I wanted to do the last year available (2008 on the website), but they don't have the average number there. They don't publish that anymore, or just not on the website? I find the average number of more significance than the maximum number.
Posts by teel
-
4JW Growth Verses the World Population Growth
by jookbeard ini know they constantly bang on about how many millions of hours the wts reports world wide, but what is the actual ratio of wts publisher to non jw on the planet?with the earths population shattering records as each year passes towards the 7 billion mark, the wts's growth surely is falling behind, i had this argument with my dub mother some time ago in which she claimed that the wts is at an all time high in the publisher-non publisher figures , i did not push the argument as i knew she was lying, any data folks?.
-
-
-
4
JW Growth Verses the World Population Growth
by jookbeard ini know they constantly bang on about how many millions of hours the wts reports world wide, but what is the actual ratio of wts publisher to non jw on the planet?with the earths population shattering records as each year passes towards the 7 billion mark, the wts's growth surely is falling behind, i had this argument with my dub mother some time ago in which she claimed that the wts is at an all time high in the publisher-non publisher figures , i did not push the argument as i knew she was lying, any data folks?.
-
-
teel
Actually publicly available data says your mother is right. Not earth-shatteringly, but the percentage did go up. Here you go:
Year World Population Avg. Witnesses %
1998 5,936,978,622 5,544,059 0.09338%
1999 6,015,068,028 5,653,987 0.09400%
2000 6,092,409,072 5,783,003 0.09492%
2001 6,146,294,339 5,881,776 0.09570%
2002 6,169,838,287 6,048,600 0.09803%
2005 6,476,521,420 6,390,022 0.09866%
2006 6,554,167,609 6,491,775 0.09905% -
12
'God Bless You' When You Sneeze?
by willyloman inwe're all familiar with the wt's "history" of the origin of the phrase "god bless you" ("geshundeit" in german) in response to someone's sneezing.
the wts says it originated with the pagan belief that the soul leaves the body when you sneeze and the "bless you" is part of a superstition to protect you from demon invasion.
given that background, jw's don't say anything when someone sneezes.
-
-
teel
I realize it's a 5 year old post, but the info in the OP seemed really interresting to me, it deserves a bump for us, new ones
I could see them getting away with Sante.
In hungarian we say "egészségedre" which also means "health". Guess what: the org forbid that too. I just can't wrap my head around this. The g99 10/22 page 3 is a word by word translation of the english article, with no regard to the fact, that by no means can our language's word when sneezing be called a superstition. Because of that the article talks about "When the english people say 'God bless' they actually ask for God to bring back his soul". So? Why that has any bearing on our wishing someone to have good health? Idiot rule. Obviously no JW here wishes "health" when someone sneezes. It seems so antisocial to me.
What's funny I can imagine were the english language to have "health" instead of "god bless", the rule would have been to allow for all the world, including where they say "gesundheit". So much for spirit directed.
-
4
Man (human) is not weak.
by possible-san inthis is a commercial of the cycle race in japan.. the player who prays for safety and sprinkles salt over his bicycle is impressive.. that cm has said, "man (human) is not weak.".
i love this cm.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huc4ev-jgau.
-
-
teel
Wasn't that an anti-slip substance? Like they use when weightlifting? Just an idea, you may be right, he did pray too...
-
24
The fine art of refusing a Shepherding Call
by Open mind ini'm pretty sure the forseeable future will include numerous attempts to "shepherd" my family.
my elder status is either already gone or soon to be gone.. .
does anyone know of specific rules when it comes to refusing a shepherding call?
-
-
teel
My wife brought a message from the elders that they want to meet with me, and they already given a date. It was also my wife that carried back the message to them: "No, thanks, I will not meet with you." That was almost a month ago, they only said "Ok, well if you need to talk about anything, call us" and never heard anything of them. I guess it was pretty easy that way.
My wife did mention some things, she didn't go into detail, about the elders saying that my status with the organization is like a marriage, if it doesn't work out we need to discuss our relationship - I guess they were trying to get to the point that either I go back or DF for me. I just said to my wife: right, if we're married, consider this as a separation. The org invokes 3 reasons for a non-divorce separation: not providing materially, hurting physically, and hindering worship. I can't say the org did anything against my material wellfare, but the other two reasons are there: they did hurt me more than one way, and they did hinder me in worshipping God as told by the Bible. I have more than enough reason for separation.
-
-
-
teel
"the number of anointed ones on the earth has decreased over the decades"
See, this is a perfect example of what I was talking about Weasel words, it's not a lie in itself, because the number is indeed lower than in the 50's, yet it tells us nothing of what is actually happening.
-
21
TRESPASSING
by blondie inwoman wins trespassing judgment against jehovah's witness.
miscellaneous news.
source: foxnews.
-
-
teel
The Hawthorns also sued the Adelaide Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses for failing to provide proper instructions about doorknocking in rural areas.
I can't imagine such action without serious reproval. Seeking out worldly justice against brothers is a big no-no, against the Society or part of it is much more so.
The Adelaide congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses said doorknocking was voluntary and followers were not obliged to do it.
Sure, just like everything is voluntary for them. Except if you don't do it you loose your family, your friends, your whole life goes down the drain, etc. But no pressure.
-
-
-
teel
I know about theocratic warfare. It's mostly based on deception. I know they have said some things which were plainly false, however I still think they have rationalized it within themselves as being the correct thing to say at that particular situation. Mind you I don't want to defend the org at all. I find such tactics much worse than lies. As I explained in an other thread outright lies at least are discoverable, these deception tactics are harder to pinpoint.
-
-
-
teel
First, an apology for confusing peacedog with civicsi00.
You may have a point peacedog, but I do not believe the Society would outright lie. It's only my personal view, nothing to base it on. Misinterpret the truth, deceive, etc. yes, but I believe the GB tries to rationalize everything for themselves too. So I don't see them plainly making up a number to publish - although obviously they can do that, no way for us to check.
Also the fact that the number was so unstable before 08, sometimes rising sometimes dropping seems to be against that idea too. They said numberous times that the decrease of the number of annointed shows us that we are getting closer to the big A. If they were making up numbers, surely they would have done a better job, wouldn't they? I mean ok, rise a bit a couple of times to keep the number looking genuine, but overall to have a steady decline.
The 144k taken literaly is also a big problem for them to start artificially rising the number. There is only so far they can go before more people start wondering how these two things can be reconciled.
-
224
Where Are You From?
by finallysomepride inalot of members don't have a flag or country name beside their user name, and well frequently one doesn't know where that particular person is from, tell us your country, state, county or what ever you feel like giving out.
if you are going to post please at least devulge your country.. me, i'm originally from taranaki, new zealand via auckland.
for the most of this decade i have been living & working in brisbane, queensland, australia.. .
-
-
teel
nath: you did everything right, but you provided a link to an svg file which is not displayed by IE. You tried to insert this one: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Location_Sweden_EU_Europe.svg clicking this in IE only gives a Save dialog, it can't be shown. Try this picture instead: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/EU-Sweden.svg/713px-EU-Sweden.svg.png or the smaller one at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/EU-Sweden.svg/250px-EU-Sweden.svg.png
