Posts by FFGhost

7

What does the fact that WT baptism numbers are still high in the pandemic tell us?

by Vanderhoven7 in

i thought jiles grey response to this question was interesting:.

"i think that it demonstrates just how ineffective the jehovah’s witnesses’ door to door evangelising is.. in 2019 there were 303,866 people baptised.

this was during a year when the preaching work was in full swing.. in 2020 there were 241,994 people baptised.

FFGhost

As noted above, probably most of the dunkees are kids of JWs. That certainly is the case in wealthier western lands.

The 241,994 figure is for the "2020 service year" (September 2019 - August 2020). That was 6-7 months pre-pandemic, so you'd expect the numbers to have been pretty "normally" for over half the year.

In addition, there were still a bunch of "Bible studies" in the pipeline to get baptized, especially in poorer countries where people still respond. From initial call to final dunking will always take many months, probably not unusual for it to take a couple of years.

The entire "2021 service year" (September 2020 - August 2021) was conducted in full-blown pandemic.

Absolute 0 door to door, absolute 0 cart witnessing. 100% phone calls and letters.

The numbers for the 2021 service year ought to be ready in 3-4 months. I would be willing to bet large quantities of candy corn that the number of baptisms reported will be much much lower than even the low number for the 2020 service year - maybe even under 200,000.

And if pandemic restrictions continue for a large chunk, or even all, of the 2022 service year (already started), the number reported will drop again - even more.

3

CO ZOOM VISITS?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

i have been out of the borg for years!

do circuit overseers still visit the congregations?

via zoom?

FFGhost

Yes, since March / April 2020, all CO visits everywhere have been via Zoom.

13

Is this New Light coming or just some crackpot?

by pistolpete in

this experience was posted about a year ago.

it seems like a crackpot co was giving his prediction of what "might possibly happen in the future" .

now it seems like he wasn't such a crackpot after all.. quote.

FFGhost

Here's what I think:

If the CO really said these things, he's goofier than a froot loop.

If I had a nickel for every nitwitted story rife with speculations about "no really, now we're in the last part of the last days" from some frooty JW I'd be able to buy, I dunno, Australia, and still be richer than Jeff Bezos & Bill Gates combined.

I.e., this is just some combination of desperate wishing for "the end to come" and a pathetic need to be viewed as having "special insight" and thus worthy of praise & honor.

To answer your specific question: crackpot.

53

Those members who passed away

by Gorb in

jw
friends

who of those passed away jwd/jwn members, do we think of??.

oompah and the lady from australia, are there more??.

g..

FFGhost

We never heard anything "official", but he must be gone by now: Maximus.

58

No more Questions from MINIMUS

by was a new boy in

jw
friends

minimus former jw, prolific poster on jwn died.. minimus.

joined 19 years ago.

started 4,139 topics.

FFGhost

Sorry to hear this.....but TBH, "Six Screens" has been, shall we say, less than reliable on certain other occasions.

If true, it is a loss for this board and all who knew & loved him.

41

Is the door to door preaching work not the primary focus anymore?

by pistolpete in

a few months back, one of my uncles who was an elder, asked the co, why jehovah would allow the door to door preaching work, to come to an abrupt end.

this was when my uncle was starting to have serious doubts about the organization.. the co told him to be patient, and hang in there, because the governing body was on top of things and in time would explain what is happening regarding the preaching work.. my uncle asked; “what do you mean?”.

co said; “focus on the wt study articles in the coming months” .

FFGhost

I think they play with the counting.

Of course!

You're supposed to put the number attending after your name, so when others view you on Zoom, they see something like:

Bonehead Family (5)

....to indicate 5 members of the family are "attending".

Of course, the 3 kids are all playing video games, dad's watching pre-season football and mom's posting pictures on Instagram. But "5 attending", right.

41

Is the door to door preaching work not the primary focus anymore?

by pistolpete in

a few months back, one of my uncles who was an elder, asked the co, why jehovah would allow the door to door preaching work, to come to an abrupt end.

this was when my uncle was starting to have serious doubts about the organization.. the co told him to be patient, and hang in there, because the governing body was on top of things and in time would explain what is happening regarding the preaching work.. my uncle asked; “what do you mean?”.

co said; “focus on the wt study articles in the coming months” .

FFGhost

how did the ministry increase

Again - very easy to believe.

As I noted earlier, "hours" is probably the most significant "spirituality marker" in use - more hours, more spiritual, full stop, the end, nothing more to it.

It has never been easier - in 140+ years - to get your "hours" in.

Sign onto your Zoom field service meeting, gossip with your friends about Brother Goober and Sister Rotund, drink your coffee, wear your shorts & flip-flops (no one sees below your shoulders on Zoom), every 10-15 minutes write a line or 2 of a letter, then back to gossip, coffee, oh, time for a donut break....

Add to that the elimination (until further notice) of any hour requirement for pioneers....

Well of course there's going to be record numbers of "pioneers" and "hours" and whatnot.

41

Is the door to door preaching work not the primary focus anymore?

by pistolpete in

a few months back, one of my uncles who was an elder, asked the co, why jehovah would allow the door to door preaching work, to come to an abrupt end.

this was when my uncle was starting to have serious doubts about the organization.. the co told him to be patient, and hang in there, because the governing body was on top of things and in time would explain what is happening regarding the preaching work.. my uncle asked; “what do you mean?”.

co said; “focus on the wt study articles in the coming months” .

FFGhost

he talks about meeting attendance, the ministry, (how its increased during Covid)

Not hard to believe at all.

In my earlier post I talked about how judging others based on what they appear to be doing is the very essence, the very soul of being a JW.

Meeting attendance is another easy marker for judgment. If "Person X" attends 98% of the meetings while "Person Y" attends only 75%, "Person X is automatically, fully, undoubtedly, without hesitation, more "spiritual" than "Person Y". Full stop. The end. Reasons for attending / not attending are less than irrelevant. Attending meetings = "being spiritual".

It has never been easier - literally - never, in 140+ years - to appear "spiritual" by attending Zoom meetings. Sign on, wave hello to everyone, turn your camera off, go watch TV & drink beer for 2 hours, while the little black screen with your name on it remains on the Zoom meeting, and it looks like, as far as everyone else can tell, you are sitting on the edge of your seat, eagerly hanging on every word dribbling from Elder Blowhard's mouth.

Easily, week after week, meeting after meeting, 60, 70, 80% of the attendees have their screens off the entire meeting. For the past 18 months.

In circumstances like that - it looks like you are attending the meeting, but no one can tell if you're watching "The Walking Dead", or scrolling thru Twitter, or snorting a line of coke - of course "meeting attendance" is going to skyrocket.

You get free "spirituality points" just for the 2 minutes effort it takes to sign onto the meeting, then leave.

I would be shocked if "meeting attendance" were less than 150% of pre-pandemic levels, given the situation I just described.

41

Is the door to door preaching work not the primary focus anymore?

by pistolpete in

a few months back, one of my uncles who was an elder, asked the co, why jehovah would allow the door to door preaching work, to come to an abrupt end.

this was when my uncle was starting to have serious doubts about the organization.. the co told him to be patient, and hang in there, because the governing body was on top of things and in time would explain what is happening regarding the preaching work.. my uncle asked; “what do you mean?”.

co said; “focus on the wt study articles in the coming months” .

FFGhost

Just to clarify:

I don't think "the ministry" will ever end. It is far too important for JW hierarchy. It is a practically perfect form of "busy work" that provides an easy to understand numerical representation to measure someone's "spirituality". In WT-world, a person who accomplishes "70 hours" is, by definition, always, without exception, considered more spiritual than someone who accomplishes only "20 hours". The 20-hour guy is, without exception, viewed as "more spiritual" than the 5 hour publisher, etc. The lowest of the low are the "inactive", the 0-hour guys.

Measuring "how spiritual" someone is, and using that as the basis for judgements, rewards, praise, granting of "privileges", etc. is the fundamental core, the soul, of what being a JW is.

So I don't think "the ministry" will end.

What I do anticipate is a great shift in emphasis, away from door to door, and more toward carts, letters, and telephoning. I think it i quite possible, perhaps even probable, that nearly all JW "ministry" will be something other than door to door, save for a few uber-zealous guys, and the ones who live out in the boonies where there is just no place to reasonably place a "literature" cart.

41

Is the door to door preaching work not the primary focus anymore?

by pistolpete in

a few months back, one of my uncles who was an elder, asked the co, why jehovah would allow the door to door preaching work, to come to an abrupt end.

this was when my uncle was starting to have serious doubts about the organization.. the co told him to be patient, and hang in there, because the governing body was on top of things and in time would explain what is happening regarding the preaching work.. my uncle asked; “what do you mean?”.

co said; “focus on the wt study articles in the coming months” .

FFGhost

It would be an absolute bear to try to get rank & file JWs to go back to normal door to door work after pandemic restrictions end or are greatly reduced. The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to restart.

I suspect that door to door will be greatly de-emphasized and a lot more "cart witnessing" will be introduced, even in areas where it would seem really weird. I suspect any remaining "door to door" will be more like "farm to farm" out in the rurals, and most urban and suburban JWs (probably over 90% of the whole JW population anyway) will be "on the carts".

Most JWs I know just love the carts. You get to "count time", you are "visible in the ministry", but rarely have to actually speak to anyone. If anyone shows interest, you have a great experience to tell. If anyone gives you a hard time, the cart overseer (yes there are cart overseers) just packs up and moves to a different location.

So that's my prediction: in the future, a major emphasis on cart witnessing, and the vast majority of JWs won't do door to door ever again.