schnell

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Posts by schnell

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  41

  Numbers don't lie... and these numbers are beautiful!!

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the numbers don't lie... definitely slowing down!!.

  in the 40´s the average growth per year was 20%in the 50´s it was about 10%they had four decades of solid 5% per yearnow the average for the past 16 years has been 2%.

  maybe in the future it will be 1% or 0 or even negative????.

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  schnell

  I like how it started going down after the disfellowshipping began.
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  6

  "Stumbling" and Wussification.

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this really annoyed me towards the end.

  the watchtower doesn't do its members any favors by frequently warning about stumbling and offending each other.

  it's no surprise that this becomes a cult control tactic where you can't even groom yourself the way you want because it might be "cause for stumbling".. with so much emphasis, it became wussification and contributed to the toxic environment of jehovah's witnesses.

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  schnell

  This really annoyed me towards the end. The Watchtower doesn't do its members any favors by frequently warning about stumbling and offending each other. It's no surprise that this becomes a cult control tactic where you can't even groom yourself the way you want because it might be "cause for stumbling".

  With so much emphasis, it became wussification and contributed to the toxic environment of Jehovah's witnesses. Typically, they don't seem to take criticism very well, because criticism is also "stumbling". This is well demonstrated in the school when someone gives a talk.

  If someone is so bothered by another person, they can take it up with them, but in too many cases, out of political correctness, they just don't. To be fair, that has been recommended, and the Watchtower has stated that being overly offended shows a kind of selfishness.

  But they're the ones repeating the message all the time and translating "grace" as "undeserved kindness". They're the ones using this same idea of stumbling as a behavioral control tactic. They're the ones that tell bodies of elders to give "warning talks" (marking talks) about a sin supposedly committed.

  As @debihope said on Twitter (and William Gibson retweeted): "Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes."

  Don't be an asshole, and don't surround yourself with assholes either.
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  117

  2017 Yearbook released

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw this on reddit:.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

  overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

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  schnell

  So even if the witnesses in Congo have access to the internet, for most of them this is not sufficient to learn about TTATT, because TTATT is most likely not widespread among the native African languages on the internet.
  

  @Yesu Kristo Bwana Wangu, hmm...

  Ni Google Tafsiri kutosha? Tunapaswa kukanusha JW theolojia katika Kiswahili?

  (Is Google Translate sufficient? Should we disprove JW theology in Swahili?)
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  15

  A Question about Spiritistic Books

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a nearly academic interest in the occult, though i am not a spiritualist and remain a skeptic.

  i've come to learn that demons are based on everything from dust devils in the desert, to diseases, to actual people.

  probably most of all, demons are a tool of good ol' fashioned con artists and fear mongers.. but here's a question.

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  schnell

  @Village Idiot about Doyle, yep. That "Spooky Science" book I mentioned above in this thread talks at length about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. People like Mesmer and the lady who said Mark Twain (an atheist) spoke to her through a Ouija board and had her write a terrible book are also mentioned.

  By the way, that Secret Teachings book is illuminating. Adam is clearly a metaphor. The tree of life (the Sephirothic tree) resembles a person and is comparable to the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream as well as the Tetragrammaton written vertically, and the Ankh if I might add. The Tabernacle is copied from Egyptian temples, as is the Ark of the Covenant from the Egyptian Ark. Moses is so comparable to Hermes/Thoth, right down to the Caduceus with the snakes wrapped around it, that I'm convinced that's all he is. Just amazing stuff. I might pick the book up in print later on. I know there's a section on Pyramidology in there, and boy do I want to get to that.
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  17

  Just a dumb question. A minor was df in our cong 15 yrs old

  by poopie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the question is can her mother and father who are witnesses greet her in the morning only or would they be a sharer in her wicked deeds and thus also be df for saying a greeting?.

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  schnell

  @Reazon22 your wife is awesome! I love it when that nonsense gets exposed and fails the straight-face test.
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  4

  2016 year book

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi acording to the 2016 year book the borg sent 6,000 people from bethels around the world "home" i think they might be struggling a bit lol .

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  schnell

  As a "religion producer"*, it was easier to do and required not mastery over PR but mastery over slave labor.

  * I actually read that term in an article years back about religion's place in the economy. Economists found that religion pulled people away from producing more, but also gave them essentially a product they could believe in. I think it was in Time but I'm not sure. I'm pretty certain this religious product in particular did not help the economy at all.
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  41

  Numbers don't lie... and these numbers are beautiful!!

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the numbers don't lie... definitely slowing down!!.

  in the 40´s the average growth per year was 20%in the 50´s it was about 10%they had four decades of solid 5% per yearnow the average for the past 16 years has been 2%.

  maybe in the future it will be 1% or 0 or even negative????.

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  schnell

  " the love of the greater number will cool off" Matt.24:12.
  

  And then you could ask, in what way has it cooled off? Or are we now applying "the greater number" to the number of Jehovah's witnesses, which is stagnant and a 1000+/1 minority in the world?
• 
  41

  Numbers don't lie... and these numbers are beautiful!!

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the numbers don't lie... definitely slowing down!!.

  in the 40´s the average growth per year was 20%in the 50´s it was about 10%they had four decades of solid 5% per yearnow the average for the past 16 years has been 2%.

  maybe in the future it will be 1% or 0 or even negative????.

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  schnell

  I mean, if you can roll it in glitter, you CAN polish it. Just don't eat it, that's all I ask.
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  29

  Watchtower Annulled My Baptism

  by RICHT in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  contrary to popular belief you can have your baptism annulled as i did by my local elders after my judicial hearing.. the watchtower of 1964 page 126 first paragraph clearly states that anyone that was committing a gross sin before, during and after their baptism is void.

  in order to get right with the lord you would need to be re-baptised.

  err no thanks, i'm not a believer!!!!.

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  schnell

  I cussed a lot before, during and after my baptism. That's a disfellowshipping offense according to the God's Love book, so my baptism should be considered null and void.
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  36

  An interesting reasoning for the existence of God (from JW public talk)

  by anointed1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was on an official tour last week to another part of my country.

  on my way to the hotel, i noticed sign-board of jw kingdom hall.

  i thought i would attend sunday meeting as i knew no one would recognize me.. seeing “a new-comer” in the audience, public speaker adapted his material making it especially appealing to me.

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  schnell

  If evolution were a fact, the whole universe would have filled with life-forms (just like a field becomes filled with weeds as the passes by) in view of the (virtually) infinite time that has already passed!
  

  I have no problem with Theory of Evolution because even this theory indirectly praises God:
  

  So, you've changed your position. That was easy. Now what is your definition of God? How do you see it?