I apologise for the mistake & not crediting you Shepherdless. It was indeed your very well researched threads that i was recalling. Your threads had a lot of impact on the subject for me.
cobweb
JoinedPosts by cobweb
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138
JW org collapses
by I Faded Twice inok so this is a topic i've pondered and go back and forth on.. i can easily see a point where lawsuits cause massive deficits in the organization.
honestly i feel like we are seeing the tip of the iceberg in regards to lawsuits on child abuse.
to me it looks like the property sell offs are to be able to get ready for this.
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138
JW org collapses
by I Faded Twice inok so this is a topic i've pondered and go back and forth on.. i can easily see a point where lawsuits cause massive deficits in the organization.
honestly i feel like we are seeing the tip of the iceberg in regards to lawsuits on child abuse.
to me it looks like the property sell offs are to be able to get ready for this.
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cobweb
I seem to recollect seeing on one of slim's collapse threads some demographic data showing jw members by age range. With so few JW's coming in from the preaching work in the West, i find the demographics more convincing when it comes to organisational decline. I recall there was a bubble there which indicated a pretty sharp average age jump at some point, past child bearing age & with less & less young child bearing families there is less kids born. This is a more realistic perspective on the manner in which religions wither away.
I think the JW's will re-organise as they have been doing to make their money stretch. They won't just fold up. But the cut backs will no doubt have a psychological effect on members because these sense the expansion is over & the glory days are behind them. This is surely taking place already & it leads to apathy which makes people leave at a faster rate.
Many adherants will never leave no matter what & so it will just be a matter of waiting for them to die - watching that demographic bubble slowly move down to the end and drop away.
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23
Here's another subtle reverse-witnessing topic:
by neat blue dog inthe next time a jw brings up a natural disaster or severe weather event as proof of the last days, and they preface it by reciting a fact they heard on the news like, (just for the sake of example) 'it's the worst earthquake in 70 years' or 'the worst plague in 200' years', (you get the picture), then simply reply: "oh, so that means that ____ years ago there was one that was worse, right?".
i did this twice.
both times got the same response:.
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cobweb
Makes me laugh when the news item says something like its the hottest day for 10 years. OK so what?
Fair enough. But what if it was the hottest day ever recorded the next day and then the next, and the next. After a while surely it would start to freak you out?
The years with the highest recorded world temperature (since 1880) 17 of those years have been in this century. Its not evidence for the last days of course but its surely grounds for some conclusions to form.
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10
latest jw community podcast has THE best interview
by cobweb inno really, its golden stuff.
i just listened to it and it contains an amazing interview with an australian activist who i only vaguely have heard of called steven unthank.
he is one of the best guests i've heard on that show, competing with the governing body helper they interviewed once.
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cobweb
No really, its golden stuff. I just listened to it and it contains an amazing interview with an Australian activist who i only vaguely have heard of called Steven Unthank. He is one of the best guests i've heard on that show, competing with the governing body helper they interviewed once. The whole thing is about how he has been taking the religion to court in Australia and the impact that has had on the organisation policy. Maybe you have heard of this guy already and know his story but i hadn't and I found his account pretty incredible. They also mention Paul Gillies at the end and his convenient conversion to the anointed class recently which has been a topic of discussion here in last few days.
If you've got a spare 90 minutes have a listen, its quality stuff.
JW Community Podcast S6E17
How The Faithful and Discreet Slave Were Killed
Lara and Louise interview the most effective activist you have never heard of. Find out how he killed off the Faithful and Discreet Slave, how he got Jehovah's Witnesses included in the Australian Royal Commission, and how he got Watchtower to swear under oath in a court case that he was not an apostate and how the web
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49
The rise and rise of Paul Gillies?
by JWB inthe rise and rise of paul gillies?.
here are a view details about the 57-year-old paul stuart gillies.. .
2011: appointed as a director of international bible students association (ibsa) on 2 november having resigned as a director of watch tower bible and tract society of britain on the same day.
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cobweb
slim: tim hooper posted the youtube video of him on bbc news on the first page of this thread.
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cobweb
bumping 17 years on -
26
Carts on both ends of the farmersmarket
by Still Totally ADD inmy wife and me have a booth at the local framers market.
there is usually about 12 t0 14 vendors each week on a small short street in town.
what is funny on each end of this short street are cart setups with 3 people on each cart.
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cobweb
People do this & put it on youtube. womanofthenang for example goes to her local cart witnessing spot on her high street and holds a sign next to them. Or at least tries to - they run away without fail, often spotting her car & they are packed up before she even arrives.
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24
The Children Act - Emma Thompson - advertised on ITV One - prime time.
by freddo inas you probably know "the children act" is a film starring emma thompson as a high court judge deciding whether or not to transfuse a teen jw.
it is due to be on general release in the uk on august 24th 2018. september 14th usa.. its shortened trailer is being advertised in the uk on the biggest independent tv channel - namely itv - at prime time.
just seen it in advertisment breaks between 6pm and 7pm uk time.. thought you might like to know..
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cobweb
Haven't seen the film but read the book. I agree that the boy recognizes the religion is nonsense but does not know how to navigate the world. He has a crush on Emma Thompson character because she stood up for him and introduced him to new ideas but ultimately when that relationship can't happen he is lost because she was his only anchor to that new reality. I think you are right - It came across to me too as an act of suicide.
Glad you enjoyed the film. I have been reticent to see it because the reviews haven't been that kind and it is hard to watch a JW movie when they get it wrong.
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64
The Longest Goodbye Of John McCain
by minimus incan you believe it?
this funeral arrangement goes on and on and on.
if the people loved him so much he would have been elected president.
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cobweb
Caves, I believe you. Reading some of your old posts you seem an unusually open person. You also come across as understandably damaged by your past, in a fragile state and quite vunerable. Its probably not healthy for you to go on threads like this that may trigger such negative feelings in you. You want to be focusing on getting mentally healthy and this isn't the type of topic that will do that. I wonder if there isn't a ex-jw forum that has a more nurturing atmosphere that might be able to give you more support. I am not familiar with many but If i come across one i'll let you know. All the best.
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41
(How) Will The Slow and Subtle WT Internal Shift Affect Us?
by Solzhenitsyn inas a "deep pimo" i can say that there is a confirmed re-branding.
the coordinators committee formed a focus group from service and teaching committees.
the results of that group roughly three+ years ago, with gb approval, trickled down to the other committees and eventually into what we have been seeing before our eyes in the org and local congs.. pick an organizational level and see the shift.
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cobweb
You have an interesting take. It is possible that there are two currents going on simultaneously because what they demand is not being met in reality, so they could be limiting their stated expectations and priorities to ones that they believe can be realistically fulfilled. Like when they dropped the hours for pioneers in order to sustain the pioneer numbers. They can do that to save face, yet at the same time, still be demanding that people do more.
I believe they still value the numbers as much as ever but because numbers are no longer in their favour, they stop focusing on them.
They have stopped focusing on ministry hours & mags/books placed, kingdom halls built, baptisms, number of anointed (cos they are increasing) - not because they truly believe that these things are no longer important, but because they make the watchtower look bad. They want well qualified elders but when there are no available brothers they say they can look past the superficial requirements. But, its still important to them really.
They want the new system to come more than ever, yet the new generation teaching is an embarrassment to them, so they don't focus on it so much and instead talk about happy families and continuity. Similar story with the types anti types stuff - its all a big fat mess at this stage and they want rid of it but they want it too when it comes in handy for them.
One thing that certainly isn't changing is the control they exert and the obedience to the Org and GB they expect. Apostasy, shunning, information control of the internet, media - these are increasing and making the religion more cult like.