Posts by 88JM

136

List of UK Travelling Overseers in 2013

by soiledumpling in

hi pepeep am attempting to get a current list of uk travelling overseers.

left 4 years ago and have heard rumours of many new ones.

.

88JM

I didn't know about Tony's breakdown. It does explain a lot though. Our circuit never really got on with him. Even before he came we heard about his reputation as someone who went around dissolving congregations - a.k.a. "Hurri-Cain Tony".

He had the reputation of only befriending certain elders who towed the line and brow-nosed him ("Tony's Cronies") and if you weren't one of those, then you got picked on.

He seemed to take the bizzare position of making more demands and "suggestions" than anyone could ever handle, in the hope that you would at least follow through on some of them and some good would come out of it in the end.

I don't think he seriously intended you to meet all his demands - if he did, then he had no grasp of what people can handle. It put a lot of pressure on everyone, especially those who took his demands seriously. It did not make for a good atmosphere, to say the least. One elder confessed to me it felt like: "every elders' meeting they had been hit over the head."

136

List of UK Travelling Overseers in 2013

by soiledumpling in

hi pepeep am attempting to get a current list of uk travelling overseers.

left 4 years ago and have heard rumours of many new ones.

.

88JM

Justin Shaw is the new District Overseer for Scotland.

Alasdair Lambie is the new Circuit Overseer for the Angus (no. 1?) circuit in the north.

Steven Clark was the previous District Overseer.

Tony Cain was the previous Circuit Overseer for Ayrshire (no. 1?) - his new assignment is in South Wales covering Bridgend area I believe.

13

Not on JW.org; TIME MAGAZINE: 2/3rds Jehovah's Witnesses children leave church, per Pew Research. Highest turnover of any US church.

by Balaamsass in

time magazineamerica's unfaithful faithfulby david van biema monday, feb. 25, 2008/.post-meta .

template id = 4881 template name = html blank ad adid: 216237921 share/.share-fb/.share-tw place this tag where you want the +1 button to render place this render call where appropriate /.share-gpinshare0/.share-in/.share-buttonsaladdin color, inc. / corbis .

/.entry-thumbrelateda lead on the ark of the covenant/.related-contentemailprintsharefacebooktwittertumblrlinkedinstumbleuponredditdiggmixxdel.i.ciousgoogle+reprintsfollow @time.

88JM

These findings are certainly corroborated by the stats in Britain:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/244419/2/JWs-in-the-UK-27-years-of-yearbook-stats-and-stagnation

32

Fukushima nuclear reactor cores have melted into the ground!

by moshe in

a newly released scientific study (done some time ago) on a similar tva ge mk1 reactor has determined the uncovered reactor core would have melted through the steel reactor vessel and over 20ft of concrete containment floor in 15 hours-the 500+ degree air temperatures would have melted and blown out all the conduit and pipe seals going into the containment building allowing a free escape of radiation to the atmosphere.

they are still trying to keep the spent fuel pools covered in water and prevent the used fuel rods from catching on fire- that is a separate disaster.. .

88JM

Where is Jane Fonda when we need her...

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

26

Is God Truly Omnipotent??

by Cold Steel in

while acknowledging god as the most powerful force in the universe, i wonder if he is omnipotent.

this thought came to me as i watched an old star trek: tng, where everyone's favorite fictional omnipotent being, q, was featured.. .

if he is omnipotent, why could he not remove the "bitter cup" of suffering from christ in the garden?

88JM

" he has the power to lie, but his nature restricts him from doing so "

When I was a JW, this is pretty much what I had in mind. I guess the question that would pose would possibly be: "Could be he capable of going against his own nature, even if he wanted to?"

I don't personally think the bible does point towards an all powerful God, though many JWs who haven't taken the time to think about it would say it does - I don't think JWs like the idea of a limited God.

The same goes for omniscience - if that is the case then everything is pre-destined. I think both omnipotence and omniscience are ideas borrowed from elsewhere, most probably Greeks, but I'm not sure.

Saying that, I'm not even sure myself at the moment in the existance of a God at all even, but that's a separate thing.

40

What are the best questions to ask an elder?

by DarkFireWolf in

jw
friends

so my parents cannot answer my question and are pretty much pushing me to go to the elders for an answer so i'd like to know what the best questions to ask an elder are.my first question is going to be the mediator one..and if he tells me it's the 144,000 or the anointed, i'll ask him to show me where it says that in the bible.what are some other tough questions for an elder to answer?assuming we can get past the mediator one of course.i'm going to hold off on asking about new light or 607... also, has anyone ever asked about how satan can cause wwi in july if he wasn't expelled from heaven until christ became king in october?i haven't gotten much of an answer to that either..

88JM

Why is the wearing of wedding rings is a "conscience descision" but celebrating birthdays is forbidden?

Why is one pagan thing okay but another is wrong?

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/birthdays.php

44

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

by 88JM in

jw
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:.

88JM

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:

Gradual decrease/levelling-off of baptisms.
Also that, despite the modest increase in publishers, the hours (and bible studies) are still lower in 2012 than the peak in 1993, so basically, more pubs doing less.
Despite 111,845 baptisms in 27 years, the number of average publishers has only increased by 34,259. (Surely they didn't all die or move abroad? )

Britain

	Population	Peak pubs.	Ratio of 1 pub. to:	Av. pubs.	Inc. over prev.	Baptized	Av. Aux Pio.	Av. Pio. Pubs.	Congs.	Hours	Bible Studies	Memorial Attendan.
1985 (yb86)	54,985,900	103,522	531	97,370	5	5,280	(incl. in Pio.)	9,610	1,195	18,394,121	49,368	193,898
1986	55,060,000	107,767	511	101,863	5	6,197	(incl. in Pio.)	10,835	1,213	20,070,729	52,243	198,693
1987	55,326,500	109,624	505	105,082	3	5,948	(incl. in Pio.)	12,036	1,231	21,571,972	55,165	209,172
1988	55,485,000	113,412	489	108,599	3	6,308	(incl. in Pio.)	11,927	1,257	22,103,713	56,756	211,060
1989	55,625,674	117,058	475	112,742	4	6,762	(incl. in Pio.)	12,633	1,281	23,051,109	58,143	215,210
1990	55,862,473	120,611	463	115,511	2	6,014	(incl. in Pio.)	12,851	1,311	23,304,930	57,235	222,802
1991	56,023,735	125,836	445	118,100	2	5,491	(incl. in Pio)	12,692	1,332	23,549,120	58,277	222,125
1992	56,033,899	126,173	444	120,648	2	5,162	(incl. in Pio.)	13,322	1,354	24,418,753	60,920	224,654
1993	56,656,737	127,395	445	122,245	1	5,200	(incl. in Pio.)	12,803	1,371	23,859,624	61,946	226,924
1994	56,960,428	129,852	439	123,194	1	4,764	(incl. in Pio.)	11,849	1,388	22,967,537	60,912	226,298
1995	57,155,124	132,440	432	125,138	2	4,546	(incl. in Pio.)	11,573	1,408	22,992,785	57,386	224,507
1996	57,171,849	132,516	431	124,623	0	4,758	(incl. in Pio.)	10,532	1,430	21,284,251	52,462	220,128
1997	58,155,940	129,288	450	123,318	-1	4,161	(incl. in Pio.)	10,937	1,439	20,775,842	41,102	223,301
1998	57,549,220	131,981	436	123,191	0	3,575	(incl. in Pio.)	10,138	1,452	20,088,395	36,375	214,351
1999	59,093,450	126,535	467	121,723	-1	2,844	(incl. in Pio.)	10,686	1,454	18,894,151	37,383	215,423
2000	59,093,450	126,297	468	120,592	-1	2,731	(incl. in Pio.)	11,136	1,461	18,484,412	37,373	215,620
2001	61,048,120	124,828	489	119,655	-1	2,407	(incl. in Pio.)	10,459	1,468	17,900,817	37,645	213,595
2002	58,884,235	125,398	470	120,801	1	2,504	(incl. in Pio.)	10,268	1,465	17,807,826	40,923	213,558
2003	57,333,162	125,797	456	120,478	0	2,511	(incl. in Pio.)	10,300	1,481	17,751,649	44,044	217,961
2004	58,081,288	125,546	463	120,514	0	2,573	(incl. in Pio.)	10,576	1,492	18,115,252	46,866	219,231
2005	58,355,789	127,206	459	121,166	1	2,435	3,042	(11,225) 8,183	1,500	17,997,443	46,701	215,101
2006	58,716,581	129,482	453	122,412	1	2,535	3,717	(11,285) 7,568	1,512	18,751,509	50,164	219,557
2007	58,717,435	131,877	445	125,808	3	3,383	4,564	(12,661) 8,097	1,514	20,277,208	52,032	222,545
2008	59,079,179	132,751	445	126,580	1	2,918	4,684	(13,467) 8,783	1,519	20,641,997	53,528	222,819
2009	59,842,108	133,900	447	128,435	1	2,932	4306	(13,839) 9,533	1,521	21,237,742	55,423	222,432
2010	60,237,357	134,339	448	129,230	1	2,611	3,976	(13,804) 9,828	1,533	21,124,483	55,499	222,795
2011	60,309,653	135,823	444	130,808	1	2,739	7,870	(18,199) 10,329	1,537	22,623,263	56,974	229,286
2012(yb13)	60,704,600	135,654	447	131,629	1	2,556	6,463	(17,175) 10,712	1,544	22,603,448	57,322	225,351

65

I need prayers about Engine Out Service on my Ferrari.

by james_woods in

jw
friends

should i do it this year - which would be the minimum five year interval, or wait until the maximum ten year interval?.

divine guidance is needed..

88JM

Awesome car. I was at the Maranello factory on my holiday 3 weeks ago. Was a bit disapppointed they didn't have any F40's anywhere. Are they out on tour or something?

p.s. Could you also mention my humble Ford in your prayers? I'm having injector problems. I'm sure Jay Hoover knows the licence place.

52

WTS closes/dissolves 435 congregations in 29 countries

by Gayle in

jw
friends

as listed in 2013 yearbook.. yes, most countries have increases in congregations.

most of the countries that have less congregations than last year, show 1 or 2 less.

however, poland shows a dramatic 327 congregations less, from 1,814 (2011) to 1,487. netherlands, 25 less congregations.

88JM

Just thought I would compile past years for Poland and the 2013 congregations number does indeed look like a typo.

If their branch was masking their figures and this year was "adjusted", then I can't see why they would only inflate congregation numbers and nothing else needed "adjusting".

Still, ignoring that anomaly, I found it interesting to note that their publisher numbers do seem to be basically where they were a decade ago. There were increases in some years, but they are sooner or later cancelled out so their growth looks basically flat, desipte their being 100 more congregations. As has been suspected, the population numbers certainly show an overall net migration in the past decade.

Also take a look at baptism numbers - they are nearly less than 40% of what they were in 1998. Memorial attendance is down 16% since 1998.

Poland

	Population	Peak pubs.	Ratio of 1 pub. to:	Av. pubs.	Inc. over prev.	Baptized	Av. Aux Pio.	Av. Pio. Pubs.	Congs.	Hours	Bible St.	Memorial Att.
1998 (yb98)	38649914	124955	309	123704	1	6161	(incl. in Pio.)	7544	1714	16742761	50433	246485
1999	38661700	126635	305	123592	0	4516	(incl. in Pio.)	6601	1744	15723	42062	233060
2000	(Lost my book!)
2001	38654000	125287	309	122575	0	3741	(incl. in Pio.)	7488	1759	14595905	40439	235219
2002	38641000	124086	311	123034	0	3478	(incl. in Pio.)	7313	1769	14438033	40846	235775
2003	38644000	126538	305	124294	1	3802	(incl. in Pio.)	7469	1774	14429483	43548	232766
2004	38632453	127868	302	126573	2	3709	(incl. in Pio.)	7909	1781	14759563	47361	234403
2005	38632453	128616	300	127377	1	4261	(incl. in Pio.)	8539	1794	15329734	48545	237134
2006	38175000	128519	297	127729	0	3681	3385	(8,603) 5218	1799	15214120	45850	224400
2007	38157055	127481	299	126827	-1	3728	3575	(8994) 5419	1800	15097435	45687	221004
2008	38125479	128235	297	126967	0	3811	4666	(10488) 5822	1803	16458050	44679	218539
2009	38115641	127154	300	125681	-1	3242	4356	(10530) 6274	1812	16136421	45822	213105
2010	(Lost my book!)
2011	38091951	126488	301	125193		2669	3820	(10965) 7145	1814	16569723	47322	212002
2012	38207000	126196	303	124832		2275	6674	(13867) 7193	1814	17679223	49542	213284
2013 (yb13)	38081740	125485	303	124292		2420	5952	(13460) 7508	1487	18001901	50800	206964

32

"Emergency KM School?"

by Kensho in

jw
friends

sorry if this is a dbl.

post.. talking to an elder yesterday, he stated he was going to km school next week and that it was an "emergency" km school being held all over the country and that all the circuits had to purchase projectors for the school.....but he couldn't say anything else (secret society bs)little does he know the details can be found here on jwn.. any undercover elders know what this is about?.

kensho.

88JM

Okay - that sounds very likely then - two DVDs are very marginally a little bit more difficult to copy than individual files floating around.