as to why I should not use the current situation as a reason to "overly" talk with my mother who was disfellowshiped. They reasonned that her husband was responsible for her welfare and thus, I should not seek for an excuse to break the devine law of shunning.
Unfortunately, I am not exagerating. My only regreat is that I should have stopped them cold and drag their asses out of my house. Unfortunately, I was too much into it, so I simply sat down and nodded yes. Of course, I didn't listen, I kept talking with my mom.
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How much did the other countries pay for the 1000 kingdom halls in the philippines!
by StephaneLaliberte inref: http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/construction/1000-kingdom-halls-philippines/.
while looking at the article one thousand kingdom halls and counting on jw.org, it immediately made me think: ahhh, this is where a large portion of the funds for the construction projects must go.
clearly, the philippinos are all poor and they need the financial support of richer countries.
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StephaneLaliberte
As I do not live in the philippines, do not have family over there, and have never visited, it would be arrogant on my part to simply dismiss your comments (adjusted knowledge and givemejustalittlemoretime).
Yet, my assesment was not drawn out of thin air. The reports I have seen with the UN, world vision and even real estate web sites clearly indicates that a large portion of the population is actualy wealthy, many living in the cities.
Yes, these cities obviously have slums and their fair share of poor, however, according to world vision, 80% of the poor population are found in the rural areas. This means that geographically speaking, someone can live in the phillipines and be surrounded by extream poverty while others can live in richer cities. Knowing that 63% of the population live in the cities, my asssesment of - "40% too poor to contribute anything" - still sounds reasonable.
Of course, if you have further input on the matter, it will be my pleasure to revise like I did for New Worldly above.
That being said, all my thoughts and heart are with those whos situation is so dificult that they can't have access to decent medecine or sanitary services. The only objective of this post is to actually put a number on the contributions made by the Watchtower to the Kingdom hall development in the Philippines. Since the watchtower is not providing any specific numbers, what I provide here is an educated guess.
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How much did the other countries pay for the 1000 kingdom halls in the philippines!
by StephaneLaliberte inref: http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/construction/1000-kingdom-halls-philippines/.
while looking at the article one thousand kingdom halls and counting on jw.org, it immediately made me think: ahhh, this is where a large portion of the funds for the construction projects must go.
clearly, the philippinos are all poor and they need the financial support of richer countries.
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StephaneLaliberte
New Worldly... I believe its time for me to say: Your right, I'm wrong! According to World Vision, 21% of the population actually lives without proper sanitation and most of them are in the rural area. So comparing the 10% poverty line to that of the USA was wrong.
So now, we are left to wonder exactly what is the ratio for the JW as the message is likely more appealing to the poor. 30%? 40%? What about the other 60% who do have the monney? Do they have enough monney to help the poor in their own countries?
Also, not having access to proper sanitation... does that systematicaly translates to not having acccess to cheep building materials for cheep KHs?
I believe the heart of the issue here is that the JW Org is silent on the actual amounts sent and provides no financial reports of any kind.
One way or another, it is clear that the 1000 Kingdom Halls were not entirely funded by the International JW Community.
Using the logic in the original post concerning the 1000 halls:
- 1/2 were brand new
- 1/4 had a third of their values paid for as they were simply rebuild
- 1/4 were entirely paid for as the previous hall was sold to build a new one somewhere else.
If we draw the poverty line at 40%, this would mean that the international community actually funded 266 Kingdom Halls over the last 12 years, or an average of 22 per year. Lets be concervative and say a KH costs 100,000$ to build and we have 2.2 millions per year (26.4 millions in the last 12 years).
Interesting...
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How much did the other countries pay for the 1000 kingdom halls in the philippines!
by StephaneLaliberte inref: http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/construction/1000-kingdom-halls-philippines/.
while looking at the article one thousand kingdom halls and counting on jw.org, it immediately made me think: ahhh, this is where a large portion of the funds for the construction projects must go.
clearly, the philippinos are all poor and they need the financial support of richer countries.
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StephaneLaliberte
New Worldly, the point about the poverty line is: Once you cross it, you can do other things with your money than simply survive. Such as giving a little bit of money to your local church.
So, the idea of what it takes to survive is relative to the countries and regions. For instance, you would never see an open wall assembly hall in Canada, even if it was used only during the summer, cause everyone would complain about the heat, the rain, the mosquitos, the outside noise, etc. Yet, from a Philippinos standpoint, one liked it so much that he posted a video bragging about it!
Considering that the buildings are very modest, contributions are not expected to be much either. So, once individuals cross that poverty line, it is somewhat relatively easy to give "a little" something every month. Especially considering that they believe they are the only one true religion and that they must "seek the kingdom first".
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How much did the other countries pay for the 1000 kingdom halls in the philippines!
by StephaneLaliberte inref: http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/construction/1000-kingdom-halls-philippines/.
while looking at the article one thousand kingdom halls and counting on jw.org, it immediately made me think: ahhh, this is where a large portion of the funds for the construction projects must go.
clearly, the philippinos are all poor and they need the financial support of richer countries.
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StephaneLaliberte
REF: http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/construction/1000-kingdom-halls-philippines/
While looking at the article “One Thousand Kingdom Halls and Counting” on JW.org, it immediately made me think: “Ahhh, this is where a large portion of the funds for the construction projects must go. Clearly, the Philippinos are all poor and they need the financial support of richer countries. After all, when I think of them, I envision a man (or a woman), collecting rice out there in a field; you know, poor, dirt poor; extreme poverty.”
Alright, let’s stop the stereotypes and let’s see some facts: The Philippines is considered a middle power with 10 percent of its population living in poverty. (*1)
Wait, what?? In the USA, it is 15 percent of the population that is poor! What else?
The Philippines’s average salary is the third worst of the 72 richest countries (*2). Ok… so, they are not poor, but most of them barely make the ends meet.
This raises the question: Is the required contribution for a Kingdom hall so high that most of them cannot afford it? Let’s run some numbers here:
450 brand new Kingdom Halls, not 1000!
The publishers count grew from about a 135 thousand around 2001 to a 189 thousand in 2013. Keeping in mind the present average of 60 publishers per congregations (3,156 congregations in 2013). This represents an increase of 900 congregations. Yet, many Kingdom Halls serve two, three, or even more congregations. Let’s average it out at 2 per KH and we get 450 new kingdom halls.
What about the 550 KH reported by the article?
They seem to fit the description of the last paragraph: Previous building was sold or rebuilt to make way to bigger, better suited KH. Thus, these particular projects were cheaper for they either did not have to purchase the land (if the KH was completely rebuilt) or the entire project was funded by the profits obtained from the sale of the previous KH!
In addition to the above, one most also remember that the KHs are not as expensive as they are in richer countries. Most of these halls are very modest. To illustrate this, one assembly hall has no walls surrounding its auditorium! (*3)
Considering the above, it is my opinion that the JW in the Philippines have the ability to contribute enough for their own buildings.
Yet, the society uses the following sentence to make us believe that it was donations from rich countries that made it all possible:
“in 1999 the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses set up a program for building Kingdom Halls in lands with limited resources. Under this arrangement, local Witnesses contribute what they can, and funds donated in other countries are added to that amount.”
In regards to the Philippines, this article conviniently does not state the actual percentage of funds contributed by the other countries.
(*1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_percentage_of_population_living_in_poverty (*2) http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17543356
(*3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvXBCCVD-zQ -
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Party in the kingdom hall!
by StephaneLaliberte incheck it out and download before i am forced to take it down!.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf_rfrusa1c.
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StephaneLaliberte
To be honnest with everyone, even when I was in, our hall rented external reception halls for congregation parties. At the time, I was thinking: Why are we not doing this at the hall? But then I answered myself with all the publications and talks that went over how sacred the kingdom Hall was and never thought I could see this happening.
The fact that it is happening is not a problem to me, however, I still would be somewhat surprised that the WT would condone this. If they do, well, they are indeed moving forward. If they remove the disfellowshipping arrengement, I might actually think about going back.
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Party in the kingdom hall!
by StephaneLaliberte incheck it out and download before i am forced to take it down!.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf_rfrusa1c.
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StephaneLaliberte
Can anybody call that congregation and ask if they even asked the bethel what they though of this?
Jehovah's Witnesses Southgate Trenton Congregation
18755 Civic Park Dr, Riverview, MI 48193 (734) 285-8150