one of the most persistent myths on this website is that jws are already in decline, the rot has set in, and the descent of the watchtower is inevitable from here on in.
unfortunately the facts do not bear this out.
jws are still increasing even in most developing countries, and they are still growing worldwide at a faster rate than the general population.
Regardless if it's pubs fudging numbers or the WT fudging numbers, the stats they publish can't be trusted.
More important is that more and more are becoming mentally free.
Once mentally free the donation$ stop. I know they did in my case.
The lack of $ coming in is what will drive the decline of the WT. We are already seeing it with the quality of the spirutal food coming out.
From that perspective, the decline has started.
recently i attended a jw funeral after a 12 year fade.
i did not bring a bible to the talk.
i found it somewhat odd and distracting to the flow of the talk at how much time was spent by all the jws looking up scriptures in the bible that they have all have read 1,000s of times before.
One of the first out of context scriptures that I noted was the one in Revelation 14. The WT claims the 144,000 is a literal number, yet when the same verses describe this group as 'virgins' who did not 'defile themselves with women' this part was not literal but figurative. How can it be both?
They pick and choose what they want even in the same verses. Guess the GB have a sexual need too, so that part didn't apply to them.
recently i attended a jw funeral after a 12 year fade.
i did not bring a bible to the talk.
i found it somewhat odd and distracting to the flow of the talk at how much time was spent by all the jws looking up scriptures in the bible that they have all have read 1,000s of times before.
I was very fast at looking up scriptures.
After learning the TATT, I came to realize, look up scriptures fast does not equate to knowledge of those scriptures.
the elders want to meet with me.
at least that's what they keep telling me, and they've been saying it for more than a month and a half now.
just so you're clear: this is a judicial committee.
Keep sending those letters and keep your cool. Keep your eye on your goal.
I certainly hope that once they reinstate you that you then switch congregations and then stop attending all toghether.
recently i attended a jw funeral after a 12 year fade.
i did not bring a bible to the talk.
i found it somewhat odd and distracting to the flow of the talk at how much time was spent by all the jws looking up scriptures in the bible that they have all have read 1,000s of times before.
Recently I attended a JW funeral after a 12 year fade. I did not bring a bible to the talk.
I found it somewhat odd and distracting to the flow of the talk at how much time was spent by all the JWs looking up scriptures in the bible that they have all have read 1,000s of times before. The dead air with nothing but the sound of pages flipping seemed odd to me, yet, at one time I did the same and never thought anything about it.
Then again, maybe it felt odd because I was the only one in the room not doing it.
This made me wonder how JW elders might react to a publisher if they just flat out refused to bring and use a bible to the meeting, but instead just sat and listened.
this new couple moved in a couple weeks ago.
special/regular pioneers, he's an elder from bethel.
i think he might have been a co at one time.
A hard ass elder moved in about 9 months ago. Then the families started moving out or just not attending anymore. I don't know if this elder is the problem.
I was in a congregation where a troubleshooter was assigned for that very reason. At least 6 families switch to another congregation 10 miles away that was more freindly and hosptiable then the former. When you have that many people leaving for one reason or another, something is wrong and they need someone on the inside to figure it all out.
if a jw tries to gather you back to the flock or debate with you, try these questions:.
on what date did the watchtower arrive at the truth?.
(a sharp jw will try to be fuzzy.
No religion has the market cornered on "TRUTH".
i thought i would share some of my observations on counting field service time, reports, etc.
and how those reports are viewed, to those that are still so fixated on numbers.. i served as secretary on the service committee for many years, and have seen it all!.
i was really disheartened when wt changed the requirement for aux pioneering to allow for 30 hrs, instead of the 50 it has been for so long.
I was at an elders house once the evening before his deadline for time to the org, so he was on the phone calling the usual pubs.
Before he calls one of the pubs, he wrote down the hours and placements on a sheet. Called the pub. and asked them for their time.... what they told him was exactly what he wrote down on the time slip before calling. He told me that for this pub it is exactly the same every month.
a woman i've known for years recently confided in me.
she told me she found out her jw husband had been secretly e-mailing his jw ex-girlfriend.
he was telling his ex about how difficult it had been for him since his wife was now basically an apostate.
He even hid her skype name under the name of a family member to deceive her.
When she confronted her husband about it again he insisted they were just friends.
Telling.... If just friends, then why the need to try and hide the name?
she's in her last stages of luekemia.
she fell a few days ago and she's going downhill.
quickly.
Sorry to hear about your Grammy.
I never really got to bond with my own because of the Watchtower. However, now that my wife and xwife are grannys to our grand twins, I now know what a special relationship it can be. I am glad the watchtower did not rob you of that with your own.
