WTWizard is right, folks... take any growth-related number the Org puts out with a Gibraltor-sized grain of salt.
"Growth = God's Blessing" has, over time, become such an integral cimponent of the JW worldview that from their POV, they have to display it...
...even if it's complete horseshit.
i’ve been gone a long time.
after my mother passed away a few years ago, i pretty much lost most contact with the witnesses.
a couple that were family friends for many years stopped checking on me to say hello.
Individual Jeghovah's Witnesses?
The ones still active and loyal are a little more culty, In my observation.
...
The "Jehovah's Witness" organization?
Trying to adapt to recent environmental changes whilst maintaining the religion's core defining characteristics is making them look weird as fuck.
i just saw a post on reddit: ‘wt are prepping the r&f for changes in the march/april meeting workbook’.. in the post the person noted what they read (for march 8) and it mentioned bethel adjustments and reference was made to 2015 when bethelites were let go.. if this happens (yet again) another bunch of people are being sent home to fend for themselves in the big bad world at an advanced age with little to no preparation.
even though this doesn’t surprise me, it could not come at a worse time with a global pandemic and massive job loss everywhere..congregations are already in turmoil because of so many who reached retirement age totally unprepared because they were told armageddon would be here before they reached that age.
this is in addition to all the other ‘needy’ and troubled types in the congregations looking for as$istance.. i hope any bethelites there have a plan and some people they can contact.
LongHairGal - "Are there more Bethel layoffs in the immediate future?"
Does a bear shit in the woods?
a vaccine is here!!!
the light at the end of the tunnel is visible!!!
so what happened to armageddon?.
Re. Pistolpete‘s post...
And why would “God’s Exclusive Earthly Organization” capitulate to the commands of “Satan’s World”?
And where are all the black-clad NWO stormtroopers? Don’t forget those guys.
forcing someone to believe something that is untrure and shunning them if they do not believe it.
I prefer the term “authoritarian high-control group”.
A bit wordier, but break it down into its individual components, and I think even the most die-hard loyalist would find it difficult to refute the label.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/victims-advocates-abuse-not-just-a-catholic-problem-20180625.html.
victims' advocates: abuse not just a 'catholic problem' .
by peter smith, pittsburgh post-gazette .
In fact, every decision they make...
...every decision...
...is tailored to some degree towards reinforcing the Organizational claim.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/victims-advocates-abuse-not-just-a-catholic-problem-20180625.html.
victims' advocates: abuse not just a 'catholic problem' .
by peter smith, pittsburgh post-gazette .
@ Phizzy...
It’s less about the money, and far more about maintaining the fiction that the WTS is “God’s Exclusive Earthly Organization”.
Signing up to the redress scheme is tantamount to publicly admitting the problem did, in fact, exist, and that the vaunted “Biblical” policies they used to deal with it were fundamentally flawed...
...both of which would too deeply undermine that claim in the eyes of the rank and file.
i predict that in a year kingdumb halls will be replaced by zoom.
they will still have assembly halls but will charge a heavy entry fee.
baptisms will continue to be so low that would not be worth counting.
Beth Sarim - “...the Borg may become more and more ridiculous moving ahead...”
Damn.
Is that even possible?
you cannot make this up: financial help and the hand of jehovah complete project.
january 2016 jw broadcasting..... video starts at 35:30. a local design construction department manager named travis brooks tells a story about a building project on the island of yap, micronesia.
a small kingdom hall needs to be expanded because the facility wasn't big enough for those in attendance.
“Can’t make this up”?
WTF are you talking about???
The WTS makes this shit up all the time!!!
most here know that story elements in the jesus story are drawn from the ot.
countless elements of gospels are cut straight from the descriptions of ot characters like moses, joshua, samuel et.al.
an interesting suggestion involves a passage that was the very last straw for me years ago.
“A crown of thorns”...
...the most hardcore metal thing in the Bible.
Or the title of a long-lost George R. R. Martin novel.
