Posts by NotBlind

17

Are there any scholars in the society?

by sleepy in

jw
friends

i was having quite an intense disscussion (ok, argument )with some of my family last weekend.. my brother said in answer to some points that i raised , that the society has scholars who do research and will have the answer to my questions.. i said i know of no sholars in the society, he said thats because the world does not recognise them as such.what i ment (but did not continue saying as the conversation changed direction , again) was that the people who do research and study for the society arent really scholars as they are not free to look for the real truth only to confirm what the society says.their skills are really knowledge of the societies beliefs.. well it is true that a scholar is just someone who has a great knowledge of a particular subject.so you could argue that the society does have scholars as they are people with great knowledge of the organistaions rules .but what must people would mean my scholars are people who put a great deal of time and effort into research and study of an issue as to whether it is true or false, real or make believe.. can the society have scholars in that sense?.

well a recent watchtower article stated that we could not even have private opinions on bibles matters.. in order to research whether a certain witness view point was valid or not you would have to entertain the idea that a certain viewpoint could be wrong.

but this would put you at odds with the society , as you cannot think differently even privately your own opinions on bible matters.

NotBlind

Are there any scholars in the WT organization? I'm sure you mean BIBLE or RELIGIOUS scholars. Of course, if there are any at all, there are not many, and they do not have the scholarly freedom to research or discuss doctrine that REAL religious scholars have.

On the other hand, there are many scholars in other field in the WT, or at least those who nominally claim to be JW's. For example, I am working on a Ph.D. in chemistry and perform research in my desired field. I consider myself a scholar (but not a Bible scholar).

But again, are there any Bible scholars in the society? Not really.

7

A new Use fo the Wt and Awake....

by lydia in

jw
friends

yes - i have found a new way to use them.. .

i let the kids tear them up, dump the peices into a blender - add water - and presto pulp - that we then screen and make scrap paper out of!!

- the dyes they use are great - and the colors you can get are fabulous - .

NotBlind

I find they are very good for lining bird cages...

Not to mention those embarrassing occasions when your run out of toilet paper...

Or how about kindling for the fireplace?

37

JW Education Status

by Scully in

jw
friends

this was posted on alt.religion.jehovahs-witn, just thought i'd share it with you:.

the following figures from an article in newsweek represent the number of college graduates within each religious group in america.

can this be used to relate the intelligence of the membership of each religion?

NotBlind

I totally agree! Just to add, though, in this area many JW's are obsessed with 'home-school', which, at least for JW's, is just another word for 'no school'. I guess they feel they're too good to be in a real school (and no, the Ministry School is NOT a 'real' school.) It's too bad the adults are too dumb to even help their middle school children with basic homework.

NotBlind

"Still in, but very aware..."

38

Your favorite and least liked society publication?

by Celtic in

jw
friends

did you have a favourite publication?

what was your least liked publication?

creation book for the shady wt take on science.. unseen spirits, do they help us or do they harm us?

NotBlind

My favorites: The Greatest Man book and Commentary on the Letter of James. Those books seemed to be the most 'normal' that the Society put out.

My least favorites: The 2 Isaiah books. More specifically, the thought of spending 2 1/2 years (from now until November 2003) studying those poorly-written, boring, misapplied book at the book study on Tuesday night is VERY bad.

5

TO BROTHERS ASSIGNED BY THE CONGREGATION TO GIVE P

by Kent in

jw
friends

what do the watchtower tell "brothers assigned by the congregation to give public talks"?

here is a letter from the british branch office:.

http://watchtower.observer.org/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?nocache=1&dato=20011029&kategori=jwandsociety10&lopenr=110290003&ref=ar.

NotBlind

This is interesting material, however it is several years old. I know it is at least 15 years old, and it was revised slightly in 1998. If I can find it, I'll send it along.

8

JW gatherings good for economy

by sf in

jw
friends

< http://detnews.com/2001/oakland/0106/08/d04-233294.htm.

jehovah's witness gathering spurs economy.

merchants forecast big sales as followers learn more on faith.

NotBlind

This idea that every rank-and-file member of the WTS is a 'good teacher' because they sat through 3 days of this convention makes a mockery of the thousands of REAL teachers/educators who truly teach the public and do a good job of it.

48

New JW Song Titles- Post 'em here!

by TR in

jw
friends

lisa gave me the idea for this topic.. so, what are your ideas for some catchy song titles?

any genre will do.

1. i got mauled at the kingdom hall.

NotBlind

Song 15 (in honor of Freddie Franz)
"Life Without Fred -- At Last!"

Song 65 (in honor of assembly food)
"Eating in Unity"

Song 222 (in honor of Kingdom inflation)
"Keep Your Eyes on the Prices"

Song 200 (in honor of Kingdom shunning)
"Proof of Disfellowship"

Song 32 (in honor of JW kids that don't clean up)
"From Louse to Louse"

6

Jourles asked "New Light Guesses on the UN...

by Thirdson in

here is a glimpse of the future.

this is the 2009 edition of "revelation, the big finale real soon" published by the wtb&ts (a ngo and un dpi).

page 195. revelation 13:14,15.

NotBlind

Jourles,

The point you make about the internet speeding up knowledge of this issue is a good one. However, I tend to feel that this is offset (at least to some degree) by the fact that Witnesses are not exposed to the UN/NGO issue like they were to the 1975 issue. Each and every Witness had 1975 put before them by the Society; Witnesses will most likely hear about the UN issue only from 'apostate' sources. Therefore, the Society will deny/downplay/rationalize the NGO's existence. The result? Since most Witnesses listen to the 'Society' and not to 'apostates', it seems that it could take a while for this issue to have an effect on the organization en masse.

I believe you are right when you say that nearly every congregation will be exposed to this issue within a few months. However, we all know that the WT is GREAT at rationalizing their way out of trouble, at least in the short term.

In short, I'm just speculating. I'm curious to see what time will bring. Either one of us could be right. Personally, I hope YOU are RIGHT and I am WRONG.

6

Jourles asked "New Light Guesses on the UN...

by Thirdson in

here is a glimpse of the future.

this is the 2009 edition of "revelation, the big finale real soon" published by the wtb&ts (a ngo and un dpi).

page 195. revelation 13:14,15.

NotBlind

Personally, I think it will be a LONG time before we hear the Society fess up, if ever. One of the Society's favorite tactics against such issues is to 'keep quiet long enough', hoping it will go away. They did just that after 1975, but eventually had to make a half-baked apology in 1979, after thousands of Witnesses had left.

I predict that the Society will publish an article, make an apology, or resign as an NGO, but ONLY if it causes serious dissention in the ranks similar to the 1975 fiasco.

Remember, the Society is motivated by two main things: membership statistics and profits. The only time they take action/revise 'old light' is when one of those two motives is threatened.

4

1999 Service year report of JWs worldwide

by Dan B in

jw
friends

i have, in my hands, a copy of the service report from the 2000 wt bound volume.

it's very interesting to note that, although there was an average of a 2% increase worldwide, the majority of developed countries actually had a decrease.

the usa gained 432 publishers after devoting 174,594,349 hours to recruiting, i mean preaching.

NotBlind

The part about Assembly Hall fees probably makes the least sense. It's a building the Society owns, usually paid off, and they charge their own members exorbitant fees to use it. It's often even cheaper to use an outside venue than one of the JW's Assembly Halls.

In my own experience, the assembly hall rental was closer to $9000 a weekend, but I believe that has to do with the number of publishers using the hall. If I recall correctly, the Society charged $3.25 per publisher per day for Assembly Hall rental, as of the early 90's (probably higher now). So, the fee would be much higher for larger circuits.