Posts by Bartolomeo

26

Why Does the WatchTower Society INVEST in unethical enterprises?

by Terry in

investing in unethical enterprises.

in the ocean, big fish swallow the little fish while the big fish are swallowed by the even bigger fish.. below is an example of this principle.. .

a fellow named mccann donated 50k shares of rand cam engine corp. to the watchtower society.. rand cam engine corp. manufactures aircraft engines for commercial, recreational, and military clients.

Bartolomeo

Ok, than we can suppose that the WT has a base on Mars

26

Why Does the WatchTower Society INVEST in unethical enterprises?

by Terry in

investing in unethical enterprises.

in the ocean, big fish swallow the little fish while the big fish are swallowed by the even bigger fish.. below is an example of this principle.. .

a fellow named mccann donated 50k shares of rand cam engine corp. to the watchtower society.. rand cam engine corp. manufactures aircraft engines for commercial, recreational, and military clients.

I don't know how it works in the USA, I realize that the mentality is profoundly different from the one we have here in the EU, but I really can't understand how reasoning like this can be done: "Can you prove that this is NOT the case?"

In Roman law the defendant must never prove that he is innocent, it is the prosecution that must prove that he is guilty of something, by bringing evidence to support it. This is why I find the request inconceivable:

Can you prove to us the Watchtower has no relationship or shares with Lockheed Martin?
Can you prove to us the Watchtower has no relationships or shares with Boeing?
Can you prove the Watchtower has no relationships or shares with other Military companies, or companies that make weapons?

It's like asking yourself: Can you prove that WT doesn't have a base on Mars?

Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to criticize or attack anyone, I just want to understand your approach

26

Why Does the WatchTower Society INVEST in unethical enterprises?

by Terry in

investing in unethical enterprises.

in the ocean, big fish swallow the little fish while the big fish are swallowed by the even bigger fish.. below is an example of this principle.. .

a fellow named mccann donated 50k shares of rand cam engine corp. to the watchtower society.. rand cam engine corp. manufactures aircraft engines for commercial, recreational, and military clients.

Bartolomeo

without official documents in hand all these are simple assumptions not to say inferences, the only documents I found on the net refer to Rand Cam, for all the rest there is nothing that can be consulted/verifiable unfortunately. I asked a few days ago in another thread if it is possible to have documents certifying WT's alleged investments in Pfizer and J&J but no one has answered me yet

22

WTBTS investments

by enoughisenough in

i found this article, how be it from about 10 years ago.

https://clarencesisk.com/watchtower-investments/ i didn't even go to the end of the article, but assuming the writer knew of which he wrote, wt had/has?

stock in bot j&j and pfizer.

Bartolomeo

The page https://clarencesisk.com/watchtower-investments/, however interesting, does not contain links to verifiable official documents, as is possible for the Henrietta investment fund. Is it possible to have more detailed and updated information on the investments that WT has in assets?

21

King of the North

by pontoon in

i've been out for 13 years.

just wondering who the society is identifying as the king of the north?.

Bartolomeo

@ Indoubtbigtime

but of course plenty of other countries hate king of the South Syria, Iran and pretty much all the Middle East
king of of the south in UK and USA and their allies like Japan and NATO countries

I assure you that many Europeans viscerally hate the USA, the "king of the south" and his hateful way of "exporting democracy"

20

2022-10-04-Documents!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

2022-10-s-147-announcements and reminders.

2022-10-04-mandatory reporting training.

2022-10-04-questions and answers concerning the online course for mandatory reporting.. .

Bartolomeo

dear Atlantis, could you please re-issue the October 18, 2022 Communication with instructions for the elders? is the communication in which the provision on reports of less than 15 minutes posted for the first time in the S-147 December 2020 was reconfirmed. Thanks in advance!

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?

Bartolomeo

the obvious thing I expect them to say is to blame it on Covid, which might actually make sense up to a point. Too bad they will never admit that they have directly caused deaths by recommending vaccination, they will ignore this and in the future they will wash their hands saying "Some had understood that..."

15

2022 Service Report is Out

by Bartolomeo in

warning: this post doesn't belong to me, i took it from reddit and posted it here.

news.

+0.4% growth in publishers globally.

Bartolomeo

Warning: this post doesn't belong to me, I took it from Reddit and posted it here

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/107t131/2022_service_report_is_out/

News

+0.4% growth in publishers globally
-1% publisher growth in the USA
Memorial attendance at 19,721,672 (-8% from last year and -6% from prepandemic 2019)
Total baptized 145,552 (-15% from last year and -52% from prepandemic 2019)
Total hours spent in field: 1,501,000,000 (+6% from last year and -28% from 2019)
Average Bible Studies: 5,666,996 (-4% from last year and -28% from 2019)

Also a reminder - the way publishers are counted has changed. Now no time reported is required to be a publisher (elders can decide that someone who claims to have been active in the month can be counted as a publisher without specific time reported). These recent changes themself would have contributed to some "growth" in the annual numbers.

Edit - some additional interesting points made in the comments:

About 400 more emblem partakers than last year (2% growth)
It takes 10,300 h for one baptism. For a 10h/month publisher that's... 86 years of preaching. Perhaps double that if you don't count children/born-in baptisms
Annual global population growth was 1.1% (vs 0.4% growth of society)

Edit 2 - some further comparisons to previous years

Bible Studies:

-4% from 2021
-41% from 2019
-44% from 2016

Hours

+6% from 2021
-28% from 2019
-24% from 2016

Baptised

-15% from 2021
-52% from 2019
-45% from 2016

Memorial attendance

-8% from 2021
-6% from 2019
-2% from 2016

Memorial partakers

+2% from 2021
+3% from 2019
+17% from 2016

Avg Publishers

+0.41% from 2021
+0.52% from 2019
+4.7% from 2016

Some Avg Publisher Country Statistics:

USA -1%
UK +1%
Canada 0%
Australia +1%
New Zealand +1%
South Africa 0%
Mexico -1%

See the stats for yourself here (edit "Borg" out): https://www.jw.borg/en/library/books/2022-Service-Year-Report-of-Jehovahs-Witnesses-Worldwide/2022-Grand-Totals/

And country report: https://www.jw.borg/en/library/books/2022-Service-Year-Report-of-Jehovahs-Witnesses-Worldwide/2022-Country-and-Territory-Reports/

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.

Bartolomeo

@enoughisenough
In a WT article in 1943 July , I think pages204-206 The "Lord" told told them the hours for pioneers, aux pioneers and publishers. The "Lord" changes his mind-how many times do these hours need to change? Anyway, a search will find the archived WT and you can read for yourself what the "Lord" told them.

I found the reference, thank you!

WT 1943 jul 1 "RIGHTEOUS REQUIREMENTS"

"These expressions of God’s will by his King and through his established agency constitute his law or rule of action for the “faithful and wise servant” and for their goodwill companions today who will dwell upon the earth for ever in the New World. The Lord breaks down our organization instructions further and makes them more practicable by further instructing us through his “faithful and wise servant”. He says, ‘Let us assign the field, the world, to special pioneers, regular pioneers and companies of Jehovah’s witnesses in an orderly way, sufficient for everyone to thoroughly witness therein, and let us place upon each one the responsibility of caring for the New World interests in these respective assignments.’ He says the requirements for special pioneers shall be 175 hours and 50 back-calls per month, which should develop into a reasonable number of studies; and for regular pioneers 150 hours and as many back-calls and studies as can be properly developed during that time. And for company publishers he says, ‘Let us make a quota of 60 hours and 12 back-calls and at least one study a week for each publisher.’ These directions come to us from the Lord through his established agency directing what is required of us; and, for those who really love the Lord and are guided by his counsel, that is a reasonable service requirement. This expression of the Lord’s will should be the end of all controversy. It is for your good that these requirements are made; for thereby you are enabled to prove your integrity and magnify the Lord’s name."

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.

Bartolomeo

Regular pioneers: 600 per year, 50 on average per month.
Auxiliary Pioneers: 30 hours per month
Auxiliary Pioneers in March and April: Fee reduced to 15 hours