Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  61

  2017 Service Year Report Worldwide - INDIVIDUALLY LISTED LANDS and COUNTRIES

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now available:.

  2017 service year report worldwide: table with individually listed lands and countries.

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  Half banana

  To the extent that the figures are true, they confirm the trend that the JW religion in Europe and the developed world which was stagnating, is now moving towards decline.

  Poland leading the field here with a loss of 1896 members. Britain, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan also in decline. France had a small gain.

  The USA is now at the point of stagnation and I suggest that we can expect a Mexican wave in the future as lands which are Catholic and who have supplied members for the JW org in the past should also be heading for stagnation with Italy showing the way having gained only a few newbies and lost 21 kh's.

  As we have discussed before Central and South America and war-torn Central Africa are bucking the trend for the moment as is India but for the richer and educated West, the heyday of JW religion was in the past.

  Methinks Jehovah is driving his chariot with the handbrake on.
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  76

  Hi, all...I'm a faithful JW who is sick of lies about us

  by James Donalds in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was baptized 30 years ago and have been in the faith for over 35 years.. our organization isn't perfect.

  but i'm sick to death of seeing stereotypes about us.

  we are not mindless automatons.

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  Half banana

  I know of other JWs who smoke cigars and clandestinely lead a normal life outside the kh but they do not believe that JWs are the sole possessors of truth. There is a rising tide of unbelievers in the kingdom halls.

  If you are sick of the 'lies' why then do you read them? Why not be a good JW and devote your life to doing exactly what the GB tell you?

  On the other hand if you believe the JW set of doctrines then it is hard to see yourself as outsiders see you, or those who have awoken from the naive delusion that God is going to murder all those who don't believe in him.

  Think honestly why JWs have the reputation they are accused of. We were there once!
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  52

  What Made You Decide To Finally Leave The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was there one certain event or was it more a cumulative thing?.

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  Half banana

  As a JW I was a natural sceptic but I overlooked many of the inconsistencies (how generous of me!) and put them down to limited information and human error. For goodness sake that was a mistake-- if it comes from God it should be perfect hey?

  It took me four years from realizing all was not well with the JW religion to my final and sweet departure walking out of the middle of a meeting knowing I was at least mentally a free man. It cost me my marriage and the reason I am still here on this site is mainly because two of my three kids remain under the JW spell.

  Like many of you, it was not one thing but an accumulation of teachings and methods which did not chime with reason. I didn't feel that I was getting anywhere in my life, just routine meetings and WT talks for the brain-dead. I never believed in 1975, I didn't believe in 1914 as being marked by God and I didn't believe in a literal Devil. After reading a bit of philosophy and psychology I awoke to the realization that there was no God either.

  From that moment on the organisation appeared to me as an increasingly controlling, life-stealing cult and if there was a final straw it was to escape the saccharine mind-numbing language which the Watchtower uses to keep its victims in subservience. I wanted to shout them down from my seat but that would only make matters worse. I saw the uninformed brothers spouting the party line to get salvation at a never to arrive paradise and I felt sorry for them. The wretched talk of "Fine brothers and sisters who give up material gain to pioneer". Meaning how Big J will reward those who promote the WTBT Society! Fine spiritual rewards for those who love Big J", meaning you must have unthinking loyalty to the GB. Yuck! it was intolerable.

  Escaping was freedom at a price-- but it was worth it.
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  315

  Flat earth vs round earth

  by Jrjw in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.

  what are people's thoughts on this?.

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  Half banana

  Your bro should try and get an education........
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  22

  Do you have a place to get away from it all?

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is your retreat .

  an actual location, or simply a quiet place in your mind?.

  i attended a concert on sunday, a featured piece having been commissioned by a composer who lives in the city but retreats to an island in the puget sound (usa) to write his music.

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  Half banana

  JP, I wonder if your mammoth was actually a mastodon as the distribution of the former was mainly further north?

  The mammoth had a distinct high crown bump on the top of the head whereas the mastodon had a flat head.
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  21

  2005 Big Announcement (Disappointment)

  by Fred Franztone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember around 2005, there was an announcement made from the platform that in a few weeks time we would have to remain at the end of the sunday meeting for a big announcement, directly from the society.. i remember all the murmuring, people thought maybe this was going to be related to armageddon.

  everyone was excited, people were speculating.

  only the po in each congregation had any idea what was going on, and they were frequently pestered for information, but sworn to secrecy, which only hyped things up even more.. then the meeting came, anticipation was in the air, the announcement started, you could hear a pin drop.

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  Half banana

  Put all these disappointments in the context of all of their promises; every last prediction of the Watchtower and JW organisation has led only to disappointment. Never have they come up with the goods--they never deliver--they are completely USELESS!

  Why on earth do people remain in this religion?
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  15

  JW Statistics up to 2017 in graphical form and analysis

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  Half banana

  Thanks ILTTATT2 much appreciated. The really telling figures will be those given for each country. I wonder how the org will show them? Africa and Brazil heavily bias the overall figures. One million memorial attendance in the Dem. Rep. of Congo, a land of 84 million. Atheism is not an option in central Africa.
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  11

  Israel (Is Real?)

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  every nation is a kind of weird intellectual construct.

  when we say: china--all of us get some kind of fictional mental snapshot in our head.

  sure, there is a country called "china".we just don't really know a soul living there.

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  Half banana

  Israel is a secular state and needs no help from the US fundamentalist right wing. It has done very well with its own self serving myths.
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  25

  Work Colleague Went To a JW Funeral - His Experience

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so the guy in my office on the desk next to me has just got back from the funeral of his wifes sister.

  this was his first time in a kh and full on exposure to jwdom.. bit of background: the deceased jw was not a born in, she was a convert when she was in her teens.

  she died last week at the age of 82. the poor old dear was still zealously knocking on doors while in ill health.

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  Half banana

  The only ones who are valued at a JW funeral is the Governing Body.

  Forget the sucker who died, (but check first to make sure we have their family inheritance bequeathed to us) it's loyalty to the GB which must be highlighted. Yes visitors and JWs alike, remember: it's LOYALTY to the GB. GB loyalty is the slogan to go home with. Heck if there was no "loyalty to the GB" the whole cult would crumble to dust and the GB wouldn't get their ticket to a cushy life.

  What a disgusting and ignorant cult! At least they don't always hide their stupidity-- it will be their downfall.
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  29

  What if the crucifixion never took place..

  by Jayk in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i googled it and pretty much my understanding is the same as what i imagine.

  no one really knows, your guess is as good as the next.

  interesting thought to consider imo..

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  Half banana

  What if the crucifixion never took place

  Not a scrap of difference because it was only a belief.

  It was a crumb of comfort for people without hope-- as was the story that the Saviour Dionysus, who was also called the Lamb of God and the Great Shepherd. He was crucified centuries before Jesus was and for the same reason to redeem mankind and with the same outcome: nothing at all.