Posts by joey jojo

53

Why Do You Think There Is A Spike In Covid Cases?

by minimus in

jw
friends

any thoughts?

?.

joey jojo

Australia virtually had covid beat a few months ago with nothing more than social distancing. There was a big spike in one state that was brought under control only with a sharp lockdown and mandatory masks. But it worked and things are getting back to normal now.
Even with controlled distancing/ masks etc, it only took a few months for covid deaths to outnumber total 2019 flu deaths in Australia.

After all these months, the US covid rates are still climbing, with almost 100 000 new cases yesterday, although deaths have plateaued. I think covid fatigue has set in for a lot of people and they just want to get back to normal.
Im not a maths genius but I suspect the numbers are starting to snowball now, having reached such a high rate in the US, and they wont come down without a vaccine, or government lockdowns, which looks highly improbable.
Its interesting to see the way reactions to this pandemic has revealed different personalities. There are those that want to pretend everythings fine and the government cant be trusted, others that are happy to comply with medical advice, some that believe their rights are being trampled on if they are required to wear a mask to protect others, people that mock others for wearing a mask- the list goes on.
I wonder what would have happened if the death rate was worse- would that make people more careful, or would they still insist on their rights, regardless how it might affect others.

19

Is it because of Pride or Loyalty?

by joey jojo in

in a recent effort to entice me back to meetings, an elder friend gave me the example of his dad.. he said that his pioneer/elder/ex-missionary dad went through the anticipation and disappointment of 1975 and yet, he kept going faithfully for decades afterwards.

the obvious point was that, if his dad can deal with disappointment, then, surely a nobody like me could do the same in regards to the scrapping of the 1914 generation doctrine, and all the other changes.

his 'encouragement' was to tell me that it was only me that felt like this, everyone else is fine and have no problems with the changes.

joey jojo

Regarding the 1914 teaching, I meant that they scrapped the original belief that some alive in 1914 would still be alive at the end. I was referring to the overlapping generation change, or - 'how to move the goal posts and hope nobody notices' change.

19

Is it because of Pride or Loyalty?

by joey jojo in

in a recent effort to entice me back to meetings, an elder friend gave me the example of his dad.. he said that his pioneer/elder/ex-missionary dad went through the anticipation and disappointment of 1975 and yet, he kept going faithfully for decades afterwards.

the obvious point was that, if his dad can deal with disappointment, then, surely a nobody like me could do the same in regards to the scrapping of the 1914 generation doctrine, and all the other changes.

his 'encouragement' was to tell me that it was only me that felt like this, everyone else is fine and have no problems with the changes.

joey jojo

In a recent effort to entice me back to meetings, an elder friend gave me the example of his Dad.

He said that his pioneer/elder/ex-missionary Dad went through the anticipation and disappointment of 1975 and yet, he kept going faithfully for decades afterwards. The obvious point was that, if his Dad can deal with disappointment, then, surely a nobody like me could do the same in regards to the scrapping of the 1914 generation doctrine, and all the other changes. His 'encouragement' was to tell me that it was only me that felt like this, everyone else is fine and have no problems with the changes. I wanted to say to my friend that 'perhaps his Dad is a gullible loser' but that would have been extremely unkind.

I realised that by 1975, his dad would have had about 30 or 40 years invested in the org. He was the P.O., an elder with a family and had status in the cong.

When I think about people that stay as a JW, despite all the glaring errors and backflips, it seems to be more pride than loyalty that makes them stay. Its hard to admit you are wrong, especially when you have years invested. Even the notion of facing up to being wrong is hard.

There is a line that seems to blur between pride and loyalty. People have lost fortunes holding shares in companies that go broke. Is it misplaced loyalty to the company, or an unwillingness to cut your losses and admit you were wrong because of pride?

As an example, I remember when snowboarding became popular, there were those that didn't want to try it, mainly because they were very good skiers, with decades of experience. To learn snowboarding meant that they had to start over again as a nobody. Was it loyalty to skiing, or pride that made them unwilling to give something else a try?

To a lot of jw's, it would be a bitter pill to admit you were wrong and go to the effort of leaving the org. According to the bible, pride is supposed to be bad thing but it might be the only thing keeping herds of sheep- that the org can fleece, from leaving. Personally, I think that's why the org will always exist in some form.

"Its easier to fool someone than to convince them they've been fooled."

18

Eliminate the Oil Industry?

by Anony Mous in

a lot of countries are on the side of eliminating the oil industry altogether as well as zero-emission alternatives like nuclear power.. in the us, biden has promised to eliminate all federal lands oil production when he takes power in 2021 (30% of the united states) as well as native american tribal lands which account for 8 percent of all oil, 9 percent of all natural gas, and 6 percent of all natural gas liquids from 96,000 wells (10% of the total wells in the us).. in europe, oil and gas production has been largely eliminated except for the nordic countries and the uk (which the eu recently lost access to), germany is funding a major oil pipeline as is china from russia and russian-controlled portions of ukraine, even after trump cut off all builders from russian oil pipelines, the russian government is now trying to build the pipeline themselves with potential disastrous results.. venezuela's economy collapsed largely due to the government taking over and eliminating the oil industry companies.. in the mean time, control for most non-us energy sources is now wholly dependent on russian and middle eastern governments.. california and germany eliminated oil-based energy sources and now mandate 30% of their power from 'green' wind and solar alternatives.

germany energy costs now hover around 25c/kwh and california is not far behind with 16c/kwh both experiencing rolling blackouts in major cities and importing 60% of mostly coal and gas energy from their neighbors.. the world currently has 300 years worth of oil at the current rates of usage which have stagnated due to improved efficiencies.

co2 emissions in the us have dropped in the last 3 years for the first time in decades despite (or because) reduced oil and gas regulations.. do you think given the above facts, eliminating the oil industry is a good thing?

joey jojo

if we are talking about co2 emissions, I think I remember reading that the manufacture, transport and installation of concrete may account for up to 25% of all co2 emissions. Maybe we should start there.

A state in Australia, South Australia, recently ran for an hour on solar power alone. Doesnt sound that impressive but I think its the first time anywhere in the world it has happened.

41

Prime Minister of Australia announces intention to revoke Jehovah’s Witnesses charity status

by jwleaks in

today, marking the second anniversary of the australian national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, the prime minister of australia has announce in federal parliament the intention to place sanctions against the jehovah’s witnesses in relation to child sexual abuse.. quote from prime minister:.

the royal commission [into institutional response to child sexual abuse], the [national] apology [to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse] and these yearly reports are about accountability: bringing the truth into the light ... we still have, reprehensibly, four institutions that have been named publicly and that have blatantly refused to join the redress scheme.

they are jehovah's witnesses ... it's not acceptable.

joey jojo

If the charitable status is withdrawn, I wonder how it would affect payments made to CO's, or anyone that receives stipends from the org.

Will they have to pay bethelites minimum wages?

41

Prime Minister of Australia announces intention to revoke Jehovah’s Witnesses charity status

by jwleaks in

today, marking the second anniversary of the australian national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, the prime minister of australia has announce in federal parliament the intention to place sanctions against the jehovah’s witnesses in relation to child sexual abuse.. quote from prime minister:.

the royal commission [into institutional response to child sexual abuse], the [national] apology [to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse] and these yearly reports are about accountability: bringing the truth into the light ... we still have, reprehensibly, four institutions that have been named publicly and that have blatantly refused to join the redress scheme.

they are jehovah's witnesses ... it's not acceptable.

joey jojo

Have already linked these news articles to elder friends- no response yet. Not surprising.

13

I almost died ...allow me to explain

by Terry in

jw
friends

in 1923 i almost died.. allow me to explain .... .

i wouldn't exist for another 24 years ...but.

for a few seconds, on top a building, my grandfather, jack hybarger, stood with tears running down his cheeks and a small caliber pistol in his right hand.

joey jojo

Interesting read Terry, thanks for sharing,

For me, your story reminds me of how selfish we are as humans. I'm not saying it's always a bad thing, maybe we need to be selfish just to survive sometimes.

When it comes to things like sex, drugs, drink, gambling etc, those are the things that literally hurt others around us including as yet, unborn kids. I was raised by a man that wasn't my biological father simply because of a one night stand. He left, mum got married, life goes on, but that single act affects a lot of people. Sure, sex is great, but what happens if a pregnancy occurs? Do women that get an abortion, or adopt out their kids really ever get over it? And sadly, that's such a common occurrence. The kids pay for the sins of their parents.

So much misery can be attributed to the selfishness of individual humans. But, life goes on.

10

The Watch Tower Generation

by waton in

it so happens that my grandfather and i share the same birthday; -- this month.

i lived with him from 1930 to ~ 1947. so, following the parenting pattern in our family, he would be born, be alive by ~ 1880, the same age as the "watchtower magazine" , therefore, you could say, we both lived in the wt era, right ?

dare we say we belong to the wt generation,?.

joey jojo

Did your Grandad die in 1947?

If he did, according to Splane, that makes him a part of the Facebook generation. Even though he didn't witness or use Facebook it doesn't matter, due to the fact that you were both alive at the same time and you are still living at the time of Facebook.

Make sense? Of course it does. Do the math.

3

Simon- did the site go down yesterday?

by joey jojo in

jw
friends

i tried a google search like i always do , jwd jw, and all i got was links to the official jw.org website.

it seemed a bit suspicious so i thought id ask.. cheers.

joey jojo

Cheers Petra!

3

Simon- did the site go down yesterday?

by joey jojo in

jw
friends

i tried a google search like i always do , jwd jw, and all i got was links to the official jw.org website.

it seemed a bit suspicious so i thought id ask.. cheers.

joey jojo

I tried a google search like I always do , jwd jw, and all I got was links to the official jw.org website. It seemed a bit suspicious so I thought Id ask.

Cheers