88JM

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Posts by 88JM

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  113

  WTBTS Elder & Ministerial Servant Problems

  by JW GoneBad in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i attended a recent ministerial servant k m school on the east coast and the main school instructor mentioned among other things (part entitled: 'objective of the km school course') that the total number of ministerial servants is seriously less than it should be.

  in times past the ratio of m ss to elders was much more than it is today.. in the u.s. apparently the total number of elders is 88,500+ as opposed to m ss 65,000. the numbers show & numbers don't lie: the society is running out of spiritual men.

  the instructor stated that this is a new downward trend that has (in so many words) the society worried.. the next speaker (part entitled: 'why we must be spiritual men') added that in his years as a traveling servant the pool of m ss has always been much, much larger than it is today.

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  88JM

  From my notes of elders and ministerial servants training in late 2011 these were figures given for the U.K.:

  • 79 circuits in the U.K.
  • 12,675 elders in the U.K.
  • 9,646 ministerial servants in the U.K.

  I recall there was also mention of the lack of younger ministerial servants. The C.O. pointed out that in our circuit, there were only 3 ministerial servants under 25 at the time. I think there were probably a few more appointments as a result of that meeting alone when elders got back to their congregations.
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  88

  10 Years Japan losses 5,400 Publishers and 638 Kingdom Halls! Why?

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  japan had a handful of witnesses after ww 2....this number skyrocketed to 222,912 by 1998!

  then something happened.

  publisher figures didn't stop, they dropped by thousands over the next decade!.

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  88JM

  slimboyfat - sorry if I misunderstood (and sorry to de-rail the thread) but were you saying the JW in the irong lung was a myth? There is a 1993 Awake! article on Laurel Nisbet - is that account wrong?
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  28

  For those still "in"... is it just me?

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm still "in" and i've noticed an odd trend recently.

  conversations with jws seem to be more jw-ish than ever!

  in normal conversation, i'll hear: "these watchtowers are just wonderful!

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  88JM

  Fuzzy - just like their doctrine, reasoning and logic...
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  28

  For those still "in"... is it just me?

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm still "in" and i've noticed an odd trend recently.

  conversations with jws seem to be more jw-ish than ever!

  in normal conversation, i'll hear: "these watchtowers are just wonderful!

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  88JM

  I have to agree too - I think there is a lot more "OBEY THE GB!"

  I mean, before it would have been maybe once or twice at each meeting, but now it seems like it's every item. Even (perhaps especially) in the Jeremiah book.

  They seem to cram it in any way they can, regardless of whether it fits into the topic or not. They seem to even be doing it at the expense of actually learning anything new - it's all the same handful of scriptures re-hashed.

  Jeremiah can actually be an interesting book from so many other angles - the history, chronology, events, archeology, the culture of the time - but all they do is twist it and harp on about GB this and GB that - very little time actually trying to see the verses and events in context.
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  61

  2013 District Convention Program: ‘God’s Word is Truth!’

  by bats in the belfry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  .

  unlike god's word, that jws believe to be absolute truth, any one of their directives given at the 2013 district convention could be subject to misinterpretation.. .

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  88JM

  Interesting to see how "The Truth™" has changed since 1982 - just a half hour talk on "apostates" back then.

  Today half of the program seems spent trying to explain what they think isn't truth...

  

  (Convention and program review: WT 11-1-82 pages 20-26)

  DAY 1
  DAY'S THEME: Upholding Doctrinal Truth

  AFTERNOON 1:20 Music 1:30 Song No. 95 and Prayer 1:40 Chairman's Address: Be Attentive to Kingdom Truth 2:10 What the Truth Means to Us 2:30 Worshiping the One God of Truth 3:00 Song No. 21 and Announcements 3:10 Become Full-Grown in the Truth Understanding the Bible's Teaching on-- The Soul Creation Resurrection Being Born Again 3:40 Exposing the Devil's Subtle Designs (See WT 1-15-83 pages 18-22) 4:00 Armed for the Fight Against Wicked Spirits (See WT 1-15-83 pages 23-27) 4:20 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Where Do You Stand on the Kingdom Issue? (See WT 1-1-83 pages 8-24) 4:50 Closing Song, No. 76, and Prayer

  DAY 2

  DAY'S THEME: Ministers of Kingdom Truth

  MORNING 9:50 Music 10:00 Song No. 109 and Prayer 10:10 Consideration of Text for the Day 10:20 SYMPOSIUM: Enlarging Your Sacred Service As a Congregation Publisher As an Auxiliary Pioneer As a Regular Pioneer or Other Full-Time Minister 11:20 Song No. 9 and Announcements 11:30 Fulfilling the Kingdom Ministry 11:50 Aid Lowly Ones to Be Truth Proclaimers (RELEASE: "Enjoy Life on Earth Forever!" (brochure)) 12:10 Song No. 51 and Intermission

  AFTERNOON 2:00 Music 2:05 Song No. 92 2:10 "The Time Left Is Reduced" (See WT 11-15-84 pages 21-26) 2:30 What Is Our Position Toward Opposers of the Truth? (See WT 3-1-83 pages 21-26) 3:00 Song No. 91 and Announcements 3:10 DRAMA: "How...Will They Hear Without Someone to Preach?" 3:45 Prepared to Bear Witness to the Truth 3:55 Closing Song, No. 10, and Prayer 4:05 To the Field

  DAY 3
  DAY'S THEME: Living By Principles of Truth

  MORNING 9:30 Music 9:40 Song No. 65 and Prayer 9:50 Consideration of Text for the Day 10:00 SYMPOSIUM: Serving Jehovah as a Family Husbands and Fathers, Exercise Christian Headship Parents, Inculcate the Truth in Your Children Youths, Remember, "What You Sow You Reap" (See WT 11-15-84 pages 28-31) 11:00 Song No. 88 and Announcements 11:10 Counteracting Permissiveness With Bible Principles (See WT 8-15-83 pages 25-29) 11:40 Ordained as Ministers of the Kingdom 12:10 Song No. 82 and Intermission (To the site of the baptism)

  AFTERNOON 2:00 Music 2:05 Song No. 55 2:10 Following Bible Principles Is the Wise Course 2:40 How Jehovah's Standards Help Us (See WT 6-15-83 pages 10-15) 3:10 Song No. 71 and Announcements 3:20 Beware of Music That Debases (See WT 10-15-83 pages 10-15) 3:50 "Jerusalem"--A Cause for Exultation (See WT 3-15-83 pages 17-26) 4:20 The Truth That Leads to an Earthly Paradise (RELEASE: "You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth" (book)) 5:00 Closing Song, No. 19, and Prayer

  DAY 4
  DAY'S THEME: Holding Fast to Prophetic Truth

  MORNING 9:30 Music 9:40 Song No. 29 and Prayer 9:50 Consideration of Text for the Day 10:00 Do Not "Turn Back to the Weak and Beggarly Things" (See WT 6-15-83 pages 16-21) 10:30 "Flocking Together in Battle Line" (See WT 3-1-83 pages 16-21) 11:00 Song No. 33 and Announcements 11:10 DRAMA: Fearless Proclaimer of an Unpopular Message 12:05 Song No. 39 and Intermission

  AFTERNOON 2:05 Music 2:20 Song No. 105 and Prayer 2:30 PUBLIC LECTURE: The Truth That Can Set You Free 3:30 Song No. 62 and Announcements 3:40 Satisfied With Food at This Proper Time 4:00 On With the Proclamation of Kingdom Truth! 4:40 Closing Song, No. 110, and Prayer
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  44

  JWs in the UK: 27 years of yearbook stats and stagnation

  by 88JM in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, so i went on a bit of a statistics binge after looking at poland.

  i thought i would have a look at my home country's yearbook stats here in the uk (britain).. so here they are for your consideration.

  had to go into the loft for some of the older yearbooks, and found some other older publications too.. nothing too remarkable as such here, as far as i can see, apart from:.

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  88JM

  The growth is slower over the period you mention, but (and I know I'm "cherry-picking" here) there was also real-terms decrease in JW's in Britain as well between 1996 and 2001. It took them until 2007 to get back to where they were in 1995.
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  88

  10 Years Japan losses 5,400 Publishers and 638 Kingdom Halls! Why?

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  japan had a handful of witnesses after ww 2....this number skyrocketed to 222,912 by 1998!

  then something happened.

  publisher figures didn't stop, they dropped by thousands over the next decade!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  88JM

  Just sent this to Jeffro - wondered if anyone else might find it useful:

  http://depositfiles.com/files/gjrlcxi1j
  
  "I thought I would give it a go last night, just to see if it was even possible. It turns out it is - my scanner and OCR program can spit out an Excel table from the Yearbook. The only thing that slows the process down is when countries change from year to year - i.e. Hawaii is now included in the U.S. as of 2011.
  
  I can compensate by adding blank rows for countries that get merged etc. which means that the same country is always on the same row number on each sheet. Sometimes I need to remember my politics and geography a bit for places like East Timor (I think they changed their name in 2012). If you're in Excel, you'll see each year is in a new sheet at the bottom.
  
  I don't know how well you know Excel - I'm not a super-heavy user myself - but in theory you should be able to make a chart that sources data from different sheets of the document i.e. "K29" will always give you the number of congregations in Britain. Alternatively, you can just copy columns over from each sheet if you're looking for specific data.
  
  I will see if I can work on adding more years and make it a "slow-burn" project for me. The attached spreadsheet took about 1.5 hours, but I wouldn't be able to do this much every day - I reckon I could probably do 25+ years over 6 weeks though if I chip away at it."http://depositfiles.com/files/gjrlcxi1j

  Perhaps if they would like, someone like Cedars could help fill in the population of the "30 Other Lands" - I guess the countries might change from year to year, but hopefully the statistics can be found?
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  44

  JWs in the UK: 27 years of yearbook stats and stagnation

  by 88JM in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, so i went on a bit of a statistics binge after looking at poland.

  i thought i would have a look at my home country's yearbook stats here in the uk (britain).. so here they are for your consideration.

  had to go into the loft for some of the older yearbooks, and found some other older publications too.. nothing too remarkable as such here, as far as i can see, apart from:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  88JM

  Just sent this to Jeffro - wondered if anyone else might find it useful:

  http://depositfiles.com/files/gjrlcxi1j
  
  "I thought I would give it a go last night, just to see if it was even possible. It turns out it is - my scanner and OCR program can spit out an Excel table from the Yearbook. The only thing that slows the process down is when countries change from year to year - i.e. Hawaii is now included in the U.S. as of 2011.
  
  I can compensate by adding blank rows for countries that get merged etc. which means that the same country is always on the same row number on each sheet. Sometimes I need to remember my politics and geography a bit for places like East Timor (I think they changed their name in 2012). If you're in Excel, you'll see each year is in a new sheet at the bottom.
  
  I don't know how well you know Excel - I'm not a super-heavy user myself - but in theory you should be able to make a chart that sources data from different sheets of the document i.e. "K29" will always give you the number of congregations in Britain. Alternatively, you can just copy columns over from each sheet if you're looking for specific data.
  
  I will see if I can work on adding more years and make it a "slow-burn" project for me. The attached spreadsheet took about 1.5 hours, but I wouldn't be able to do this much every day - I reckon I could probably do 25+ years over 6 weeks though if I chip away at it."http://depositfiles.com/files/gjrlcxi1j

  Perhaps if they would like, someone like Cedars could help fill in the population of the "30 Other Lands" - I guess the countries might change from year to year, but hopefully the statistics can be found?
• 
  44

  JWs in the UK: 27 years of yearbook stats and stagnation

  by 88JM in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, so i went on a bit of a statistics binge after looking at poland.

  i thought i would have a look at my home country's yearbook stats here in the uk (britain).. so here they are for your consideration.

  had to go into the loft for some of the older yearbooks, and found some other older publications too.. nothing too remarkable as such here, as far as i can see, apart from:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  88JM

  I thought this was relevant - statistics released by the ONS today on Internet Use:

  http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_301822.pdf

  (They actually release statistics like these every quarter, but these are from the LFS which is a bigger sample group)

  Points I found interesting, though not surprising:

  • Approximately 87% of adults aged between 16 and 24, used social networking sites in 2012
  • The UK is the 4th biggest user of social networking in Europe in 2012
  • 68% of those aged 16 and over in Great Britain use the Internet every day, or almost every day in 2012 (it was 64% in 2011)
  • Only 16% of those aged 16 and over never use the internet at all (17% in 2011)
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  11

  Instead Of Begging and Badgering Witnesses For Money, What Expenses Could The COs And Governing Body Cut-back?

  by ÁrbolesdeArabia in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower is hurting for cash, the circuit overseers are asking everyone throughout the industrialized world to donate their "valuable things" to aid the massive growth in areas where funds are not plentiful.

  the united states is covered with quarters and half-dollars on their streets, we just need to pick them up and put them in the donation box.. .

  there are many areas the watchtower can trim or cut costs to save money.

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  88JM

  Probably even more reliance on the website - i.e. print your own calendar, do the daily text online or with the CD-ROM, limiting printed yearbooks and daily texts in internet-connected countries to 1 per family etc.