Fencing

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Posts by Fencing

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  47

  AND STILL NO RELEASE OF THE 2017 JW YEARBOOK

  by steve2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here we are on the cusp of the new year, and the 2017 yearbook of jws has still not been released.

  jw.org continues to feature the 2016 yearbook in its list of main publications.

  in previous years, the upcoming yearbook's annual report on jws was released in november for the january 1st then the feb 1st watchtower, then earlier in december when it was only featured in the yearbook, then more recently with a couple of days of december 25th.

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  Fencing

  From 2010-2015, here are the partaker numbers and the YoY growth percentage:

  2010 11202 +3.1%

  2011 11824 +5.5%

  2012 12604 +6.5%

  2013 13204 +4.7%

  2014 14121 +6.9%

  2015 15177 +7.4%
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  47

  AND STILL NO RELEASE OF THE 2017 JW YEARBOOK

  by steve2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here we are on the cusp of the new year, and the 2017 yearbook of jws has still not been released.

  jw.org continues to feature the 2016 yearbook in its list of main publications.

  in previous years, the upcoming yearbook's annual report on jws was released in november for the january 1st then the feb 1st watchtower, then earlier in december when it was only featured in the yearbook, then more recently with a couple of days of december 25th.

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  Fencing

  If those partaker numbers are true, that's more than an 18% increase in partakers year over year. Last year was a 7.4% increase in partakers. That's a HUGE explosion from one year to the next.
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  22

  Do they still do the Written Review?

  by Funchback in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i left in 2006. i seem to vaguely recall that the written review was no more but i can't say for sure.. so, do they still do it?

  was (is) it a waste of time?

  i used to hate it..

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  Fencing

  I remember the slow devolution of the Written Review. I remember when they handed the questions out during the meeting, but I don't remember other people grading the test. I remember the review was pretty often back then. Every 2 months I think? I seem to remember that you weren't allowed to use any publication other than the Bible during the test. There were written answers and multiple choice questions where you had to circle the right scripture. Then I remember when the question sheet started coming with the KM as an insert and you could study ahead of time. The school overseer would read off the right answers after time was up and everyone graded their own test. God, even thinking about all these years later makes me remember the unique smell of the KM paper.

  Then they reduced the number of times a year to I think every 6 months? And the test got smaller and smaller. Then it turned into just another lame question-answer session for the "Oral Review". Then... poof. Gone. Just like everything else unique and interesting they used to do.
  
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  31

  Fossilized foot prints, how do they explain it away?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so there have been many sets of fossilized human footprints found in africa, italy, europe, britain and new mexico.

  these foot prints are thought to be anywhere from 20,000 to 2 million years old.

  so what do christians and jws do to try to explain these away.

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  Fencing

  They dropped the 7000 year creative day long before 2013. After the failure of 1975, they cut back on referring to it. By the time Franz died, they had quietly started referring to each period as "eons" or "ages" instead. I'd venture a guess that 8/10 witnesses today wouldn't even be aware of or remember the 7000 year "day".
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  80

  Major Doctrinal Changes Must Be On The Way

  by notsurewheretogo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the statement in the article "who is leading gods people today?

  " in the feb 17th study edition of the wt is very interesting.. it states: ""the g.b.

  is neither inspired nor infallible" ..we can err .in doctrinal matters....".

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  Fencing

  If there is a major doctrinal change coming, it's almost guaranteed to be the 144,000 becoming symbolic. They've been putting the pieces in place for the past several years - reducing the "importance" of being anointed, throwing shade on partakers as possible a little nutty, removing all "authority" from the remnant by making only themselves the F&DS. Rising partaker numbers is still a problem they can't explain away.

  I predicted to someone 4 years ago that, within 5 years, they would drop the 144,000. I still think that's very possible.

  I think that's more likely than 1914 being dropped.
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  61

  Trump supporters want to repeal 19th amendment

  by keyser soze in

  1. social
  2. current

  seriously, you can't make this shit up.

  and these same people will accuse hillary of rigging the election after she wins:.

  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-supporters-repeal-19th-amendment-article-1.2828571.

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  Fencing

  Is choosing a 'white' country over a non-white one an example of racism?

  Yeah! It can't possibly be because Canada speaks English, has a culture often indistinguishable from the US, has the same standard of living, a very low crime rate, and has a strong economy. It absolutely has to be about racism instead.
  
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  17

  Young Ones Leaving

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in the congregation that i grew up in there were about 30 children under 16 (myself included).

  as time went on they one by one slipped away from the meetings and most never got baptized.

  of those 30 children only myself and two other girls stayed and got baptized.

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  Fencing

  It's interesting, I made a list of all the people I grew up with around my age. Most all of them were raised in it, and the ones that weren't were indoctrinated pretty young.

  The list is standing around 60% having left. Right about where the Pew poll predicts. Two of them I'm not sure about. I haven't had any contact with them in a very long time. A few of the "in" ones are nominally Witnesses - they make most of the meetings, but aren't serving or "reaching out", or pioneering. Just kind of coasting along.

  Out of the rest, one is a long-term (lifer at this point) Bethelite and another is (I think) still an elder.

  That's it. Not exactly an encouraging group of shining examples, even the ones that are still in.
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  44

  Why Do People Become Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  besides being raised in the religion , why do people become jws?

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  Fencing

  Thinking back, every found-at-the-door convert (of which there were very few, could probably count on my fingers how many of them I saw) was either mentally unhinged or had just faced some life-altering event that put them at a low point. Death of a loved one, loss of a job and facing destitution, recent divorcee escaping an abusive relationship, drug addict wanting to recover, etc.

  Other than that, the converts that weren't born-in were usually relatives that had been hounded by their JW family for years, sometimes decades. And more often than not, they were also at low point in their lives.
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  18

  Undeserved kindness

  by life is to short in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just a side note that i found interesting and sort of upsetting, the wt that the jw's will study on sunday the 18th of september has the words undeserved kindness mentioned 50 in just 19 paragraphs.

  really they need to beat it into their people that they are very worthless and do no deserve anything from god?

  so much so that they use the words over and over, don't they.. lits .

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  Fencing

  The word "grace" tends to emphasize God's mercy, whereas the term "underserved kindness" emphasises that humans are not worthy.
  When you gain broader perspective it becomes apparent that JWs are not a very God oriented religion.

  Yes, this exactly. "Grace" has a more positive connotation, more uplifting in tone. "Undeserved kindness" has a far more negative connotation to it, reinforcing a feeling of worthlessness. It's understandable why the WT has stuck with it for so long. It's really a microcosm of the entire tone of the religion: You can never do enough, you can never be good enough, and you maybe (probably) won't survive the big A anyway.

  It's a good example of the weird, schizophrenic take JWs have on salvation, simultaneously rejecting "once saved, always saved" and the notion of simple faith leading to salvation (as in most mainstream evangelical groups), and rejecting the notion that works can lead to salvation. When everything in the religion is setup to make you work for your "salvation".
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  23

  Any word on the annual meeting?

  by careful in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have all the leaks at ny bethel been discovered, or are there still some who are revealing the inner secrets beforehand?

  i haven't seen anything here about the annual meeting just a month away now.

  anyone have any real info on it?.

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  Fencing

  In case anyone is researching, I think the word is Nethinim not Nephinim. Hardly mentioned since it first appeared as a doctrine. The WTS tends to let some die by not mentioning them again.

  I remember that. Mid 90's. It was not too long after the "generation" change that made it completely open-ended and squashed any hope of the end coming before the end of the century. The Nethinim being "other sheep" helpers who would start taking over for the F&DS was mentioned in like one WT study article. Got a lot of tongues wagging about what it could mean. And then no one heard about it again.