freddo

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Posts by freddo

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  90

  Is attendance down in your location too?

  by StarryNight9 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was commenting on another thread about how local kh attendance is down.

  memorial attendance was also way down and the circuit assembly had hundreds less people than what is typical.

  my jw family has even mentioned it.

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  freddo

  Down round my way. 20 years ago high 80's on a Sunday, now 50 ish. Midweek 45 with highs of 55 and lows of 35.

  Publishers gone from near 90 to mid 60's.

  Two congs within 5 miles dissolved in the last five years.
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  67

  Russia Uses Nerve Agent to Assassinate Spy

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  what started as news of a man and woman being found unconscious on a park bench 12 days ago is escalating into an international incident.. sergei skripal had worked as a double agent for british intelligence mi6 before he was discovered and imprisoned in russia in 2006. he was later flown to england as part of a spy-swap in 2010. on sunday 4th march he was discovered along with his 33 year old daughter yulia close to a shopping centre in salisbury.. since then the story has become increasingly bizarre.

  a policeman who was first to attend the scene also became critically ill and remains in hospital.

  government scientists at porton down have confirmed that the cause is a russian military-grade nerve agent novichok.

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  freddo

  Now come on Corney! If you had three days sightseeing in London after flying in from Moscow it's obvious that ...

  You would travel 90 miles to see Salisbury Cathedral (twice) because the English early spring snow put you off travelling to Stonehenge. I mean you're a Russian from Moscow aren't you?

  Snow would be so scary for a Russian wouldn't it? (Even if it didn't land on Salisbury for a three days after you went there.)

  And after all why would you stay in London? Nothing to see or do there ...
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  28

  What are they trying to hide

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  ok. we are all aware of the scandal around the non reporting of child abuse cases to the authorities by the elders and how it was part of watchtower policy.. this has probably been discussed before, which i apologize for now if it has.. the obvious view that most of us make as to why the gb are so reluctant to comply with the authorities by revealing their database around child abuse allegations, is that the leadership at watchtower hq likely were trying to safeguard the reputation of the organisation.. however, (just a theory) are they hiding something more sinister which could in effect devastate the organisation ie could it be they are hiding some things within the gb itself, whether it be some individuals within the gb of the past or even present who might have had some serious allegations made against them which the authorities are never going to know about?

  i mean why the hell are they going to such lengths to hide everything???.

  any thoughts?

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  freddo

  Is it my imagination or did I read on one of the "exjw forums" that Pat Garza died several years ago? Maybe even before Jaracz died?

  Would Barbara Anderson know?
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  138

  JW org collapses

  by I Faded Twice in

  1. social
  2. humour

  ok so this is a topic i've pondered and go back and forth on.. i can easily see a point where lawsuits cause massive deficits in the organization.

  honestly i feel like we are seeing the tip of the iceberg in regards to lawsuits on child abuse.

  to me it looks like the property sell offs are to be able to get ready for this.

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  freddo

  Let me tell you about a well known congregation (to me.)

  In the mid 1990's when all was forward moving and building for increase it peaked at 89 publishers. Since then it has slowly but inexorably reduced to about 65. The congregation next to it on one side has been dissolved - its kingdom hall sold.

  This congregation had six group study locations at its peak, now it has four. Rumour has it this will soon drop to three.

  Now - one of these areas of this congregation had three groups at its peak - it was the hub of the hall with several elders and their families living there. It now has one group with the following make up ...

  Out of 15 members (2 elders - no MS's)

  10 are over 70 - of which 3 are housebound and over 80.

  1 - late 60's disabled

  2 are in their 40's to 50's (1 pioneer) and are the core of the groups ministry.

  2 - couple late 20's born ins - him not reaching out - her mental issues and just coping

  In the last three years - two other over 70's have died and one brother in his 60's has been DFd. Two teenage girls have left before baptism.

  The downhill trend is speeding up ...
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  138

  JW org collapses

  by I Faded Twice in

  1. social
  2. humour

  ok so this is a topic i've pondered and go back and forth on.. i can easily see a point where lawsuits cause massive deficits in the organization.

  honestly i feel like we are seeing the tip of the iceberg in regards to lawsuits on child abuse.

  to me it looks like the property sell offs are to be able to get ready for this.

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  freddo

  Actually Morpheus I said flatlining and declining in Europe/USA.

  Europe in 2016/2017 "Peak publishers" according to the borg's own figures.

  2016 1,490,882

  2017 1,486,445

  Drop of 4,437

  I've not even included Russia in that either.
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  138

  JW org collapses

  by I Faded Twice in

  1. social
  2. humour

  ok so this is a topic i've pondered and go back and forth on.. i can easily see a point where lawsuits cause massive deficits in the organization.

  honestly i feel like we are seeing the tip of the iceberg in regards to lawsuits on child abuse.

  to me it looks like the property sell offs are to be able to get ready for this.

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  freddo

  Flatlining and declining in Europe/USA

  Last two years baptisms for Germany/Italy/Poland/USA

  2016 3224 - 4915 - 1740 - 28588
  

  2017 2839 - 4542 - 1571 - 27674

  (Borgs own figures)
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  49

  The rise and rise of Paul Gillies?

  by JWB in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the rise and rise of paul gillies?.

  here are a view details about the 57-year-old paul stuart gillies.. .

  2011: appointed as a director of international bible students association (ibsa) on 2 november having resigned as a director of watch tower bible and tract society of britain on the same day.

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  freddo

  I reckon Gillies may make "helper" but surely at 65ish - if he's just started partaking - he's missed the boat for GB?

  Has he a really "speshul" skill that they need?
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  22

  Funny occurrences

  by Freedom rocks in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  what were some funny experiences you had of things that happened during talks at the meetings?.

  a few of mine:.

  - a brother had dyed his hair before his talk and it was raining heavily when he arrived at the hall and the dye was running down his face during his talk and his skin went more and more grey as the black dye ran down it.

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  freddo

  In the early 1980's as the HLC malarkey started to be rolled out in the UK we would get members of the HLC committee giving talks to congregations by invite from time to time. (As if 3 meetings a week wasn't enough?)

  So this "circuit heavy", HLC chairman comes to give a talk with one of his younger sidekicks - doing 30 minutes each.

  The younger guy gets up and talks about "working with doctors" and "what a great relationship we're building with the big teaching hospitals, yada yada yada ..."

  He talks about the - then - new things jw's are helping the medical community with (I know, I know) - blood salvage, not being concerned when the blood count goes lower than recommended etc. and then he starts on about "magic trousers" (which I've not heard of before or since) which were some sort of warmth/compression type garment that would "help" in cases of blood loss.

  He goes on at some length about these magic trousers and then hands over to the older HLC chairman for his part.

  The old boy walks up to the podium but slips on the shiny wooden steps and his legs flail out at almost 90 degrees like a cartoon character slipping on a banana skin. It seemed go on for several seconds but was probably no more than a second or two before the old boy just manages to stay upright with help from his mate who had just passed him while coming off the platform.

  I'm in the front row and the brother next to me (who went inactive about ten years ago - yay!) puts his hand to his mouth, keeps a dead pan face and whispers in my ear ...

  "Was he wearing the magic trousers!?"

  Much rocking of shoulders and suppressing of silly giggles by me.
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  38

  What Privileges do you get when you are baptized ?

  by LOLS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my husband was baptized at the recent 2018 convention in south africa ....... he was very annoyed that his non-believing wife did not attend the baptism....... but i think he received pressure from his jw father & elders as to why his wife was not attending ....... anyway ..... it's really water off my back .

  i wanted to know what privileges you get as a baptized jw man , as i saw a message from one of the elders at his cong , congratulating him on his baptism and to earning more privileges ..... what are these privileges the elder is speaking about ,,,,, .

  i don't feel like asking my husband as it just lands up in a stupid fight ..... or a long winded explanation ..... thanks .

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  freddo

  Well LOLS I'm glad you're strong-minded. You will need to be.
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  12

  Changing Name from Jehovahs witnesses to governing body followers?

  by LovingLifeNow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first off, they are not changing there name.

  but i was thinking this morning that it wouldnt be that far fetched to do so.

  i mean they could use the spin, " we have so much new light and the times are so close, that we need to be obedient to the fds," there have been many changes in the organization so we don't want to be associated with the old name, but again more then ever we need to be obedient" .

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  freddo

  No. Even Hitler didn't change the name Nazi to Hitlerites.