In the mid to late 1990’s there was several “talks” about not using any other literature to study the bible and they absolutely forbade (forbade? Forbided? Lol) anyone breaking into smaller groups or people having meetings in smaller groups. At one point it was popular for families in our circuit with teenage children to have dinner together on Friday or Saturday evening and then study the WT for the following Sunday. It was part book study part family study but mostly was used so parents could supervise whatever interaction their teenagers had with other teenagers specifically of the opposite sex. This eventually backfired when like minds started catching on to the complete BS in the magazines and they started studying publications not from WTBTS. This turned them into apostates and several elders were removed/reproved. I remember being about 17 or 18 and sitting through one of those lovely studies about marriage and sex while sitting across the room from my crush and her father. It was awesome.
Blind_Of_Lies
JoinedPosts by Blind_Of_Lies
-
18
Congregations Dissolved For Apostasy, How You Been Through The Witch Hunt?
by Bubblegum Apotheosis indo you know of whole congregations deleted for apostasy, other than the "great purge" of the 1980s?.
-
-
-
20
Does this reek of CULT to you?
by Blind_Of_Lies inhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/big-deal-jehovahs-witnesses-list-prime-properties/.
so this story was discussed earlier in another thread.
a line from the story has really been bugging me since reading it:.
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
I didn’t even think about the terror thing. Imagine how much egg they would have on their faces if Islamic Terrorists slammed a jet into the propaganda factory. Apparently god doesn’t protect his people… real estate agents do.
-
20
Does this reek of CULT to you?
by Blind_Of_Lies inhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/big-deal-jehovahs-witnesses-list-prime-properties/.
so this story was discussed earlier in another thread.
a line from the story has really been bugging me since reading it:.
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
I just find it amazing that HQ is going to be hidden in a forrest when its open policy to put Kingdom Halls in the most visible spots in a town... along a highway... on a hill... with a big sign paved driveway. Very scary indeed.
-
20
Does this reek of CULT to you?
by Blind_Of_Lies inhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/big-deal-jehovahs-witnesses-list-prime-properties/.
so this story was discussed earlier in another thread.
a line from the story has really been bugging me since reading it:.
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/big-deal-jehovahs-witnesses-list-prime-properties/
So this story was discussed earlier in another thread. A line from the story has really been bugging me since reading it:
"The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the legal and publishing entity of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, has bought a 250-acre forested plot in Warwick, N.Y., a small town on the New Jersey border, and is moving ahead with plans to build a self-contained campus there."
Does this reek of a isolationist doomsday cult? Why are the selling all of Brooklyn and moving into an isolated small forrest town to build a self contained campus?
Why not call it what it is? An Armageddon Compound... Beth Sarim reborn. Jonestown 2013, the new Waco, Ground Zero for Heaven's Gate....
Desperate times for desperate people call for desperate measures.
-
25
People coming in VS. People running out...
by Blind_Of_Lies in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves /> <w:trackformatting /> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf /> <w:lidthemeother>en-us</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>x-none</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark /> <w:enableopentypekerning /> <w:dontflipmirrorindents /> <w:overridetablestylehps /> </w:compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont m:val="cambria math" /> <m:brkbin m:val="before" /> <m:brkbinsub m:val="--" /> <m:smallfrac m:val="off" /> <m:dispdef /> <m:lmargin m:val="0" /> <m:rmargin m:val="0" /> <m:defjc m:val="centergroup" /> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440" /> <m:intlim m:val="subsup" /> <m:narylim m:val="undovr" /> </m:mathpr></w:worddocument> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif].
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
I truly believe we are seeing the top floors of this house of cards begin to crumble. It is becoming ever apparent that people are leaving in droves the "young people" are abandoning ship. Once an establishment loses its children what else does it have?
-
25
People coming in VS. People running out...
by Blind_Of_Lies in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves /> <w:trackformatting /> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf /> <w:lidthemeother>en-us</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>x-none</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark /> <w:enableopentypekerning /> <w:dontflipmirrorindents /> <w:overridetablestylehps /> </w:compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont m:val="cambria math" /> <m:brkbin m:val="before" /> <m:brkbinsub m:val="--" /> <m:smallfrac m:val="off" /> <m:dispdef /> <m:lmargin m:val="0" /> <m:rmargin m:val="0" /> <m:defjc m:val="centergroup" /> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440" /> <m:intlim m:val="subsup" /> <m:narylim m:val="undovr" /> </m:mathpr></w:worddocument> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif].
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
@Toth-
I completely agree with you there and have been waiting for that to happen, to the best of my knowledge it hasn’t *yet*. I would however like to know how they will rationalize calling their 7 million member strong CULT the “Greater Number” as they are a tiny minority of the overall population of the planet Earth as a whole and they are an even smaller minority if you break it down by country or region their numbers certainly represent a tiny percentage of the population…
Now, I would actually interpret that scripture as “the greater number” being non-believers and the love of them dying off would indicate to me an increase in JW activity not a decrease. Obviously this won’t be interpreted the same way but that’s how I see it.
-
23
Son to JW school-mate: "Go ahead. Tell the Jewish girl how the Jewish holiday REALLY happened."
by Open mind inmy family (wife and teenage kids) and i awakened to the true nature of the wt society a couple years ago and are fairly well faded now.. .
my son attends high school with a couple of jws, one of whom is an elder's son and an ardent true believer.
let's call him "con".
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
NICE! It really is amusing how little JW's know about their faith once they get off the "talking points"
-
33
My Experience
by wezz ingood day to everyone.
after reading and benefiting from the numerous experiences posted here, i thought it would be proper for me to share my story too.
i was born and brought up as an anglican church member.
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
Wezz im sending you a PM
-
25
People coming in VS. People running out...
by Blind_Of_Lies in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves /> <w:trackformatting /> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf /> <w:lidthemeother>en-us</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>x-none</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark /> <w:enableopentypekerning /> <w:dontflipmirrorindents /> <w:overridetablestylehps /> </w:compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont m:val="cambria math" /> <m:brkbin m:val="before" /> <m:brkbinsub m:val="--" /> <m:smallfrac m:val="off" /> <m:dispdef /> <m:lmargin m:val="0" /> <m:rmargin m:val="0" /> <m:defjc m:val="centergroup" /> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440" /> <m:intlim m:val="subsup" /> <m:narylim m:val="undovr" /> </m:mathpr></w:worddocument> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif].
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
My old hall had about 150 publishers in it when I left. Average meeting attendance was anywhere between 80-120 depending on the meeting. I heard that recently there have been so few people attending that they stopped having two different "schools" on Tuesday night and instead only had one in the main area, rumor has it they often have a hard time filling all of the slots with speakers. In that particular hall only 3 out of about 30 kids born between 1980 and 1995 actually still attend or even pretend to care. Most of them have either been DF'd or just walked away...
-
25
People coming in VS. People running out...
by Blind_Of_Lies in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves /> <w:trackformatting /> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf /> <w:lidthemeother>en-us</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>x-none</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark /> <w:enableopentypekerning /> <w:dontflipmirrorindents /> <w:overridetablestylehps /> </w:compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont m:val="cambria math" /> <m:brkbin m:val="before" /> <m:brkbinsub m:val="--" /> <m:smallfrac m:val="off" /> <m:dispdef /> <m:lmargin m:val="0" /> <m:rmargin m:val="0" /> <m:defjc m:val="centergroup" /> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440" /> <m:intlim m:val="subsup" /> <m:narylim m:val="undovr" /> </m:mathpr></w:worddocument> </xml><!
[endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif].
-
-
Blind_Of_Lies
A recent thread regarding 2 day assembly’s included some numbers of people being baptized at them. In the examples provided the numbers were very… VERY low. Granted these were numbers based out of the US but even at that I can remember years where our small circuit was producing 10-20 bodies every year to be baptized. The last time I went to an assembly, and that was YEARS ago… I think there were 2. At the district convention a couple years ago there were 3, when in years past there would easily be 20+.
I sat here wondering how this effects growth overall in the USA and I realized… I can name off hand 19 people in my immediate “friend pool” that have willingly (not disfellowshipped) walked away from the JW’s in the past 12 months. 10 of those were split between two families who decided they were done and as one cohesive unit they simply quit going and they couldn’t be happier I should add. The rest were couples or single people who for whatever reason and not due to any judicial action simply walked away. Now, my “friend pool” is made up of people from 3 different congregations spread across 3 states. I could probably add another 5 people who went to those congregations who were DF’d and another 5-10 who also went to those halls and who died. However, I can only name 2 people who got baptized. One of those was a crazy and the other was a kid…
So… here’s a question… How many people do YOU know of that have walked away in the past year and how many have joined?