Posts by RunningMan

29

Best urban legends, you heard in the org?

by Nicolas in

jw
friends

personnally, i heard a lot of urban legends about the presence of a devil in a house.

it was always the same kind of story about a devil who lived in a house and then the jw arrive and they pray jehovah and suddendly, the demon go away...

RunningMan

Here's one that I think is fairly original:

A JW couple, who know better, go to see a hypnotist's show.
They are intrigued by the idea, and can't resist. The show begins,
but none of the hypnotist's tricks are working. Finally, he turns to
the audience and asks if there are any Jehovah's Witnesses present.
The couple cowers in their seats. He asks again, saying that he knows
they are there. Finally, they come forward and he asks them to leave.
The show then proceeds, with the hypnosis working again.

6

How is the Watchtower going to let down members?

by ballistic in

jw
friends

how is the watchtower organisation going to let it's members down or is it going to keep stringing them along ad-infinitum.. i ask because even though they've had their fingers burnt by quoting dates, they still continually insist it's close and we're in the "last days".. i was thinking in the thread about kids leaving that perhaps the membership rotates to such an extent that they can keep pulling the wool over their sheep's eyes.. .

.

i was too far out... and not waving but drowning - stevie smith

RunningMan

I agree that the doomsayer mindset still has a fair bit of potential.
However, for the last five years, the org has had no immediate
target date - not even a hazy one. Undoubtedly, this has hurt
their ability to excite people into a state of urgency.

Their other big problem is the chronology. It is stale. The 1914/1918
crap is getting very, very, old.

My wife's grandmother died a few weeks ago, mainly of old age. She
was born in 1916. We have no more remaining grandparents. I feel
that 1914 is getting very distant. I can just imagine how far
off that date is for young persons. It must seem ancient.

How long can they say that we are in the "time of the end"? And, if
Jesus' reign began almost 100 years ago, does that mean that the
coming millenium is down to only 900 years?

At some point, their entire chronology system will become untenable.

8

Pioneering is Dying, again

by metatron in

jw
friends

april regular pioneers 88,735. may regular pioneers 86,515 (with 939,078 publishers).

june regular pioneers 85,367 (with 925,216 publishers).

all figures u.s.a.. the km now has a front page segment "what to say about.

RunningMan

The real key to making this type of comparison is to use the
same month from two different years. I suspect that even
using this method, there is still a decrease. In Canada, there
was a decrease between April 2000 and April 2001.

It is also interesting to note that a couple of years ago, the
required monthly hours for pioneers dropped by 10. The
intention was to make it easier for more people to pioneer.
Well, guess what? The numbers went down anyway. So,
the society was hit with a decrease in pioneers, and an 11%
reduction in hours per person at the same time. Nice strategy.

32

Why are the JW's so bad?

by DF in

jw
friends

i've been studying the bible with a jehovah's witness in my town, and i'm rather enjoying it.. but why do so many people hate the jw's.. i've researched on my own and have come to the conclusion that they are right on most accounts including the trinity, blood, nationalism... etc.... and the more arguments i hear against the more i'm drawn into believing what they stand for.. and every argument i've seen in support of the things jw's are against the more i think the jw's are right.. so why are they so bad?

RunningMan

I agree that they are right on certain matters. For instance, immortality
of the soul, hellfire, nationalism, etc. However there are many different
views on all of these, and really, until you die, you will not know for sure
if you have an immortal soul.

But stand back and take an objective look at what they believe. Their
overriding belief, the one that sets them apart from all other religions,
is the belief that the time of the end began in 1914 and that soon the
world will come to an end. They believe there are two classes of people -
priviledged ones who will rule as kings, and others who will live on earth.
They believe that 99.9% of the world's population will be murdered by God.
They have made numerous predictions in the past. Not a single one of them
has come true.

Does this sound right to you?

More than anything, take the time to read some books that present the
other side. Ray Franz's "Crisis of Concience" is the best. Ask your conductor
if he will read it. He won't. Any group that tries to prevent you from hearing
opposing views has something to hide.

Finally, if they are right, why do they need to use coersive tactics? They will
hide them now, but believe me, they will bring them out after you are hooked.

All I can say is, do your research before you join.

13

Cooking the Books

by individuals wife in

jw
friends

mulan and seeker4 got me thinking in the previous thread called 'what did you do first?...'..

they both made the point that they were turning in reports when not going out on field service (tsk, tsk!

) and i remembered the times i 'cooked the books' a little and rounded up the figures, fiddled my time a little, counting time when it was not proper ministry.

RunningMan

This one makes me wonder, too.

The last time that I was out in service was in early March, yet
I am still a regular publisher - and not a bad one either. I wonder
if the elders even believe my report anymore. But, they still
faithfully phone if i forget to turn it in, and sound rather satisfied
when I reel off another good month.

As for the studies, I suspect that most of them are family studies. And
of the family studies, I wonder how many of them are actually
performed.

Around this board, you will find a lot of people to echo these comments,
but we are not exactly a representative sample.

Here's my guess:
- 10% of publishers report time accurately (deducting coffee breaks, etc.)
- 40% of publishers pad a little (rounding, coffee, etc)
- 30% of publishers round up medium amount
- 10% of publishers pad a lot
- 10% are complete fabrications

Based on these assumptions, about 35% of service time is bogus (about
350,0000,000 hours). Then add to this the amount of time that is
intentionally wasted by knocking extra quietly, travelling exessive time, etc,
and you wonder why they don't just shut it down.

25

A Nice Experience I Had on Sunday

by dunsscot in

jw
friends

dearest mum and others,.

an elder approached me after the meeting on sunday and said he wanted to ask me a question.

his query dealt with john 1:1. .

RunningMan

I'm amazed that you could find an elder who could spell
"God" in Greek. Most elders I know can barely spell it in
English.

133

BERRY LAWSUIT EVALUATED

by MadApostate in

jw
friends

i would like to preface my discussion of the recently filed berry lawsuit with several remarks.

first, i am not an attorney, and my only connection with the legal profession is that which occasionally arises out of my personal or business affairs.

second, i have no access to court records, opinions, etc., other than what is available via internet search engines.

RunningMan

The value of this case is not in the winning, but in the fighting.

When a case of this nature is reported, bad publicity is felt by
the organization. Any church that is accused this way is cast
in an unfavorable light, and sooo many of the public are just looking
for an excuse to look down on JW's. They have held themselves
up as more upright than everyone else for a long time.

The case gives a huge amount of ammunition to householders to
fire at Witnesses when they come to the doors. And you never
know, there may be some JW thinkers and stragglers who will
wake up because of the issue.

So, onward with the law suits.

By the way, my cousin is in Toronto Bethel. He says that the
society is sending one of their kitchen workers to university to
become a lawyer. I suspect that real lawyers are a considerable
drain on their finances. Even if they win, these cases cost a
bundle, unless they fight with kitchen help, which stacks the
deck against them.

6

EDITORIAL: United States should check its motives

by Kent in

jw
friends

i did find this little news-item, and i thought it to be so interesting i will post it here.

it seems there is a few americans who have seen the light as well, he, he..... ................... staff editorial.

sidelines.

RunningMan

So, all of the billions of hours spent in the humble preaching
work has succeeded in building a name that is synonymous
with arrogance.

That sideways comment about JW's really sums up what they
have accomplished. Instead of honouring God's name they
have putrified it.

42

Disfellowship?????????????????????

by tattoogrl333 in

jw
friends

today's study topic included disfellowship.

i'm a little confused i was told that the only way you can be disfellowshipped was if you did something you knew went agains jehovah and would not repent for it.

but the only person you can repent to is jehovah......... then i was told that the elders can however "keep the flock pure" b/c if jehovah is not happy with the congregation he can take his holy spirit away.

RunningMan

You read posts at work? That's stealing time from your
employer - a disfellowshipping offence.

It's nice to see we're back on topic.

42

Disfellowship?????????????????????

by tattoogrl333 in

jw
friends

today's study topic included disfellowship.

i'm a little confused i was told that the only way you can be disfellowshipped was if you did something you knew went agains jehovah and would not repent for it.

but the only person you can repent to is jehovah......... then i was told that the elders can however "keep the flock pure" b/c if jehovah is not happy with the congregation he can take his holy spirit away.

RunningMan

Godrules: You have not done your homework. The officially
sanctioned answer to the question, as published by the faithful
and discrete slave, for dissemination to the masses is this:

"Do they believe that they are the only ones who will be saved?
No. ... Jesus admonished that we should not be judging one
another. We tend to look on the outward appearance. God
looks on the heart." (Jehovah's Witnesses in the 20th Century, 1978, p 27)

It is true that every JW will give a slightly different answer, but
the overall gist is that even though they believe that everyone else
will die, they must sidestep the question, if not outright lie.