I'm getting to be a grumpy old man, too. Sometimes it's fun to see the reaction I get when I speak my mind, especially when it has merit.
Dreamerdude
JoinedPosts by Dreamerdude
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22
Being a Rude Jerk, It's Awesome!
by Simon inmaybe it's a british thing, but we tend to be polite.
too polite.. even if someone is inconsiderate, we apologize as though we did something wrong.. prime offenders?
people in supermarkets, specifically costco.. they have nice wide isles and yet somehow, for some reason, some idiot will find a way to put their trolley sideways and keep a hand on it while reaching for something, thus blocking the entire isle.. or another favorite ... you're going through the entrance and someone just stops, maybe to answer their phone.. how about you wait in a queue at a checkout for ages and when it's their turn, then they start looking for their purse.. how many times have you thought "idiot" or muttered under your breath?.
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Dreamerdude
SBF, thanks for sharing the Scottish poem. That young lass from NZ gives some great insights on our American politics and our new president.
Since his late mother immigrated from Scotland, it might strike a nostalgic chord if he heard Lorna's reading of her poem.
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Moscow City Court JW Restriction Verdict Today - 16-Jan-2017
by Da.Furious inon jw.org this is the first paragraph on the 12 january news on russia:.
on january 16, 2017, jehovah’s witnesses in russia will again seek to counter the decade-long tightening of restrictions on their religious freedom.
they will ask the moscow city court to rule that a warning against their national headquarters be rescinded as unlawful and unfounded.
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Dreamerdude
I would rather see Russia take the route of the Australian court system. That leaves no room for WT to use it for propaganda. Russia will be the boogeyman at next week's CLAM, but they wouldn't dare try that with the ARC.
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Wife is Awake
by freemindfade infollowing the news of stuckinarut2, over the past few months my wife has completely mentally woken up.
i've been meaning to post but haven't had the time.
i saw stuckins post and i figured i'd add my news too.
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Dreamerdude
Freemindfade, I am so happy for you! This gives me hope too. I had a minor setback yesterday after an indoctrination session, when I made a small move to help my wife wake up. This gives me a some strength to be patient and persevere.
Thanks for sharing your joy with those who appreciate it.
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More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.
by Tempest in a Teacup ini looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.
it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.
comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.
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Dreamerdude
Richard, I don't trust WT as much as I do the people in the local halls. I found out by meeting with the locals and asking them point blank. In both cases they had previously used the main hall and were bummed out to be relegated to the back room with a 6" stage.
Njwspouse, correct about the push toward zealousNess. I have seen many a young man burned out by it.
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32
Giving money is thrilling?
by punkofnice inwatchtower study edition nov 16 pg 19. classic............................ .
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Dreamerdude
If everyone is not already thrilled, they can turn the page to page 20 and find many ways to give away all their wealth and the financial well being of their children and grandchildren.
These are not CHEAP thrills. Of course they can be happified when they see the results shining as gold Rolex watches and iWatches on JWTV.
I have better things to do with my money and don't need this kind of thrill.
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27
More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.
by Tempest in a Teacup ini looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.
it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.
comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.
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Dreamerdude
I appreciate the desire for specific data to back up theories. I really don't know if there is really a strategy to inflate the number of congregations. I have not seen enough proof. But a post from Germany not long ago piqued my interest. It was an analysis of the number of German language congregations compared to foreign. The numbers seemed to indicate the drop in German congregations was masked by formation of foreign congregations. I'm not good with the search function, so I can't pull it up.
My observation involves only two kingdom halls. Both are in the western US, in separate states. I can confirm that each of these small congregations are full fledged congregations with their own bodies of elders, separate from the English congregations. But that is only 2 congregations out of 119,000 worldwide.
My opinion is that most people in foreign language and ASL are honestly deluded and sincerely want to help disadvantaged foreigners in their communities. If there are ulterior motives, it could be to make busy work for the more zealous drones, and to massage the egos of some who enjoy bragging rights of working where the need is greater. Each additional congregation opens up positions of perceived power, at least on the Service Committee. Three more elders, three more Elderettes.
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27
More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.
by Tempest in a Teacup ini looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.
it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.
comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.
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Dreamerdude
The two examples I mentioned are full-fledge foreign language congregations, who get their own circuit visits. They are only about 20-30 publishers each, involving a lot of busy work by very few brothers. They also have high proportions of pioneers. Again, I don't know how common this is. But I have seen two.
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More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.
by Tempest in a Teacup ini looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.
it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.
comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.
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Dreamerdude
Richard, the two trends can both happen at the same time. I have seen a KH where the second school was converted to a small auditorium with 15cm stage, for small foreign language congregations. At the same time a larger combined English congregation meets in the main hall. I have only seen two of these, but it does indeed happen.
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2017 Yearbook released
by bohm ini 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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Dreamerdude
The data presented here is amazing. While the overall totals are largely driven by countries with larger populations, its interesting to look at some of the smallest countries, some that have only one or a few congregations.
One example is tiny Tuvalu, the least populous of the 196 members of the UN. They have only one congregation, so we get a clear picture of what is going on in a single congregation. This congregation had no baptisms at all in 2016. They had an average of 64 publishers in 2015 and only 52 in 2016. Interestingly they had a peak of 73 publishers during 2016. I suppose they might have peaked at the beginning of the service year, or maybe had visitors working where the need is funner.
it occurred to me that Geoffrey Jackson might have been instrumental in stumbling a dozen or so publishers in Tuvalu by his testimony at ARC, right at the end of the 2015 service year. As I recall he was a missionary there when he was younger. He published a dictionary in their language, with financial aid from the Australian government, and has made sure they have many "Bible study aids" published in their language. We can also assume he has done some damage to the Watchtower work in Australia, as reflected in their poor results this past year.
Yay for tiny Tuvalu! We might be seeing a whole country waking up.