I'm lost somewhere in the thirties.
Apognophos
JoinedPosts by Apognophos
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48
WT Society Still Lies to JW's into Believing they Live Forever - 12/15 WT
by flipper inthis quote was just so annoying and unbelievable it stunk the pages right up.
but doesn't all the wt rhetoric stink it up ?
in the article titled, " find real success in life " on pg.
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Apognophos
It's sad to think of all the older anointed ones who are expecting to go up in the twinkling of an eye when they pass away. Instead, they just die. It's not like they ever find out they were wrong, but somehow that depresses me more. They're expecting to see heaven, and instead-- nothingness.
Ergo, carpe diem! You never know if there'll be a tomorrow.
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What are the WT Society's expenditures?
by Apognophos ini'm hoping someone who has at least a little inside knowledge can help educate me here.
what sort of things does the wbts pay for, on a worldwide basis?.
- i understand that khs are owned and funded locally, at least where the locals can afford them, but what about in poor areas?.
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Apognophos
Thanks for the replies, I'm reading with interest. Chas, your new avatar is very appropriate for discussing the subject of the Society losing a lot of money. I keep hearing "Haw, haw!" in my head.
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Apognophos
New Year's has always been special to us so I have been telling him how sad it is that he has to work this year and that I will cook a special dinner for us when he gets home and we will celebrate then. I act like I don't know that he is not supposed to celebrate this holiday and he has not yet suggested that he won't. He seems happy to celebrate when he comes home.
Good idea. New Year's is kind of funny from a JW perspective because it's not a proper holiday with "pagan" customs, like Christmas, etc., so it's not spoken out against like those other days of the year. He'll be less likely to feel guilty over spending New Year's doing something nice as a couple.
I realize that they are trying to emotionally separate us and I am going to do everything that I can to prevent this.
In all honesty, I doubt they are doing anything intentionally. They are certainly trying to win him over by being friendly. This is just a well-meaning kind of "jooooiiiin uuuussss" reaction to finding an inactive JW. They wouldn't say or impute anything negative about you unless you were strongly opposing him/them.
There must be some serious disussions amongst the elders as to how to keep his "worldly" family from getting to him and how to convert me. I would love to be a fly on the wall of their meetings.
There may or may not be any discussions among a couple elders. The elder body has a lot going on that warrants their attention within the congregation. Unbelieving mates are of little concern to them unless they're "opposers", and even then they don't waste time holding meetings over what to do about some new guy's opposing mate, only matters that affect the whole congregation. Frankly, from their perspective, unbelieving mates are so much bird food at Armageddon. They would be more likely to discuss you if you showed interest. Then they would be trying to figure out who can study with you to "bring you into the truth" for your husband's sake. But the "they" in this case would be some random Witnesses, not the body of elders.
I'm not saying that there isn't a danger in losing your husband, but rather that this has everything to do with how you present yourself in reaction to his new(ly re-)found religion. Are you showing understanding and acceptance to him? Or are you showing the "spirit of the world"? Keep in mind that JWs believe this entire world is ruled by Satan, therefore you can't say that you're not influenced by him. You can only show it through your actions. Witnesses are taught that "Satan" means "Resister" and "devil" means "slanderer". So if you resist his religious activity and slander his religion, you are making yourself a mouthpiece for Satan in his eyes.
On the other hand, if you can show that you are basically following Christian principles yourself (not the weird ones specific to JWs, just Christian ones), and continue showering him with love and tolerance, then he has little reason to grow apart from you. That's not to say you can never criticize his religion, just that you have to go slow, and couch your criticism in a tone of concern for him personally, not for your relationship. Witnesses tend to exhibit black and white thinking, thus no matter how much your relationship has meant to him, he's being reminded now at meetings that eternal life is at stake for him. How can anything be more important than that? If you present the relationship to him as an object that keeps him from serving Jehovah, he's going to start to think that he will have to cut away anything that stumbles him (Matt. 5:29, 30) or weighs him down in the 'race for the prize' that Paul wrote about (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
I totally understand why this situation frightens you, but hopefully you see why a strong negative reaction to his religion can hurt more than it helps. Disclaimer: I haven't read any of Hassan's books, although I plan to. It could be that he has much better advice in there than I can give.
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emailed PDF's count as placements!
by wallsofjericho insorry if this has already been discussed.. but at the service meeting this week on jw.org it was clearly stated by our cobe that pdf's from jw.org that are emialed to interested persons count as placements!!!.
okay folks, next time you get a circular spam email, copy all the recipients and there is your contact list.
email thousands of people watchtower pdf's and watch the placements soar through the roof!!!.
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Apognophos
They can't create a separate category unless they're planning to change the field service report slip to add a column for "e-placements". As it is, all placements will be counted together by the publisher, with no way for the WTBS to know whether a publication was placed physically or digitally. And if they were going to change the report slip, they would have done it by now and made that change part of the Service Meeting instructions this past week.
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96
What's The Main Reason You Do Not Believe That The Witnesses Are The Best Religion?
by minimus insome people leave because they are fed up with the elders.
others have personality issues.
some have doctrinal and prophecy reasons.
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Apognophos
As OnTheWayOut noted, the question asked in the body of the OP is fundamentally different from the question in the topic title. I was addressing the topic title, as my reasons for leaving the WT are many and varied, but to my mind, the main reason the religion is "not the best religion" is the failure to contribute to society.
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emailed PDF's count as placements!
by wallsofjericho insorry if this has already been discussed.. but at the service meeting this week on jw.org it was clearly stated by our cobe that pdf's from jw.org that are emialed to interested persons count as placements!!!.
okay folks, next time you get a circular spam email, copy all the recipients and there is your contact list.
email thousands of people watchtower pdf's and watch the placements soar through the roof!!!.
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Apognophos
They did make the point that JWs aren't supposed to bulk mail the digital literature, but well, people are people!
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El Dorado, AR vehicle tag "XJW" -- this your BMW?
by FatFreek 2005 inmy wife and i were slowly leaving walmart's parking lot in el dorado (that's arkansas) last night and i did a double-take.
my wife said, "what are you doing"?
as i swung around to circle back to the row we had just left.
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Apognophos
And when he pulls into his driveway as Witnesses are heading down the sidewalk towards his door, and their eyes catch his license plate, they always run past him to the next door! I mean, he's grateful that this happens, but it's baffling!
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21
What are the WT Society's expenditures?
by Apognophos ini'm hoping someone who has at least a little inside knowledge can help educate me here.
what sort of things does the wbts pay for, on a worldwide basis?.
- i understand that khs are owned and funded locally, at least where the locals can afford them, but what about in poor areas?.
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Apognophos
Ah, okay. I don't know why I thought the Bethelite amount was so much lower.
Still, considering that construction expenses are placed on the local congregations/circuits, it seems like the single major expense has to be the printing, which explains why it's so important to reduce those costs with cutbacks in the number of printed pages.
Of course, there's also those pesky lawsuits. I guess my real point behind all of this is whether a multi-million settlement is just peanuts to the WBTS, or it's actually a serious kick in the gut. I see both opinions on JWN.
If only the printing costs are multi-million dollar expenses, then we're not necessarily talking about a corporation that can afford a lot of court losses/settlements. If they routinely spend millions on other stuff as well, like running branches, then they're probably taking in enough donations that they can weather the Conti loss (or unknown settlements) more easily. Does that make sense?
I guess the unknown factor that I'm not hearing a clear answer on yet is whether the Society is paying for Halls (even cheap ones) in third-world countries. That could add up.
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96
What's The Main Reason You Do Not Believe That The Witnesses Are The Best Religion?
by minimus insome people leave because they are fed up with the elders.
others have personality issues.
some have doctrinal and prophecy reasons.
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Apognophos
Finkelstein took my answer: that the Witnesses do not contribute to society with good works. Tribalism used to be the only way, but now that we live in a global society (or are getting there), religion needs to be about brotherhood of Man, and furthering the widening awareness of the species towards each other and our fellow animals.
If the Witnesses actually had the truth, and the rest of the world really was wicked and deserving of destruction, their stance and narrow-minded focus would be understandable, perhaps commendable. But we know TTATT... so instead they're takers from society who don't give back except with the meager taxes from their low-paying jobs.