zack, on another thread, said he heard this figure from the platform at both the 2006 elders' school and his recent pioneer school:.
that there were 93,000 elders in 1994, and less than 60,000 today, in the united states.. i thought these figures deserved their own thread, as they are shocking to me, and to see if anyone else has heard anything similar.. i'll post a link to the other thread as well.
.
"Not many should be called teachers"
Unfortunately the elders that remain remind me of the wackiest try-outs for American Idol.
"What makes you think you are going to be the next American Elder?"
"Duh. I'll do whutever they tells me."
"You're going to Bethel!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
every movement in society, politics or religion begins with the personality and drive of one charismatic man (or woman.).
here is a recap of the birth and transformation of the person and personalities creating the religion now known as jehovah's witnesses.. 1.russell's mother was a scottish presbyterian who filled young charles' head with fear of hell.
being intelligent and sensitive, it electrified his very being with an intellectual struggle to grasp why a loving god would kill him!.
My explanation for Russells religion - DAMP-RAT syndrome.
"An acrostic in which each letter stands for a descriptive adjective, as follows: D - dilettante A - arty M - monotophobic P - perverse R - restive A - affected T - theatrical These seven adjectives define a fairly specific pattern of personality manifestations which falls within the more general category of gynandrophrenia... All or nearly all of the male homosexuals I have encountered... are DAMP RATs; but not all of the latter are homosexuals. There are many who live the "arty-perverse" DAMP RAT pattern with never a suggestion of homosexuality."
Varieties of Delinquent Youths-- Dr. William Sheldon
<!-- .style1 { font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18px; color: #330099; } .style4 {font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style5 {font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; color: #330099; } --> how well does the watchtower educate?admittedly, my opinion about the watchtower is that it trained.
and educated individuals wellin particular when it came .
to reading and public speaking.. education or propaganda?
Chicken or Egg viewpoint:
Does the ministry school train people to be good speakers? OR
Does the ministry school train people to listen to bad speakers?
<!-- .style1 { font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18px; color: #330099; } .style4 {font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style5 {font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; color: #330099; } --> how well does the watchtower educate?admittedly, my opinion about the watchtower is that it trained.
and educated individuals wellin particular when it came .
to reading and public speaking.. education or propaganda?
The Watchtower pretends to teach and the congregation pretends to learn.
i started a thread after i finished the first chapter of this book entitled something like, i'm an atheist.
i finished chapter three and i have to backtrack a bit, but i also feel the need to explain why since i was so vocal.. first, let me say that i think everyon should read the first two chapters of the god delusion by richard dawkins.
he brings up some very important points about religion and about science's place in our world.
So we are back to the great divide. Those who believe there is a God and those who don't.
And it still baffles me that God can't do something that would deliver the knock-out punch.
At least evolutionists can say they have tried their best.
If I were omnicient and omnipotent I could convince anyone.
Why doesn't he cure a stadium full of down syndrome kids. That would be a pretty good start. And----hey --- since he's probably omnicreative he ought to be able to think up an infinite sequence of miracles that would convince anyone.
Some will say - well just open your eyes -STUPID. The universe IS a miracle.
It might be - but no one has ever seen him actually do it. No one has seen God take a clump of dust and form a human out of it.
i started a thread after i finished the first chapter of this book entitled something like, i'm an atheist.
i finished chapter three and i have to backtrack a bit, but i also feel the need to explain why since i was so vocal.. first, let me say that i think everyon should read the first two chapters of the god delusion by richard dawkins.
he brings up some very important points about religion and about science's place in our world.
I read the Blind Watchmaker and Sagans Demon Haunted World. I liked Sagan's book better. I haven't read Hawkins latest book.
One book I would reccomend is Daniel Dennets "Breaking the spell-Religion as a Natural Phenomena" . It approaches the subject from a psychological perspective.
I don't believe in an omnicient and omnipotent entity that created the universe. However, I do believe in a "god-function". Chance and selection got us to this point. THAT process in THIS particular version of the universe (one universe out of multiverses) that produced conscious beings is an amazing event for "us,we,me,you". It is so unique it has to be called something more awe inspiring than "mere" chance. It is "mind-boggling" chance. It is the chance of all chances. But it is still chance no matter how superlative the terms.
Here is the psychological basis for calling it the "god-function". As humans our brains probably evolved to keep track of the polictics and social interactions of a troop of about 120 wandering hunter gatherers. We have boot-strapped all that sorting and matching into science,math,art, and philosophy. But we still have this habit of personifying everything important to us. Our theories are our "brain children". We treat our cars, boats, even lawnmowers as persons. We discipline our TV sets and computers if they don't obey. Earth is Mother Earth. Time is father time. Our behavior is controlled by a little man inside at the controls that we call "soul".. The big man that is out there controlling celestial bodies - well that's god.
These are vestigial habits that are every bit as curious as our appendix or our shortened tail-bone. We are no doubt in a transition and will eventually dump these archaic terms along with our mistaken beliefs. Science is telling us there is NO ONE at the controls. That's scary to most people. In the meantime I like the term "god-function". It retains some of the habits of personfication along with the knowledge that we are really embedded in a material universe.
i spent the weekend with some relatives.
they have an fairly extensive library of jw material going back 50 years in their spare bedroom.
i was looking at a few items when i found a program for the divine victory convention held in winnipeg, manitoba in 1973. the convention lasted 5 days.
Juni:
1973 wasn't in Milwaukee. It was at the old Comiskey park in Chicago. Drama was about Christians fleeing Jerusalem and waiting for its destruction.
last week we had a birthday party for my friends great grandfather, he turned the big 100. he is living with his children, and has his own room and actually does pretty good for someone of 100. he can talk to you, remembers things, but he has his moments ... he is 100. we were all talking about the way the world has changed for this man, in 100 years.
he was born in a time, when cars were not common and only the superweathly had them.. ww1 and ww2 had not happened yet.. the titanic was not built, and had not sunk.. there were still many thousands of veterans alive from the civil war.. computers started to get popular in his 70's.. he lived through the great depression in his 30's.. ... so many more.
so i was thinking, if you were to live to be 100, what things would you reflex on as major changes in events.
Correction: What I wrote in my last post about pace of change is garbage.
The changes appear minor when they are going on but you can see the trend better after a period of time.
The computer (micro-chip) revolution is still in its early stages.
Genetic engineering based on the discovery of DNA is still in its early stages.
The biggest changes are yet ahead.
last week we had a birthday party for my friends great grandfather, he turned the big 100. he is living with his children, and has his own room and actually does pretty good for someone of 100. he can talk to you, remembers things, but he has his moments ... he is 100. we were all talking about the way the world has changed for this man, in 100 years.
he was born in a time, when cars were not common and only the superweathly had them.. ww1 and ww2 had not happened yet.. the titanic was not built, and had not sunk.. there were still many thousands of veterans alive from the civil war.. computers started to get popular in his 70's.. he lived through the great depression in his 30's.. ... so many more.
so i was thinking, if you were to live to be 100, what things would you reflex on as major changes in events.
I am 61. I was born just before WWII ended.
No Jet Travel
TV just emerging.
No automatic washers in homes.
No wash'n wear.
No Microwave ovens in homes.
No McDonalds etc.
No Interstate Hwy System
Transcontinental travel dominated by trains.
No transistor based technology.
No silicon chip based technology.
No polio,measel, chickenpox, whooping cough, flu vaccinations.
Doctors made house calls.
No rock n roll stars.
No FM radio.
Horses were still used by junk collectors.
Coal was still main way homes were heated.
Around 2 billion people.
"Colored" restrooms.
Only 2 nuclear weapons. And only one country had them.
No sattelite communications.
Most people didn't have private phone lines.
Tires had tubes.
No birth control pills
My father would be 97 this year. He died in 1995. Most of the changes in HIS life took place in my lifetime.
But most of the major changes occurred before MY children were born.
So it appears there was a burst of change during my life time. But it is tappering off. The difference between my parents life experiences and mine are greater than the difference between my life experience and my children.
in montreal, canada in late dec. jean-claude lavoie refused a blood transfusion and died.
his decision has split his family apart--the father respecting his son's decision.
his brother, jonathan, a former jehovah's witness has since launched an internet campaign calling on the government to make it illegal for a person to refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds.
It is good to see rationality overide peoples feelings.
People do stupid life endangering things all the time. You can't save people from stupidity by making laws. People need the opportunity to make an informed choice.
To maintain tax exempt status I think JW's should be required to watch a half hour government issued video challenging their beliefs before they sign their blood papers.
Such an important decision requires both sides to be heard while there is no emergency. The objective would be to avoid confusion in traumatic situations.
