Posts by XBEHERE

91

Is the Watchtower organisation facing the biggest crisis of its history?

by slimboyfat in

recent developments make me think they might be.

the problems they are facing are not just lack of funds but also draining authority, and the two could be a heady and explosive mix.

one of the best analyses ever written of the watchtower was a book called "trumpet of prophecy" by sociologist james beckford in the 1970s.

XBEHERE

All these comments are great and pretty much what I see going on in the area that I live in. The problem is when the CO comes around he still spews forth the same old tripe....make bible studies, follow up on interest, be adaptable, go out at different times, etc, etc blah blah.

So JWs who are on the fence about the org feel guilty all over again and suffer from nostalgia. They go out more, restart their always failing Family Worship until the fire burns out. Then time for another CO visit. This is likely the reason that they kept the CO's in place and even gave them more power.

17

Congregation average

by dothemath in

a while back at our co visit, he commended the cong.

because our average hours had gone up.. we went from around 7.3 to about 7.5. i recall the days when anything less than 10 was considered awful.. of course now, they don't even print the hours in the km or anywhere.. i was wondering how these numbers compared to other congregations?.

XBEHERE

The best one is the body I was on many years ago. They would take the hours of fathers of children and deduct 4-5 hrs depending on the month. The reason: those hours are the weekly study with his children so the remainder is his actual support for the ministry Seriously!?! WTF?

37

Elders who dislike other congregation elders

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

my congregation had four elders who had different personalities.you would see a little friction among themselves.. #1 self-righteous and the 800 pound gorilla.he would push everyone around in the congregation and even some fellow elders.. # 2 elder was around 80 years old and looked like he stuck around a little too long.it looked like he was around because he never decided to give up the position.his duty became very light as he aged.. # 3 elder was in his early 30's and newly elected.he made no waves and whatever was asked of him in the congregation he would do.easy to push around like a little puppy dog.. #4 elder (who everyone liked ) was easy to get along with and had a family who everyone loved.

he didn't like elder # 1. they had a power struggle amongst each other which everyone observed while the meetings were in session.. here are 2 small verbal fights that i observed while the congregation meetings were in session:.

while elder # 1 was giving a talk ( heavy rain storms are brewing outside with loud thunder and lightning ) the microphones and lights are knocked out.we lost all power and could barely see.

XBEHERE

Sir82....maybe we were. Never know ;-)

37

Elders who dislike other congregation elders

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

my congregation had four elders who had different personalities.you would see a little friction among themselves.. #1 self-righteous and the 800 pound gorilla.he would push everyone around in the congregation and even some fellow elders.. # 2 elder was around 80 years old and looked like he stuck around a little too long.it looked like he was around because he never decided to give up the position.his duty became very light as he aged.. # 3 elder was in his early 30's and newly elected.he made no waves and whatever was asked of him in the congregation he would do.easy to push around like a little puppy dog.. #4 elder (who everyone liked ) was easy to get along with and had a family who everyone loved.

he didn't like elder # 1. they had a power struggle amongst each other which everyone observed while the meetings were in session.. here are 2 small verbal fights that i observed while the congregation meetings were in session:.

while elder # 1 was giving a talk ( heavy rain storms are brewing outside with loud thunder and lightning ) the microphones and lights are knocked out.we lost all power and could barely see.

XBEHERE

There's always a hierarchical structure on elder bodies. Normally its the COBE on the top and he has minions that rank in subsequent order the rest of the service committee usually falls in the top 3 or 4. The rest of the elders are "bantha fodder" and have no real power to speak of.

The CO comes in and gets the scoop from elder 1-4 early in the week then puts on a pretense of an elders meeting with all the elders on Friday to "discuss" issues and appointments even though every decision has been predetermined.

I can almost guarantee this is the formula for most elder bodies and CO visits.

24

Massive Destruction of Judicial Files Ordered by By Servce Department?

by Room 215 in

over on the silentlambs facebook site is a copy of a document that purports to be an order by the service depart to destroy files relating to child molestation cases: https://www.facebook.com/silentlambs/photos/a.571978169529812.1073741826.144752662252367/970409503020008/?type=3&theater.

have any of you seen this?

is this a real document or bogus?.

XBEHERE

This isn't new. Elders are supposed to hand over any notes that they took during a judical hearing to the JC Chairman. The chairman is supposed to write a summary based on his and the other 2 set of notes, write down what happened, the result, seal it in an envelope and give it to the secretary. These records are supposed to be destroyed after 7 years I believe.

31

Make your predictions!

by Coded Logic in

the more specific the better :) here are mine:.

i predict that within the next two to three years (2017-2018) we will start seeing negative numbers in growth.. i predict that within the next thirteen to fifteen years (2027-2030) the number of jws will be less than 4million.. and i predict that by the time the first person sets foot on mars there will already have been a major split in the organization with either one of the gb or a branch overseer starting a new religion..

XBEHERE

Even the young kids that left or got in trouble came back in their late 20s and 30s.

Because of psychological coercion. "I am married with kids now and my kids are asking about grandma and grandpa and uncle or aunt so and so....I'd better go back to the toof" BTW the only real growth in westernized nations is primarily through kids growing up.

Some from immigration but thats also slowing down somewhat. Many immigrants here in the U.S. often view the JWs as a social club to enjoy and promote their own culture while away from home. Even these people are waking up.

10

What the GB/Lawyers Should Be Worrying About

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

perhaps this was touched on in another thread so i apologize if it was ( i don't get to read all of the posts on here all the time) .

who leaked that october letter that was read about the midweek meeting restructuring and reduction in magazines?

it only could've been someone fairly high up in the organization or someone in the it department that converted it to pdf format, or someone from a branch that is in charge of digital correspondence, translation, etc.

XBEHERE

All true but I'd say that it must have happened somewhere when it converted to digital format. I would assume that the GB and their minions tried to keep this under wraps and so used some security, wouldn't you think?

Prior to that its possible that one of the GB's secretaries or helpers could've just done a print to PDF which as you stated is easy to do. I guess the point of my question was are there many bethelites, ones who have easy access to these types of sensitive material, who are in a "crisis of conscience" state if mind? How wide spread is this problem at HQ I wonder.

10

What the GB/Lawyers Should Be Worrying About

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

perhaps this was touched on in another thread so i apologize if it was ( i don't get to read all of the posts on here all the time) .

who leaked that october letter that was read about the midweek meeting restructuring and reduction in magazines?

it only could've been someone fairly high up in the organization or someone in the it department that converted it to pdf format, or someone from a branch that is in charge of digital correspondence, translation, etc.

XBEHERE

Perhaps this was touched on in another thread so I apologize if it was ( I don't get to read all of the posts on here all the time)

Who leaked that October letter that was read about the midweek meeting restructuring and reduction in magazines?

It only could've been someone fairly high up in the organization or someone in the IT department that converted it to PDF format, or someone from a branch that is in charge of digital correspondence, translation, etc.

Since all letters from the org are distributed here in the U.S. in digital format only the pool of individuals who saw that letter is small. In the past letters could be leaked by someone in the printing dept. typesetting, job press, etc. but not anymore.

They really must be wondering who it was, I know I am.

73

CO in midwest gets pink-slipped

by LevelThePlayingField in

i saw the coordinator heading for the stage and hit record on my ipad.

i was shocked but here it is.

here's my typed transcript of the letter he read:.

XBEHERE

It was predicted a few years ago on here that the CO's would be eventually done away with and the WTS would appoint a local, high up, elder (no clergy class right!!) to do visits yearly at his expense. Perhaps this is coming to fruition. I also suspect that some Bethelites won't go so quietly when they get "laid off" so perhaps the GB is opening up spots for some key people to fill when they leave.

I guess we shall see if this continues to happen on a regular basis.

105

New Watchtower Propaganda and hate speech destroying families (Feb 2016 WT)

by Daniel1555 in

the following is a paragraph from the new february study watchtower article "learn from jehovah's loyal servants.".

7 a conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped.

for example, a sister named anne [1] received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother.

XBEHERE

Shunning DF family members is wrong.

Prodigal son account from Luke 15:20-

So he got up and went to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was moved with pity, and he ran and embraced him* and tenderly kissed him.

It doesn't say that he saw him from far away and went to his COBE to discuss his son coming to the meetings and sitting in silence for 6-12 mos until men have deemed him worthy of "hello".

Funny though in a WT study article from December 2014 "Do You Grasp the Meaning?" on paragraph 13 they have this to say:

13 What is the meaning of Jesus’ illustration of the prodigal son? The compassionate father in this illustration pictures our loving heavenly Father, Jehovah.

So why does Jehovah choose to shun family members now? The prodigal son ran out of money... he wasn't repentant.