Posts by fodeja

22

Memorial attendance down?

by TweetieBird in

jw
friends

last night 3 congregations met at the assembly hall for the memorial.

there were just a little over 800 there which really surprised me.

in past years every congregation around here usually had at least 300 in attendance.

Memorial attendance is, for reasons I don't understand, pretty much uncorrelated to all other JW statistics. Many, many countries have had a constant decline in publishers and service hours over the past ten years, but randomly changing memorial attendance (sometimes up, sometimes down) during the same period.

In other words, it does not matter whether memorial attendance is up or down n percent. If you see baptisms, publishers, and service hours as the relevant figures, that is.

f.

p.s.: As usual, JT has it right: "rice Christians" pretty much says it all.

36

President Bush

by Rado Vleugel in

jw
friends

in the netherlands and many other european countries president bush of the united states of america is considered as a man with low intellectual capabilities and a narrow minded unilateral view on the rest of the world who uses one-liners in stead of founded argumentation.

but in the us he is seen by most americans as a wise and great statesman, a marvellous leader in difficult times.. i am interested how jws in congregations from different countries look at president bush although they usually dont openly have an opinion about politicians.

opinions from ex-jws are of course also welcome.. rado vleugel.

fodeja

As I've said. Euro's aren't capable of a simple thank you

Yuck. Nationalism rearing its ugly head again, and as always, it's coming with blinders attached.

Are you referring to the same "Euros" who make up a significant portion of ISAF? Apart from British forces, one of the largest non-US military contingents in Afghanistan is German. The rather small Danish army lost two or three soldiers just a couple of days ago over there - ungrateful wimps, huh?

To get back to the topic: Bush is standing for a powerful nation whose actions can, and do, affect our entire world. People have every right to criticise those who are affecting their lives. So, those "Euros" and Asians and Africans are very well entitled to an opinion. For instance, I feel very much entitled to voice my concerns that the US as a nation generally doesn't give a fuck about the atmosphere we 6 billion citizens need to breathe - think Kyoto, think by far the highest per capita CO2 emission in the world. And I also feel very entitled to criticise any damn government on this planet that has enough firepower to blow us all to bits a couple of times over, be it the US or China. I feel very entitled to criticise any government that has spent decades in praising free trade and deregulated markets as the wonder cure for all of mankind's problems, and then resorts to economic policies from the prehistory of economic globalisation (very much like the WTS associating with the UN, if you ask me).

As regards the "be thankful" pseudo-argument, I agree with Expat. Every nation, including the US, is primarily acting in its own interest; if some of those interests happen to be congruent with my own interests, I'm thankful for exactly that, nothing more. Altruism on a national level is a myth, be it WWII or the "War on Terror".

f.

28

tax in france case lost

by meat pie in

i have just read via the freeminds site, that the case in france has been lost and watchtower must pay a total of 45 million euros or $39 million!

fodeja

as were the cases involving Greece and Austria, where the organization won.

Wrong, and a typical JW "urban legend" (or more appropriately: lie). The WTS did NOT win any case in the European Court of Human Rights regarding their legal status in Austria. Feel free to search the Judgments and Decisions database on http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/Judgments.htm

If you're referring to the Hofmann case judgement of 1993: it's quite unrelated to this subject matter and precedes the currently relevant 1998 law on religions.

f.

11

lds.org or watchtower.org - where's the truth?

by fodeja in

jw
friends

http://www.watchtower.org .

http://www.lds.org/.

most people here will know the first website, but probably not the second one.

fodeja

Sorry, the Truth is in neither of those religions.

Damn. But then, I already know where The Truth is: http://www.ology.org/principia/

f.

11

lds.org or watchtower.org - where's the truth?

by fodeja in

jw
friends

http://www.watchtower.org .

http://www.lds.org/.

most people here will know the first website, but probably not the second one.

fodeja

http://www.watchtower.org

http://www.lds.org/

Most people here will know the first website, but probably not the second one. Imagine you're a web-surfing person mildly interested in religion, who doesn't know anything about Dubdom or the Mormons yet. You may notice some differences in site navigation and design (the LDS is definitely ahead these days - their site looks much sharper). You may notice that the Mormon site is offering a wide range of content, whereas the JW site is mostly offering a sampling of WTS literature snippets.

But there's one striking difference in content. Where's the bible? Compare the front pages: on the LDS site, there's a large, visible link to "The Scriptures" in the left upper corner. One mouse click, and you can read what's supposed to be the book of books for all "true Christians", right online, with footnotes and index.

Now compare watchtower.org: you can read about their "bible-based publications", browse an assortment of more or less scriptures-related articles from Awake! and the WT, you can request a "free home bible study", you can even watch a video that tells you how oh-so-important the bible is for all of us. But where is the bible?! Where is the best of all bible translations, the famous NWT? Shouldn't that be much, much more important than some old Awake! article about whether it's okay for Christians to pick their noses?

Hm.

f.

32

Watchtower Society visits Apostate Website!

by Rado Vleugel in

jw
friends

hello friends,.

i thought this might interst you:.

the wts is a regular visitor of watchtower information service, in the definition of the watchtower, an apostate website (screenshots of site statistics that proof the visits of the wts are shown in the article)!.

fodeja

He may want to get ready for a legal onslaught from WT legal.

Well, considering that the Netherlands has one of the most liberal copyright laws in the world, he shouldn't be too worried. I don't think this little website would be worth all the legal hassles and negative publicity for the WTS, anyway.

f.

p.s.: It's a great little website, Rado!

28

Elder's Suck - www.apostatesincorporated.com

by obiefernandez in

jw
friends

think of the awesome reception you will get at your next meeting or convention wearing a stylish apostates, inc. shirt.

such as our personal favorite:.

happy shopping!.

fodeja

How about the classic:

"Religion is a snare and a racket."

You could even wear it for the DC

f.

86

Self Esteem

by larc in

jw
friends

self esteem.

now i have seen people write about the fact that they have low self esteem, as an xjw.

now, this not unique.

fodeja

Now I have seen people write about the fact that they have low self esteem, as an xJW. Now, this not unique. I hear it all around me as part of the American culture. My question is why??? Why do you have low self esteem?

My wild, uncontemplated, uneducated guess it that our Western culture is highly competitive in many areas -- and any competition has winners or losers. Our personal status is largely determined by wealth (economic success) and looks (Vogue! GQ! Britney!), and probably other things I'm not aware of.

Take another competition: the Winter Olympics. In the Olympics, there's just one person in any kind of sport who is considered a "winner". Maybe three persons. But the vast majority of athletes are more or less "losers", even though they're still excellent.

So, I think massive self-esteem problems are bound to happen in any culture that emphasizes success in any sort of competition.

f.

39

Are you a Bush bitch?

by cellomould in

jw
friends

i found this at indynews....it's time for america to stand up to george w. say 'i ain't yo bitch no mo, dubya!

' he is certainly trying to pimp us all out.

read and weep.

fodeja

Now Bush is not as intelligent, but he is a Harvard MBA,

So you can get a Harvard Master of Business Administration degree even when you can't get basic "101 Economics" concepts right, such as deflation and devaluation?! Rarely is the question asked, is your graduate students learning?

Seriously, from my European perspective, it appears to me that Bush (or actually Cheney?) has managed to put together at least a half-competent cabinet, which is better than nothing. Seems to me there have been worse cabinets. However, the way he acts abroad, he's a disgrace to the American people. At the very least, he should brush up his geography knowledge and fire his dimwit speechwriter -- "either for us or against us", uh yes, thank you very much, and greetings to those "Grecians" or Greeks.

f.

49

America bashing, love and pride.

by Norm in

jw
friends

it is indeed strange, yet understandable to observe the "kneejerk" reactions you get when you point out possible .

flaw's with the mighty us of a, "god's own country".

even from people who should have learned not to have that .

fodeja

Ring,

If you didnt have pride in your own country
you wouldn't keep making threads and posts about
why you personally think the U.S. isn't the country
it's proud citizens believe it to be.

your assertion is simply false, and it's quite a good example of black-or-white thinking. I don't understand nationalism at all, which is at least partly due to the fact that I grew up in more than one country and saw a bit of the world during my youth. Maybe you should dig out more of my old threads while you're at it.

I am proud to live in this country. I dont need to
travel to the Middle East or Africa to know I would
rather not live there. I do watch the news.

If you watch US TV news, "you don't know jack". In other words, nothing. Zilch. To begin with, TV rarely is a good source of information.

Reminds me of the JWs who go around claiming to have examined all those other religions thorougly, while all their "knowledge" comes from a few paragraphs in WT rags. In fact, they're clueless.

I would
love to see one woman on this forum say she would rather
live in Afganistan than the United States. Or maybe
even a man perhaps?

Well, you'd have to wait a long time for someone in Afghanistan to turn up here in this ex-JW Internet forum, don't you think.

Guess what? It takes a lot, and I mean a LOT, to make people migrate. Most people just happen to like the places they were born in: their families, their language, their culture in general, even the mountains or the trees or the creek where they spent their childhood. So, yes, I am perfectly convinced that many, many men and women in Afghanistan want to stay there, as long as they can live in peace and earn a living.

I have personally witnessed people in war-torn countries who had been robbed of everything: their dignity, their possessions and their families. Did they want to migrate? Most of them, NO (the few others just wanted to move temporarily). These people wanted to go back to their homes and build things up again. I'm guessing that's human nature.

Didn't they tell you that on the TV news, right after sports and before the next commercial break?

f.

(added sentence)