Posts by TheOldHippie

3

How does Life expectancy by Country affect JW growth?

by dropoffyourkeylee in

here's something i haven't considered before.

below are the average life expectancies by country (male and female combined), which i found at:.

http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/life-expectancy-country.html.

TheOldHippie

I am sorry to have to tell you that you are making one HUGE mistake in saying that when life expectancy in Malawi is 60, it means there are close to no people there 60 or older. The main difference is summed up in two words, my friend: Child mortality. Life expectancy at birth varies a lot, as your tabulation shows, but if you had looked at it once they have reached the age of say 20, it evens out. There are lots of old people in African countries, but the figures above are influenced by the terrible death rate of children.

Also, that a population is ageing, as in Japan and other countries, has nothing to do with people living longer, but has to do with the number of children born. Fewer children born = ageing population. People living longer does not influence the ageing of a population. People DO live longer, but it is two mechanisms that do not influence each other.

16

Can you image sitting there hearing this (Spanish)

by fulano in

gerrit losch giving a talk in so-called spanish in the dominican republic.

first begging for donations ...and than this.

brothers and sisters travelling hours and hours to hear this reading, he obviously doesnt speak spanish, just knows how to read it.

TheOldHippie

I don't think his Spanish is bad, and his opening comments when he is talking freely and not has to follow the script, is rather good. I wonder how some of you guys would have made it if you should deliver a talk in a language which you have learnt and is not your native one.

The first one to comment says it is the same talk he gave in Mexico two years ago and possibly the only one he knows in Spanish ..............

44

Evolution is a Fact #36 - Mass Extinctions

by cofty in

250 million years ago a plume of molten basalt gushed up from the earth's core.

it erupted in an area now known as the siberian traps - back then it was part of the supercontinent pangaea.

a curtain of lava a mile high and hundreds of miles long lit up the sky.

TheOldHippie

By the way, they had damned good cameras 250 million years ago!

44

Evolution is a Fact #36 - Mass Extinctions

by cofty in

250 million years ago a plume of molten basalt gushed up from the earth's core.

it erupted in an area now known as the siberian traps - back then it was part of the supercontinent pangaea.

a curtain of lava a mile high and hundreds of miles long lit up the sky.

TheOldHippie

Before conscious life arrived, life and Earth must have been strange .......... C G Jung wrote much on this, how the Earth and life - land animals, birds, fish, ocean animals - existed in a strange way, yet unknown, yet undiscovered, before the dawn of consciousness.

I am not a Creationist, but I believe in a Creator, and then after Creation of "Grundtypen", "Basic Units", they adapted within their boundaries, and natural processes took place as were/are inherent in them. Doesn't destroy my confidence in a Creator and Creation.

45

Lets hear what your local needs was about this week

by dbq407 in

ours started out with matt.

25:23. he brought out that "good and faithful slave" was talking about the anointed but wait for it.........yes the principle can be applied to our cong.

well tonight it was about getting all the territories worked once a year.

TheOldHippie

Couple of words fell out, "urgent phone call from in deep trouble" should be "urgent phone call from someone in deep trouble" . Fingers are slower than brain today.

45

Lets hear what your local needs was about this week

by dbq407 in

ours started out with matt.

25:23. he brought out that "good and faithful slave" was talking about the anointed but wait for it.........yes the principle can be applied to our cong.

well tonight it was about getting all the territories worked once a year.

TheOldHippie

"I have no idea why they would park their car and then walka ways to visit other homes. I figured they were on my street a total of 45 minutes, with at least 15-20 being spent inside their car."

Exactly. You have no ideas. Perhaps one of them received an urgent phone call from in deep trouble. Perhaps they made the appointment with her that she would be at her home in half an hour. Perhaps they decided they would make a couple of return visits before they hurried to her home. Lots of things could take place, but you don't know anything about it, you have no ides. But still you make your assumptions. It's way easier to make assumptions about things we are ignorant.

Shame on me, for being so harsh.

28

NEW PEW Research data on Jehovah's Witnesses just released

by Balaamsass2 in

i was expecting people who "identified" as jws to follow watchtower beliefs more closely than these pollsters report.. .

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/26/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s/.

TheOldHippie

"That indicated to me that there is confusion in the R&F, and they can't even answer a basic question."

I don't think you should make such a hasty comment. It all depends on how the question was asked and perceived by the respondent. "Do you believe in Heaven?" - Do I understand that question as whether I believe I am going to Heaven, or as if there is a Heaven whereto others are going. If asked questions directed in a general sense to religious people or people interested in society, I would easily respond that I am Liberal, that I am an Environmentalist, that I have sympathy for those carrying out direct actions for liberating animals from harsh conditions in zoos, circuses, fur production units, that I think Obama is good but stopped by an opposing Parliament, that I am awe-and fearstruck by the fact that Trump and Cruz are two alternatives for Presidency, that Mrs. Clinton seems like a slick politician etc. etc.

"Basic question"? - the more one thinks about seemingly easy-to-understand questions, the less easy to understand or basic they become. Where 20 years ago I would say Yes or No, I today would say that it might, but that one has to consider this and that etc. Basic questions are few.

22

How Many Elders And Ministerial Servants Are There In Your Congregation?

by Village Idiot in

i'm curious to see how much manpower a little congregation - a hundred?

- requires to keep it running.

TheOldHippie

Yes, there are remarkably fewer elders than publishers.

21

San Diego: Osbaldo Padron v Watchtower

by wifibandit in

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/apr/24/ticker-tough-build-jehovahs-witness-sex-abuse-case.

tough to build jehovah's witness sex-abuse case.

11. without documents, says plaintiff, he can’t get justice.

TheOldHippie

This is an era of openness, you can not to such an extent as earlier hide bank accounts in foreign countries, tax havens, you can not monitor people's acts or phone calls or whatever without it being known, you have all sorts of -leaks. So it makes me sad that they continue doing this, that they have not understood that the best way of showing that you have learned, that you want to improve, that you really mean it, that you are sincere - is to show all the papers, letters, files, to do as my dog does, lay down on her back, wagging the tail and saying "I give in, sorry".

Makes me sad. The Catholic Church continues in this way too, but at least the Pope himself seems somewhat sincere.

22

How Many Elders And Ministerial Servants Are There In Your Congregation?

by Village Idiot in

i'm curious to see how much manpower a little congregation - a hundred?

- requires to keep it running.

TheOldHippie

60 JWs, 5 elders, 1 MS