Correction - title of new book is "Enjoy Life Forever - An Interactive Bible Course".
Posts by Funky
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23New JW study book / method announced on JW Broadcast
by Funky inso did anyone catch the january jw broadcast?.
it's the "spiritual content" of what would have been introduced in the october annual meeting, had the october annual meeting taken place.. morris, splane, and jackson introduce a new jw study publication: "live forever eternally - an interactive guide".. details were sparse, but apparently it is a 256 page book (when in actual printed form), primarily designed to be used in its electronic form, stuffed with links to videos.. it is designed to be "just one book" to be studied prior to baptism, where "all 60 questions that baptism candidates have to know" are found in just one place.. the purported reason is to make jw "bible" studies more "productive", i.e., lead to more baptisms.. splane brought out the governing body's "great concern" that 10 million+ "bible" studies are conducted by jws every year, but the number of baptisms has been stuck at 200,000 - 300,000 per year for decades.
so the thinking is, this new book + a "new method of conducting studies" (again, no real detail, but apparently it involves more "discussion" and less "question and answer").. want to know my thoughts?
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16
Wh a JW Paradise would REALLY be like.
by smiddy3 inwhere does one start ?
ok i`ll do my best and you can add some more if you like .. first off, wherever in the world you are that`s where you will stay.why?
because modern day transport as we know it will no longer be.
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Funky
But there will be plenty of fruit! On picnic tables!
Fruit fruit fruit! Gobs and gobs of fresh fruity fruit! Hope you like fruit! It's what you'll be eating for the next 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.
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23
New JW study book / method announced on JW Broadcast
by Funky inso did anyone catch the january jw broadcast?.
it's the "spiritual content" of what would have been introduced in the october annual meeting, had the october annual meeting taken place.. morris, splane, and jackson introduce a new jw study publication: "live forever eternally - an interactive guide".. details were sparse, but apparently it is a 256 page book (when in actual printed form), primarily designed to be used in its electronic form, stuffed with links to videos.. it is designed to be "just one book" to be studied prior to baptism, where "all 60 questions that baptism candidates have to know" are found in just one place.. the purported reason is to make jw "bible" studies more "productive", i.e., lead to more baptisms.. splane brought out the governing body's "great concern" that 10 million+ "bible" studies are conducted by jws every year, but the number of baptisms has been stuck at 200,000 - 300,000 per year for decades.
so the thinking is, this new book + a "new method of conducting studies" (again, no real detail, but apparently it involves more "discussion" and less "question and answer").. want to know my thoughts?
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Funky
So did anyone catch the January JW Broadcast?
It's the "spiritual content" of what would have been introduced in the October Annual Meeting, had the October Annual Meeting taken place.
Morris, Splane, and Jackson introduce a new JW study publication: "Live Forever Eternally - An Interactive Guide".
Details were sparse, but apparently it is a 256 page book (when in actual printed form), primarily designed to be used in its electronic form, stuffed with links to videos.
It is designed to be "just one book" to be studied prior to baptism, where "all 60 questions that baptism candidates have to know" are found in just one place.
The purported reason is to make JW "Bible" studies more "productive", i.e., lead to more baptisms.
Splane brought out the governing body's "great concern" that 10 million+ "Bible" studies are conducted by JWs every year, but the number of baptisms has been stuck at 200,000 - 300,000 per year for decades. So the thinking is, this new book + a "new method of conducting studies" (again, no real detail, but apparently it involves more "discussion" and less "question and answer").
Want to know my thoughts? Well OK, glad you asked!
I imagined a team of restaurant owners gathered in their office late at night after closing.....
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"I can't figure it out, Tony. We only get 3% of our visitors ever coming back to eat a second time at our restaurant. It makes no sense to me. We serve the best $#!+ sandwich in town!"
"It certainly is a puzzler, Tim. I wonder what could be the issue?"
Grim faces and stares at the floor continue on for several minutes.
Finally David jumps up. "By Jove I've got it! I've got it! I know why people aren't buying it! Our methods are all wrong! We've been so focused on selling our $#!+ sandwiches we haven't seen how the world is passing us by! What we need to do is....
...now listen carefully....
...this is going to work, I know it....
...what we need to do is...
...instead of selling $#!+ sandwiches.....
...we need to sell $#!+ PIES!"
Rapturous applause and backslapping ensues as $#!+ sandwich-making equipment is rolled out and $#!+ pie-making equipment is moved in.
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That's pretty much what this latest change is - a different form of the same horse puckey. It never occurs to these bozos that the reason that of the 0.001% of the people they manage to talk into studying, only about 2% ever bother to get baptized, is not the form of teaching but rather the content.
Idiots.
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How many TRUE BELIEVERS do you think are left in the Organization?
by pistolpete ini have a few jw relatives who are true believers.
by this i mean, they believe with all their heart that 1914 was the beginning of the last days, that this is the last generation, that we are in the very last of the last hour of this system of things, and that you should obey the governing body even if it does not make sense.
all of them are in their 60s and up into their 90s there is nothing you can say or show them to convince them or even cause a small doubt that the wt is not god organization.
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Funky
I would agree with that, just substitute "overall picture satisfies them" for the last 4 words.
Ever notice the common WT pitch in their "literature"? They always talk about how the Bible gives "satisfying" answers to "life's big questions" - not "true", "honest", "reasonable", or "realistic" answers, but "satisfying".
That's their market - people who want to be "satisfied", even if that "satisfaction" is derived from anachronistic & self-contradictory interpretations of the ancient writings of a bunch of Iron Age goatherds and wanderers.
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72
How many TRUE BELIEVERS do you think are left in the Organization?
by pistolpete ini have a few jw relatives who are true believers.
by this i mean, they believe with all their heart that 1914 was the beginning of the last days, that this is the last generation, that we are in the very last of the last hour of this system of things, and that you should obey the governing body even if it does not make sense.
all of them are in their 60s and up into their 90s there is nothing you can say or show them to convince them or even cause a small doubt that the wt is not god organization.
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Funky
Believe it? Probably most.
Understand it, able to defend it somewhat coherently to a moderately intelligent non-believer? Maybe 10%.
By "belief", I would estimate that 80+ % believe the following:
1) There is an invisible God, Jehovah, with an invisible son Jesus Christ, who have selected JWs to give them exclusive access to "the truth"
2) There are 8 guys in upstate New York who have this special mystical connection with Jehovah and have it all sorted out
3) The earth is "soon" going to be a paradise, if I don't break the rules I'm going to live forever, and once again see my dead [wife / husband / child / parent / fill-in-the-blank]
4) Anything beyond this - "just look at our website, it explains everything" and / or point 2 above
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Funky
Given that I an unwilling to subscribe to an Australian newspaper , can you provide any highlights from the article?
For example, when is it supposed to happen? Does it mean that their income and/or assets are now taxable? Is there any reaction from the WTS Australia branch office? Can they appeal? Will they?
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Talking to a Jehovah`s Witness .Ask the right questions .
by smiddy3 inwhat questions should be asked to a jehovah`s witness when confronted with them.. a jw gives his sermon.
"you" immediately ask him by what authority he has from god that you should take notice of him ,seeing their are over 40,000 different christian religions in the world who claim to represent god,.
jw.
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Funky
"What would it take to convince you that the WTS does not have the truth?"
If they were to answer "nothing", most would recognize that makes them look like brainwashed cult members. Virtually any other answer, there is almost certainly something in the past (or present!) that fits.
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62
-0:6 negative growth 2020 service year
by Fadeaway1962 inphttps://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=e&pub=syr20&srcid=share .
plus another increase in memorial partakes number etc .
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Funky
Speaking of the effect of GDPR and pandemic...
One publisher I know in a western European country informs me that witnessing is carried out strictly by email. No physically mailed letters, no phone calls (except to family members who don't mind being harangued about "the truth" on a weekly basis).
A consortium of congregations have arranged a sort of "clearinghouse" for emails addressed to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. Emails can be "addressed" to "patients" or "medical staff".
The actual emails with the witnessing message are sent to a central email address. A group of "approved" JWs with access to that email address inbox review the emails sent, and then forwards them to actual hospital / patient / doctor email addresses that they and only they have.
The net result is, witnessing is reduced to writing impersonal emails addressed to "Dear neighbor" or "Dear doctor" and sent to a "black hole" where the email is later distributed [somewhere]. There is no feedback to the JW email writer, no chance to "cultivate interest", no ability to make return visits, nothing. Just write an email, send the email, write another email, send the email, ad infinitum.
It is of course a completely unsustainable model. Eventually, the return visits that JWs had pre-pandemic will get tired of weekly phone calls, or they will study and become JWs, and there won't be anyone with any RVs or studies to do.
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-0:6 negative growth 2020 service year
by Fadeaway1962 inphttps://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=e&pub=syr20&srcid=share .
plus another increase in memorial partakes number etc .
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Funky
Wow, punishing, brutal numbers for the WTS.
Obviously, everything must be measured in the context of the pandemic, but still...
To me the most telling number is the precipitous drop in Memorial attendance. Nearly a 15% decrease from 2019 to 2020.
Of course it was not possible to meet in person for the Memorial last year, and the protocols for using Zoom for meetings were still pretty new (and thus some technophobe JWs might have had issues signing on), and Zoom wouldn't be an option in certain 3rd world areas.
But still....15%!
The 2021 Memorial will also be virtual. Nearly all western-world JWs are used to signing onto Zoom now, and the WTS has had a full year to plan out how to do [something] for areas where the technology infrastructure is not set up for virtual meetings.
Attendance ought to be much higher in 2021 compared to 2020. Will it be?
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New-Old Light on Alternative Military Service
by Vanderhoven7 innot sure where i picked this up.
"new-old light on alternative military service.
fact 1: the watchtower sanctioned both military service and alternative military service under charles russell.. .
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Funky
Was it unrighteous on Jehovah's part to allow him to suffer for rejecting what he might do without consequences...
What diabolical, shameless horse-pucky.
No one is blaming "Jehovah".
Who we are blaming are the f***ers who live in the ivory Bethel towers and make up arbitrary rules (alternative service ain't the only one) that cruellyand negatively affect the lives of thousands of people, then casually flip-flop and say "hey, don't blame Jehovah for following your conscience".
"Jehovah" never said "alternative service is not allowed". It was Fred Franz & company. Note how after a "reasonable" time had passed after his death, they changed the policy?
I don't believe in hell, but if there were one, I'd like there to be a special circle for people who callously inflict pain, degradation, and suffering on others....then cowardly deflect blame from themselves when they finally figure out they were wrong.