Posts by Caminante

26

2011 Yearbook (2010 Grand Totals) Stats

by Inside Man in

jw
friends

here is a recap of last years service year.. 116 branches down from 118.

236 lands reporting same as last year.

107,210 total congregations up from last year total of 105,298.

Caminante

InterestedOne, you must have been confused by Inside Man's choice of words. Let me make it into plain English. At conventions and assemblies there is the baptismal talk, where the baptismal candidates stand and answer a big "YES" to the two baptismal questions. Then the speaker tells them that by their affirmative answer they are eligible for baptism as "ordained ministers of Jehovah God". Most protestant denominations agree to this so-called "universal priesthood of all believers".

In the Watchtower organization there are publishers (unbaptized and baptized), pioneers (auxiliary, regular, and special), ministerial servants, elders, traveling overseers (circuit and district overseers), branch personnel (a."Bethel family" members). In the 2011 Yearbook, on the bottom of page 31, there is the following text printed: "Worldwide, a total of 20,062 ordained ministers staff the branch facilities. All are members of the Worldwide Order of Special Full-Time Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses." This expression implies two things: (1) all these 20,062 Bethel family members are baptized as Witnesses of Jehovah, and (2) they are members of this order (terms & conditions apply to membership and appointments are invitation-only). Requirements for different tasks within Bethel service are varying. Basic requirements are exemplary status in the congregation (which applies for all the privileges), and a certain amount of time in regular pioneer service.

26

2011 Yearbook (2010 Grand Totals) Stats

by Inside Man in

jw
friends

here is a recap of last years service year.. 116 branches down from 118.

236 lands reporting same as last year.

107,210 total congregations up from last year total of 105,298.

Caminante

Yes, InterestedOne, there is no laity/clergy distinction in the Watchtower organization indeed, at least not in the same way there is in the Catholic Church, for example, but, of course, some individuals have more privileges than others and there is a very solid hierarchical structure, similar to the corporate organizational chart of a multinational business entity. So that's a different type of distinction. Nevertheless, it has the same function of the classic laity/clergy division.

26

2011 Yearbook (2010 Grand Totals) Stats

by Inside Man in

jw
friends

here is a recap of last years service year.. 116 branches down from 118.

236 lands reporting same as last year.

107,210 total congregations up from last year total of 105,298.

Caminante

I think that count includes branch office staff, special pioneers and traveling overseers (and their wives). Correct me if I'm wrong.

26

2011 Yearbook (2010 Grand Totals) Stats

by Inside Man in

jw
friends

here is a recap of last years service year.. 116 branches down from 118.

236 lands reporting same as last year.

107,210 total congregations up from last year total of 105,298.

Caminante

Yes, all baptized Witnesses are ordained ministers, but 20K brothers and sisters are members of the Religious Order of Special Full Time Ministers ... I don't remember how it is called exactly.

6

New Books and Brochures available on Media Website

by Caminante in

a brother brought to my attention that there are certain publications (books and brochures) available on jw media in pdf format, both english and russian, on the "banned publications" list.

(pdf, 1.35 mb).

a book for all people (pdf, 7.83 mb, not searchable).

Caminante

All of these. Reportedly there's an official list of 34 publications. But recently the European Court of Human Right stated their final decision in favor of the Witnesses, saying that the ban was completely illegal. So the Russian government will have to implement the measures needed to reassure the Witnesses' freedom to organize Christian meetings and perform the public ministry without any hindrance.

6

New Books and Brochures available on Media Website

by Caminante in

a brother brought to my attention that there are certain publications (books and brochures) available on jw media in pdf format, both english and russian, on the "banned publications" list.

(pdf, 1.35 mb).

a book for all people (pdf, 7.83 mb, not searchable).

Caminante

A brother brought to my attention that there are certain publications (books and brochures) available on JW Media in PDF format, both English and Russian, on the "Banned Publications" list. As it was previously the case, i.e. the first time publications were downloadable (before there was a public Books and Brochures section on JW.org), these files have only text, no images whatsoever, to keep file size as small as possible. Take into the account that certain publications typeset before 1998 are not searchable, because the text is rendered as bitmaps, and not as PostScript type.

The following publications are available on JW Media (links are to the English versions. For the Russian version, use the Copy Link/Shortcut feature, and when pasting the address in a new tab, replace "_e" by "_u" in the name of the PDF file.)

Besides these, you can find some excerpts from certain issues of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines.

Enjoy.

Dorel Caminante

33

What is it with JW's and the Cross?

by FloridaPerry in

history shows people were hung on stakes and crosses, why do the jw's make a big deal about the cross?

isn't jesus dying for the sins of man the issue?

the cross was a part of the jw's early on.

Caminante

Yes, back then they didn't stumble on the words ... I mean they knew that all of the Bible translations they were translating staurós as cross, but they didn't mind that, since they repeatedly depicted Jesus as being nailed on a piece of vertical timber, and believed the cross to be a crux simplex. Evidently the minds of the Witnesses back then were tuned accordingly, and weren't surprised to see Bible verses saying something, and the text saying something else. Besided the occurence on page 43, check "tree" on pages 114, 164, 171, 174, 175, 203, 247, 290, where it is used in connection with Jesus' crucifixion.

33

What is it with JW's and the Cross?

by FloridaPerry in

history shows people were hung on stakes and crosses, why do the jw's make a big deal about the cross?

isn't jesus dying for the sins of man the issue?

the cross was a part of the jw's early on.

Caminante

JunkYardDog: here's all the occurences of the word "cross" in the 1946 edition, check them in your printed version (I have a scanned, OCR'd version of it; pretty high quality):

1) page 34 - Philippians 2:8 according to the American Standard Version
2) page 37 - same verse according to the Emphatic Diaglott
3) page 135 - quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia about image worship
4) page 164 - Colossians 2:12-18 quoted from an unspecified Bible translation (probably KJV)
5) page 171 - Ephesians 2:16 quoted from Goodspeed's translation.
6) page 204 - the same scripture in Colossians according to Goodspeed

33

What is it with JW's and the Cross?

by FloridaPerry in

history shows people were hung on stakes and crosses, why do the jw's make a big deal about the cross?

isn't jesus dying for the sins of man the issue?

the cross was a part of the jw's early on.

Caminante

Personally, the realization of the very belief of Jehovah's Witnesses that Jesus died on a tortuke stake, rather than on a cross, (in February 1, 1991, issue of the Watchtower magazine, the article "Agony on the Stake", part of the Greatest Man book) rang the bell that there might be something strange with the Witnesses. I was around 11 years old back then and it was, as far as I remember, my second personal encounter with a Witness publisher.

33

What is it with JW's and the Cross?

by FloridaPerry in

history shows people were hung on stakes and crosses, why do the jw's make a big deal about the cross?

isn't jesus dying for the sins of man the issue?

the cross was a part of the jw's early on.

Caminante

JunkYardDog: the only placeswhere Let God Be True says that Jesus died on a cross are quotations from the Scripture, that are taken out from the American Standard Version (in the 1946 edition). On pages 42 and 43, in paragraph 13 it says about the "Jewish rabbis, priests and sectarian leaders" to have stirred up "the misguided Jewish people to cry for Jesus to be impaled on a tree." So before they released the New World Translation they used "tree" instead of "torture stake." The 1952 edition quotes the Emphatic Diaglott when citing Philippians 2:8 in one place, but in the body text it consistently uses the word "stake" or "torture stake" when referring to the instrument of Jesus' execution.

As far as I know the cross has been replaced with the crux simplex to substantiate the fact that the cross, as a religious symbol, is of a pagan origin. Since most of the people believe that the cross as the symbol of Christendom was first chosen because of the fact that Jesus died on a cross, this was a pretty easy strategy to have a backing to their statement that Christendom is an apostate form of religion and to enforce future ex-Catholics to give up praying in front of a crucifix.

So, as it is the case with many of the changes, this too was made to help gather converts to the organization and to reach growing numbers more efficiently.