Posts by 88JM

106

The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

isn't going to be wonderful??.

not being there..

The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

isn't going to be wonderful??.

not being there..

88JM

Thank you for providing the final attendance number for England: 149,174.

Does that include attendance numbers for Wales and Scotland?

Yes, I can verify that it includes Wales, Scotland and Ireland - the same number was announced in Scotland (watching the same live feed). They actually announced the numbers for each individual convention (someone probably has those if you are interested) - so there was no fudging going on. Keeping in mind that Twickenham was an international convention, so the grand total is quite a bit larger than a normal year for Britain - you can't really use it to calculate growth percentages (as I've seen some doing) as it includes international delegates as well as many many children who would not be counted as publishers in the "official" statistics report that is produced. Sadly, it does mean that percentage figure will probably be a bit higher. There is also still the last convention in Coventry still to go, so sadly more baptisms to add to that figure as well :(

9

This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated."

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

this is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated, general martin e. dempsey, u.s. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on thursday.. .

he sounds like he's talking about jws.

but he's actually referring to isis.

88JM

It seems like ISIS are one more in a long history of fanatical splinter groups from mainstream Islam and have also pitted themselves against other splinter groups like Al Qaeda, who consider them an enemy.

Maybe ISIS itself will splinter - it's not uncommon for in-fighting within these groups to happen when there is disagreement. The situation is already very messy, with fighting between so many sides, but I can see it getting even worse if more splinter groups set themselves against each other.

5

jw apps spying on us?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

hi everyone i'm back from the hell that was twickers.

i have a question, there's a ton a jw related apps available for download.

is it possible for these apps to be able to spy on the user once downloaded on to the tablet or phone?

88JM

Apps do have to go through an approval process to be on the Android Store (Google Play) or the Apple Store/iTunes. If anyone is an app developer, you will know that even the simplest apps go through this process and are tested just as thoroughly by Google and Apple.

If there was anything dodgy going on that wasn't part of the app specifications then it would be shown up in that process. There are far more malocious people than the WTBTS who would love to create apps to spy on you and steal your data, so Google and Apple have to have a pretty rigorous process to stop that.

The worst I can imagine the WTBTS doing is storing the ID and/or location of your phone against a database of any searches you make on the online library, but even that would require way too much computing power and storage space to justify what could be done with that info.

106

The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

isn't going to be wonderful??.

not being there..

88JM

"The worst bit was the resurrection video. To play on peoples' emotions like that is simply wrong."

SO many people were talking about THAT video after the convention. I actually found the experience quite disturbing and I can't quite put my finger on it. The video was without any dialogue I think, and not very long, but for some reason it was enough to move almost everyone close to tears. I felt weird that I seemed to be the only one around me not visibly moved by such a blatent appeal to emotion. I wouldn't know how to accurately identify mass hysteria, but that seemed pretty damn close to it.

The thing is though, it clearly had the desired effect it's creators intended, and people kept talking about it. I can see them repeating this strategy much more in future.

106

The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

isn't going to be wonderful??.

not being there..

88JM

Jeez who's idea was it to put John Andrews on Sunday afternoon after lunch when everyone is already asleep - it seems like he's just rambling, even worse than Sam Herd. I think he's modelling his hairstyle on David Splane though.

Now its the "drama". Can't say I'm all that keen on it just being a video. I know the stage stuff was a bit corny and with bad voice-overs but somehow it was far more engaging at least. The video seems to be such boring camera work - I guess they couldn't afford steadicam.

106

The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

isn't going to be wonderful??.

not being there..

88JM

Haha no bigmac - its a roman sculpture of two people wrestling - an apt metaphor I thought. I think its a copy of a Rodin sculpture - I came across it at a country estate house in Ireland.

In other news, the convention BS continues.

They said "everyone spoke Hebrew before the tower of Babel". No attempt to back it up of course.

They did a "cuddle with lions and tigers" in the new system talk with a very awkward and unrealistic conversation of some teenagers discussing their ideas for the new system.

Now they're doing a talk about "new scrolls" from a verse that doesn't even say "new scolls", and just making up crap that these imaginary new scrolls might contain.

The B.S. is coming thick and fast this morning...

106

The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

isn't going to be wonderful??.

not being there..

88JM

It was down in the program as an audio drama, but it was more like the Stephen Lett show interrupted with a few bible verses. They really have to stick their mug in everywhere these days, don't they? It's like a popularity contest to see who can get the most coverage - Herd giving talks, Lett doing videos and Morris on the invitations. Oh and the bible verses were read by Jackson come to think of it.

2

Symposium: Those Who Will Inherit God's Kingdom

by 88JM in

it's been said before that once you know ttatt, then you listen with very different ears to talks at conventions.

i thought the second symposium this year on saturday morning of the convention was particularly terrible - here's what i had as the summary of the four parts:.

those "who are poor".

88JM

It's been said before that once you know TTATT, then you listen with very different ears to talks at conventions. I thought the second symposium this year on Saturday morning of the convention was particularly terrible - here's what I had as the summary of the four parts:

Those "Who Are Poor"

- According to this talk, Jesus wasn't referring to literal poverty at Luke 6:20. Without any justification, they did some gymnastics by linking it to Matthew 5:3 trying to show that Jesus was apparently referring to some sort of spiritual poverty/being aware of a spiritual need.

Those Who "Become as Young Children"

- According to the WTBTS, being as young children means being obeying without question, and trying to show mindlless enthusiasm for preaching, even if we don't enjoy it.

Those "Persecuted for Righteousness' Sake"

- They only really mentioned phyisical persecution in 3rd world countries, but they made the mistake of picking Malawi as an example and the brothers not buying party-political cards etc. I think we all know the hypocrisy of that situation - I can't believe they still have the tenacity to use it as an example.

Those Who Help Christ's Brothers

- "Christ's brothers" in this context only referrs to the anointed, of course (there was no reference to even attempt back this up) and the talk was an advertisment for many ways to waste your time in various avenues of construction, pioneering etc.

106

The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

isn't going to be wonderful??.

not being there..

88JM

63 baptised here in Glasgow, Scotland (28 male, 35 female) from an attendance of 8164.

About par for Scotland from what I remember from previous years - maybe a few more than the last few conventions.

Anecdotal observation: the young/old split of baptisms was about a 50/50 split - not all teenagers but certainly a sizeable amount. I don't think I saw any pre-teen, really young kids getting baptised - maybe one young boy who could possibly have come into that category.

Definitely the most boring convention ever. And I think Sam Herd is back on this afternoon...