DNCall

Joined

• started 67 topics
• posted 495 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by DNCall

• 
  44

  Decrease of numbers in Jehovah's Witnesses via Deaths, DFings, or Turning Inactive

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i'm sure a good number of us saw the chart that i believe the poster splash put on another thread of figures since 1990 regarding how many baptized and % of increase each year .

  i started analyzing it ( and i know some referred to it briefly on the other thread ) and guessing of reasons the % of increase didn't match the number of newly baptized.

  and of course common sense tells us that either jw's leave the cult each year through death, fading into inactivity, or getting dfed.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  Coded Logic: It took me a moment grasp your point but I think I understand you. It has to do with those newly baptized already being counted as unbaptized publishers. So, if you subtract the increase in publishers from the total of newly baptized, the remainder would be those who were allowed to be baptized without first being unbaptized publishers. Is that correct?
• 
  16

  Crazy things said by Higher Rank Witnesses

  by GrownMidget in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it was the week when circuit overseer comes and my relatives wanted to offer the food.

  i had got my school friend, a muslim girl, going into the meetings and she actually progressed and went to the field service, but never got baptized and one day she just disappeared.well anyway, this overseer comes for the free lunch and then when we are sitting in the table with his wife and my relatives, the muslim girl comes as the subject.

  overseer throws out this absurd asshole joke that because their family doesn't like witnesses his father will come with a truck and drives it through the kingdom hall wall and then it explodes.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  VI: I remember that being at the L.A. Sports Arena. ?? Knorr was there too. He borrowed my songbook. Never got it back.
• 
  47

  Suicide or Real Freedom? - My Story As One Of Jehovah's Witnesses

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  "sometimes i think the only thing i could do that wouldn't upset someone would be to kill myself.".

  those were the frustrated words of my friend as we stood out in his large yard in the country, just about to enjoy a nice bonfire on a beautiful night.

  what was it that could have been a lesser evil than killing himself?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  You have been up against so many things your entire life. Congratulations for enduring it all and conquering. Congratulations to Jenny as well. You both are so deserving of (and unless you've been a Witness or a hostage or critically ill, you wouldn't understand) normalcy. I wish you every success.
• 
  47

  Taking bets on how long this cult will last and what will happen to it

  by macys in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wanna make a poll here.

  how many years do you think the jdub cult will exist as is and what will happen to it?.

  i say the growth stops this year and starts to decline.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  First let me say, You Rock! The first post I read of yours said, "Jesus was gay. True story." Really funny, and since reading a number of your other posts, I appreciate your positive approach to life.

  On topic, I think the stage is set for a significant collapse of the organization. The only thing that has been cited that may keep the organization going is that some people will always need what they're selling. I see this eroding along with everything else that has sustained the organization's existence. Maybe not at the same rate as the other things, but erosion nonetheless. Scandal, decades of wrongheaded business management, brain-drain at the top and an unsustainable theology will change it forever--and maybe even end it. At the rate it is going, ten years seems like a reasonable time frame for all of this to take place.
• 
  31

  Hello everyone! I am new here and want to tell you about myself - my bio

  by Hollywood20 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  grew up in east la in a bad neighborhood to a black mother and white father.

  i never knew my father because he died in a car accident when i was a few weeks old.

  my mother converted as a jw soon after when two sisters came to her door and offered her comfort, which was something she needed.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  Hi Hollywood, and welcome. It has been my experience and also my observation as a musician, that if you suppress your gifts it never fails to hurt you at some point. For the most part, I have stayed active in the music business, even during the 50 years that I was a JW. Like the others, I would suggest you try to salvage the opportunity you had several years ago if that is possible. You describe it as a "once in a lifetime opportunity." Maybe it was. But don't let it be your only opportunity. I recently heard a saying that struck me as being so true: "Successful people have had many more failures than less successful people." Both in my life and in the lives of people I have known who have been famously successful, this has been the case.

  I live not far from you. If I can be of any encouragement along these lines, please private message me.

  Wishing you all the best.
• 
  3

  Singing Kingdom Songs - Volume 2 (2005) : truth or legend?

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  ok, pretty much all of us have heard some of the 10 track cancelled album featuring george benson and others, the most popular track of which is probably "we must be holy" with the celine dion soundalike.

  not much is known about it, but i always assumed it was just a george benson nonprofit hobby project.

  tonight, however, i read a post from user dncall who says he regularly contributed to wt music projects, including co-composing the soundtrack to jehovah's witnesses stand firm against nazi assault.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  I stand by everything I've said on this subject. I may be the only one who was involved in this project that has left the organization, so it may be difficult to have independent verification of my accounts. The YouTube clip above is neither Song 7, nor was it sung by George Benson or Sheila Hutchinson. Celine Dion had nothing to do with this project. With all the misinformation that has been circulated over the years, I am the last person you would want to doubt.
• 
  1

  "Standing Firm" But For Whom?

  by DNCall in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  a musician friend of mine had listened to the score i wrote for one of the organizations videos.

  i actually split the assignment with another composer who is now in residence in patterson.

  i had mentioned to my friend that i was really conflicted while working on this project and she asked me to provide the back-story for my work on jehovahs witnesses stand firm against nazi assault.

  1. 
• 

  DNCall

  A musician friend of mine had listened to the score I wrote for one of the organization’s videos. I actually split the assignment with another composer who is now in residence in Patterson. I had mentioned to my friend that I was really conflicted while working on this project and she asked me to provide the back-story for my work on “Jehovah’s Witnesses Stand Firm Against Nazi Assault.” Here is my response in the event this is of interest to any here.

  This video was designed as an answer to claims that the Witnesses were trying to win the favor of the Nazi party in the early to mid 1930s. The video did not answer these claims directly, but rather presented accounts of the suffering of the Witnesses in the concentration camps. Unlike other groups, the Witnesses could have been released by simply signing a declaration renouncing their faith. Some did, but most did not.

  The director asked to me to use string quartet only, which I thought was a good idea. Instinctively, I composed a Hebraic main theme that would convey the Holocaust setting. I always believed that the word “Holocaust” should only be used regarding the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War. For anything that had to do with the Witnesses, I wrote more German-sounding music. Though I couldn’t quite identify why I felt uncomfortable working on this project then, I now understand why the whole thing did not sit well with me.

  The Witness experience during the Second World War was far different from the Jewish experience. In many instances, the Witnesses were assigned to the households of German officers as domestic workers. Even the loss of life suffered by them cannot be compared to that suffered by the Jews. To me, it felt as though this video and its promotion was attempting to elicit the same degree of sympathy as that extended to the Jews.

  After I left the cult, I researched the charges against the Witnesses and now believe that the charges are valid. The then President of the group, J.F. Rutherford, had made overtures to Hitler by using anti Semitic language and taking the position that the Witnesses upheld the same lofty principles as the Nazi Party. The Nazis had seized the Witnesses’ property in Magdeburg and Rutherford wanted it back. When Hitler did not comply, Rutherford (who had a mercurial temperament not unlike Hitler’s) launched a campaign against Hitler and the Nazis. He assigned the German Witnesses to distribute his rants throughout the country, knowing the consequences that would befall them. But Rutherford knew well the value of persecution in galvanizing his followers and winning support from outsiders. He had also enjoyed recognition and publicity from inciting opposition to the Witness religion in the past. The Witnesses could have physically signed the declarations while mentally and spiritually holding to their beliefs. Such a deception would have been no different than the smuggling of their literature into the camps or lying regarding the whereabouts of fellow Witnesses. They took pride in having done these things. More importantly, they would be free to continue their “vital” preaching, albeit underground. However, this would not have generated the degree of publicity that formally resisting the Nazis would. To that end, Rutherford tested the German Witnesses' obedience to his directives, under the pretense of obedience and exclusive devotion to God. In reality, he was sacrificing them to gain recognition and publicity for the Witness organization as a whole.
• 
  33

  How Many JWs actually Watch JW.TV?

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm curious.

  what do you know from your own experience and talking to other active jws?

  i know from my own informal, non-scientific survey that most jws do not watch jw.tv.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  The same amount that watched the video releases more than once. Same creative team . . . same audience.
• 
  16

  TERRY EXPLAINS JAZZ (to those who hate jazz)

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  terry explains jazz (to those who hate jazz)_______________________________.

  there are too many reasons to cite.

  suffice to say, we all know annoying people.. we don't become a hermit because of a few annoying people.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DNCall

  Absolutely brilliant post, Terry!
• 
  2

  To JW Leaks and Anyone Else Who May Know

  by DNCall in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on may 7, 2015, the zalkin office filed a request for modification of opinion with the 1st district court of appeal in the conti case.

  the request was denied, but do you have access to that document?

  does anyone else on the board have any intel on its contents?.

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  DNCall

  On May 7, 2015, the Zalkin office filed a Request for Modification of Opinion with the 1st District Court of Appeal in the Conti case. The request was denied, but do you have access to that document? Does anyone else on the board have any intel on its contents?