Posts by ScenicViewer

However it ends up, I want to see it. I don't believe the Organization can survive and remain the same as it has been for decades, but if it survives in an appreciable way I would like to see what it becomes. In some ways it's already unrecognizable from what it was in the early 1970s.

192

Question for SBF

by Fisherman in

slimboyfat, it appears that wts is going, gone digital.

can you show your view what is wts next move after they are completely gone from kings county and settled in warwick?

- this thread is your if you want it..

ScenicViewer

Lol for god sake they have multiple times predicted the end of the world and gotten past it!!! (Sparky1)

Absolutely true! Watchtower has managed to weather most storms by shape shifting and re-branding itself, then claiming 'we never said that,' which most of it's followers swallow hook, line and sinker, and the religion goes on. They have been skating by like this for over a hundred years.

As dreary just said, as long as they have believers in their brand of cult they have survival. (Sparky1)

True again.

The one bright sign that exists is that the core of believers that Watchtower now has will likely dwindle in the future. As the old, non-thinking, hard edged Witnesses die off they will need to be replaced by the younger generations, and it appears that there are fewer and fewer young ones sticking with the Organization these days. And in the advanced countries of the world there are precious few being converted from the field. This makes the future look bleak for Watchtower.

(Thank goodness for the widespread availability of information on Watchtower, mainly via the internet.)

Watchtower leaders can see this as clearly as anyone. I am in the court that believes the Organization is flush with cash, considering the recent sale of major properties in the past several years (World headquarters, British headquarters, branch facilities, and Kingdom Halls), the raiding of congregation bank accounts, the back door 'tithing' arrangement of congregations making perpetual monthly payments to headquarters, and the serious cut backs in expenditures because of cutting the Special Pioneer, Gilead Missionary, Bethel volunteer, and District Overseer programs.

So where is the money going? That is anybody's guess, but it has the feel of being socked away somewhere for the future. I honestly believe that Watchtower sees a serious decline coming in future decades and is preparing financially for it.

What about Lett's cries that the money coming in is less than the money going out? All things considered I don't believe it because there is always a heavy dose of Watchtower spin in what they say. For example there may have been some months where voluntary contributions didn't meet expenses, disregarding other sources of income, but when all sources of income are considered they are financially fine. Lett's presentation was simply to move the faithful to dig deeper and give more.

I hope that, at least slowly, a significant number of Witnesses will wake up to the constant cries for more cash, become offended by it, and pull back on contributions.

For Watchtower to crash quickly would be nice, but I think it will be more of a steady decline until it reaches a certain level that it can maintain. It's heyday is past and whatever type of decline happens in the future will be a welcome thing.

I am as curious as anyone to see what happens over the next 15 years or so.

27

Governing Body Members Autographing Bibles

by HereIgo in

i have an online ex jw friend who pointed out to me that she stumbled upon a may 15, 1999 watchtower that had pictures of governing body members autographing bibles for people.

i have no bound volumes or cd rom copies anymore so i can verify.

two things came to mind, if this is true:.

ScenicViewer

Drearyweather: And according to Listener, if a person becomes a member of the GB, he should stop signing altogether (even a grocery bill or a bank form), because whenever a GB member signs anything, he is actually giving his autograph and is thus promoting idolatry and showing his celebrity status.
The logic you use seems very familiar. Have you posted on this forum before, under a different screen name?
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49

Let's talk about Blood again....

by stuckinarut2 in

i know we have all talked about this topic before, but for some new ones on the forum, or to refresh ourselves, i wanted to start this thread.. the society likes to go on about the sacredness of blood, and how it should not be transfused etc.. they liken it to a symbol of life itself.

something that should be respected and therefore not transfused.. but, what is more important: real life, or a symbol of life?.

an illustration came to mind.. if we give a bunch of flowers to a loved one as a symbol of our love for them, are those flowers more important than the love itself?

ScenicViewer

That is exactly what Jehovah's Witnesses do - they put the 'symbol of life' ahead of life itself. Isn't that the very definition of idolatry?

57

interesting EX-CO AMA ( Ask Me Anything) over on exjwreddit

by Diogenesister in

ex-circuit overseer here, ama.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/6usaky/excircuit_overseer_here_ama/.

ScenicViewer

...the smoothest talking religious sales speech in history.

That is the perfect description of the Watchtower religion.

42

The special talk is now BEFORE the Memorial

by wifibandit in

august 11, 2017 to all bodies of elders re: 2018 memorial invitations and date of special talk .

fyi:.

the 2018 memorial will be held on saturday, march 31, 2018.. the 2019 memorial will be held on friday, april 19, 2019..

ScenicViewer

From the letter...

In order to generate enthusiasm for the Memorial, the special talk will be presented one
week before the Memorial, during the week of March 19, 2018.

Could Watchtower be trying to control the number of partakers? I would bet you dollars to donuts the talk includes information on not partaking of the emblems. That has gotten way out of hand and has become an embarrassment to the Organization.

18

Glen Campbell

by glenster in

rip april 22, 1936 – aug.8, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rucysj4ibwi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etkzk9pxmio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxojkdqdnbi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/glen_campbell.

ScenicViewer

...there was rumor a few decades ago that his parents were Dubs, I doubt that just for the sake of some more witnesses starting another false rumor...

Your doubts are well founded. Campbell's parents were members of the Church of Christ, which is how Glen was raised. After he had success Glen built a Church - a Church house as they usually call it - close to his parent's house so they could walk to church. This was mentioned in a documentary that I saw a couple of years ago.

I suppose it's possible that a sibling or two could have had an association with JWs, but Church of Christ members are devout haters of anything Jehovah's Witness.

18

Glen Campbell

by glenster in

rip april 22, 1936 – aug.8, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rucysj4ibwi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etkzk9pxmio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxojkdqdnbi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/glen_campbell.

ScenicViewer

I liked Glen Campbell's music in the '60s, but I came to be a much bigger fan after he got sick. I saw a couple of documentaries about him and was surprised to learn of his guitar playing talent.

Tommy Smothers, who hired Campbell to host the Smothers Brothers summer replacement show, said he was "a prodigy on the guitar," and he meant that literally. He started playing at 10, learning what he could from musical family members, then went on the road at 16 in his uncles band where he learned much more. Not long after that he was in Los Angeles working as a studio musician with a loose knit group of session players who, at some point, became known as the Wrecking Crew.

Since he was not formally trained in music he couldn't read it. Carol Kaye, a studio bandmate, talented in her own right, said...

"He was a fantastic guitarist, playing mainly by ear, but his great singing voice caught us all by surprise later on. [...] A couple of times, I had to hum him his parts when he whispered ‘How does this go?’ He did well with chord charts, though, did some great guitar solos and was fantastic on the record dates.

He played on records of the biggest artists of the time. Rock & Roll and pop singers such as Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Ricky Nelson, Jan and Dean, The Righteous Brothers, Sam Cooke, Simon and Garfunkle, The Vogues, Sonny and Cher, The Monkees and Country artists Roger Miller and Merle Haggard, as well as the polished crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Nat King Cole are just a sample of the work he did as a studio player.

His great singing voice and the ability to pick good songs for himself led to a couple of big hits, after which he was off and running as a solo artist. He became one of the first major cross over artists between Country and Pop. Singer and fiddleist (???) Charlie Daniels said...

...Campbell “filled a niche in American music that very few people have ever reached … He represented the best of the pop and the best of country, and he pulled people in from both sides. It was a great thing for country music, and frankly, for pop music”.

If you have Netflix you can search for two documentaries that include him.

1) Glen Campbell, I'll Be Me. It deals with his Alzheimer's disease from the diagnosis of it to his last performance.

2) The Wrecking Crew. It is the story of the session players, many of whom are interviewed including Campbell.

12

Before I left I said this in a WT answer

by Chook in

this when i believed, i said no one really believes armageddon is imminent because we would sell our possessions and preach the remaining short time , i said we all like a each way bet.

i was always a loose canon with the microphone.

i once said if bible was in movie form jws would be forbidden to watch..

ScenicViewer

You've got some nerve Chook.

I wonder how many listeners actually agreed with you silently. I'll bet some did. Armageddon has always been 'imminent' but has never come, in almost 140 years of the JW religion. More than a few are well aware of that even if they won't say it out loud.