Posts by ThomasMore

169

Are the statistics out yet?

by slimboyfat in

isn’t it about time they released the report for the service year?

or have they stopped publishing it?

did they released selected figures at the annual meeting as they usually do, such as the memorial attendance or record number of pioneers?

WTC (the GB) will engage in the most impressive plate-spinning imaginable to convince their worshippers that they are increasing. Like election recounts that seem to go on and on and on, they will not announce until they can find a way to coat the ugly facts with glitter and shine.

So what are the facts? Just look at what they are doing:

Begging for money contstantly - they are broke
Asking for donations for Ramapo - why do that if they have lots of money
Cajoling the R&F to get back to meetings in person - few want to attend
Telling the R&F to get off Zoom - meanwhile making vaccinations mandatory for schools
Lowering hours again to secure a title of RP or Aux P - they once said the hour requirements came directly from God
Getting sanctioned by countries for shunning and DFing - denying it, then saying they do but it is beacuse they just LOVE PEOPLE SO DARN MUCH!
Selling KHs to cover the CSA lawsuits - recently announcing that thousands of new KHs are needed

This corporation is crumbling and all the evidence is there for everyone to see. If things were going well, that annual report would be blasted out as obnoxiously as possible making Donald Trump look humble in comparison.

41

Pioneer Hours Update

by Bartolomeo in

regular pioneers: 600 per year, 50 on average per month.auxiliary pioneers: 30 hours per monthauxiliary pioneers in march and april: fee reduced to 15 hours.

ThomasMore

Great comments in this thread!

JWTom - "When everyone is special.....no one is special!"

Apparently the Lord is less demanding these days and that is a relief!

Reporting time continues to be a stress point for the JWs. I suspect that they want it for 2 reasons:

1. Proof of activity for tax-exempt status

2. Competive hierarchy that keeps the rank & file engaged

Too bad there are no longer any merit badges for being a pioneer. Elders used to get "extra" privileges for being a pioneer, like speaking parts. Now the Branch takes those and they are delivered in video as television stars.

It is sad that they are still able to cajole people into their hamster wheel when the facts show that the D2D and cart minding are not productive. The growth of internet anti-jw info and videos is killing the religion. No matter what they do, it grows larger and makes proselytizing less productive. My old cong had only one person join over a 10 year period, and he was a nut that was soon right out the door. They covered their small territory about once every 5-6 years, and some territories never got covered at all. They were mean and everyone knew it.

Most JWs will continue to fudge their time to get WTC off their backs, and the numbers will get worse, resulting in a lowering of the bar. I wonder if PIMIs will ever figure out that they are being managed by a business?

34

Lawsuit: I said GB member Barr that my Bethelite stepfather abused me; he did nothing

by Corney in

here's an excerpt from the recent lawsuit deborah hines v. watchtower bible and tract society of new york et al (paragraphs 158-180), one of 29 known cases brought against the org pursuant to the ny child victims act.

what should be kept in mind is that gerrit lösch apparently worked in europe (the austrian branch and eastern europe) at the time when the abuse was allegedly reported to him (not a gb member then).. plaintiff was raised a member of the jehovah’s witnesses.

she primarily attended meetings at various congregations in arizona.

ThomasMore

Loesch was being groomed for GB, and he was Jacracz's enforcer. He spent a lot of time in the US at headquarters prior to his appointment to the GB. He had a way of just showing up whenever a serious abuse case bubbled up like a boil on the back of a super model. Give him credit for being a hard worker during those desperate times - he was Johnny on the Spot and he got rewarded. S U P A S T A A A A A A A !!!!!!!!!!!! (That's ghetto for Superstar)

16

getting round the territory slowly compared to before?

by Indoubtbigtime in

from what i know most territory maps in most congregations are being done much much slower than before.

my congregation is very very slow getting round the territory compared to before.

then pioneers will have hour requirement coming back in march but they are just not used to getting 3hrs a day 7 days a week.. many congregations used to get round all their territory every so often, now all congregations around north london where i am (yes i’m an ms involved with territory servants) are hardly getting around their territory at all.. of course letter writing was slow going but now back to first call hardly anyone is going out in person and those few that do don’t do that much.. even the elders who are supposed to take the lead don’t seem to come out much at all and when they do i know of more than one example of them only doing ten mins maybe a few houses then going for the obligatory coffee break.

ThomasMore

WTC painted itself into a corner with the relaxed hours. It got a lot of wannabes onto the pioneer list because it was a giveaway - and the R&F love giveaways. I wonder if it made "real" pioneers angry to see fake ones get the moniker without the sacrifice.

Already, lots of the Covid pioneers are throwing in the towel. They cannot get the hours required even if they come down to 30 hours a month. The fact is most who joined bought into the whisper that the end was about to explode upon the earth. Now that no end is in sight - why pioneer?

Even do-nothing Cart sitters look less than enthused when they actually get out with a cart (which has also declined where I live. I am betting that the genuine numbers are so bad that WTC cannot report them for fear it would look like pending collapse.

169

Are the statistics out yet?

by slimboyfat in

isn’t it about time they released the report for the service year?

or have they stopped publishing it?

did they released selected figures at the annual meeting as they usually do, such as the memorial attendance or record number of pioneers?

ThomasMore

I am amazed that anyone here on this forum still thinks that WTC accurately reports their numbers. They lie about anything that makes them look bad, so why would they not lie about their contraction. All observations are about the same:

Selling KHs
Consolidating congregations
DFing anyone that disagrees with their changing doctrines
Shunning DF'd, DA'd and INACTIVE ones. In some cases UNPOPULAR ones
Low in-person meeting attendance
Guilting children to get baptized
Low retention rate of 16-25 year olds
Reddit ex-JW members off the charts (does not count those who read and never join)

I don't rely on surveys since many ex-JWs are conditioned to avoid speaking out about leaving the faith. I remember when all the congs in my city were busting at the seams. Now they have sold off more than I can count, and still cannot fill the chairs in any of the KHs at any meeting - even the C.O. visit. Why are so many preferring to stay on Zoom rather than meet in person? They are fading - that's why.

Maybe someone here is seeing something I am missing. If so, please tell me what it is because all of the above are symptoms of shrinking - not growth.

28

Should Jehovah's Witnesses Trust the Governing Body?

by Vanderhoven7 in

if there is evidence that jesus invisibly chose specific men at headquarters in brooklyn new york in 1919 to be his faithful slave and that mandate and ability passed on to future directors...then the answer might just be a resounding maybe.. what is the evidence for this invisible appointment and what is the evidence that this is just watchtower mythology?.

i hope jws like scholar and fisherman will explain why the trust the gb.. i must be honest, i see no evidence at all to put trust in either the 1919 selection or the current men taking the lead in warwick.

.

ThomasMore

We often overlook the second part of their descriptive title - DISCREET.

Are they? I see no evidence of discretion in most of their actions. I also don't see maturity, something I would expect from an appointed representative of the true God.

42

Have you ever been on a congregation picnic?

by LostintheFog1999 in

were you ever on a congregation picnic?

i was on several occasions.. the arrangements were often announced from the platform after the closing song and prayer by the last elder up on the platform.. sometimes it was included in the service meeting announcements as "on saturday we're meeting at 10.00am at the kingdom hall for field service, and after field service for anyone who wishes, especially for the younger ones, we will be having a congregation picnic meeting at the beach carpark on seaview road.".

well, according to the new elders manual you won't be hearing those words again.

ThomasMore

Translation: "If you sanction a congregation picnic and someone get molested or raped - it's on you. We are washing our hands (like Pilate) of any repercussions (which are likely given the problems we know we are having)."

P.S. - and no having fun - PERIOD!

11

Why Do JW`s still use the Name Jehovah ,when they admitted in the Aid Book that it is not the correct pronunciation of his name ?

by smiddy3 in

isn`t that an admittion that they don`t have the "truth" ?

about god ?.

ThomasMore

God had over 1300 pages (depending on the translation you use) to set the record straight about the pronunciation of his name, and many other things that people argue over endlessly, yet he left it open for different expressions and that is where we are 2000 years later.

Could it be that he actually does not care whether anyone pronounces it correctly? Maybe it is so complex that he doesn't expect us to be able to pronounce it. I don't claim to know. However, the Greek Scriptures don't contain it in any of the oldest manuscripts known - is that an indication of something? We are not perplexed about Yeshua (Jesus). Just my 2 cents...

15

burning another bridge

by enoughisenough in

i feel like i am burning another "friend" bridge.

i just can't seem to keep the lies the wt prints to myself!

i don't know how the pimo do it!

ThomasMore

eie - I hope you didn't think I was criticizing your efforts. You are right that factual information can help those who are already questioning or on the fence. As for fully indoctrinated PIMIs, I think it is very very rare to see them swayed because they assume eveything contrary to WTC is apostate driven lies.

42

Just courius, some questions about the past

by Gorb in

jw
friends

curious.

time goes by so fast.

who remembers 1975, the ray franz incident, the generation change in 1995, the blood fractions, alternative service, participation in ochr, aid afrique, the historical research by james pellechia, jolene chu and johannes stephan wrobel?

ThomasMore

WTC is making a concerted effort to erase their history of false prophesies but it is a fool's errand. There are simply too many ways to show the redactions. They were quick to discredit Ray Franz and it was all hands on deck. A district overseer told me that Ray was sporting a clerical collar and forming a new church. Of course there was no truth in that at all. The D.O. never apologized for the lie/misinformation - I think he wanted it to be true.

As for the 6,000 years of man's history ending in 1975, the achaeological evidence of civilizations dating back to 12,000 old is overwhelming. Because it is impossible to discredit, WTC does not even try to explain the discrepancy, simply saying that carbon dating is inaccurate. (In fact, carbon dating is often inaccurate as it typically underestimates the age of the artifact.

Nevertheless, WTC proves that it has no focus on truth whatsoever. If you want to see if they are lying, watch their lips to see if they are moving.