Posts by FFGhost

83

Thought on “0 hours” reporting

by FFGhost in

so everyone knows the “big news” of this past weekend, no more reporting of hours, placements, return visits, etc.

beginning november 1, jws just tick a box indicating whether they “shared in any form of the ministry during the month”.. so there was a brief comment by a redditor that seems like a brief joke “throwaway comment” but after thinking about it….why not?.

the idea is, what is “any form of the ministry”?

FFGhost

they can claim over 8 million active members worldwide. Thus making their retention figures look better for a while

Yeah, in the short term, it gooses the numbers a little. Maybe they even hit 9 million in the next year or 2.

But the actual amount of real ministry will plummet. All those “20 hour” publishers will now be “4 hour” publishers. All the current “4 hour” publishers will now become “2 minute” publishers.

They’re not going to keep track of hours anymore, but if they did? Hours would be, what? 20% of the current amount? 10%? Less?

Over the past 3 years, hours plummeted and new baptisms plummeted even farther. What will baptism numbers look like 3 or 5 years down the road (if they still publish them)?

Without enough new baptized members, and with mortality affecting the remaining demographically aged JW population ever more strongly, the numbers will inevitably drop.

i know they are reacting to <something>, and they likely have some sort of plan to keep the game going, but at this point it just feels like they are throwing in the towel.

83

Thought on “0 hours” reporting

by FFGhost in

so everyone knows the “big news” of this past weekend, no more reporting of hours, placements, return visits, etc.

beginning november 1, jws just tick a box indicating whether they “shared in any form of the ministry during the month”.. so there was a brief comment by a redditor that seems like a brief joke “throwaway comment” but after thinking about it….why not?.

the idea is, what is “any form of the ministry”?

FFGhost

So everyone knows the “big news” of this past weekend, no more reporting of hours, placements, return visits, etc. Beginning November 1, JWs just tick a box indicating whether they “shared in any form of the ministry during the month”.

So there was a brief comment by a redditor that seems like a brief joke “throwaway comment” but after thinking about it….why not?

The idea is, what is “any form of the ministry”? Don’t JWs teach that “giving a witness” is pretty much “talking about any ‘spiritual’ topic with someone who is not a baptized JW”?

So, at a congregation meeting, there is almost certainly going to be at least a few unbaptized JW kids. Virtually any meeting will have kids in attendance.

So, if I make a comment at the WT study, or the CBS, or any other meeting, aren’t I publicly expressing my faith within the hearing of unbaptized people?

So if I make any comment at a congregation meeting, aren’t I engaged in “any form” of witnessing? So if I just answer a question, can’t I go ahead and check the box?

i’ll go even one better. Isn’t just raising my hand a form of “giving a witness”? Unbaptized people see that I want to “express my faith”, and that in itself should count as a “witness”, right? I’m evidently willing to say something, and all these unbaptized kids in the audience will say to themselves “wow, he has faith and wants to express it”. Voila, witness given, and I can check the box for that month.

So all you PIMOs out there - want to stay in good graces as an “active publisher” until you finalize your exit plan? Just shoot your hand up a second or 2 after the conductor has picked someone else to comment, and you can legitimately 🤓 “check the box”.

is it just me, or did the “brain trust” at Warwick not really think this through? They have effectively made “active publisher” so easy to accomplish that it is now an utterly meaningless designation.

24

This answers the question if the organization was going to go more Hardline or mainstream.

by nowwhat? in

looks like we can expect a kinder, gentler jehovah and jesus during the great tribulation.

the door will not be closed to all non jws at the start of the tribulation.

but will have time to repent after false religion is destroyed.

FFGhost

Is the idea that it may not be too late for people to repent after the GT starts found in recent WT publications?

I found this in the WT October 2019, page 9:

“Besides staying awake ourselves, we also want to help others wake up to what the Bible foretold would happen in the world. Let us remember that once the great tribulation begins, it will be too late for people to turn to Jehovah. That is why our preaching work is so urgent!”

Which is obviously exactly opposite of what they just said on Saturday.

So at the meeting 10/7, they contradicted both points in this paragraph:

— people can “turn to Jehovah” after the GT starts

— that being the case, and not bothering to count hours anymore, in what sense is the preaching work “urgent”?

That WT is only 4 years old. It undoubtedly takes them a long time to formulate and articulate changes in doctrine, so likely not long after this article was released, they were working on the change.

18

Has The WT Allowed Outsiders to be Saved?

by NotFormer in

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1734baj/they_just_had_a_huge_meeting/.

this reddit post suggests that the cessation of reporting hours isn't the only thing announced at the recent meeting.

can anyone in, or sufficiently well versed in jwdom confirm that the op's understanding of this announcement correct?.

FFGhost

It kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Doctrinally, this is a sea change. Arguably the biggest since the change in definition of a “generation”.

As the Reddit guys are all saying, what’s the point of being a JW if you can repent 5 minutes after the unmistakable “destruction of Babylon the Great”, the demise of every single religion on the face of the earth?

The few remaining JWs capable of thought will be utterly devastated if they think this through.

Imagine a “true believer”….years, decades, an entire lifetime of self-sacrifice “for the kingdom”. No education, no career, no hobbies, no retirement savings, nothing.

Then, the “great tribulation” starts and Joe Weakwitness, the guy who bucked “the system” and got his university degree, and had a nice career, a big house, the latest cars, 2 or 3 vacations per year….suddenly says “Woops, I guess they got it right after all” and jumps in line, and has the identical chance for salvation as all the other “good JWs”.

Imagine the true believer working all this out in his head….imagine the sense of betrayal, of loss, of a wasted life….

So maybe, the GB decides to “sneak in” this utterly devastating news behind the “flashier” news of “no more reporting of hours”. Maybe they think people will be so gob-smacked about that, true believers won’t notice that they’ve just had the rug pulled out completely.

34

Hailstones?

by NotFormer in

jw
friends

when i was interested in things jw two decades or so ago, i never came across these mentions of hailstones.

it crops up so often now that it's almost a meme!

when did it become a thing in jw speak, and what does it refer to?.

FFGhost

It’s based on a (surprise!) weird interpretation on an out of context scripture from the book of Revelation.

Revelation 16:21 mentions “great hailstones” (weighing 45 pounds each) falling on people’s heads.

Official JW doctrine has it that these hailstones represent a “judgment message” that JWs will deliver in their door to door work just prior to Armageddon.

What’s that you say? The hailstones are mentioned as falling AFTER Armageddon, mentioned just 5 verses earlier?

Don’t bother me with details! The GB have thus decreed it! Who are YOU to question the spirit inspired ramblings of God’s only channel? Begone you sniveling worm!

Just as a side note, this “hailstone message” has a prominent part in this month’s JW Broadcast. It’s a little unusual, they seem to be implying that JWs will somehow start up this “hailstone message” very soon, even prior to the “great tribulation”. Which is kind of odd, since that would be a pretty significant change in doctrine.

Not sure if it’s just the usual “very soon now” fear mongering or if they are telegraphing a change in doctrine.

15

Annual meeting 2023....

by mikeflood in

any news?

it should be pretty soon....

FFGhost

Expect breathless, hyper-spastic spittle-flying announcements about their new “Make Disciples” brochure, the ones that have been sitting in those “top secret” unmarked boxes accumulating mold and bugs in Kingdom Halls over the past several months.

They’ll be falling all over themselves about how wonderful this “new tool” will be, and how millions more people will be thronging to join the ranks of JWs.

Because, of course, the plummeting yearly baptism figures have nothing to do with a tired 140 year old message of “the end of the world very soon now” and CSA scandals and human rights concerns over DFing and lack of enthusiasm from their adherents.

Nope, JWs rapid and precipitous drop in recruitment is entirely due to the lack of the 20th or 30th set of instructions on “how to make disciples”.

”Yeah, sure, our ministry hasn’t been effective for over half a century, but these 32 pages will make ALL the difference!”

And the mouth-breathing window washers and janitorial engineers who watch the program will leap with joy over this latest evidence that we are in the “last seconds of the last minutes of the last hours of the last days”.

My eyes already hurt from the extreme rolling they will have to do.

32

Do you play the LOTTERY?

by Fisherman in

jw view gambling as a sin and sadly people get addicted to gambling causing them financial and health problems.

but is playing a couple of bucks a week on some lottery tickets actually gambling?

what do you have to lose?

FFGhost

I heard another name for “lottery” is the “ignorance of the laws of probability tax”.

No, I don’t play

21

Aftermath of being Reinstated

by TxNVSue2023 in

i'm in the process of being reinstated ( my df'ing story is on here).

because i've never been in this position before, i don't know how i will be treated once i'm reinstated.

i moved to a new city/state and i don't know a single person here or in my new congregation i am attending.

FFGhost

It's a verbal legal contract

And in addition to the “verbal contract”, in some countries there is a literal piece of paper that is signed by each publisher, granting express rights for the congregation to maintain their records on you.

21

Aftermath of being Reinstated

by TxNVSue2023 in

i'm in the process of being reinstated ( my df'ing story is on here).

because i've never been in this position before, i don't know how i will be treated once i'm reinstated.

i moved to a new city/state and i don't know a single person here or in my new congregation i am attending.

FFGhost

Is that kind of record keeping legal under the various data protection acts?

In countries where data laws are more strict, JW congregations require their members to sign a legal waiver, allowing the congregation (and organization) to keep records on them. In theory, you have the right to refuse or,if you agreed, the right to see what they have stored on you. In practice, such an act would label you as a “troublemaker” and “not exemplary”, you’d likely be “soft shunned” until you behaved more like a good little compliant JW.

76

Is Tony Morris a Nonce / Pedophile

by MebyonKernow in

jw
friends

this has just been posted on youtube regarding tony morris and the reason why he was removed as a gb member and 'relocated'.is tony morris a pedophile / nonce?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ahj9vxygkelet me know your thoughts down below.celtic.

FFGhost

No idea if any of what she says is true.

But…

True or not, the WTS brought this on themselves by maintaining complete and total silence about TM’s dismissal.

Think about it - he was an enormously prominent member of the organization. As they transformed into a primarily-on-video system of instruction, he appeared on TV screens of millions of JWs 10-15 times a year for a decade, as well as being featured prominently in their video pieces of their latest “literature”. EVERYONE knew who he was, and felt like they knew him, as if he were an elder in their own congregation.

Then, poof! Like a puff of smoke, he’s just….gone. A brief cryptic note appears in a small corner of their website for 3 days then nothing. No one says anything, based on stories from Bethel, no one is ALLOWED to say anything.

Of course, finally, JWs notice he doesn’t appear on the broadcasts anymore. Of course JWs remember “hey, didn’t that video used to have Morris in it? Now it’s Bingo, er, Fleagle”. Of course JWs, after decades of implicit instruction on whispering innuendo on people who “suddenly disappear”, speculate on what really happened.

And in the absence of even a hint of the slightest explanation, there is this massive vacuum.

No wonder any semi-plausible explanation is gobbled up and repeated and spread all around.

Maybe the allegations are true, maybe they aren’t. But in any case, the organization brought this on themselves. It’s a massive self-own.

Any competent “worldly” organization would have been aware of what would happen and would have been way out ahead of all this and would have put out something to quell the speculation. But they did nothing.

They’re either utterly incompetent, or they decided to mercilessly throw TM under the bus. Either way it’s a really bad look for them.