freddo

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Posts by freddo

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  532

  I conclude evolution is guided

  by KateWild in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  your qualifications are way above mine so i'd love to hear more about the specifics of what you have researched and how that supports the existence of a deity.

  k99, i am not really convinced that you're interested in my conclusions.

  in nature amino acids formed to then form dna.

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  freddo

  I haven't read all the previous posts - sorry.

  I do sometimes wonder if intelligent life "has always been" rather than coming from "nothing".

  I sometimes wonder whether there has been a creation or guiding of evolution but if so (and I don't believe it is so - just one of different possibilities) I don't believe it is anything other than "let's set this experiment going and leave it to it's own devices" - there is no evidence that speaks to me of a "God who cares (anymore)" as in "gives a damn" or even exists anymore if it ever did.

  Like K99 said - I work at being comfortable not knowing.
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  43

  Kids continue to leave in droves - so what is the organization's grand plan? This

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jws have one of the worst, if not the worst, retention rates among their kids.

  i've seen numbers from 65% to 88% who leave, never to return.. you'd think this would be a priority amongst the leadership, right?

  where do tomorrow's leaders come from, if the vast majority of kids leave the organization?

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  freddo

  Good news round my way and there is a definite trend for teens to leave and it has really increased since about 2010.

  In 2013 we "lost" two young girls - daughters of an elder who resigned when they both were announced as no longer unbaptised publishers. The eldest aged about 19 jumped as the elders were closing in on some "serious sin" and the younger aged about 17 said "I don't want this crap" and left about a month later. They are now respectable young women with good jobs and worldly boyfriends in their early twenties.

  In 2014 a 16 year old got baptised at the hoopla special convention in August and stopped attending meetings about six months later.

  In 2015 a 17 year old decided she didn't want to be a jw anymore and has gone inactive and a 15 year old unbaptised publisher stopped attending meetings about the same time too.

  This year (2016) another unbaptised publisher aged 16 hasn't been seen for about two months.

  All the above are girls/young women. There is just one uber pioneer teen left and one rather disturbed girl from a difficult background who is not even an unbaptised publisher despite being 14 years old.

  It's going "to hell in a handcart" and I believe is down to the factors mentioned by the posters above. Internet/tolerance of gays/apathy/don't believe it.

  There are literally no teenage boys in the congregation. There are a few early twenties and then a gap to about ten or below.
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  9

  Anyone in the UK know about this?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of my jw spies told me that a us jw speaker was visiting the uk.

  some bigwig, on a tv screen, i believe.

  sorry, that's all i have.. anecdotal i admit, but i was told he said, "you british think you are superior.".

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  freddo

  Reminds me of the old Navy anecdote.

  One US Navy group (like one tenth of your Navy) and the whole Royal Navy on manoeuvres together and the US group is still bigger than the Royal Navy ...

  US Admiral Randy Blowhard calls over the radio to Royal Navy Admiral Sir Nelson Cholmondeley-Smythe.

  "Say buddy! Hi there from the biggest Navy in the world! Howya doin'?"

  R.N. Admiral Cholmondeley-Smythe.

  "Well hello back to you old chap, with a ding dang spillip from the very best Navy in the world."

  Delusions from a once great past!
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  43

  Chelmsford is green-lighted

  by Saltheart Foamfollower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  looks like chelmsford is going ahead after all.

  here is the text of a letter to be read out this week:.

  to all congregations in britain and irelandre: branch relocation project updatedear brothers:we rejoice to inform you that in june of this year, the governing body gave approval for thebritain branch to relocate to new facilities that will be constructed just south of chelmsford.

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  freddo

  So who will go in to work on this project? All the gold star metropolitan "carties" of course! More time away from the preaching work and local meetings by the jw elite, even less bums on seats at the kingdom halls outside the immediate area.

  And I bet loads of the booted bethelites will be going back in on their own dollar or pound sterling to help out - gotta be better than pioneering surely!

  Crazy crazy stuff.
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  47

  here i am

  by notalone in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was a 4th gen born in.my adult children were the 5th.

  my mother was one of the newly'anointed' we have all left.

  i have been lurking since october.i was really too terrified someone would find out who i was and what would happen.well we are out now so here is a part of my story.

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  freddo

  Wonderful wonderful news! Best wishes to all of your family from me in the United Kingdom.
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  8

  Do Jehovah`s Witnesses still Advertise Public talks for their Sunday Meetings ? For the General Public ?

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been out for 23 years , so i`m not up to date with current practices.. however i was "in" for 33 years and belonged to 7 congregations in two states of australia in that time 1960-1993 , and not once could i say the general public ever attended a public talk.. in our witnessing back then we would distribute invitations to a public talk on a bible subject given before the wt study.every week.. some of the congregations i attended had between 80 to 100 active publishers , and most would give at least 10 hours service pw.,so that means hundreds of invitations would go out , week after week , for the public to attend talks, and nobody and i mean nobody shows up , year in and year out.. sure , now and again maybe ,one or two bible studies would have attended , but that does not constitute the public attending .. what are your thoughts on this ?

  was it the same in congregations you attended ?

  smiddy.

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  freddo

  Half a world away in the UK and exactly the same smiddy ...

  Of course with jaydubyadotborg and its self promoting leaflets those little public talk tracts are old news and so don't get used so much.
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  18

  If you live in England . . .

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  would a jehovah's witness ask you, the householder, "does christ dwell in this home?".

  i have recently viewed the lady in the van, which was filmed principally in north london.

  i am currently reviewing a transcript of alan bennett's play of the same title, looking for the exact quotation (the above may not be verbatim).. also, in the movie's subtitles, the word "curb" is spelled "kerb" in the original transcript.

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  freddo

  And we have jewellery not jewelry so we're not even consistent with our double "L"s!

  Great fun with auxiliary counselor and auxiliary (which we sometimes spell auxilliary!) counsellor too. We go double L on that and for a time the British Kingdom Ministry printed in London was in British English.

  All other literature from the borg was in American English so we had to suffer that. Funny really when they go to so much trouble producing stuff in Canary Island whistling pidgin or Basque separatist Spanench or whatever!
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  27

  How the Kevin Class started...

  by Stumpy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djtu_mozj5y.

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  freddo

  Call in more often Stumpy!
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  43

  At a regional convention today....

  by Nobodyspecial in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it really stands out to me just how phoney the bonds of forced brotherhood are.

  the smiles are paper thin when they see each other in hotels.

  the laughs forced.

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  freddo

  Regional convention in the south of the UK this weekend ... drum roll ...

  Attendance: 3,332

  Baptised: 10

  Yes you read that right. Ten. 0.3% baptised.
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  15

  Letter # 4 to the Governing Body of Jehovah's witnesses

  by WITNESS-FOR-WATCHTOWER-REFORM in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the governing body.

  service department of jehovah’s witnesses.

  2821 route 22. patterson.

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  freddo

  And somebody will be assigned to read them. I doubt it is a GB member or GB helper of course but more like a Service Dept lackey who simply has to scan read and sort into one of three piles.

  Pile 1 "To be forwarded up the food chain"

  This pile is for the correspondence that the lackey feels needs to be read by someone with more authority. This pile is small.

  Pile 2 "Recycle"

  This pile is for letters that are obviously apostate or questioning. This pile is growing and binned. This is where your letter is headed.

  Pile 3 "Accounts"

  This is for fawning/gushing letters with cheques attached. This pile is too big sadly.