Posts by scratchme1010

27

More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

by Tempest in a Teacup in

jw
friends

i 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.

scratchme1010

Anyone who knows basic statistics can see right through their interpretation of their numbers. But then again, they are presented for their crop which are already sold on their nonsense and conditioned to believe any crap they come up with.

19

Aethiest

by midnight in

what happens if you openly declare you are an aethiest, i don't mean go round forcing my view on everyone , but when pressured to go to the kingdom hall etc you stated you are an aethiest and no longer believe in god , surely you can't be accused of apostasy as you simply don't believe in anything ?

anyone experienced this ?.

scratchme1010

What happens if you openly declare you are an aethiest, I don't mean go round forcing my view on everyone , but when pressured to go to the kingdom hall etc you stated you are an aethiest and no longer believe in God , surely you can't be accused of apostasy as you simply don't believe in anything ? Anyone experienced this ?

I believe so, but not necessarily for being an atheist. What I mean is, the WT and the JWs will point at you, will shun you, will attack you if you let them, for as long as you state that you believe anything and everything that is not exactly what/how they say. Atheist, or believer of any else, or non-believer of anything doesn't make any difference. To them that doesn't matter. You are not believing the WT crap. That's enough for them to give you the same treatment.

In fact, just look at some people's stories here on how they have been shunned simply for questioning one or two of their believes while still being active JWs in good standing. So if they go to that extent in their own crop, of course they will treat you like an apostate for not believing in anything. To them there is no difference.

Also, please note that they judge everything based on how they believe things are. Some truly view atheism as if it is some kind of organized entity. I've even heard JWs claiming that people "joined atheism" as if they took atheism studies, baptized as an atheist and go around trying to convert others into atheism or attend some kind of atheist temple. That's how they view the entire world outside, as some kind of unworthy of living enemy. So if you question anything or believe in anything differently from whatever they believe, you are "wordly" and an apostate. End of the story to them.

32

Britain in the doldrums!

by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

the 2014 - 2015 jw statistics showed a peak publisher decline of 884 with the average publisher tally showing a gain of 183. .

the 2017 yearbook is now available via jw.org and the statistics for britain show a 2016 peak publisher increase of 630 and an average publisher increase of a paltry 26!.

nothing to shout about on the part of the followers of caiaphas in the britain branch.

scratchme1010

What could be contributing to the decline in the British context.....
*Consider the aberrant conduct of many BoE's. Brits like fair play - not bullies.
*Consider the heavy influence to use digital media instead of hardcopy Bible's and hymn books. Scrolling hymns on a large screen karaoke style just isn't British either.
*Consider the silly videos of shadow people - banal and boring.
*Consider the Faithful and Discreet Slave's incursion into kingdom hall's via video. Hardly discreet! Not faithful to anyone but themselves either! If they were really faithful to God's Word they wouldn't be having all those changes in doctrine. No, they're not so much faithful as they are capricious!
I strongly believe that before long, not even the pattern of immigration to Britain will emasculate the decline in JW numbers here. Time will tell!

I completely agree. I'd add that unlike before, the public in general are more aware of the WT as an entity and of the JWs. Their original model was based on the premise that people didn't know who they are at the same time they had to do a lot more work to access reliable information. Today they are widely known, both the JWs and the ex-JWs, and it's a lot easier for people to compare notes and look for information in addition to the things that they claim.

In fact, if you notice, a lot of their growth is occurring in areas where online access is limited, and in places with underdeveloped. It also makes sense for people who are new to a country to feel "welcomed" by that organization and ending up forming part of it.

Thanks for sharing your take on it.

13

First time back in a KH in 8 months

by Normalfulla in

so... one of my employees is a miserable servant and was giving the pt and invited me to come knowing full well i was faded out, i go along cos i respect him and thought why not, i must admit i was a little nervous headed back there (a neighboring hall not my old one) i saw alot of familiar faces and some old friends who were aware of my fade, all so pleased to see me at a meeting again and i can sum up how i felt about the experience like this.. .

have you ever been to a party and been the only sober person there and are totally aware of the ridiculous things said and going on?

that's what it felt like except the party would have been more fun of course,... all these good people, drunk off their heads on wt propaganda and false hopes, the irony was the talk was titled "does your life have meaning?".

scratchme1010

...there I was thinking how my life after leaving has more meaning than it has ever, Living it, enjoying the moments that are here and now not begrudgingly doing something I feel I have to ahhh! Life is beautiful...

That part of your post is just precious.

2

Is This How You Promote Insecurity in Relationships?

by Saename in

it's time for some ridiculous entertainment, guys.

today my sister showed me a video by pewdiepie in which he reacted with his girlfriend to this article.

it was really funny, i have to admit, because he was basically criticising the article.

scratchme1010

Thanks for sharing that video. It was fun, and I really, really hope that the article was meant for fun. I don't get why PewDiePie is so YouTube famous. Whatever.

22

Real Estate Business?

by no-zombie in

i was going over some of the older posts of others and without starting some kind of flame war, i got no idea why people are saying that the society is some kind of real estate business.

of course its making millions of dollars in its real estate sales but this a one time event.

its down sizing by selling the furniture.

scratchme1010

For everyone on this thread who has claimed that the WTS is not buying property, how do you know this?

Good question. My thoughts are that the WT has a real estate business. As a business, you make all kinds of, well, business decisions. I don't believe that it's any good business practice to just buy or just sell. Buying is as part of a business as it is selling.

I personally don't believe that they are just selling, but don't believe that they are just buying either. Their purchases are investments, not buying for just consumption. When you buy for investment, the money you spend returns earnings, and in real estate that is based on a number of factors (renting, being an up-and-coming area [buying-holdng-selling later], flipping properties, etc.). Remember, the WT has free labor, so they can easily build things with minimum cost and make a profit from selling the property later.

117

2017 Yearbook released

by bohm in

jw
friends

i 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?).

scratchme1010

Thank you for sharing those numbers, bohm. I've learned that they mean something to some people.

11

Which was the best century to be born in?

by defender of truth in

jw
friends

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-2016-is-the-best-time-to-be-alive-2016-8/#1-there-are-much-fewer-hungry-people-in-the-world-1.

is the world getting better?.

in which century would you rather have been born, given the choice?

scratchme1010

Is the world getting better?
In which century would you rather have been born, given the choice? The 19th century? Earlier?

I may be too analytical about it, but here are my thoughts:

The number one thing that comes to my mind is that the fact that I choose a great period to live doesn't mean that I'm going to have a good life. In any period of civilized humanity we have all the social issues we always have. How do I know that I'm not going to be a slave, or a member of an oppressed class?
Life is never in black and white. I personally don't use "good or bad", "better or worse" to characterize the entire world at a given moment. Some things are great today and not so great.
Then there's the "according to who?" factor. What does it mean that according to the article, for example, "more people have access ti clean water", for those that to this day still don't? Is this ear better for them? Is this considered the best time to live for that? And for who?
What is being measured as criteria for "better"? What that means to you may not mean the same to me. For a person who loves being sexually open, maybe ancient Rome was the best place to live... unless you were a slave and had no saying about your life. I could live without running water or electronic devices if I was a rich aristocrat, but not if I was a member of the poor class.

It's not just about the conveniences that today's world provide; it's about access to them.

31

You know it's the Truth, because it attracts crazy people.

by schnell in

jw
friends

i wish i was kidding, but i have heard this idea suggested lately as a defense of the wts.

this is god's organization, even though it attracts crazy people, and because it attracts crazy people.

"unlettered and ordinary," et cetera.. i don't get it.

scratchme1010

schnell, you should know better by now:

Do we say the same thing for other institutions?

Yes

Which ones?

Insane asylums and USA Congress

Why?

Insane asylums because they are for, well, the insane.

Congress, well, need I finish this sentence?

On a more serious note, one of the things that made me start opening my eyes and leave was precisely that I started noticing in the congregation I was in, a lot of people with a number of different mental health conditions. That was my biggest eye opener.

My awareness started with me. As an older teenager, becoming a young adult, I decided to finally give that Jehovah nonsense a serious try, not because it was imposed on me, but to give it a fair chance. A few years later I found myself extremely depressed, sad and feeling horrible about myself. I tried looking for some kind of role model (didn't know at the time that that's what i was doing), but I was looking to see a good example of anyone who I could follow. First, since at that time I was already labeled as the brother "with that problem", every single male in the congregation thought I was coming on to them simply by me attempting at striking a conversation. Then the elders kept telling me that if I was depressed it was because there was something I had to confess to them to feel better, and that service is the best antidepressant. And don't get me started with the nasty, ill-intended, backstabbing gossip!

I finally had it with their --it, so I went to a psychologist. It felt so great! However, I started asking myself who else in the congregation may be in similar position than I was, and that's when i started seeing people, I mean, really seeing people in the congregation. I alone, without having any professional mental health experience, saw people with depression, anxiety, a lot of compulsive behavior (there was a sister who used to cut herself, and a lot, I mean a lot of people with all kinds of eating disorders and issues around food), there was this young guy who claimed that Jehovah was talking to him directly, there was this other guy who wanted his mother dead so she can be resurrected in paradise, there was a sister claiming that her children's father was Satan, I mean, I saw a lot of people suffering, expecting some kind of healing or miracle from their Jehovah, there, going to meetings and doing was they were told and expecting something in return.

It was very saddening and scary, both experiencing depression and seeing so many people suffering too. That was when I decided to leave that organization. A lot of people around me thought that my leaving had to do with the being gay thing, but that was not the reason. My main reasons had to do with seeing how irresponsibly the WT and their people handle people with issues that affect their mental health, at the same time that I needed to protect my own mental health.

So I think that to me it's not new that there are people who notice the rather large number of people with mental health issues, some of them severe, in their congregations. Of course, they are not going to say that that's the case, so they better come up with some BS excuse to explain why congregations have so mane people with issues. Solving their issues is what attract them to the JWs in the first place. To me that's not new. What is new is that there's more awareness of it and they are trying to excuse the WT's irresponsible behavior.

36

An interesting reasoning for the existence of God (from JW public talk)

by anointed1 in

i was on an official tour last week to another part of my country.

on my way to the hotel, i noticed sign-board of jw kingdom hall.

i thought i would attend sunday meeting as i knew no one would recognize me.. seeing “a new-comer” in the audience, public speaker adapted his material making it especially appealing to me.

scratchme1010

Universe is like a diary book with countless blank sheets. Yet only on one page [earth] is written something—something like a beautiful poem [life].’ What does this show? Owner decided to write on one page so that when others see blank sheets they should know that it takes a writer to do the writing. Whether he will do so with rest of the pages or not depends on the owner.

And you believe that crap? That doesn't make sense at all. Let's see:

Universe is like a diary book with countless blank sheets.

First, according to who? Second, this is based on the nonsense that the Earth is supposed to be the center stage of the entire universe. Need I say that every single piece of well established scientific fact contradicts that notion?

Yet only on one page [earth] is written something—something like a beautiful poem [life].

LOL! That coming from the same idiots who believe that the entire planet isn't worth preserving and needs a complete new system, including the elimination of natural selection in animals. Some poem.

Owner decided to write on one page so that when others see blank sheets they should know that it takes a writer to do the writing. Whether he will do so with rest of the pages or not depends on the owner.

Again, LOL! Where's the proof of that? That's just downright faulty logic. What relationship exists between a poet writing on a blank piece of paper and proof of the universe been created? What does one thing has to do with another.

About the "thinking" thing:

There are some thinking persons in an organization where thinking is banned.

This goes right to what I continue pointing out about how in denial many people in this forum are. Intelligence and capacity to think has nothing to do with indoctrination and brainwashing. In fact, many JWs are quite intelligent. That has nothing to do with falling into the hands of being indoctrinated. That happens based on what they feel, not on what they know.

If you look at it from that point of view, it can make more sense, but of course, that seems a little hard to do to many people (probably because they are too conditioned to not take a look at their own capacity to reason or to their own feelings).