it’s a three for one deal.
about 10 years ago they merged 3 struggling rural congregations into one in the largest town.
at the time there were about 75 publishers.
hoser, just being a little of the Devil's advocate, why does it (seemingly) matter to you to keep up to date with what they do?
I ask since when I walked away from them I decided that nothing that they do from that point on matters to me, unless it is in relationship with my still in JW family, and my dealings with them. I wonder how does that make a difference in the people who do follow up.
from my conversion at the end of 1959 to my leaving the j.w`s about early 1993 i remember especially in the first 20 -30 years or so giving out invitations to public talks that were to be given at our local k.h.
every time i went out in the service witnessing from door to door week in week out i would leave these tracts at not at homes or whoever would accept them .. and in my personal experience i cannot recall more than five worldly / non j.w.
people , if that , who came to a public talk as a result of the invitations given at the doors in our witnessing work in the 33 years of my being an active jehovah`s witness .. and none of them ever became a jehovah`s witness .. was it just me ?
Was it just me ? or do you have similar experiences to share .
I think that it was a common thing. The WT is made of a bunch of inexperienced, unprofessional, undereducated, yet, cocky, crass and confident about knowing what they are doing.
They have absolutely no clue about strategy, organizational development, technology administration, not even basic financial planning.
Long ago, some JW idiot decided that that's the most effective way of reaching out to people. No one seem to have ever question it, so they have gone along with it for over a century.
it’s quite affirming to see the horrific material that they’re serving up at the convention this year.
aside from blatant homophobia, the scenes at the end of the convention that are discussed on another thread stoop to new levels of fear mongering.
it seems to occur to nobody inside the organisation that this kind of material could trigger fear, deprsssion, anxiety, stress.
Aside from blatant homophobia, the scenes at the end of the convention that are discussed on another thread stoop to new levels of fear mongering.
You did do the right thing in keeping your family away from them. The homophobia thing is what many of those religions use as an easy way of getting people to agree with them. There was a time where almost every single Christian religion was united in that one thing, which was, hatred for the LGBT. That seemed to be the only thing that they all agreed on.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I know that they can make others think twice before endorsing the fear mongering and hatred in the name of a "loving god".
i've heard numerous people here say something like, 'the best revenge is living a good life'.
well, apparently the wt agrees, in the august study edition:.
at times, people maysay unfair or critical things about us.
I don't see anything different, other than manipulation and keeping their people under their control. What they say is a good practice. The problem is that what they call living "in such a way that no one will believe that lie", is what they tell their people it is.
That and they just cannot change facts and history.
we just enjoyed a wonderful evening seeing richard dawkins live in sydney.
it was an event to promote his latest book, and was another opportunity to expand our "god given" brains!😜.
https://thinkinc.org.au/dawkins/.
Very interesting thoughts and video. Personally I don't need to follow people who think like me, as I have a mind of my own, and I'm confident of what I believe, but this can speak to people who need some kind of figure to follow.
Thanks for sharing.
i went to a funeral yesterday and ran into a jdub.
of course, he approached me and it didn't take more than a minute into the conversation for him to get into the jdub gloom and doom mode.
he said that world conditions have never been as bad as they are now.. i looked straight into his eyes and said, "i think that world conditions were a lot worse during world war two.".
The look on his face was priceless. It was like he knew that was true and never thought about it before.
The rationale is that JWs expect people in a situation like a funeral, and its corresponding mood, to be vulnerable and consequently, more easy to prey on with their proselytizing. Hearing an answer like this one (which I believe is quite on point), not only makes them rethink what they believe, but also disarm them from their techniques.
This catastrophizing of our current way of living, to me is the signature of nonsense. Bad things happened, bad things happen, and bad things will continue to happen. In fact, getting sucked into a cult while looking for comfort after loss is one of the bad things that happen.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing. Wouldn't it be wonderful having those great performances made with the technology we have today?
i don’t get it.
who really cares?
in the usa, it’s such a huge newsworthy event.
I don’t get it. Who really cares? In the USA, it’s such a huge newsworthy event.
I don't get it either and I'm in the USA. I'm not related to them, and I wasn't invited. Couldn't care less.
hey i was wondering if maybe someone who is an ex elder or who knows a lot about these things could help me.
my dad is an elder but i need to be cautious with questions i ask.
now that i’ve been woken up from my brainwashed love of this corrupt corporation and from my belief in the bible, and my fiancé is starting to wake up as well, i really don’t want to have the sexist, overused, impersonal talk outline used for my wedding ceremony by some elder who is trying to show off his talk giving skills.
So I’m wondering, what would happen if we didn’t tell anybody, keep it hush hush, then hired a non religious ordained person to give our wedding talk. Do you think people would flip out, get up and leave?
I've been out for decades and haven't followed up on what they have changed, but I remember a couple who got disfellowshipped simply for completing their certificate of marriage before the wedding.
A lot of things depends on the criteria of the local elders. It might be a risk, but if you truly want to leave after you get married, then in some instances you might need to go along with their rules to avoid being under their spotlight.
Is both of you leaving before getting married absolutely out of the question?
there was a co visit in ohio a couple weeks ago.
when he was finishing up his sunday talk he said that he would like if "all the children that are from this congregation, not if you're just visiting, but from this congregation to come on up on the stage right after the meeting because i want to get a picture of you.".
i thought to myself, why?
Has anyone else had this happen in their hall? What could he possibly want with it?
Not a CO, but I remember, way back when, some elder guest speakers from other congregations were very fond of the younger crowd. As for the reasons, I'm not sure that they necessarily need to be nefarious. However, parents should always be cautious about outsiders who are too friendly.
You just never know.
