shepherdless

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Posts by shepherdless

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  50

  Australia Branch to end magazine printing

  by no-zombie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just one week from the zone overseer's visit is the announcement that the magazine production by the australia branch will end in a few months.

  the task being transferred to the japan branch.

  while i'm not 100% certain, i understand that this effectively ends all major printing bar perhaps tracts, handbills and other loose items.

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  shepherdless

  It has the "ring of truth" about it for me, as well. In fact, I want it to be true.

  I want it to be true, because I see it as a mistake. konceptual and freddo make good points. And they probably reflect Watchtower thinking. However:

  (1) Watchtower will have to keep printing its rags for its field work, etc. Printing half as much paper doesn't halve the costs. I just can't see JW's going door-to-door with a tablet in their hand, and even if they do, they will still have to leave something behind with the householder to make it worthwhile. Also, what are they going to stack their trolleys with? So JW's in Aust (and NZ) will still need lots of printed material.

  (2) Yes, nobody will donate for their rags in this day and age (and that is why I said their business model is broken, in a thread some months ago), but they have to keep producing them for their style of preaching. There is no real halfway option.

  (3) It is one thing to have one printing branch in, say, Europe or North America, where you could distribute by road or rail around the whole continent. Asia and Oceania combined is huge. For Australia, they would have to airfreight the printed material from Japan to Australia, over a distance much greater than between London and New York. If each Australian publisher were to need even just 20 Watchtowers/Awakes per month, my rough calculation is that would amount to 100 tonnes of airfreight per month. That is nearly a full Boeing 747 freighter per month, flying a third of the way around the world, just to supply Australia, alone.

  
  

  So I am not disagreeing with anyone. I just think that it will prove to be a mistake by Watchtower.
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  33

  Christians Know Who God Is

  by Loi_241 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  many of us christians have a good question for you to ask, “who is god?” there are more than six scriptures to share with you.

  you know the bible itself a true message for all the people on earth.

  the bible explains ‘in the beginning god created everything: heaven, earth, animals, people and everything.’ thus, you notice god created humans, adam and eve.

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  shepherdless

  From the quote of Genesis 1:26, it looks like Loi is quoting from the King James Version of the bible. That is the version that mentions unicorns.

  Loi, do you believe in unicorns?
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  50

  Australia Branch to end magazine printing

  by no-zombie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just one week from the zone overseer's visit is the announcement that the magazine production by the australia branch will end in a few months.

  the task being transferred to the japan branch.

  while i'm not 100% certain, i understand that this effectively ends all major printing bar perhaps tracts, handbills and other loose items.

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  shepherdless

  This makes no sense. Japan is too far away from Australia, NZ etc. It will cost more to ship magazines than to print them. If Watchtower really wanted to save money, it could just outsource the printing in Australia to a commercial printer.

  
  

  I don't believe it is to avoid payments related to ARC, either.

  
  

  I suspect the explanation is one of the following:

  (1) Some clown in Brooklyn thought it would be a good idea, without researching it, and given the Borg's inability to tolerate internal dissent, nobody pointed out it would cost more, not less.

  (2) Watchtower wants to sell some of its better real estate in Sydney, and this is a preliminary step.

  (3) It is not true.

  
  

  I guess time will tell.
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  143

  Fidel Castro and the WT

  by Hecce in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.

  you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.

  during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.

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  shepherdless

  Fisherman - Government was able to show that the WT was just a publishing house and that they were never registered as anything else, certainly not a religion.
  That is a lie. It is a fact that the WT is a religion.

  I don't necessarily disagree, but perhaps it depends on your definition of religion.

  Fisherman, which ones of the following are religions?

  (1) Scientology

  (2) Pastafarianism

  (3) Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption

  Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption is explained in the following link if you haven't heard of it:

  http://time.com/3999933/john-oliver-televangelist-church-alst-week-tonight/

  I would be interested to know your answers.
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  87

  Excellent Conversation At Literature Trolley

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday my wife and i enjoyed one of our regular days out at edinburgh - movie, lunch, walk, meal etc.. in the late afternoon while mrs cofty went shopping i had an hour at the excellent museum of scotland and arranged to meet up outside the national gallery on princes street.

  on my way back i saw the jw trolley was at the usual spot on the royal mile.

  there was an older man and a young woman standing well back trying hard to look inconspicuous.

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  shepherdless

  Quarterback - JW's do not take the Genesis account literally. When it says the Earth was created in 6 days, a day is not understood to be 24 hrs long.

  Yes, that is what I meant when I said they aren't "young earth" creationists.

  Quarterback - You do realize that some scientists accept the Creation account when it comes to explain how it all started such as in the Big Bang theory.

  I have never read anywhere a scientist in any scientific literature stating something like, "therefore the creation account must be correct..." in relation to the origin of the universe. By the way, can you specify this "Creation account" in Genesis (or elsewhere) that explains the Big Bang theory?

  Quarterback - I don't think you can get to a version of evolution by logic, deduction or reason.

  Well I can't agree on that. To me it is just the obvious explanation for so much I see in the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. It explains why certain insects become resistant to pesticides, why certain diseases become resistant to antibiotics etc.

  Anyway, each to their own. I expect Cofty will be along soon with a few questions for you.
• 
  87

  Excellent Conversation At Literature Trolley

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday my wife and i enjoyed one of our regular days out at edinburgh - movie, lunch, walk, meal etc.. in the late afternoon while mrs cofty went shopping i had an hour at the excellent museum of scotland and arranged to meet up outside the national gallery on princes street.

  on my way back i saw the jw trolley was at the usual spot on the royal mile.

  there was an older man and a young woman standing well back trying hard to look inconspicuous.

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  shepherdless

  Quarterback - He was correct in telling you that he is not a Creationist. The Creationists believe that a Creative day was 24 hrs long.

  No, JW's are creationists. Maybe they aren't "young earth creationists", but they are still creationists by any sensible meaning of the word.
  

  Quarterback - I don't believe in Evolution because I believe that our wonderful planet, and Solar system is so amazing that it couldn't be a matter of chance, it was created by a intelligent designer.

  What has the formation of the universe got to do with Evolution? You do realise that most mainstream Christians accept Evolution, even if God/Jehovah created the universe?

  
  

  Quarterback - It's not only JW's that believe in Creation that way, but many other intelligent people do as well.

  The only people who believe in creationism (as opposed to Evolution) are members of fundamentalist christian churches, or Muslim. In fact many practicing Muslims believe evolution occurs.

  Further, I suspect the only reason anyone believes in creationism in this day and age, is that they had a childhood indoctrination to that effect. You can't get to a Genesis version of history by logic, deduction or reason.
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  8

  Trustworthy JW Lawyers????

  by Uzzah in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i will reserve comment but mr. pole has regularly represented the canadian branch of the jws'.

  he is their go to lawyer when needing non-direct society representation.. disappointed at how slimy he has become.

  he and i used to be friends.

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  shepherdless

  Looks like that happened around 3 years ago. I would hope that that lawyer was struck off or severely punished.
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  36

  Article from Jamaica: Jehovah's Witnesses' properties for sale - Rising costs force religious group to go small

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20160410/jehovahs-witnesses-properties-sale-rising-costs-force-religious-group-go-small jehovah's witnesses' properties for sale - rising costs force religious group to go small.

  sunday | april 10, 2016 | 12:00 am by erica virtue.

  norman grindley.

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  shepherdless

  Since this thread is still going...

  The reference to "temples" in the news article was probably just the reporter not knowing the correct terminology.

  After I first commented on the article, I did a brief bit of research. It appears that the result of the 2011 census was as follows (I could only find percentages on wikipedia, not actual numbers):

  Protestant 64.8%, comprising : Seventh Day, Adventist 12.0%, Pentecostal 11.0%, Other Church of God 9.2%, New Testament Church of God 7.2%, Baptist 6.7%, Church of God in Jamaica 4.8%, Church of God of Prophecy 4.5%, Anglican 2.8%, United Church 2.1%, Methodist 1.6%, Revived 1.4%, Brethren 0.9%, Moravian 0.7%;

  Roman Catholic 2.2%;

  Jehovah's Witness 1.9%;

  Rastafarian 1.1%;

  other 6.5%;

  none 21.3%;

  unspecified 2.3%.

  
  

  I did find the census form on the following website (bottom left corner):

  http://statinja.gov.jm/Popcensus.aspx

  
  

  I suspect that the reason the census suggested that 1.9% of the population were JW's (instead of around 0.6%) is a combination of the following:

  (1) Jehovahs Witnesses are high on the list of religions to choose on the census form.

  (2) Most people chose a religion on the census (nearly 80%) despite "no religion" being a clear option on the form, and I suspect there is a social tendency to associate with a religion, if only in name.

  (3) The country has a literacy rate of 88%, which is one of the worst in the world outside of Africa.
  
  

  I think a similar explanation applies to a number of other surprising percentages and absences in the list above. Every religion listed above, was specifically on the census form. The absence of Mormons (for example) is probably because they were not specifically listed as an option.

  ---------------------
  

  Separately, I think the substance of the article indicates that Watchtower is still cost cutting and selling assets wherever possible, even after sending home all those bethelites and releasing those special pioneers. Watchtower must still be under some cashflow stress.
  
  
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  36

  Article from Jamaica: Jehovah's Witnesses' properties for sale - Rising costs force religious group to go small

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20160410/jehovahs-witnesses-properties-sale-rising-costs-force-religious-group-go-small jehovah's witnesses' properties for sale - rising costs force religious group to go small.

  sunday | april 10, 2016 | 12:00 am by erica virtue.

  norman grindley.

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  shepherdless

  At the last check, in 2011, Jamaica recorded 50,849 Jehovah's Witnesses, up from 44,203 10 years earlier.

  But according to the last Yearbook, there were 11,815 average publishers (down from 11,889) spread across 188 congregations, and 37,111 memorial attendees.
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  36

  Article from Jamaica: Jehovah's Witnesses' properties for sale - Rising costs force religious group to go small

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20160410/jehovahs-witnesses-properties-sale-rising-costs-force-religious-group-go-small jehovah's witnesses' properties for sale - rising costs force religious group to go small.

  sunday | april 10, 2016 | 12:00 am by erica virtue.

  norman grindley.

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  shepherdless

  I assume that $45 million sale price quoted in the article is Jamaican dollars, which is equivalent to around US$370,000. (At least according to a currency converter on the net.)