freddo

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Posts by freddo

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  31

  Midweek meeting

  by loneranger in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  almost two months into the change in format of the mid week meeting from the school and service meeting format to the christian life and ministry (clam) format.

  in my congregation, seems attendance is down 10-15% over the normally low attendance for the mid week meeting before the change.

  some indicate that the meeting under the clam format is very "intense"...you really need to study and research to be able to participate or get anything out of the meetings.

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  freddo

  Not only is it mind numbing but the 30 minute "bible" (ha!) study is at the end. It's like torture.
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  28

  I'm back

  by phats in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everyone, phats here.

  i haven't posted for about 2 years as things have been so busy with work + a nervous breakdown along the way so been on meds & all sorts but things but are now beginning to get stronger & the mists are clearing.

  business is great with loads of work.

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  freddo

  Hi Phats and welcome back. Do you mind me asking specifically how you faded out without getting the elders on your case? Or did you and if so how did you deal with them?
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  18

  Underlying Resentment Among the Members

  by xjwsrock in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  most of us here have seen and experienced the judgmental attitude among jw's.

  the pioneers look down on the publishers.

  the appointed men look down on the non-appointed men.

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  freddo

  @Spiral

  I see some of this too. Here in the UK they are raising and equalising the age at which you can get your state pension.

  Up until about 5 years ago men got their pension at 65 and women at 60. This is being raised to 65 for each over the next few years - at present women women are going through the process and their pension age is about 63.

  Those men and women retiring in the later part of 2020 will be 66 and those in the late 2020's will be 67. Those in their 30's and 40's now will be 69 or 70!

  So there are a lot of crusty elders in their 70's who with their similar aged wives aged 66 or more who have been getting full pension for 5 or 6 years more than those in their 50's will be.

  This group were also the ones that tended to have jobs with private pensions and who could afford to buy houses on average incomes. That's all changed for the next two generations down!

  Methinks resentment will be rife!
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  33

  JW Cart Witnessing = ONE BIG JOKE

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was talking to a good buddy of mine a couple days ago (we pioneered and were in bethel together and have both left the cult a few years ago), about the current cart and d. and the consensus was that it is now a complete joke.

  was watching a couple witnesses last week sit at a table with their literature display.

  no approaching people for conversation, no initiating stimulating dialogue with passerbys, as was encouraged when i "pioneered" back in the day.

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  freddo

  It's a very short term "win-win" because (starting in the developed world) the baptisms will fall and the publisher numbers will fall too. As one erudite poster put it "however much lipstick you put on on a pig - it is still a pig."

  I predict "simplified" year book reports to mask decreases "very soon".
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  10

  From Reddit - RC Baptism Count: Cornwall, Ontario, Canada June 11, 2016.

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  attendance: 2298.

  baptized: 4.

  enjoy looking at the math on that one.... .

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  freddo

  In this week (July 9th 2016) from a jw who went to the RC in Exeter, Devon, England.

  Attendance 3332 "a bit down on last year" apparently.

  Baptised 10

  Another low one.
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  14

  disfellowshipped family and friend being reinstated

  by Together in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  new to the forums and looking for someone who may have had a similar experience.

  i have been disfellowshipped going on 30 years now.

  within those thirty years i have built myself a life and slowly learned to cope with the shunning from family and friends.

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  freddo

  Sorry to hear your troubles "Together" - what do you think made them "go back"? Do they believe it and are "weak" or are they going back for contact with family or even inheritance purposes do you think?
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  5

  Imitate their Faith...Joseph didn't understand why Jesus said he was in his Fathers' house (did anyone catch this)

  by tor1500 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the imitate their faith last night brought out that, never mind, i'll show you:.

  question: and how might joseph have felt about his son’s words?

  (in part).

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  freddo

  And if the WT said "well they must have known later" that doesn't add up as applying to Joseph because they also presume Joseph was dead by the time Jesus was baptised or more so by the time Jesus was crucified.

  @ sir82

  You forgot "evidently".
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  17

  exposed 3 jw's in front of my jw dad

  by JunkYardDog in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on a road trip with my jw dad and stopped at the rest stop.

  this jw lady walked up to me with a craptower.

  big mistake.

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  freddo

  "Or you could have simply said 'No thanks'."

  Not nearly so satisfying though!

  Maybe a little seasoning next time?
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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.