NotBlind

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Posts by NotBlind

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  30

  Has anyone noticed the JW movies are trying to normalise their lifestyle?

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  having watched the prodigal son returns movie produced by the organization and a recent mini-clip of a brother in london who is shown jogging and doing normal everyday things while wanting to "reach out" it occurred to me that the organization is trying to normalize their bizarre lifestyle and beliefs for the benefit of non-witnesses.. what do i mean by normalization?

  they try to make the witnesses look like just another christian denomination who are reasonable while their members live and enjoy normal lives that appear to be within the mainstream.. they do this by not mentioning anything to do with higher education, armageddon or the urgency of the end of the world nor is their discussion or mention of the blood issue.

  these are things mentioned often at kingdom halls and in study articles.. watching the prodigal son returns, the family appears to live a normal life, going to meetings and studying.

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  NotBlind

  The families in these videos live in very nice upper-middle class homes in nice neighborhoods. Their kitchens have updated appliances, their living rooms have new furniture, and their homes are all in excellent condition.

  This is NOT the reality of JW life.

  With few exceptions, this lifestyle is impossible unless one or both spouses are working full-time in a highly-skilled trade or profession (read: something that requires postsecondary education).

  If an actual JW publisher lived in a home like in these videos, or drove those nice cars, or had a successful business (not cleaning related), we would be labelled "materialistic" or "not putting Kingdom Interests first." I know, because that's what the CO called me.

  The reality of JW life in the USA is: living paycheck to paycheck, driving a 10-15 year-old jalopy picked up on Craigslist for $2000, figuring out how to work as many hours without losing disability or welfare benefits, not being able to get a job because you don't have enough education, and being stuck living in somebody's basement because you're too poor to buy or rent a house (again because of no skills).

  When will they show THIS reality in their videos?
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  50

  2016 Regional Convention - Invite First Look

  by pixel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you saw it here first!.

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  NotBlind

  Every year the convention is almost exactly the same. A litany of nonmemorable 10-minute talks on endless "Symposia" that have very little to do with Christian living, canned (and overblown/made-up) experiences & interviews, unrealistic demonstrations and "monologues", and somewhere along the line of 50 "talks" that are nearly word-for-word manuscripts sent down from the home office.

  It would be bad enough if people had to sit in semi-comfortable Kingdom Hall chairs to endure all of this, but most JW's have to sit in hard plastic-backed, no-legroom sports arenas for 3 days. If they are unfortunate enough to have to visit the restroom during this event, it will stink of sewage gas & farts, because these venues are not designed to be used/abused nonstop for 3 days.

  Any family of 4 that shows up to this event on Sunday morning any time after 8:30 am will find ALL the seats reserved with tracts, handbills, & magazines, many of which will go empty. That's the great love these people show.

  The "speakers" rarely have more than a high school education (most act as if they have less) and earn their way onto that stage by smooching rear ends of higher-ups & CO's, creatively counting time in the "pioneer" work, and doing a good job of hiding their faults from others in the organization.

  Attendees will be staying at low-end roadside motels, where the continental breakfast will be slammed at 7:00 sharp every morning. There will be no place to sit & eat said breakfast. The hotel pool will be slammed every evening from 6 - 10 pm each evening by bad-behaved JW children and their thoughtless parents.

  Perhaps they should include some of these details on their 2016 "convention" invitation?
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  56

  Did any of us ever enjoy meetings?

  by stephanie61092 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this is a legitimate question.

  did any of us ever find real joy in being at the meetings?

  did any of us ever finish a meeting and think "i feel so enriched"?

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  NotBlind

  The meetings are a painful experience for anyone with more than a 5th grade education. Everything presented over the past 10 years has been dumbed down to the intellectual level of Steve Lett. Most meetings are nothing more than endless organizational self-congratulations, along with more calls to "obey, obey, obey."

  By their actions, even the GB admit that the meetings are intolerable. That's why they have to keep changing the format every few years. I give the CLAM about 2-3 years before another major change in format.
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  41

  Caption This Photo From The January Study Edition

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. social
  2. humour

  so as some are probably aware the january study edition has two articles on the anointed.

  one basically discouraging people from believing they are anointed and another about how ones should view partakers.

  this photo is from the second article:.

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  NotBlind

  
  

  "Thank Jehoover that I'm a Ministerial Servant so I could marry this hot sister sitting next to me.

  Otherwise, a homeschooled window washer like me would be making love to his hand after this bore-fest was over."
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  29

  What's next?

  by Grey Goose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everyone.. thanks for the welcome a few days ago, it was nice to hear your support.. this is a pure speculation thread, but what do you think the next changes are going to be?.

  will we see tything come into play?.

  more evangelical style meetings?.

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  NotBlind

  In some way, it's going to involve expanded use of videos in weekly meetings. Expect one "Public Talk" a month to be piped in from HQ. There hasn't been a lot of talk on here about the 'new and improved' JW Stream site, but it sure looks like they're getting expanded bandwidth & infrastructure in place to do a lot more live streaming. From what I hear, anyone with login credentials can download regional and circuit events right now in almost any language. Most local public speakers are quite awful, so the R&F may find this a welcome change.

  A couple years ago, I thought they were about to replace one of the 3 yearly assemblies with a live stream, but now I'm not so sure about that. Assembly Halls, Regional Conventions, and other circuit level events are HUGE money makers for them. It is possible they may add a 4th yearly 'local assembly day', similar to these streamed 'branch meetings' they've been promoting in the developed world the last year or two.

  I don't see how they can reduce magazine production any more than they already have; it's already down to a barebones operation, with one 16-page wide-margined, PowerPoint formatted mini-mag for the public each month, quite an embarrassment compared to what they used to do.

  They're between a rock & a hard place in terms of magazine production. It's obvious they would really LOVE to go online only, but their growth model is most productive in less-developed countries that simply don't have as much internet access. If they want to keep growing, it has to be among the least educated populace, as well as 3rd world countries & recent immigrants (their current target demographic), among whom printed mags are often more accessible than the internet. As we all know, these people are coming into the org, but they aren't donating.

  This is not a sustainable model. Expect more cash grabs and donation drives, while they tout the need for more KH's in the developing world (and throwing in images of poor JW's in Africa or Asia after a natural disaster).
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  17

  The Donald knows the JW's are the truth

  by life is to short in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i swear you just cannot make this stuff up.

  i just heard from an older sister in the hall that donald's trump son-in-law bought part of the brooklyn heights compound, i think she said the 25 building but what ever.

  she than went on to say and to quote her "the donald knows it's the truth.

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  NotBlind

  This just in from JW Broadcasting...

  
  
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  17

  The Donald knows the JW's are the truth

  by life is to short in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i swear you just cannot make this stuff up.

  i just heard from an older sister in the hall that donald's trump son-in-law bought part of the brooklyn heights compound, i think she said the 25 building but what ever.

  she than went on to say and to quote her "the donald knows it's the truth.

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  NotBlind

  Next rumor in JW-land: Donald Trump is studying with JW's!

  To be honest, Donald Trump would make a great GB member: he's a bully, pulls most of his ideas right out of his ass, never apologizes, lies openly, and has a bunch of clueless idiots as followers.
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  25

  2015-10-26 BOE Re: Video Equipment in Kingdom Halls

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  pdf.

  the date of the letter is october but it was just released today, 2015-12-22..

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  NotBlind

  What ticks me off about the letter the most is that the local congregation just spent well over a thousand bucks almost exactly a year ago getting the projector and screen installed at the front of the hall, per the order of the RBC -- just about the same time as most of the congs in the USA installed their equipment, so they could watch TightPants Tony go on his hour-long rant.

  Now, a year later, they want the R&F to foot the bill for getting the screen & projector moved from very spot they wanted it in the first place.

  Talk about a group of high-control freaks!

  I hope the LDC moves faster on approving video systems than they do building KH's. Because otherwise there might be 3 video systems approved for installation NATIONWIDE over the course of a year.
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  16

  JW's correlation to franchise business

  by jeremiah18:5-10 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i operate a 31 restaurant franchise.

  it is no small task.

  the franchise is a well known american company and a rapidly growing one.

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  NotBlind

  Interesting comparison, and quite true.

  My guess is that you're in the pizza business, if half of your orders are online. Papa John's most likely...
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  26

  Oldest Kingdom Song

  by Bereano in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  which kingdom song (used today by jw) is the oldest one?

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  NotBlind

  Notblind, would you please provide documentation for this? I'm not doubting but I'd really love to have the source so that I can share it with others.

  Sure:

  Proclaimers book page 241:

  Although singing in local congregations was largely dispensed with in about 1938, it was revived again in 1944 and continues to be a significant feature of the congregation meetings and convention programs of Jehovah's Witnesses.