Posts by shepherdless

138

JW org collapses

by I Faded Twice in

ok so this is a topic i've pondered and go back and forth on.. i can easily see a point where lawsuits cause massive deficits in the organization.

honestly i feel like we are seeing the tip of the iceberg in regards to lawsuits on child abuse.

to me it looks like the property sell offs are to be able to get ready for this.

shepherdless

Cobweb: I seem to recollect seeing on one of slim's collapse threads some demographic data showing jw members by age range.

That may have been from one of the threads that I started:

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5260866569109504/jw-decline-additional-data-from-aust-2016-census

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6298997348106240/aust-2016-census-observations-jws-getting-older-more-kids-leaving-30-group-arent-returning

Basically, the demographics show that the number of people who call themselves JWs in Australia has started to decrease by nearly 1% a year, and that decrease will get bigger. Given that other aspects of the data seem to match the US Pew survey, I think it is a safe bet to say that what is happening in Aust, is happening throughout the the West.

At this stage, you would have to project that in somewhere around 30 to 50 years, the religion in Aust will be about half the size. If you find that hard to believe, go back and read the charts.

Of course, most of this data is historical. In recent times, the perception of Watchtower has become a lot worse, congregations have merged, Kingdom Halls sold, etc. These are separate factors that are too recent to be a significant factor in the data. It is possible, even probable, that these factors, and the others listed by SBF, will accelerate the decline.

I see decline becoming more and more obvious in the coming years. It will be interesting to see how JWs rationalize it.

109

Serena William is 'fighting for women'?!

by LoveUniHateExams in

so serena williams lost the us open final 6-2, 6-4 to naomi osaka, her japanese-american opponent.. williams received three code violations from the umpire, carlos ramos: .

1. a warning for illegal coaching (subsequently admitted by williams's coach).

2. a point penalty for smashing her racquet.

shepherdless

This is my take:

1. Warning for coaching

Every player knows a player is not supposed to get coaching while playing. That even applies in local club competition. It is cheating. It may be hard to catch or prove (eg see the controversy over Andy Murray’s loss to Verdasco), but the rule itself is unambiguous. The only exceptions are team events such as Davis Cup.

In any event, Serena only got a “code violation” warning, which normally means nothing.

2. Smashing racquet and 3. Abusing umpire

The next two events are remarkably similar to what McEnroe did in his infamous match against Pernfors back in about 1990 (which I saw live).

In short, McEnroe had already received a “code violation”. The match is tight, and he misses a point. He bounces his racquet hard on the ground. You can hear the crack. A point violation is given, straight away. McEnroe calls the referee, and tries to argue that the racquet is not broken, and he plans to continue playing with it. He loses the argument. As the referee walks off, McEnroe apparently yells an obcenity. (It is hard to pick up on the tv replay, but apparently he did.) The referee straight away u-turns. Third violation. Under the rules at that time, a third violation was a forfeit, not just a game penalty, and hence McEnroe was thrown out.

The reason I set all that out is to show that it is simply untrue that Serena was treated any worse than a male player would have been.

109

Serena William is 'fighting for women'?!

by LoveUniHateExams in

so serena williams lost the us open final 6-2, 6-4 to naomi osaka, her japanese-american opponent.. williams received three code violations from the umpire, carlos ramos: .

1. a warning for illegal coaching (subsequently admitted by williams's coach).

2. a point penalty for smashing her racquet.

shepherdless

In 2009 (one of the events i referenced before) Serena threatened to shove a "F**** ball" down the "F***** throat" of a small female line judge during the US Open.

Yes, that was against Clijsters in a semi-final. The line judge called Serena for a foot-fault.

Serena’s behaviour in losing the final the following year to Sam Stosur was pretty poor, as well. Serena doesn’t lose often, but when she does...

50

Financially Are You Doing Better Than a Year Ago?

by minimus in

jw
friends

this isn’t a usa question.

is your financial situation better or worse or pretty much the same?.

shepherdless

Hi Smiddy,

yes it is mostly an urban phenomenon, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. But those house prices aren’t going up any more, and a lot of people (particularly foreigners) have been burnt on those silly inner city apartments. There a lot of people out there trying to service a $1 million dollar + mortgage, including “investors” relying on negative gearing.

At least you don’t have that stress to deal with.

50

Financially Are You Doing Better Than a Year Ago?

by minimus in

jw
friends

this isn’t a usa question.

is your financial situation better or worse or pretty much the same?.

shepherdless

Just curious if overall, in whatever country we live in, are we doing better, worse or the same. I don’t think Trump being President is going to help someone’s finances in AustralIa

I am from Australia. Personally doing better. Aust economy has been growing at about 3% for quite some time. I think Aust now has the world record for the longest run of uninterrupted growth.

We are lucky. Our conservatives concentrate on boring but important stuff like trying to balance the budget.

The biggest economic problem in Aust at the moment is that our banks have been borrowing overseas heavily, to lend to Australians, so that they can buy and sell property to each other with property prices continually ratcheted up. This has been going on for decades, but I don’t think it can last much longer, and some people are going to lose money.

15

How many wrongs make a right?

by eyeuse2badub in

came across this little gem while my wife was "digging for bible gems" in her weekly meeting preparation.

nothing new but i gently pointed it out to her as a reminder that bible reading can be hazardous to your mental health!.

do 2 (or 3, or 4) wrongs, make a right?

shepherdless

That was Arthur Caldwell, who was leader of the Labor opposition (and never became prime minister of Aust). One of the great successes of Gough Whitlam was to completely rid his party of that backward xenophobic protectionist anti-immigration rhetoric. So much so, that these days most people associate such views and the “white Australia policy” with the LNP, not Labor.

27

Contradictions!

by Freedom rocks in

quite regularly at meetings jws mocked worldly people and apostates(anyone who had left the "truth") for saying the bible contradicts itself when it is in complete harmony from beginning to end apparently.

can anyone point out some of the contradictions they know of?

they used to laugh at the fact people on the doors would say the bible contradicts itself and when they asked the householder to show them where, they couldn't..

shepherdless

This is an amusing video on bible contradictions:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk

Gives a pretty good list, too.

12

Request for Australian research: ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in 1941

by JW83 in

i am planning on revisiting my (academic) research into the banning of jws in australia in 1941, and was wondering if anyone would have contacts i could interview?

this is obviously a long shot (and it may be children/grandchildren) but i thought it may be worth a shot!.

i am an ex-jw and academic historian, you can see my former published work on jws here: http://www.flinders.edu.au/sabs/shir/our-research/research-journals/fjhp/2008.cfm.

shepherdless

In case you do not have a copy, here is a link to the 1943 High Court case where they applied to have the relevant regulations held unconstitutional, on religious freedom grounds.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/1943/12.html?context=1;query=jehovahs%20witnesses;mask_path=au/cases/cth/HCA

It is quite a complicated case; a few parts of some regulations were held unconstitutional. I think that for practical purposes, though, the Borg lost.

Good luck with your research project.

18