I bought front row tickets a couple months ago for one of the shows coming up in December here in East Lansing(at MSU). I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Is it really that good?
Jourles
JoinedPosts by Jourles
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6
If you're ever in Vegas...
by exwitless ini attended a medical conference this weekend at the wynn hotel in vegas.
on saturday night, we saw monty python's "spamalot" in the live theater.
i cannot tell you how hilarious that show was!
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O% Containment of Fires in SoCal
by purplesofa ini don't think this is a hoax.. i have been watching this am the wildfires in socal.
they have already lost some beautiful buildings.
it does not look like things will let up soon.. i was in malibu a few yeares ago, horrible to see.. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303799,00.html.
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Jourles
Youch! The last big fire, my grandama and one of my uncles lost their homes in the Harbison Canyon area. Another uncle of mine lives right down the road from the Wild Animal Park - he can see the entrance from his backyard. I still haven't heard from any of them yet. I even heard that my parents are out there visiting right now. Perfect timing.
Jeez, kind of makes me glad that I moved away from there(SD). I'll take snow and freezing weather any day over fire, earthquakes, and hurricanes. At least snow won't damage my house!
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To my friends that are not in the US: Do you get this kind of propaganda?
by CaptainSchmideo ini know a lot of brits, aussies, canadians, etc, always marvel at the arrogance, haughtiness, and cockiness of us tourists visiting their countries.
or how mainstream us citizens just fall in line with anything that comes out of the government's mouth, accept any policy as "good", believe all that stuff about how "america is the greatest nation on earth!"..
how it gets ingrained into the being of most us citizens?.
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Jourles
Dawg,
You may change your mind about the list of presidential candidates if you were to look into Ron Paul. I would suggest starting at You Tube and look at the GOP debates, Google's HQ conference, and other general news interviews. You'll see why the media tries its best to subdue his influence in this race. Everything you said you believe in, RP fits you to a tee. Everything he wants to do is in direct opposition to what Bush is doing now. And they are supposedly on the same side of the aisle.
And on another note about "hating America," it's not AMERICA itself or the people in America that some hate. It is the policies of the current government, more specifically - this administration, that makes people "hate America." There is a difference here. This administration is gradually phasing out our original rights under the guise of keeping America safe from terrorism. The WTS invokes the same fear in the r&f when it comes to keeping the flock safe from the world and other dangers(internet, apostates, etc). If the WTS says something is bad and we need to change our habits or personal routine to keep us safe from such dangers, what do you think the r&f will do? Ignore the WTS or blindly follow along? We need to view the government, and not just of our own country in which we live, as similar to how we view the WTS as exjw's. There is nothing wrong with critically examining the doctrines of our old religion or even our government. If we're told that it's wrong, well, then I hope you can see the problem in this.
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Annual Report no longer to be included in WT but Kingdom Ministry
by truthseeker inif any of you have not seen the scan of the jan 15, 2008 private wt edition this will interest you:.
page 3. .
the annual report will no longer appear in the watchtower.
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Jourles
They're not removing the report due to "apostates" getting hold of it. Hell, we see every pub before it becomes available to the average jdub! They know that no matter what, we'll always leak/copy/scan anything newsworthy to the web. Since the growth figures are primarily for the r&f's benefit only(how many householders would care about the amount of kh's located in Timbuktu?), they are merely switching it to the proper venue is all. I see it as a possible but *small* cost cutting measure. Why waste 4-6 pages in a "public version" WT when the people receiving it could care less? Put those pages where they will be read -- in a "private" publication which is printed in far fewer numbers.
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Share one or two interesting things about you we probably didn't know
by Gopher inwe have such an interesting group of people from around the world on this board.
it might be interesting to have a thread where you discuss a hobby, something interesting that happened in the past, somewhere you've been, etc.. not deep, dark confessions - just interesting stuff.. .
* i have travelled into all 48 american states that are not named alaska or hawaii.. * for the past few years, i have had a slight walking impairment due to a form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis.
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Jourles
Volleyball phreak. I play 4-5 days a week. Indoors, I'm not at the Olympic level or Div I collegiate, but I'd say one notch below. In sand, and depending on the partner I'm playing with, I'll enter as AA or sometimes Open. My indoor game is tighter than my outdoor game. I've been playing since high school.
Skiboarder. I switched to skiboards from skis back in 1995 and never looked back. My latest selection consists of two sets of Line boards (99cm & 142cm) and Spruce 120's.
Budding photog. I am more interested in learning the technical aspects of photography right now. I'm almost to the point where I can set up my dslr in full manual mode and hit the perfect "tack sharp" shot the first time - correctly choosing the right wb, exposure, aperture, etc. I think anyone can learn to take great pictures once they learn how to use their equipment properly. The "AUTOPICTURE" just doesn't do it for me.
My job is also my hobby.
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When the rules don't suit you, change 'em
by Jourles inanointed cutoff --- 1935.. |.
you cannot become a gb member without being one of the anointed.. |.
1995 comes and this generation now means the great crowd living during our time is part of it, no time cap.. |.
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Jourles
I still strongly feel 2014 will be a big phsycological barrier for many r&f
Oh yeah, I'm out and it will hit me too. 1914 isn't going away. That 100 year mark will be talked about I'm sure. For those who were in prior to 1995, I'm sure this date will land a harder hit to the gut than those who came later. But then again, the new change on the generation will also help disolve this timeframe seeing that it has nothing to do with the r&f anymore. That could be another reason for this change - to help reinforce in the r&f's minds that it never had anything to do with them in the first place. If they believe that line of bs, then the blunt force of that 100 year mark will not mean as much.
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When the rules don't suit you, change 'em
by Jourles inanointed cutoff --- 1935.. |.
you cannot become a gb member without being one of the anointed.. |.
1995 comes and this generation now means the great crowd living during our time is part of it, no time cap.. |.
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Jourles
But then the majority of the R&F never understood the post 1995 doctrine.
Exactly. Which is why yet another change won't be all that much different than the first. If a r&f member questions an elder as to why members of the gb are getting younger and younger, the elder can point back to this new change and explain that the anointed will be around to see armageddon, which in turn means that there must still be anointed left on earth thereby eliminating anything to do with 1935. If the r&f find it hard to wrap their heads around this new doctrine, they will be given the usual "wait on Jehovah" or "trust Jehovah's representatives" line. It has worked for the past 100 years, why not now?
As far as the 144k goes, there are two paths they can follow here. Symbolic or literal. Personally, if I were still a jw, I would find it nauseating to learn that the 144k was symbolic after being told my entire life(and which is also the basic foundation of the WTS) it was literal. I'm not sure they will change this one. If anything, the new generation interpretation simply enforces the symbolic view. If the 144k teaching became symbolic, then why would they need to change the generation thinking?? If it were symbolic, there would be no cap on who or how many could be of the anointed. This new generation idea is merely the foundation for supporting a continued literal 144k. They can easily say that there are a scattered few who will continue to live until the end - and that those few are eligible to become gb members(the real reason behind the change, imo). They'll refer primarily to the anointed ones, but in reality, they will use this reasoning as an excuse to keep a grip on power. Afterall, only the anointed get special messages from god. Combine all of this will bleeding coffers, you'll begin to see they are trying to hold on to their power as long as the money is there. A few decades at the most is what I'm guessing.
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Carl (larc) - A Tribute
by Farkel inas many of you know, larc died.
due to my hiatus, i didn't find out until several months after he did.
i was able to get to know him in the few years before he passed.
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Jourles
Yep, he was one of the very first exjw's that I ever met. He didn't scare me one bit!
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When the rules don't suit you, change 'em
by Jourles inanointed cutoff --- 1935.. |.
you cannot become a gb member without being one of the anointed.. |.
1995 comes and this generation now means the great crowd living during our time is part of it, no time cap.. |.
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Jourles
Anointed cutoff --- 1935.
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You cannot become a GB member without being one of the anointed.
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"This generation will by no means pass away..." --- "this generation" means the great crowd who planned on seeing armageddon before Y2K.
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1995 comes and this generation now means the great crowd living during our time is part of it, no time cap.
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GB is getting old and dying off. To maintain control over the org, new GB members must be added.
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New GB member(s) born post-1935. Missed anointed calling. But have no fear, they are "replacements" for the anointed ones who became unfaithful.
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Official count of those who partake has consistently hovered at ~8k people for the last 10-20 years.
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"This generation" will now mean those of the anointed.
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This change allows the GB to maintain control without the awkwardness of explaining why so many elderly anointed ones become unfaithful. (not that they were going to explain it in the first place)
In my view, this new generation change is simply for the GB's benefit. For the r&f, this doctrinal change means nothing. It serves no purpose, has no benefit, or gives the r&f any hope of seeing armageddon come any quicker than before. Prior to this, the carrot on the stick was using the original idea of the generation to keep the r&f on their toes looking forward to paradise coming "soon." But once 1995 came and went, morale took a turn for the worst. The GB was caught in a catch-22 on the 1995 change. On one hand, they had to alter it because of their interpretation of a generation consisting of roughly 80 years. 1914 to 1995 was 81 years long - roughly the span of their idea of a "generation." But on the other hand, they risked losing some members and alienating others with the change. Which was more important from their perspective? They had to maintain that they were still God's special channel dispensing the proper food at the right time. To let the old understanding of the generation continue on, they risked an even greater danger - mass questioning and confusion. By nipping it sooner rather than later, they kept hold of their control over the r&f.
Now the question on every r&f's mind is, who are these new guys that are becoming GB members and why are they so young? Again, placing a date on a doctrine is a tricky matter, especially when it turns out you're on the wrong end of it. The WTS set 1935 up for itself. 72 years later, I'm sure they would be hard pressed to find a competent brother of that age or older to offer any cohesive ideas and actually bring them to the table. So what can they do to get around this issue and to bring in some young blood without being questioned over it? Let's change the doctrine again! If the generation now points towards the anointed ones, and that generation will see armageddon come, the GB has just now solved their problem in regards to its future leadership. 1935 will go away. It must go away - it carries no relevance to this new thinking.
The GB stays in control. Fairly simple. The r&f can talk about it all they want and what it means for them, but in the end it is just another talking point in the WT and future book study publications. It is not a significant change whatsoever for the r&f - no matter how they disect it or read into it.
I gotta hand it to the GB. I knew they would eventually have to get rid of 1935 and I always thought that the "replacement" idea was kind of weak, but changing the idea of the generation, yet again, was a good business move. It keeps the men at the top in power indefinitely. I mean really, how many elderly anointed ones do you know that fall away due to unfaithfulness? I never knew one or even heard of one.
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JWD Prophets! You called it, what next?
by Wasanelder Once inyou guys are amazing.
for some time posters here have been saying that big changes were afoot and that the "members only" wt would be used to announce this new light.
i admit i was apathetic and thought, ok, maybe.
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Jourles
I'm still waiting for a couple of these items to come true (written before Awake cutback announcement):
To get a grasp on where the organization is heading, you first must put on your corporate thinking cap. Afterall, the WTBTS is simply a book and magazine publishing corporation.
It's nice that the search feature is working again. Ultimately, once they streamline again and really focus on reducing areas of cost due to their printing operations, the only other area where they can make money is by selling off kh's. Consolidating congregations and/or forcing the pubs to meet in private homes is on the horizon. I found this post back from Jan '02 regarding ownership of kh's being changed to the WTS:If I were the CEO, I would first look at the numbers provided from years past and how it compares to the most recent data released. In industrialized nations, there appears to be negative or no growth, ACROSS THE BOARD. In 3rd world countries and also others known for not having easy informative access such as the internet, positive growth is a little more apparent. Less people coming in and more going out generally means declining revenues. Since the industrialized nations most likely carry other poorer countries in terms of revenue producing income, and without seeing individual country dollar figures, this area could be considered a wash.
So where does the money come in from? The largest portion comes in the form of direct donations from the publishers. The next major portion would probably be from donations to cover the costs of the literature. Wills, trusts, stocks, bonds, and real estate are nearer at the end I'm guessing. If my company's profits are beginning to trend downward, I need to attack that area, or areas, of declining revenue. What is causing it? I think we can all agree that "an informed witness is an ex-witness." The internet is wreaking havoc on the WTBTS. Too much sensitive and damaging information is getting into the hands of the R&F witness in the privacy of their own home. As the CEO, I know that I cannot put an outright ban on witnesses going on the web. The web is ubiquitous these days and is used extensively for business purposes. Many witnesses would rebel against a ban as more and more of them are getting computers and finding them very useful in everyday activities. If I cannot stop witnesses from getting on the web, reading about my corporation's twisted past and then leaving because I misrepresented my company, then I need to find other areas to trim back to stop or slow the lost revenue.
Where would I look to slow this revenue drop? The actual printing itself is one major area. If it takes 1,000 hours to produce one convert(increase that time for children of witness parents being baptized), then how many magazines are handed out without asking for a donation for every convert? Our company has already pounded and pounded the idea of the donation arrangement into every service meeting - at least the publishers are supposed to ask for a donation in their demonstrations. Should we cut back on the magazine distribution timeframe? How about combine the WT and Awake into one magazine? Instead of twice a month, how about just once? This alone would cut expenditures on printed materials by almost 50-75%. And the books? Well, we already did away with hardcover and we also cut the physical size of most books to roughly 50% of the older larger ones. Can we take advantage of electronic distribution? Would some witnesses prefer to print out Adobe PDF files of the magazines? Instead of offering the WT and Awakes at the doors, why not switch to using just tracts? Save the magazines for studies and witnesses themselves. Tracts would cost less to produce and effectively carry the same message as the magazines.
These are just a few ways to cut back on expenditures. Of course, we would need to mask these changes as being for the better good and to also show a progressive proactive stance so that the witnesses do not become disheartened as to the lack of spiritual food that they were once accustomed to getting. We can use words like: compressed, simple, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and others that show we are trying to fit as much spiritual food as we can into one magazine without wasting the paper it is written on. If we see that donations continue to trend downwards, disfellowshippings must occur. We must always keep the fear of our God-given authority firmly entrenched into their minds. If they feel that they do not want to help towards to worldwide work, then they can leave. A non-donating witness is the same as a worldly person in our eyes. Dead money.
Ok, so the last part may not happen, but the rest very well could.
OR...once the WTS gets hit with an unending stream of lawsuits, they now have the legal assets to sell-off in order to cover expenditures. The given 'reason' will be to "combine congregations" or some other excuse.
As has been mentioned time and time again by myself and other posters - once you view the WTS as a BUSINESS, a book publishing business, only then will you be able to plainly see where they are headed. Forget new light. The tried and true jw will stick with them forever regardless of what new understanding comes out. But you have to remember, if the money isn't there to support massive printing facilities and other necessary capital expenditures, they will eventually die. Their paper isn't free. Water, electricity and gas are not free. Food is not free. The one and only single item that allows them to do what they do today is their tax-exempt status. If they were to ever lose this, they would fold up quicker than a hand towel. Going along with this "tax-exempt status" idea, if the USA, Canada and Mexico ever manage to become the "North American Union," the USA's Bill of Rights will probably go away or will be extremely reworded. "Freedom of Religion" will likely become "Freedom to practice whatever religions are approved by the government." Who knows? I see it as a distinct possibility that it could happen. Religions that are considered "mainstream" will be left untouched, but those that are viewed as cults, sects, or annoying, would not enjoy such a status. And it's hard to say whether or not any religion will be tax exempt. Anyway you look at it, the kh's are next on the chopping block. Of course, the CO's and DO's will likely be out of jobs too somewhere in the ruckus. Or at least their cars, salaries or anything else which directly ties them to HQ as employees will be done away with. These are exciting times we're living in!