FFGhost

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Posts by FFGhost

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  11

  Chat AI shows Jesus was not god

  by enigma1863 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  title: jesus' perception of himself: a nuanced view of equality in a patriarchal society.

  introduction:.

  the perception of jesus christ's divinity has been a subject of theological debate for centuries.

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  FFGhost

  I guess ChatAI will now burn in hell for all eternity for heresy?
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  11

  Poll says Gen Xer's would like to return to pre-internet

  by SydBarrett in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  according to a new harris poll shared exclusively with fast company, most americans would prefer to live in a simpler era before everyone was obsessed with screens and social media, and this sentiment is especially strong among older millennials and gen xers.. asked whether they would like to return to a time before humanity was “plugged in”—meaning before people had wide access to the internet and smartphones—77% of americans age 35-54 said they would, the highest of any group.. .

  what would you consider your ideal level of the internet?

  as a gen x'er, i would not want to go back to the per-internet world, but i would like to go back in some specific technologies.

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  FFGhost

  Random thoughts....

  One thing I really love is how we have GPS systems at our fingertips. If I'm in a new city, I don't have to memorize maps and hunt down street names and worry about wandering into a skinky part of town by accident. I just pull out the smart phone, pick a place I want to go, and walk there. I never worry about "getting lost" anymore.

  One thing I really hate is what I would call "loss of charm". Like, say, I traveled to some dinky little US southern town, and happened to visit their Class A minor league baseball stadium to take in a game. While at the stadium, I could buy a souvenir cap of the "Podunk Gristmillers" or whatever their team is. The only place in the world where you could buy a "Podunk Gristmillers" baseball cap was to actually go to Podunk and visit the stadium. When you got back home, you could wear the cap and have a "story to tell" about where it came from, and your travels there, etc. etc. It was a way to start a conversation about your travels.

  Today, you can order from any of, oh, 280 different websites which sell baseball caps from every city, from every decade, with every variation, and Amazon will deliver it to your front door in 48 hours. No effort, no interesting stories, no "charm".

  It doesn't have to be "baseball caps" and "small towns" - purchasing [anything which used to be kind of fun and unique and regional] is effortless and the sentimental, emotional part of it is gone.
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  14

  Facts or Biasedness?

  by Ardian in

  1. social
  2. current

  the watchtower and awake have been listed as the most popular magazines.the figures are astonishing.

  i am not sure whether it is based on reality or not.. source: https://tingtopten.com/2020/01/top-10-most-popular-magazines-in-the-world/.

  i have seen the link on many social media networks.

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  FFGhost

  They only print one "public" edition of each magazine per year.

  How can a single 16 page "magazine" (with maybe 6 actual pages of text after you take away the 2 inch margins and multiple photos and triple-spaced bullet points) be the "most popular"?
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  37

  Reddit post about elder asking congregation for money to fix his car!

  by LongHairGal in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yes, there’s a post on reddit.

  it says that after a zoom meeting a request was made to baptized publishers to give $20 apiece to fix this elder’s car.. while this sounds highly irregular to me and not necessarily approved by the religion, i am not at all surprised at the nerve.

  this, unfortunately, seems to be the direction that things are going there!

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  FFGhost

  Heh, yeah, we had a special pioneer couple, and the elder body (at least it wasn't the whole congregation) were "kindly requested" by the COBE to chip in to buy the guy a car.

  Fortunately, it was an extraordinarily wealthy congregation and it was relatively easy for most to contribute. I think they got him an older Toyota Camry.
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  773

  Breaking News: Anthony Morris III no longer serving on the Governing Body

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this has been announced on the jw's official website, in the "jw news" section.

  this is not a joke.

  anthony moron da turd is out as a gluttonous body member!

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  FFGhost

  • JW. org no longer foots the bill for most of their medical needs. Additionally, since TM3 is a veteran he also has VA benefits I am sure.

    We had a special pioneer couple in our congregation "X" years ago. They were booted out of Bethel in their 50's like hundreds of others.

    They had a slightly different path to Bethel service, they joined when in their 30's so they had 10+ years of work history as employees in the USA, which qualified them for Social Security retirement benefits.

    In the USA, your Social Security "normal" retirement age is somewhere between ages 65 - 67, depending on your year of birth. You can elect to receive reduced benefits as early as age 62.

    When the husband was about to reach age 62, he was informed by Bethel that he must begin his Social Security benefits at age 62, no option, end of discussion. AND his monthly stipend from the WTS (at the time I think it was something like $600 per month) would be reduced in accord with whatever SS paid him. If he got $500 per month from SS, his money from the WTS would be reduced to $100. If his SS payments exceeded $600 per month (not that hard to do, even with only 10-12 years of work experience), the WTS turned off the money spigot.

    It might have been nice for the couple to wait until later, to get higher retirement benefits at a later age, but they had 0 option (if they wanted to remain special pioneers, anyway).

    The WTS will never pay out a farthing more that they have to.
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  42

  God and Unicorns

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  atheist scientists now agree that "elasmotherium sibiricu" lived with humans.

  all they had to do was read their bible to know that.

  job 39:9 “will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?”.

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  FFGhost

  Any discovery that's not immediately understood becomes "They don't understand how that works, so it was God."

  The combination of hubris + stupidity is often stunning to behold. It is somehow inconceivable to some folks that there are people who understand things better than they do.

  "I don't understand what evolution is or how it could possibly work, therefore God did it" really translates to "I am of extraordinary intelligence, and I can't grasp this, therefore everyone else who claims to understand it is either lying or deluded, because surely no one is smarter than me".
  
  
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  196

  would you be more happy not knowing what you now know?

  by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a good question is would you be more happy not knowing what you now know?.

  were you more happy pimi?

  are all the pimis more happy than the the pimos or the pomos?.

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  FFGhost

  I haven’t read any specific books that are about biological evolution but I’ve read lots of other books about evolution.

  I'm still curious. Can you give us the title, author, and ISBN number of one of those books that is "about evolution" but "not about biological evolution"?

  I'm trying to work out what "non-biological evolution" is, and maybe that book can help.
  
  
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  11

  Are Elders Following Instructions from The Shepherding Book?

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how safe is personal information when elders do not follow their instructions?.

  from spain.

  announcementjune 23, 2023for elders1.

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  FFGhost

  Local congregation here (midwest US) asked for contact name and phone number of someone outside the area who might know our whereabouts if we were out of contact for some reason.

  That's not just a Midwest US thing, it's a worldwide thing.

  Elders are directed to create an "emergency contact list" of every single member in the congregation. As you note, it is supposed to be someone you would flee to, or at least contact, in the event of an undefined "emergency".

  It was put into place following Hurricane Katrina. Tens of thousands of JWs had to flee their homes at essentially a moment's notice, ending up hundreds of miles away. Elders had no clue who, or how many, of their congregation had made it out, nor how to contact them.

  That's when all the hoo-hah about "go-bags" started as well.

  And yes, if you don't provide your "emergency contact information" to the elders, you will get increasingly frequent and urgent "loving reminders" to do so.
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  18

  How did you pass the time when the Kingdom Hall meetings became boring and repetitive/

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  another boring and repetitive ''watchtower study.

  '' all the articles are about the ''faithful and discreet slave.''.

  for whatever reason, you tolerate this for years.

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  FFGhost

  When I was a kid, I would literally count the ceiling tiles above the platform.

  If I was lucky enough to get to sit next to my friend at the WT study, we'd crack each other up by modifying the pictures accompanying the WT article, or adding silly and inappropriate speech bubbles.
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  93

  Regional Convention Attendance

  by XBEHERE in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  elder friend of mine texted me asking what my rc attendance was 2 weeks ago (family and i streamed it since wife is not well).

  he told me that his rc in the jersey city assembly hall last weekend was low.

  co told them that around 2600 were the total from 16+ congs that were assigned.

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  FFGhost

  In North America & Europe, in general, convention attendance can be a little tricky to analyze. Lots of people go to multiple conventions, others go to one where they are not assigned...in most place which are at least moderately populated, there are usually multiple venues within a 2-3 hours drive, and 3, 4, maybe 5 convention weekends to choose from.

  Picking just one convention in isolation, it can be hard to to gauge the level of interest just by looking at attendance numbers.

  And yet.....

  I don't want to go into too much detail, but I live in western Europe. Due to a special combination of geography, language, and economics, I live in an area where the idea of "well, if I can't go to XYZ convention, I'll just go to this other city this other weekend" doesn't work, at all.

  So, one can gain a little better insight by analyzing attendance at this one convention in isolation.

  At the recent regional convention, attendance topped out Sunday afternoon at about 2900.

  Pre-pandemic, Sunday attendance was usually around 3500.

  In other words: taking this convention where JWs have no real "Plan B" - it's attend this one, or stay home, for the most part - attendance dropped nearly 20% from 4 years ago.

  Think about it: The first in-person convention in 4 years. We had Mark Sandwichson on a GB update exhorting the R&F to attend the convention. It was supposed to be a big deal.

  And a huge chunk of the JW population just said, "meh, I'll just stay home, maybe catch it on streaming".

  I think the WTS has lost the "weak ones". They're just gone - they may still be "active publishers", they still may attend meetings (mostly on zoom), but if they can't even muster up the enthusiasm to attend a convention for the first time in 4 years....they're pretty much over it.

  Now, it's the guys who used to be "middle of the pack" who are the "weak ones". Before too much longer, they'll start drifting away too.

  The WTS is slowly deflating.