Journeyman

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Posts by Journeyman

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  10

  R & F JW's ARE agents of the org....

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ....despite the cult's denials.. w51 6/15 p. 378 par.

  23 the spirit, the organization, and the word - his theocratic organization recognizes your authority from his word, the bible.

  so it uses you as one of its representatives in the field and it co-operates with you, supplies your needs, and renders you assistance..

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  Journeyman

  we had "Identification Cards" that we always carried to identify us as representatives of the WT

  Even when I was first associating in the 1990s we still had those, but they disappeared not long after. I was surprised at the time as I thought it was a good idea, making us more "legit" and "official" to householders, just as any service approaching people door-to-door such as gas and electric engineers, plumbers, police, etc, have ID cards to prove their origin. But now I realised the org wanted to cut the potential legal commitment and implications they brought.

  As for the OP's comment that "R&F JW's ARE agents of the org" - that's now "old light". The article you quote is over 70 years old! The GB 2.0 have made it abundantly clear that you're on your own these days when it comes to anything like:

  • Witnessing from door-to-door or using literature trolleys
  • Writing letters to neighbours
  • Social activities - they even specifically said that no social events should be called 'congregation gatherings' because they are not authorised as such by the org, as I recall.

  The removal of the publisher ID card was another step to cutting any apparent 'official' authorisation from the org.

  Even the revised second baptism question says "Do you understand that your baptism identifies you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with Jehovah’s organization?" - note, not "as a member of", but just "in association with" - a weasel-phrase which could be interpreted as loosely as possible when it suits.
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  93

  Regional Convention Attendance

  by XBEHERE in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  elder friend of mine texted me asking what my rc attendance was 2 weeks ago (family and i streamed it since wife is not well).

  he told me that his rc in the jersey city assembly hall last weekend was low.

  co told them that around 2600 were the total from 16+ congs that were assigned.

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  Journeyman

  A few newer posts on the reddit page regarding conventions in the US.

  One from someone at the aptly-named Nutter centre in Dayton, Ohio: "Attendance where I am today is around 4500. Pre COVID 8k-10k was the normal."

  Someone else added that they can remember when attendance there used to be around 12,000.

  From another convention, a new PIMO wrote: "More lax rules too it seems. No brothers in the halls carrying the “QUIET” signs, more multicolored hair dyes, more of Tony’s favorite “tight pants,” stuff like that."
  "There’s about 3,600 people here today. Before COVID we used to average close to 4,000 or a bit above."

  As it's a Sunday it will be 'peak' attendance at a whole new set of conventions in the USA, UK and elsewhere - anyone else got anecdotal evidence of a drop in numbers or change in mood at their convention this weekend?
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Journeyman

  his patron just increased to 503??

  Yes, we've seen that a few times before. It might be just a few late renewals or a couple of new subscribers. Some have speculated he might even be artificially boosting the numbers himself, but I don't know.

  Either way, even if he gains a few here or there, it's not stopping the overall downward trend. As Simon said earlier, a "temporary blip is no long-term solution to his problems".

  The reality is he will never get back to his past peak of nearly 900, and I'm sure that's a constant irritation to him, but one he still refuses to blame himself for. His ego prevents him from accepting blame, he'd rather turn that on all his supposed "enemies".
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  28

  Rainbow 🌈 Law Makers will turn on Religion NOT the UN

  by JohnTron7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it should be starting to become more clear to people what i've stated for years on this site.

  the threat against religion that becomes pivotal will come from lgbtq politicians forcing through " hate crime" bills aimed at religions.

  in the past i have had a " maybe" statement from only one commenter.

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  Journeyman

  I don’t understand how so many ex-Witnesses can leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but at the same time still believe in their theology. If you still believe the stuff the teach, why aren’t you a Witness?

  It's perfectly possible to believe in or agree with some of the theology and Bible interpretation of the JWs without accepting it all unquestioningly, and without worshipping a group of men in New York, just as it's possible to believe some of the teachings of the RC, Anglican, Baptist or other churches without buying into all the church doctrine and hierarchy.

  The same principle applies to politics: you can agree with some or many of the founding principles of the Republican or Democrat parties (in the USA) or the Conservative or Labour parties (in the UK) or whoever, without supporting the parties themselves, voting for them or fully buying into their membership and behaviour.

  To think otherwise is quite narrow-minded, and is precisely what's contributing to this increasingly negative and polarised "us vs them" world we live in now, where it's getting hard to have any reasonable debate without it turning into a shouting match or - like this whole LGBT thing - an excuse for dismissing or "cancelling" other people's opinions.
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Journeyman

  Ok, I went back to page 892 where fastJehu transcribed LE's begging video of April (I wasn't going to play it again) and here's what he said then about his Patreon numbers:

  "We don't have quite enough patrons. We need to get from 430 as it is now to at least 500, and preferably for this to be viable and for us to be putting money away for a rainy day, we need to get back to that 620 figure."

  So right now, he's operating at his minimum preferred level again. He probably inflated the number he needs though, and besides his expectation is that his followers carry him so I'm sure he's not really financially struggling yet. But still, it will be a blow to his ego to be back down at that level. And if the decline continues over the next few months it could wipe out all his recent gains...
  
  
  

  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Journeyman

  Ozzie post is currently the winner 👀👀👀

  Yep - down to 500 right now - but it may go lower yet! The 500 number is a psychologically important barrier, and lower than that will probably be quite a hit to his revenue too. Didn't he say 500 was the minimum where it needed to be to make it financially viable for him in the longer term?
  
  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Journeyman

  Based on the table I produced last month, he's seen a drop of about 30 every month since his brief recovery after the "Things are bad" begging video, so there might still be another 10 or so to go!

  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Journeyman

  It's 14:10 UK time (13:10 UTC) and the Patreon count is down to 512... but may change again today.

  What time are you calling the deadline, Toblerone?

  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Journeyman

  That didn't stop him from posting the first one.

  Exactly. So if he's "still deciding" about posting this one, then it must be really bad and he knows it!!
  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Journeyman

  "Still deciding" - in other words, it must be really bad.