I read and post on JWN on my smartphone during the meetings.
I'm usually sat at the back so no-one can see what I'm doing!
Posts by 88JM
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16I Got Deprogramed While Attending Kindom Hall Meetings Doing Research On My iPad 4
by frankiespeakin inwith the internet becoming availible almost anywhere and ipads become more and more common, do you think this scenerio will be a relatively common experience as well?.
i'm thinking it will..
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25
11 years of compiled yearbook statistics: spreadsheet downloads
by 88JM in(edit: sorry about that - i clicked submit before i finished writing the post.
and its now 11 years, not 10. anyway...).
hi folks.
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88JM
Okay folks - false alarm. First post has now been updated. See you at the top ^
(Edit: Oh dear - this thread was getting more views with a blank first post!)
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25
11 years of compiled yearbook statistics: spreadsheet downloads
by 88JM in(edit: sorry about that - i clicked submit before i finished writing the post.
and its now 11 years, not 10. anyway...).
hi folks.
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88JM
Whoa whoa hang on guys - I haven't posted anything yet lol!
Oh dear - this thread is going wrong in so many ways...
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25
11 years of compiled yearbook statistics: spreadsheet downloads
by 88JM in(edit: sorry about that - i clicked submit before i finished writing the post.
and its now 11 years, not 10. anyway...).
hi folks.
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88JM
(Edit: Sorry about that - I clicked submit before I finished writing the post. And its now 11 years, not 10. Anyway...)
Hi folks. I thought you might be interested in a little "back-burner" project I've been working on.
You might have seen a few of my previous threads on yearbook statistics: here and here. I thought these tables were sort of useful, but sadly time-consuming to produce as I was typing them in manually by hand.
I decided to investigate whether I could scan tables from yearbooks and then covert them to Excel worksheets with an OCR program. I discovered that this was possible, and worked pretty well (though is still somewhat a manual process).
Therefore, I can now present to you at the bottom of this post, downloads for yearbook statistics from 2002 to 2012 in Excel table format.
I plan to work back through more years in the coming weeks/months as time allows.
To explain, what you have here below is all the data for all countries given in yearbooks for the last 11 years. However, these are not just "crude scans". As you might be aware, there are some countries that are "dropped" (merged?), while others are "added" (gain independance?). For example, Tajikistan statistics stopped in 2007 etc.
This is where I could do with your help. For some countries, it is possible to recalculate the figures where the parts that change which make up the statistic are known. This can usually allow "like-for-like", year on year comparisons. (sorry - this is maybe more complicated than it sounds)
For example, the "USA" statistics up until 2006 included Alaska and Hawaii. In 2007, Alaska was included in the USA statistic. In 2011, Hawaii was added to the USA statistic. Because we know this, we can add Alaska to the USA statistic for years before 2007, and likewise we can add Hawaii for years before 2011. This allows us to have new row with a "like-for-like" comparison year-on-year, and produce a fair graph, for example. I was able to do the same with Israel/Palistine figures for 2011/2012.
The above scenarios are examples of where countries change - and are possibly relatively simple scenarios compared to the ones below. Now my own geo-historical knowledge isn't great, so I wondered if any of you can help see if I could do to other countries as I have been able to do for the USA and Israel/Palestine. Perhaps it might not be possible for all - Yugoslavia might get tricky, for instance. This is the list of countries I need information for, specifically, what country they merged with or gained independance from:
- Belau - removed in 2005
- Comoros - removed in 2004
- Montenegro - introduced in 2007
- Saint Barthelemy - introduced in 2012
- Saint Martin (watch spelling with "Saint Maarten"!) - introduced in 2012
- South Sudan - introduced in 2012
- Tajikistan - removed in 2007
- Timor-Leste - introduced in 2012
- Yugoslavia, F. R. - removed in 2002
Oh, and lastly the downloads.
The first file has tables presented pretty much as the yearbook presents them. Each year is in a separate tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Now while these are possibly "interesting", they don't make it very easy to compare "year-by-year" statistics or create graphs, unless you use complicated cross-sheet formulas (ain't nobody got time for that!). Hopefully you will find the second file more useful.
Yearbook Stats 2002 - 2012:
http://depositfiles.com/files/t4xhx9n5l
MIRROR: http://www.fileflyer.com/view/J2XhWAb
This second .xls file has each statistic field in a separate tab with each year in a column, and is far more useful for year-by-year graphs etc.
Yearbook Stats by Field 2002 - 2012:
http://depositfiles.com/files/aj02x7lej
MIRROR: http://www.fileflyer.com/view/J2XhWAb
Here are the scans of the actual pages if anyone cares to inspect/compare:
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/pSkAqAj ( 5.98 MB PDF )
MIRROR: http://depositfiles.com/files/vjos5a7ws ( 5.98 MB PDF )
As a disclaimer, I should mention that I don't expect these tables to be perfect - there will almost certainly still be errors that I haven't spotted. They were scanned by hand in a flatbed scanner and put through an OCR program, which does recognize characters wrongly sometimes. If you do find any numbers that are wrong, please PM me and I will fix them and re-upload with a "changeset log" for everyone to see. Oh, and lastly, do ignore the grid references in brackets next to the country names - I couldn't be bothered to remove them! I do hope you find the tables useful - I'm excited to see what you can do with them.
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34
Elders! Elders everywhere!
by Julia Orwell inan elder came around this morning at 9am to ask if my husband wanted to come with him on a bible study.
my husband nipped from the bathroom to the bedroom in his undies to get dressed, while i talked to the elder!
the elder talked about how he just happened to think my husband might be free this morning, and just happened to get a call from someone wanting a bible study, and then he said to me, "why don't you come visit my house some time?
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88JM
I think a lot of elders are "on alert" after that last training school. Give it time, and they will give up.
There has been a wave of sheparding visits in our congregation recently with the most bizzare counsel being given from trigger-happy elders.
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Crazy public talk last Sunday: The Origin of Humans - Does It Matter What You Believe?
by 88JM infrom the congregation that brought you these watchtower comments, i thought you would enjoy some selected quotes from the public talk we had last sunday from the crazy talk outline: "the origin of humansdoes it matter what you believe?".
it's amazing this talk outline is still allowed - some of the material is hilarious, and the arguments are so wild and misrepresented.
i still have the audio file if you can bear to listen to it, i could pm you a link.
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88JM
I know I shouldn't expect much from the org, so this talk was no surprise. I guess I hoped for more plausible discussion on shoring up creationism but the whole talk was mostly just evolution bashing done badly. I don't think "disproving" evolution nescessarily equates to "proving" creationism - surely there should be some attempt to address both sides?
A lot of these arguments feel so tired and outdated now. I mean, the point on "we have no morals without a creator" has been extensively discussed by folks like Dawkins and Hitchens. Can't the org at least try to update it's own argument to address them?
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Crazy public talk last Sunday: The Origin of Humans - Does It Matter What You Believe?
by 88JM infrom the congregation that brought you these watchtower comments, i thought you would enjoy some selected quotes from the public talk we had last sunday from the crazy talk outline: "the origin of humansdoes it matter what you believe?".
it's amazing this talk outline is still allowed - some of the material is hilarious, and the arguments are so wild and misrepresented.
i still have the audio file if you can bear to listen to it, i could pm you a link.
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88JM
"If there was a brain in the room it would have exploded." - designs
I think mine did! I found this talk is insulting not just to evolutionists, but it actually makes the creationists argument look worse too.
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Seven Thousand Year Creative Day still being taught (as of 2005)
by VM44 inhere is a photo of a gilead instructor (br.
liverance) teaching a class on chronology.. the photo appears in a blog entry dated 5-21-2005.. note the "6,000" and "1,000" periods in the timeline drawn on the whiteboard.. i thought the 7,000 year creative day was no longer taught, but apparently it still is at gilead, at least in the year 2005.. (picture cannot be embedded here for some reason, so here is the link to it).
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ydnht0xya-4/sbukuolyzei/aaaaaaaaacs/t-rgxaammbg/s1600-h/chronology+%28br.+liverance%29.jpg.
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88JM
Our public talk on Sunday was related to this subject, though there was no mention of the length of "creative days":
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Crazy public talk last Sunday: The Origin of Humans - Does It Matter What You Believe?
by 88JM infrom the congregation that brought you these watchtower comments, i thought you would enjoy some selected quotes from the public talk we had last sunday from the crazy talk outline: "the origin of humansdoes it matter what you believe?".
it's amazing this talk outline is still allowed - some of the material is hilarious, and the arguments are so wild and misrepresented.
i still have the audio file if you can bear to listen to it, i could pm you a link.
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88JM
From the congregation that brought you these Watchtower comments, I thought you would enjoy some selected quotes from the public talk we had last Sunday from the crazy talk outline: "THE ORIGIN OF HUMANS—DOES IT MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE?"
It's amazing this talk outline is still allowed - some of the material is hilarious, and the arguments are so wild and misrepresented. I still have the audio file if you can bear to listen to it, I could PM you a link. Here are some quotes from the talk...
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"Was life created or are you and I just the result of random undirected events?"
"I would say the long-going debate into the cause of life is probably one of the top three objections that people might bring up in our ministry. But today we're not going to discuss a lot of the evidence for the answer to this question. What we're concerned about today is if it matters what you believe."
"Now there are many varied beliefs about how we got here. Even the people who seem best placed to answer this question may be very educated who who've studied it - they can't agree."
"Often the explanation they give isn't one that we'd expect from someone in their position. For example consider the thoughts of a man who worked in many different universities as a professor of theology. As an academic, he studied the scriptures to a great extent as well as Catholic traditions and teachings extensively. He speaks German, French and Italian fluently, and also has a good command of Latin, English, Spanish and can read ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew. Really this man has a background rooted in theological and classical studies. And since April 2005 until just over a week ago he was known as Pope Benedict XVI. And what has this religious leader said about the origin of life? He said: "there are so many scientific points in favor of the evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and which enritches our knowledge of life. So maybe not what you'd expect from the pope."
"Now consider the views of a scientific researcher and agnostic who has systematically studied aspects of paleontology, fossils, molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry, a man who's really grounded in science and academia. The molecular biologist Michael Denton concluded to the theory of evolution is "more like a principle of medieval astrology than a serious scientific theory.""
"Now, the most common beliefs about about how we got here are: evolution - by which through a series of events, simple single cells developed into all the life we see around us, and creation by which God designed each species on the planet and created them as we know them today. But then, these two theories are split into many different ideas and even some people will combine the two and believe in theistic evolution - they believe that God created maybe that single cell then has guided evolution to create what we see around us today."
"Many believe that evolution means that life forms are constantly, gradually evolving - slowly changing through each generation, so that some traits become less common and some that are more beneficial become more dominant. Others say there's not really evidence for that, so perhaps things stay pretty much the same for thousands maybe millions of years but then something suddenly causes rapid change. So again lots of different thoughts on those time periods involved in how it all works."
"[After reading Genesis 1:24] So it is in this sixth creative period, that land mammals were formed, each according to its kind. You notice that the various kinds were created separately - domestic animal, wild beast. And within the different kinds there could be great variety as we see in cat-kind, dog-kind, or even human-kind."
"What about human-kind? The ancient record tells us that the creator eventually chose to create a truly unique form of life."
"[After reading Genesis 1:26-27] So the belief in creation and the belief in evolution cannot be reconciled with each other according to the bible. Evolution directly contradicts the bibles account of creation."
"Historians admit that evolution has has changed human behavior. It's encouraged different animal-like behavior and uh... attitudes. Evolution equates humans with animals and it affect the way people think about themselves. If we're just developed animals, then like other animals, life's purpose is simply to propagate genes by whatever means. Some self-help books refer to "evolutionary psychology" and one of them describes human nature as: "not very different from chimpanzee nature, gorrilla nature, or baboon nature" and it states: "when it comes to evolution, it's reproduction that counts." Now this is going to affect people isn't it? Belief in the evolution leads people to reason badly on what is right and what is wrong. If we're animals and there isn't any creator anyway then who is to say what's right or wrong. If we only live to pass on a genetic material then immorality is natural, and any sense of family loyalty we feel, or love is merely some sort of genetic ploy to ensure the survival of our offspring."
"Since as early as 1859 when Charles Darwin published his book on The Origin of Species, people began to note a loss of faith and a general demoralization in society."
"[After reading Colossians 2:8] So philosophy includes how humans endeavour to understand and explain the origins and underlying causes of reality. Paul warns against human philosophy because if we choose to follow human philosophy it can be harmful - it can influence uss negatively, demoralize us and often harm our hope."
"Consider that evolution doesn't satisfy man's quest for the meaning of life. A problem that's fundamental to the theory of evolution is the vast gulf that separates humans from animals. According to evolutionists, our brain is three times as large as we would expect for a primate of our build, and also the human brain is the only organ in the known universe that seeks to understand itself. But evolution can't explain the vast differences between us and animal's brains. They just seem to be programmed eat, sleep and reproduce."
"Also morality and conscience remain a puzzle to evolutionists. What are the functions of humor and laughter? Why do people make deathbed confessions? What is the exact function of grief - once the person has died, how does it help them? Sadly, evolutions cannot provide satisfying answers to these most common of questions."
"Now another major flaw in the evolution model is the evidence the for wheather mankind is really improving - evolving, mentally and morally. Darwin wrote in The Origin of Species that: "...all corporeal and mental endowments would tend to progress towards perfection." Twentieth-century Priest and Biologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin agreed with this, theorizing eventually there would occur "...an evolution of the minds of the entire human race. Everyone would harmoniously work toward one goal."
"But rather than seeing the predicted improvements that evolution suggests, we've seen as humans in general gradually accept this theory they slip further into barbarianism."
"Consider that more than a hundred million people were killed in the wars of the twentieth century - some fifty million in world war two alone. Also consider the ethnic slaughter that's gone on in different places such as Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Now while evolution cannot be blamed for these things it has been used to justify some of these atrocities and it's helped to push the human family into ever greater hatred, crime, violence, immorality and degradation."
"But does the bible satisfy these flaws that we've found in the evolutionary model? What does the bible have to say about the relationship between humans and animals? The bible recognizes that we have some things in common. [Reads Genesis 1:24 again, then Genesis 2:7]"
"So these similarities are like different paintings maybe that a craftsmen or an artist has created. An artist or craftsman will use the same subject matter, familiar materials, or similar brush strokes. Creation bears evidence of one systematic artist."
"Unless we properly satisfy the need to be in touch with our creator we cannot find true and lasting happiness."
The human body, particularly the brian, shows that it was designed to last. Each human brain contains between ten billion to a hundred billion neurons. Each one of those neurons can communicate with up to two hundred thousand other neurons, so making billions of different connections possible. Two scientists wiriting in scientific american wrote: "in every page is a formidable powerhouse, a compact efficient organ whose capacity seems to expand further towards infinity the more we learn of it. No men yet exists who can use all the potential of his brain. This is why we don't accept any pessimistic estimates of the limits of the human brain - it is unlimited."
"We saw that accoring to evoultionary theory, we started out as simple, single trans-cells and we should be improving over time. As a race we should be getting further from anamalistic behavior and getting towards perfection."
"[After reading Deuteronomy 32:4] It is sins harmful effects that introduced undesirable traits into mankind's nature."
"Now, according to evolution, chance rules. Hence evolution offers no sure hope for the future. Evolution is harmful because it justifies animalistic behaviour and it clashes with our God-given conscience."
[Discusses the "Was Life Created?" brochure, reads Psalm 37:10,11]
"The evidence is clear - life was created."
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Download the outline: http://depositfiles.com/files/ti7kcykq2
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Can You Make A Image Of The Governing Body Riding "The Wild Beast" UN?
by ÁrbolesdeArabia inhow would someone photoshop the governing body riding the wild beast from the revelation climax book?
i will print and pass out hundreds if i can get a good photo of this.
let's preach "religion is a snare and a racket" .
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88JM
Oh well it was a bit of therapy for me anyway, though I would agree it's probably best not to use an image like this.
It would make for an interesting judicial committee discussion though...
