i was commenting on another thread about how local kh attendance is down.
memorial attendance was also way down and the circuit assembly had hundreds less people than what is typical.
my jw family has even mentioned it.
They provide global totals for Memorial attendance, baptisms ,Bible Studies, hours reported preaching, pioneers - but not country-by-country breakdowns.
Steve2,
They do provide country by country breakdowns of baptisms, memorial attendance and pioneers.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/2017-service-year-report/2017-country-territory/
when god created adam and eve and put them in the garden of eden it was then up to them to cultivate and take care of it ,god had no further hand in it .the responsibility rested with adam/eve and their offspring.. the same would be true in the paradise to come ,god gets rid of all of us wicked people ,but then it is up to j.w.~s who are left on this earth to restore such a paradise.?
without god`s intervention.. think of it , this system is gone with all its infrastructure.. 8 million + j.w.`s scattered throughout the earth with.
no communication systems operating .
smiddy: Think of it , this system is gone with all its infrastructure.
Interesting.
Smiddy, are you sure that JW's teach that all the physical infrastructure of this world will also be destroyed at Armageddon?
the following letter was read in the congregation today.
it's for all the congregations in india.
i have pasted it as it was.
Hi Listener,
Public and Study editions of the Watchtower and Awake comes from Canada Bethel directly to the publisher's home through post. Like the old subscription model. Postage paid by Canadian Bethel
Other literature comes by freight to India Bethel. Loading/freight charges paid by India bethel. Not sure if the funds are sent to those branches for the literature. The boxes that come from these countries are marked as "charitable material inside".
the following letter was read in the congregation today.
it's for all the congregations in india.
i have pasted it as it was.
More clarification for context:
p.s. what did they mean when they say they don’t print their own literature. Do they pay a commercial company, or do their ship it from another branch
Slim, the magazines come from Canada, lietrature from the US & Germany and Bibles from Japan.
Additional info:
1. The letter is not a hoax. I was read in all congregations in India and is true to its word.
2. Old Bethel sale: The old bethel was built by funds from other countries. The restrictions on foreign funds came in between the construction, and the commercial contractor who was building the branch negotiated with its US Head office and kept the construction going. Due to its locality, the branch once sold will generate money enough to keep the work going for decades. Hence the call for conditional donations.
3. New bethel: The new branch office will be located in a major city in a plush business district. It would be similar to the Indonesian branch which is currently in a skyscraper. The political scenario of India is frightening and hence bethel complexes need to be housed in business districts to keep them away from vandalism.
4. Sale Proceeds: The money gained from selling the old bethel will not be sent back to the HQ, as there are restrictions around that too. Hence, all that money will be put into further operations in India.
5. Kingdom Halls: The KH building work has been accelerated even before the letter was read. 6 kingdom halls have been built in the past three months in my city itself. All paid by the branch, without any obligation on the publishers. All the kingdom halls are located in business districts or complexes. The reason for this is that standalone land is almost impossible to purchase for building a christian worship center.
Publishers who were meeting in a run-down shaggies are now going to huge complexes for their meetings. As per the recent update, 100 such properties are purchased across India for kingdom halls. By 2020, all congregations in India will have a kingdom hall. Thats what my source says.
By what I have seen until now, WT is not lying in the letter.
the following letter was read in the congregation today.
it's for all the congregations in india.
i have pasted it as it was.
As an Indian and seeing the reality before my eyes, I wish to clarify
cofty: So let HQ put up an interest-free loan. Simple.
According to the Indian Government's order passed in 2000, Watchtower in India cannot receive any funds (not even a cent) from any other country in the world. Anything that comes has to come from Indian field.
Personally, I find the idea of a billion dollar publishing company asking poor Indian brothers for money so they can further their own cause to be sickening. -pale.emperor
WT in US maybe a billion dollar corporation, but due to government restrictions on foreign funds, that means nothing for the Indian branch.
Prima facie, it looks that Indian JW's are poor. But JW's living the metros of India are wealthy enough to keep the work going. Many in India predicted that WT India would not survive even one year without the foreign funds, but the work plodded along for 18 years. JW's in India have their own pool of wealthy JW's to necessitate the shortfall of any kinds of funds.
jehovah's witnesses say that the holy spirit is inanimate.
but how then can you sin against the holy spirit, if he is not alive ?!
🤔 then it is more correct to say that it is not against the holy spirit, but against god..
But how then can you sin against the Holy Spirit, if he is not alive ?!
What do you understand when someone says "He committed a crime against humanity" or "He betrayed the country", "He went against the family values"?
Now think what sinning against the Holy Spirit would mean.
for shits and grins, i looked at an online sunday meeting a few days ago on youtube.
i was in disbelieve on just how silly everything looks with the watchtower reader reading from his little iphone and the watchtower conductor holding up his iphone to ask the questions.
then the conductor asked the reader to read a bible verse and of course, he reads from his little phone.
This cuts both ways. A few years ago we had a poster who complained about how the WT still used paper publications when the world is going all digital.
it’s just the “new light” is much better and brighter than the old light.
1965: more “new light.” these men will be resurrected, for sure.. 1988: jehovah apparently changed his mind once again.
the light gets brighter.
Can you also please state the publication reference next to the year? It would be good to read the reasons why they decided to change the viewpoint.
i was just browsing the russian jw site and saw this image that appears to represent christian persecution by showing handcuffs in front of prison bars that appear to form a cross.
which would be weird because they don't even believe in the cross, or maybe it was clip art from another source and they didn't notice.
or last and most likely i'm seeing things that aren't there 😜.
If you have too much time on your hands, you can write an entire thesis on any image found on the internet.
how do you think they lived with themselves?.
how do you think that the israelite soldiers that were ordered by king david to take uriah to the front lines and then retreat behind him so the enemy could slaughter him live after that event?
were they okay and at peace?.
It may not have stirred many consciences.
As per the Biblical account, Joab was given the instructions to position Uriah in the battlefield. Joab himself was an opportunist and an unscrupulous man, so his conscience may not have hurt.
Also, Uriah was not the only one who died. The story says that many other Israelites perished along with him. So for other rank and file, Uriah's death must have looked like an ordinary soldiers death and his positioning on the battlefield was likely considered as a war strategy.
