Was this talk in Evansville?
JakeM2012
JoinedPosts by JakeM2012
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134
Gerrit Loesch was at our DC today!
by goatshapeddemon inso, unexpectedly, the final talk was announced today and to my surprise and evil glee, they announced gerrit loesch as the speaker!
first off, at the beginning of his talk, he interrupted himself in the middle of his sentence to scold the microphone brother to lower my mike it's right in my face.. anyway, it was the talk on inspired truth, vs. inspired falsehoods.
he went through 6 expressions inspired by the demons.
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134
Gerrit Loesch was at our DC today!
by goatshapeddemon inso, unexpectedly, the final talk was announced today and to my surprise and evil glee, they announced gerrit loesch as the speaker!
first off, at the beginning of his talk, he interrupted himself in the middle of his sentence to scold the microphone brother to lower my mike it's right in my face.. anyway, it was the talk on inspired truth, vs. inspired falsehoods.
he went through 6 expressions inspired by the demons.
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JakeM2012
Footnote on Awake 8/22/1994 Whaaaaaaa happened?
Supplementary Education
The Watchtower of November 1, 1992, noted concerning Jehovah’s Witnesses and the full-time ministry: “The general trend in many lands is that the level of schooling required to earn decent wages is now higher than it was a few years ago. . . . It is difficult to find jobs with decent wages after completing simply the minimum schooling required by law . . .
“What is meant by ‘decent wages’? . . . Their wages might be termed ‘adequate,’ or ‘satisfactory,’ if what they earn allows them to live decently while leaving them sufficient time and strength to accomplish their Christian ministry.”
So The Watchtower said: “No hard-and-fast rules should be made either for or against extra education.”
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134
Gerrit Loesch was at our DC today!
by goatshapeddemon inso, unexpectedly, the final talk was announced today and to my surprise and evil glee, they announced gerrit loesch as the speaker!
first off, at the beginning of his talk, he interrupted himself in the middle of his sentence to scold the microphone brother to lower my mike it's right in my face.. anyway, it was the talk on inspired truth, vs. inspired falsehoods.
he went through 6 expressions inspired by the demons.
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JakeM2012
Number 4 falsehood was "higher education has nothing wrong with it because it is a conscience matter". He gave three reasons it is demon-inspired:
1) Studies show that most kids go to college to receive higher paying jobs. No shit, really?
2) college education makes you look down on people, knowledge puffs up. Except for the people who learned the truth after college, they're ok because they learn true humility in the org. Seriously, he said that.
3) college education tends to encourage people to rely on and try to "save" this system, making the end seem further away than it is. Really? They've been teaching this hogwash for 120 years. I'm sorry, it's time for a stream-of-time reality check.
I have carried a copy in my bookbag of the Awake articles in the early 1990's about education under the full page heading, "What is the Bible's Viewpoint" and it basically said it was conscience matter, consider the pros and cons. I thought that Jehovah doesn't change, so why was the "Bible's Viewpoint" change, 20 years ago it was ok, but today it is a demon expression?
The new stance (early 1990's) on education made me think at that time the organization was finally seeing the light and "Jehovah" was working with these old GB out of touch ignorant leaders. So much for that thought!. I still have the articles readily available although I haven't went to a meeting in 4 years. I feel sorry for the young ones in the congregation today, they will be so mixed up with who to believe: their religious leaders or their school councilors. No wonder the young are depressed or leave.
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Flood insurance and cover for overland flooding
by Simon inwith the huge floods in alberta the news now is starting to cover the issue of property damange and insurance.. we've never really thought a lot about insurance cover for flooding because it became a big issue in the uk about 5-10 years ago with limited land availability leading to building on flood plains and the eventual inevitable consequences and so when we bought over here we didn't buy anywhere that was a possible flood risk.
our choice seems to have worked out as we've been completely untouched by the recent issues but tragically, others have been less fortunate and apparently few people are covered for 'overland flooding' which is where water enters your house through doors and windows.. it's hard to really know what is fair.
i understand the reason why insurers don't cover it and the arguments on both sides.. one one hand, we included the flood risk when puchasing a home.
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JakeM2012
"I have no idea but can people in Tornado or Hurricane prone areas get insurance for those?"
Flooding, as noted is usually building at an elevation or an area near to a body of water with the potential to rise significantly. What about these homes in the Western United States and other areas of the west that have built their homes in areas prone to have "natural" uncontrollable fire prone conditions.
In other industries the insurance companies wag the dog. In other words, if a costly trend begins, the insurance companies will usually make it so expensive to modify behavior, such as where people build their homes.
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Warwick project... I had no clue it was this big!!!
by sosoconfused inhttp://www.townofwarwick.org/wt_con/_appendix%20j.pdf.
of course i was aware that the new headquarters would be there but according to the above plans it is immense!.
253 acres???
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JakeM2012
I think about the innocent believers that have been lied to over the decades that support construction projects like this. They pay for their own way to the project, (sometimes $100's of dollars in airfare), take off time from their work, families, and any personal money making pursuits for weeks, months and years.
WT can afford much when all they have to supply is material for contruction, equipment to build, and food for the workers. Everything is great and wonderful for WT HQ's, but my father-in-law who has went and starved where the need was great, served as an elder for years, served the quickbuilds to an excessive degree and is 70 something years old and needs some house repairs, sorry Charlie, he's up crap creek. Volunteers are only used for officially sanctioned projects.
I also like that they have volunteer workers fix up these homes and offices for "construction workers", but this is also just a scam of purchasing more real estate, fixing it up to "use it" and then selling it when the project is over. The Wt saves in the cost of labor, including workers compensation, and social security, no wonder they have such nice buildings. I think about the volunteers that WT has used to literally wash the walls in exisitng buildings. It's kinda of like, we don't need you here, but if you want to do something, wash the walls, and clean the toilets.
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Time for this Newbie to say - Hello everyone!
by SeventhSojourn inin just the several months i've been lurking here, i have benefited from many of the posters comments and viewpoints.
this is truly a special place for the unique community that has been created here.. after years of holding off my exit from the org (that may be another post) i recently became officially out (by letter of da), but it was a very difficult process as many of you know.
thankfully, i now have my wife (was also a witness) onboard and we support each other.
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JakeM2012
Welcome, I love your description of WTS detox. LOL
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Needed - a printable 2013 DC badge
by venetian inis anyone able to post this years dc badge for printing?.
i'm a man with a plan .
mawahhhhhhh!.
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JakeM2012
Just go to the lost and found table and pick some things up:) Badge, Bible, Songbook, mostly well worn, it's used free literature, its not stealing.
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The antidote to the myth that JWs are declining
by slimboyfat inone of the most persistent myths on this website is that jws are already in decline, the rot has set in, and the descent of the watchtower is inevitable from here on in.
unfortunately the facts do not bear this out.
jws are still increasing even in most developing countries, and they are still growing worldwide at a faster rate than the general population.
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JakeM2012
Witnesses World Population Pecentage of Population 2014 8,000,000 7,500,000,000 0.00106667 2015 8,152,000 7,544,250,000 0.00108056 2016 8,306,888 7,588,761,075 0.00109463 2017 8,464,719 7,633,534,765 0.00110889 2018 8,625,549 7,678,572,620 0.00112333 2019 8,789,434 7,723,876,199 0.00113796 2020 8,956,433 7,769,447,068 0.00115278 2021 9,126,605 7,815,286,806 0.00116779 2022 9,300,011 7,861,396,998 0.00118300 2023 9,476,711 7,907,779,241 0.00119840 2024 9,656,769 7,954,435,138 0.00121401 2025 9,840,247 8,001,366,305 0.00122982 2026 10,027,212 8,048,574,367 0.00124584 2027 10,217,729 8,096,060,955 0.00126206 2028 10,411,866 8,143,827,715 0.00127850 2029 10,609,691 8,191,876,299 0.00129515 2030 10,811,275 8,240,208,369 0.00131201 2031 11,016,690 8,288,825,598 0.00132910 2032 11,226,007 8,337,729,669 0.00134641 2033 11,439,301 8,386,922,274 0.00136395 2034 11,656,648 8,436,405,116 0.00138171 -
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The antidote to the myth that JWs are declining
by slimboyfat inone of the most persistent myths on this website is that jws are already in decline, the rot has set in, and the descent of the watchtower is inevitable from here on in.
unfortunately the facts do not bear this out.
jws are still increasing even in most developing countries, and they are still growing worldwide at a faster rate than the general population.
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153
The antidote to the myth that JWs are declining
by slimboyfat inone of the most persistent myths on this website is that jws are already in decline, the rot has set in, and the descent of the watchtower is inevitable from here on in.
unfortunately the facts do not bear this out.
jws are still increasing even in most developing countries, and they are still growing worldwide at a faster rate than the general population.
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JakeM2012
It is true, if your waiting for Witnesses to become like the Great Disappointment of 1843 and 1844 when followers of William Miller finally collapsed, don't hold your breath. It is also true that many of us have made a decision to leave the borg, and would like everyone to follow, for whatever reasons we individually have, and obviously there is no mass exodus.
However, the Great Disappointment can give some insight into modern JW's. " The Great Disappointment is viewed by some scholars as an example of the psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance . [14] The theory was proposed by Leon Festinger to describe the formation of new beliefs and increased proselytizing in order to reduce the tension, or dissonance, that results from failed prophecies . [15] According to the theory, believers experienced tension following the failure of Jesus' reappearance in 1844, which led to a variety of new explanations. The various solutions form a part of the teachings of the different groups that outlived the disappointment." (Wikipedia, 2013) (I don't like to quote the Wiki, but it was convenient.)
Every day in 1997 there are upward of 375,000 babies born a day,(1998,World Health Organization) compared to 250,000 more witnesses a year. I don't understand the claim that JW's are keeping up with world growth?
Are there more witnesses today than 20 years ago?, sure, but that is not the total story. More pioneers, yes, although as noted the hours have been cut, and existing pioneers have pressure put on them to stay in the "full time service ranks" no matter what, even padding some time; many have learned also to work on the QuickBuild kingdom halls or other similar projects as part of their full time work. (I have a brother-in-law that will take the entire car group to a "bible" study and they all count the time.) Not theocratically legal, but he is an elder heavy in the circuit.
The last convention I went to was in 2010, and the demographics at least for that convention were alarming. The "sea of gray" headedness (meaning old witnesses) was the predominant color of the entire crowd. With 1975, the organization did loose some members, some disgruntled and bitter stayed on. But what the org. had started was momentum of an accelerated growth not seen before. What JW's are experiencing now is the de-acceleration of the exponential growth, meaning the momentum is slowing, and eventually it will slow to a point in which the the organization will struggle with their high turnover rates combined with the deaths of the weighted elderly JW's compared to growth. The two statisical characteristics are working in opposite directions. So the question is "Are JW's in a recession, great recession, or depression, or as some claim an expansion"? Is the work of Jw's sustainable for numerical growth? I think not.
I had a relative that left in the early 1980's say one that he didn't think that Jehovah's Witnesses was a religion that was meant or designed for people to stay active for more than 5 years. The WBTS knows how to bleed the life and money out of youths, and young families, and mature families and then leave them without help in there later years, oh, but WTBTS wants the inheritance from them. I don't think they really want the masses to stay in it longer than 5-10 years. Just get em when they are most productive workwise or financially.
If you choose to remain longer than 5 years, WTBTS wants complete obedience and a keep your mouth shut attitude; they don't want experience of long time people in the truth to really recite the changes made in the last 20 years at a WT study(like last weeks lesson). Get the people when they are productive, guilt them into contributing time and money, and dump them when used up. This is why so many of us haven't had anyone call on us after we stopped turning in time.
While it it cost over 5000 hours per publisher to bring in one convert, there is not too much to say to someone who has figured out the con, it is just better business to look for new "Marks". As far as an increase in Pioneers couldn't this be a sign of cognitive dissonance like experienced with the Millerites? It took decades for a ponzi scheme the size that Bernie Madoff created to burst, but when it did it was well known, just like the Millerites, in the Great Dissappointment.
My mother who is a 3rd generation witness will turn 80 soon, and from what I get from her and the remaining siblings in, is that they have too much invested to quit now. Perhaps it is a thing of pride, they choose not to admit they are wrong. I know this was a hard nut for me to swollow. I don't think that Jw's will be wiped from the face of the earth anytime soon, but the religion as a whole is becoming more as an insignificant group of would be followers, of the greatest Ponzi scheme ever, with a born on date haunting the new GB.
The heavies in the organization are either dead or near dead, (depending upon when you were in) and I have little faith they had anyone with leadership qualities for a sustainable turn around growth. Looking at the growth of new ones in the congregations (not born ins) I see a few, societally fringe people that don't fit in anywhere else, why not join Jw's they will take anyone! The days of big families coming in is over, and that was the key to growth, because there was also the peer pressure from family members to "keep on Keeping on".