Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  48

  Where has all the money gone?

  by gingerbread in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a number of years ago when i was still active, our service group was having a coffee break with the visiting circuit overseer.

  during the conversation he mentioned that the "society" was now being run like a business.

  being raised in the "truth" i thought that rather odd (and my eyes began to be opened!

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  OTWO: The problem would be self correcting if the printing corporation recognized the drying up of money for literature and reduced spending. But it could not reduce it fast enough.

  Agreed. And as WT reduced spending with cheaper publications, fewer magazines, and cutting the magazine pages in half, the donations from publishers would easily decrease into a downward spiral. With every cutting of cost that publishers could see, why would they keep donating the same?

  And with no defined price on the publications and DVDs, it's completely at the whim of the sheeple to donate or not donate for the stuff. And with their shift away from printing and toward online content, expenses will continue and income will continue the decline. Who pays for web content that it freely available? Who donates money to YouTube or Facebook?
  

  The old publication sales and profit model has completely collapsed.
  
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  23

  Halloween / Birthday celebration

  by River Song in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  new to the board, first time posting a topic.

  i just wanted to say how refreshing and sometimes funny it has been lurking here.

  so much so that i decided to sign up to this message board.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Welcome!
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  52

  CO Comes Up With A New Way To Be Judgemental...

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  at the latest co visit something very strange happened.

  during the meeting with the elders and servants he passed out a copy of a hypothetical publisher card and asked us what we could learn from it.

  upon receiving it i saw that the average hours were pretty good, it had return visits and quite a few bible studies.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  It's like I always say...

  "In conclusion, it's a cult!"
  
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  34

  Aus Bethel reducing numbers dramatically.

  by joey jojo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sorry if this is old news but just heard that there will only be about 75 people left at sydney bethel after layoffs.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  
  

  Hail the the-o-cracy ever decreasing!
  Wondrous contraction is now taking place!
  
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  11

  2015--10/19-and10/29-BOEs!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  disregard if already posted.. .. 2015, 10/19/boe.

  .. click the green download button.. re: service meeting part for week of december 21, 2015 .

  http://wwwb.fileflyer.com/view/vistoa4.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I think that one sentence needs some proofreading. This sounds more like it:
  

  However, it must be acknowledged that the Kingdom work is expanding invisibly at an accelerated pace and the Governing Body can only do so much with the invisibly present funds at their disposal.
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  96

  Special Pioneer Couple Living at a Kingdom Hall In Miami FL, get the dreaded Letter

  by James Jack in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just got a phone call from an older sister saying that a couple that got re-assigned from bethel 4 years ago to live at their kh apartment as special pioneers, just received a letter saying "as of january 2016, your special pioneer assignment will be discontinued".. they live in a south miami kh(snapper creek congregation).. this couple had only served in bethel for 15 years before they were sent out into the special pioneer work.

  they are now in their mid 50's and the sister said that they have to find part time jobs to support themselves.. the older sister (does not have a pc or internet), says that the couple are just devastated!

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I'm so glad that I'm miles and years away from all the bethel and pioneer crap.

  There are probably plenty of my old "friends" that are suffering from all these cuts. I hope they wake up, get out, and get on with life like I was able to.
  
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  30

  Faith in the Flood,-- a Dud.

  by prologos in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for the next two weeks, wt will attempt to lay the basis for their imitation "faith" by discussing the "imitate their faith" book, chapter on the flood.

  a golden opportunity to share faith strengthening details with your believing friends.

  do not miss it!.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Here's something from an earlier thread of mine.
  

  In conversation, a friend was telling me how he knows he's supposed to preach to his workmates, but he's not comfortable doing it. Rather than twisting his arm to preach, I gave him the perfect reason not to preach. I explained, "Well, I learned that you have to be really careful, because you have to work with them every day. And you don't want to be in front of a group of coworkers when one of them asks the 'kangaroo question.'"

  Which, of course, led him to ask, "Kangaroo question? What's that?"

  Me, playing coy, "Oh, I think I shouldn't have mentioned that." Of course, that statement just made him even more curious. So then I explained how it was not uncommon for JWs to get asked questions about the flood that we couldn't answer. 'Kangaroo question' was how kangaroos got from Australia to Noah's ark, then from Turkey back to Australia after the flood. Then he was really confounded trying to solve this riddle. I had to tell him that there was no solution to that, nor to a lot of other questions that I hope he never gets asked. Since I was the ex-bethelite, he wanted to know what to do with such a question. I explained, "Since there is nothing helpful published, if you get asked a question like that at the door, you have to say that you'll go and research the question... but you never go back to their door. If you get asked by a workmate where you can't run away, you have to say that Noah's flood is a parable and not literal."

  Here's another thread about a terrible 1969 flood article failure:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/183719/from-noahs-ark-australia-awake-jan-8-1969-pp-5-8
  
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  22

  November WT God's View Of War

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  did anybody else read this article and just think wth?.

  sometimes god approves of war.. sometimes god doesn't approve of war.. when the israelites fought battles and won it was because god blessed them.. when they lost it was because god had not blessed them.. sometimes god fights for oppressed ones.. sometimes they must wait and have faith.. it is so clear that the bible contradicts itself on this issue and that the nation of israel had a totally different view of god than the early christians.

  it is also clear that the nation of israel was highly superstitious and would attribute every battle's outcome to the whims of a higher power.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Maybe that's why armageddon hasn't come. Gog of Magog got his hands on some iron war chariots... and a musket.

  Bronze Age desert gods don't have access to iron or gunpowder.
  
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  80

  ANNOUNCEMENT CLIP ...2015 Annual meeting Sam Herd confirming what we knew a month ago about slow down and halt of worldwide construction

  by Watchtower-Free in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_h68ktwpim&feature=youtu.be.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It's not like armageddon is ever coming to rescue WT Corp from their own stupidity.

  After the big cash grab from the congregation accounts earlier, donations probably dropped off really quickly. Congregations were supposed to keep sending in perpetual payments to keep paying a mortgage on the local Hall forever. I've been in enough congregations where "donation fatigue" takes hold. The "friends" make big pledges and pay them for a couple of months, but then the reality of their overstretched budget has them reducing to less than their pledge, and it keeps shrinking.

  Probably after Lett went on the broadcast to plead for cash, they got plenty of blowback for looking like money-grabbing TV evangelists. It would make the GB and WT Corporation look bad to constantly be begging for cash. So now Herd is trotted out to announce the cuts and say that it's not because of a lack of financial support.

  What can publishers think of this? "Oh good, WT isn't short on cash, and they're cutting expenses on the organization level. Now I don't have to feel obligated to keep donating as much as I have been. Why should I keep paying the same money now that I'm getting less magazines and all this cost-cutting? My family needs a vacation! That's where I'll earmark my money instead."

  I think when Herd spoke of the growth and expansion in the organization, he was referring to the ever-increasing number of anointed partakers.
  
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  12

  Annual Meeting 2015 Rant

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  well i didn't watch all of it, but i did watch a good deal.

  it reminded me of the times i actually physically attended in the past.

  lets start with am3.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  It was very telling to hear him say how much he loved the name "digging for spiritual gems" or whatever the hell its called.

  "Digging for WT spiritual gems" translation: