Posts by TonusOH

2952

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

by Simon in

jw
friends

uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

TonusOH

Journeyman: The continued arrogance of specifying a number he expected to join.

This is only part of the issue. It is a weird approach, to state your exact goal instead of growing the numbers organically. After all, what happens if you surpass your goal? Do you reset it? Do you stop asking for support?

The other part is that he isn't doing anything to grow his support. His output appears to be low and uninspired, which is what we predicted would happen as the people who did the bulk of the work left. He has nothing to pivot to, in part due to his lack of ambition and in part because his past is still haunting him. (I would encourage him to keep trying to become an influencer, and ignore the people who point out that he looks like a goddamned clown.)

I expected him to be under 300 by now, but it seems he will hang on a bit longer before he hits that next negative milestone. Ironically, the lack of interest from his critics might hurt him the most-- he won't be able to use 'persecution' as a selling point. Does he ever mention the lawsuit anymore? No? I wonder why...

88

Annual Report

by St George of England in

the latest report is now available for download on our favourite website!.

george.

TonusOH

I wonder if the slower decline of JWs is due, in part, to the door-to-door work they did for so long. That's a level of dedication that people cannot help but notice. Sure, many people notice it when they are being bothered on a weekend morning or accosted on the street, but at least some people will admit that it takes some dedication and a bit of brass to keep doing it, especially in places that aren't all that nice to walk around in.

Could the recent changes lead to less activity in the field? And can this lead to a short-term increase, as people notice that JWs are not going door-to-door as zealously*, followed by a period of decline as they begin to fade into the background of public perception?

* In other words, the cessation of the door-to-door work might be seen as a sign of the end.

16

Jesus Christ Will Arrive Within The Next Four Minutes! (parody)

by Nathan Natas in

yes, you read that correctly!.

jesus h. christ will arrive within the next four minutes!

in fact, by the time you read this, he may have alreadt arrrived!.

TonusOH

As Tolkien once wrote: "Armageddon is never late, nor is it early, it arrives precisely when it means to."

2952

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

by Simon in

jw
friends

uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

TonusOH

Probably more arm-twisting, guilt-tripping, and begging. He doesn't seem to be doing much to earn additional support, so it's only a matter of time. I'm just waiting for him to put out a video admonishing his supporters for their lack of generosity, by pointing out that he was only able to take four or five vacations last year.

16

Jesus Christ Will Arrive Within The Next Four Minutes! (parody)

by Nathan Natas in

yes, you read that correctly!.

jesus h. christ will arrive within the next four minutes!

in fact, by the time you read this, he may have alreadt arrrived!.

TonusOH

You're not late, it's still just four minutes away.

22

Is the Watchtower Ultimately a Creation of Fallen Angels?

by Sea Breeze in

a watchtower in ceremonial magical tradition is a tutelary spirit of one of the four cardinal points or quarters (east, south, west and north).

in many magical traditions, they are understood to be enochian angels... originating with the enochian tradition of john dee, a version of it was popularized by the hermetic order of the golden dawn, which became hugely influential in modern western esotericism, including wicca.

the watchtowers are invoked during the ritual of casting a magic circle.. .

TonusOH

the evidence is too strong to be disputed

Russell and Rutherford loved doing this-- regaling readers about how ironclad a particular claim was, even though they had no way of demonstrating this. Many of these 'indisputable' claims were later changed, and many of their 'indisputable' predictions did not come to pass. Come on, Watchtower-- show us some of these "genuine manifestations."

24

Why you need Christmas to understand Easter/Memorial

by Anony Mous in

so i went to a christmas evening candlelight service tonight and it hit me.

i was primarily doing christmas since leaving the jw for the children.

lots of people do it for family without really thinking of the relevance.

TonusOH

I don't recall them ever emphasizing Jesus's birth. It's a meaningful event to a JW, in that it meant that an important step in Jehovah's promise to redeem humanity had finally arrived. But Jesus is a secondary character to Jehovah for JWs. They make note of it, but do not celebrate it the way other Christian denominations do.

3

Sea Breeze or NewLife, can you translate this for me?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

TonusOH

This is how he came up with the lyrics to Yellow Ledbetter.

17

Rethinking WT Charity Status in Canada.

by Vanderhoven7 in

rethinking wt charity status in canada.. .

https://avoidjw.org/news/canada-rethinking-charity-status-project-straight-arrow/ .

TonusOH

Vidiot: Decrease.

I agree. If they go fully mainstream, they become just another Christian church. But that requires a long list of changes. These changes will alienate the old-school hardcore JWs, but will do nothing to make the religion more attractive to potential recruits.

Allowing birthday and holiday celebrations? Congrats, you are starting to catch up. Do away with shunning and the blood policy? Again, lots of other Christian churches don't have this issue, plus it will generate a LOT of criticism from loyal JWs who suffered under those policies. Their view of the afterlife for sinners is better than the concept of eternal suffering, so I guess that's one possible point in their favor (even if it's not unique). Goodbye, governing body? Goodbye, book publishing? I don't think you'd have anything left, if that went away...

I don't think they can go completely mainstream without shutting down. I'm more interested in how far they will go, and how their decisions will affect the numbers along the way.

20

We Don’t Give Christmas Presents; We Give Presents To Each Other All Year Long!

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

how many of you dutifully told this lie to your friends as a kid?.

TonusOH

I repeated that one, and also the ones about not celebrating Valentine's Day or Father's Day or Mother's Day. "You can do those things any time!" So... how often did we buy/receive gifts during the year? Not that often. How often did married couples celebrate anything remotely like Valentine's Day? Not very often; for many couples, not at all. How often did we treat our parents as if it was Father's/Mother's Day? Hardly ever? Never?

This is another of the ways in which a restrictive religious cult harms people. These holidays were considered evil, and so we were conditioned to reject even the spirit of these events/periods. The only concession I can remember my mother making was that she would allow us to watch the Christmas cartoons. Mostly, she did it because it kept us out of her hair for a couple of hours. To enjoy the festive nature of the holidays was to allow ourselves to be tempted. And that's such an awful thing to do to people.

Enjoy the lights. Enjoy the festivities. Enjoy the gift-giving, the costumes at Halloween, the box of chocolates on Valentines Day, the cards and gifts on Father's/Mother's Day, and so on. And have some cake on your birthday, for crying out loud.