88JM

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Posts by 88JM

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  50

  Recent changes

  by Thumblina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was on this board a lot when i faded and left 6 years ago but not been on much since.

  is there any thread/s in particular to read showing the changes in the past 5 years?

  or any kind willing person who has time to summarise them as a reply below??

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  88JM

  Yes, and those who chow down on the crackers and cheap booze at the reject Jesus party are mentally unstable too
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  50

  Recent changes

  by Thumblina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was on this board a lot when i faded and left 6 years ago but not been on much since.

  is there any thread/s in particular to read showing the changes in the past 5 years?

  or any kind willing person who has time to summarise them as a reply below??

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  88JM

  Thanks jgnat - I forgot about all that other crap!

  "Brazen conduct" is the new "catch-all" term for anything the elders feel they can disfellowship someone for

  Blood transfusions are all but officially a "conscience matter" though if done "brazenly" it could land you in trouble. Publishers are still encouraged to carry a medical directive card though.

  Much of the stuff to do with events in Jesus' parables in Matthew that were previously tied to events around 1914-1919 and after have now been moved to after the start of the great tribulation.

  The "faithful slave" now did not exist until 1919, and the term is now interchangeable with "governing body", meaning Charles Russel was now not part of the FDS.

  Wearning tight trousers will now get you into trouble in Italy and with certain governing body members who will automatically brand you homosexual.

  Just because you are deaf does not mean you are allowed to masturbate, as shown in one official JW sign-language publication that went viral on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytYykOop6HI
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  50

  Recent changes

  by Thumblina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was on this board a lot when i faded and left 6 years ago but not been on much since.

  is there any thread/s in particular to read showing the changes in the past 5 years?

  or any kind willing person who has time to summarise them as a reply below??

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  88JM

  Many branch offices have been shut down and consolidated

  New "schools" for couples and single brothers and sisters with focus mostly on training for circuit work/special pioneers. Requirements are fairly relaxed, taking entrants from 18 to 65 I think.

  The above school replaces the Ministerial Training School and also mostly Gilead which is greatly downscaled and very much "special" invitation only now.

  "Generation" doctrine has been re-worked at least twice in the last 5 years

  Circuit assemblys are now only 1 day, meaning there are currently two 1-day assemblys, plus the 3-day disctrict convention, which are now called "regional conventions"

  More "zone visits" in english speaking countries which are mostly like an extra 1-day assembly, but are mostly invitation only. Often they are broadcast to be projected in other assembly halls and venues where JWs are "invited". The Governing Body AGM in the USA is now also broadcast in english speaking countries to assembly halls and venues, and is also invitation only, mostly.

  Public Watchtower and Awake are now only 16 pages thin, and both are monthly. Monthly study Watchtower is still 32-pages and there is also a "simplified" language version in English at least.

  New World Translation has been slightly tweaked and Revised edition was released last year, removing some older language and some bizzare phrasings, and is now silver in color

  More focus on the JW.org website - it's on all Watchtower and Awake's, all new brochures and tracts and campaign tracts

  Auxilliary pioneering hours are 50 hours on most months, but some months there is now the option to auxilliary pioneer only doing 30 hours on campaign months, the month of the memorial and a month where the C.O. is visiting

  There are now at least 2 flyer/tract based campaigns a year - one for the memorial and one for the district convention. Some years there may be 3 flyer/tract campaigns if they decide to do a "Kingdom News" flyer (I think there is one in August this year?)

  Tracts, including campaign tracts are now recorded on publisher report slips under the "brochures" column

  More pressure to stop JW kids going into higher education. If an MS or Elder lets his kids do so, the official proceedure is to "review" him, and supposedly remove him, but rules are more relaxed in some congregations.
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  35

  Family of 4 in Miami FL Partakes

  by James Jackson in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  kendall lakes congregation (miami fl usa), partook of the emblems.

  he is an elder(40), his wife and their 2 daughters (21 &19), all 4 are also regular pioneers.

  another 6 pioneers in that congregation partook of the emblems..

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  88JM

  Haha!

  Upcoming Questions from Readers - "Will my dad still be able to excercise headship over me in heaven or will we be equal kings and priests?"
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  59

  Any gay exJW's?

  by Trapped in JW land in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was just wondering how many gay exjw's were on this site, and how did you deal with being in this organization?

  and also, how did you end up leaving?.

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  88JM

  I'm always amazed at the gay ex-JWs that don't get angry at what this cult put them through - some people seem to be better at letting go and moving on with their lives. Sometimes I feel so angry for having to go through it all, and especially for those still trapped in as many have said.

  A link to the study below was posted here a while ago, and I think it's really good at putting into words the dual stigmatism that being gay and being a JW involves:

  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2010.517076?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed
  ("Download full text" link to the PDF in the green box)
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  25

  Circuit Overseer says the Theocretic Ministry School may become a thing of the past

  by Brother Mike in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my congregation was in charge of host week where the d.o.

  spend the week with a congregation the week before an assembly.

  didn't show up because he was "sick" so the c.o.

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  88JM

  That makes sense if other rumors are true that assembly's are being cut down to a two-day district/"regional" and two special assembly days - they'll be keeping the programs as lean as possible.
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  10

  Can Ministerial Servant give a prayer for wine or bread at the Memorial?

  by Iamallcool in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there was a guy in his early 20's that gave the prayer for the bread or wine at my memorial (i just do not remember which one, wine or bread?

  ) he does not look like elder material at all.

  if ms can't give the prayer at the memorial, then he must be an elder by now.

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  88JM

  Yes - I was asked as an MS despite there being other elders. Some congregations like to rotate things around a bit. Or maybe some elders just "delegate" more.
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  51

  So Spill the Beans, Brothers: Were There More or Fewer At this Year's Bore-Fest

  by steve2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the jw date-worshipped memorial has just completed its bleak worldwide commemoration.

  that wasn't a dust cloud you saw; it was a millionfold hearts limply beating themselves into another round of great tribulation expectations.

  i was knocked into a deep, deep sleep by the imagined experience of being at several thousand consecutive kingdom halls as the platformed drones spat forth the predictable sludge that, once released, hits and stains white clothing and bleach is useless.. we know that memorial attendance worldwide has dipped for two consecutive years since 2011 when it reached a high of 19,374,737 and for the promised land, obama's usa, the all time memorial attendance high was also 2011 when it hit over 2.5million (2,563,518) but shrunk in shame back to 2,502,055 in 2012 and spluttered upwards a handful or two to 2,504,114 last year.. so, what was attendance at the date-obsessed bore-fest this year in your neck of the woods?

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  88JM

  71 here (small congregation) - most they've ever had here, but only by a few.

  Again, I would echo the sentiment that the tract campaign was pretty innefective. 4000 tracts were ordered, and about 3800 were placed.

  Most of the visitors who were there were already bible studies or return visits - I can only think of one person that came off the back of the tract campaign alone.
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  44

  OMG!! Andre from the YPA video gave our Memorial talk.. My thoughts:

  by BU2B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  our memorial was held at a music hall with roughly 1300-1400 in attendance.

  there was a guest speaker from bethell, guess who??

  andre!

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  88JM

  " Thank goodness no jw.org stuff at our Memorial. "

  Are you sure? It was in the letter that gets read out at the end? Did your elders just forget it or something?
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  6

  Was Mark the template for the other gospel accounts?

  by awakening in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was checking out why the watchtower study was using the book of matthew regarding the last days during the meeting.

  i read somewhere, and please correct me if i am wrong, that mark was written in advance of the other accounts.. i thought the differences were startling.

  mark makes no mention of "as in the days of noah".

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  88JM

  While I don't always endorse Wikipedia, they do have some pretty good articles on this kind of stuff:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markan_priority

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_source

  See also this thread:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/246339/1/Markan-priority-and-the-synoptic-gospels