Our friend has recently posted a picture of receiving a new book, which was just begging for some manipulation, so...
I think Toblerone could have a great time with the source pic! 🤣
Journeyman
JoinedPosts by Journeyman
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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New musical video on jw.org / humour or sad??
by Gorb intoday i discovered the musical highlight of jehovah's witnesses, recently added to jw.org.
we had "from house to house, from door to door", but this song will be more famous!
https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=e&docid=1014316&srcid=share.
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Journeyman
The latest "original song" was released for the 2023 convention and it's here (remove the b in borg) https://www.jw.borg/en/library/music-songs/original-songs/It-Will-Not-Be-Late-2023-Convention-Song/
I don't know what the accompanying video for this is as I've not attended a convention, but this is another bland number that would have been repudiated by any JWs before the year 2000 as being too close to the kind of contemporary Christian music played by the happy-clappy brigade and American religious power pop groups of Christendom.
“It Will Not Be Late!” (2023 Convention Song)
Beauty fills the earth, wonder fills our mind
The work of your hands so patiently designed.
Though the world may change, you remain the same.
You patiently wait to make it new again.(CHORUS)
Father, we long to see Paradise come to be.
Give us the patience to wait.
We know your day will come, sure as the rising sun.
No matter how long it takes,
“It will not be late!”Faithfully we wait for the dead to rise.
Jehovah, you yearn to bring them back to life.
Father, we well know how you loved them so.
Instill in our hearts the patience you have shown.(CHORUS)
Patiently you search; honest hearts you find.
You heal them with hope and long to give them life.
Working by your side, sharing what is true,
We use our time well. It draws us close to you.(CHORUS)
Father, please help us to wait!
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Journeyman
the US dollar & the UK Euro are very close in value
The UK does not use the Euro, thank you very much! The UK uses the Pound (sterling), usually represented on markets by GBP
According to Google just now, the exact exchange rate is:
1 USD equals 0.79 GBP
1 USD to 0.92 EUROn exchange it says $10.75 = £8.45 today, so yes, right now each US publisher is paying more for their 'membership' on a strictly 1:1 basis. I don't know why, and I don't know when that UK value (£5.40) was set originally.
It also means that in theory, publishers living in EU countries should be expected to donate €9.89 per head for parity ($10.75 x 0.92) but that would depend on the relative strength of each nation's economy in the Eurozone (and also in the UK, for the British Pound). I suspect it's lower.
Things like GDP per capita and average & median incomes vary, so the relative value of 1 unit (EUR, GBP or USD) is not the same in each country.
This page illustrates what difference it can make to spending power in each country https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/blog/measuring-global-inequality-median-income-gdp-per-capita-and-the-gini-index
Other people on here who are accounting and finance experts would be better able to crunch the numbers and work out whether the rate of $10.75 in the US and £5.40 in the UK has some kind of parity - my maths isn't up to it, I'm afraid!
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Awake! No.1 2023, A United Nations Advertisement?
by EasyPrompt inawake!
magazine no.1 2023 and united nations promotions.
page 3, "world meteorological association".
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Journeyman
Even lockdown was beneficial, they say.
Er... so saying that levels of particulate pollution fell and air quality improved during lockdown, is promoting the UN? Nonsense.
They explain it is only the abuse and exploitation that God will put to an end and that it is possible for the earth to rejuvenate with the right actions.
Well yes, but then that's self-evident (the latter part of your statement in italics) - not necessarily to do with what any specific world body may or may not do.
That is what they explain these organisations are doing.
Stating that some organisation may be attempting to accomplish something is not promoting that organisation. Nowhere does the article imply support for these organisations or express that God (or any JWs) is or should be behind them. There's no over-arching love-in towards the UN or other world agencies here.
God has designed the earth with built-in systems that can withstand the impact of sensible human activity. The Bible foretells that Jehovah God will, at his appointed time, put an end to the abuse and exploitation that has damaged our planet. -Revelation 11:18
This interpretation of Rev 11:18 goes back to at least the
Revelation Climax book1970s, interpreting "ruining the earth" to mean ecological damage. It's not a new teaching, and as far as I'm aware, most JWs accept it already. It's debatable, and most scholars tend to apply it to God repairing moral and spiritual corruption rather than pollution and the like, but the JW teaching isn't, and has never been, that it will come about by human organisations.This Awake is just another example of the org using cut-and-paste quotes from secular organisations and publications to back up their teaching that the world is going to pieces, and then follow up with the usual selected bible verses to provide the "solutions". They've often used the old "people are trying their best and have achieved some good but..." line of argument in those articles, and they do it again here. That's not an endorsement.
Because it's the Awake, it's geared more to the 'secular' reader so it's lighter on explicit doctrine, but bear in mind it's being offered after they'll have been offering their WT on God's Kingdom for two months, so they're still promoting the "human governments won't achieve this" aspect.
As I said earlier, the only difference is they are more evasive now about the fact they do not support the world's governments - think of the Australian Royal Commission, for example - whereas they used to be more outspoken. This largely seems to be because they fear losing things like their tax-exempt status and having their assets taken away. Not how a courageous organisation representing God should be, of course, but not proof they support UN, just an indication they're trying to avoid direct confrontation (despite still teaching in a more lowkey way that it is coming!)
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Awake! No.1 2023, A United Nations Advertisement?
by EasyPrompt inawake!
magazine no.1 2023 and united nations promotions.
page 3, "world meteorological association".
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Journeyman
Yes, we know that. It's old news.
They disaffiliated (or were removed - either way, the link was terminated) way back in 2001, as that letter itself clearly states. We're more than 20 years on from that.
Not to mention, as I stated, if they were really keen to promote the UN, WHO, etc, why is the article so lukewarm, simply using those bodies to quote negative information?
Here's what I mean. I count only one generally positive quote attributable to the UN. Most of the positive statements are from publications, not bodies like the UN or WHO.
- However, according to the World Meteorological Organization, “only 0.5% of water on Earth is usable and available freshwater.” - Negative statement
- In a 2021 report about water management, a United Nations source stated: “Globally, the current rate of progress needs to be doubled.” - Negative statement
- “We have taken the ocean for granted,” stated UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2022, “and today we face what I would call an ‘Ocean Emergency.’” - Negative statement
- National Geographic reported that “the acidification [of the oceans] that has occurred so far is probably irreversible.” Sea creatures are “up against a global economy built on cheap fossil fuels. It’s not a fair fight.” - Negative statement
- The book Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation explains that when a part of the sea is protected from human industry, “the innate regenerative capacity of oceans is allowed to operate unhindered.” - Positive statement
- Researchers estimate that within about 100 years, the lands could naturally achieve a healthy diversity of trees and other forest life-forms, according to a study published in Science magazine.- Positive statement
- Referring to the researchers in this study, National Geographic reports: “To their delight, they found tree-planting was unnecessary.” In just five years, the tested plots, without any tree-planting, “were full of native trees.”- Positive statement
- As a result, according to a United Nations source, “global deforestation has slowed by more than 50 per cent” over the past 25 years. - Positive statement (the only one in the article attributed to UN or other such world agency)
- “The rate of primary forest loss in the tropics has been stubbornly consistent over the last few years,” says a report published by the organization Global Forest Watch. - Negative statement
- According to the “2020 World Air Quality Report,” more than 80 percent of participating countries reported having cleaner air shortly after the lockdown was implemented. - Positive statement - but this is not from the UN or WHO, it appears to be a report by IQAir, a private company
- But more is needed, as is evident in a 2022 report compiled by international agencies, including the World Health Organization and the World Bank. - Negative statement
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Awake! No.1 2023, A United Nations Advertisement?
by EasyPrompt inawake!
magazine no.1 2023 and united nations promotions.
page 3, "world meteorological association".
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Journeyman
I'm afraid I disagree.
I see nothing in this magazine that is promoting the UN, WHO or the other bodies mentioned. It's simply using some basic quotes or stats from them - understandably, given they are supposedly international authorities in those subjects - to highlight what the magazine is presenting as a series of serious problems facing the planet. Also, it quotes National Geographic, Science magazine and other sources too. Are we to think the org is "promoting" or "advertising" them too?
In fact, you could argue the very opposite.
Most of the quotes are simply stating the symptoms of the problems. A couple are about the potential for what could be done to improve things. But none are really suggesting those organisations or publications have the answers.
In contrast, each section ends with the heading "Reasons for Hope — What the Bible Says".
The magazine is effectively damning these sources with faint (or no) praise. By contrasting the comments of these bodies with the scriptures, the magazine is hinting that these organisations are pretty ineffective and unable to resolve the issues they speak about - but without explicitly saying so (presumably so as not to get sued or criticised by those bodies).
It's a bit weaselly or mealy-mouthed perhaps, and definitely not as outspokenly critical as the WT of old used to be, but certainly not waving a flag for those organisations.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Journeyman
All these negatives people try to attach to a " JW mindset" is just how people in the real world act. It's just how people are.
I completely agree. Gossiping and being judgemental are far from exclusively a "JW mindset". Just look at all the rumours, slander, arguments and cliques or secular 'cults' on social media, and think about the examples of people being 'cancelled' and the like - they are all about people judging others and often 'disfellowshipping' them from their social or professional circles.
I think exJWs tend to use the phrase "JW mindset" in this context just to dismiss criticism (sometimes legitimate, sometimes not) of their own words or actions. Someone like Lloyd especially uses it in this way.
To me, a real "JW mindset" is more about things like separation from the world, irrational fear of socialising, secular education and of getting to know people outside their organisation, that sort of thing. Those are attitudes that you rarely find outside the JWs (and other high-control religious groups).
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Regional Convention Attendance
by XBEHERE inelder 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
So the 'flagship' UK conventions at London's Excel convention centre and Wembley arena are happening this weekend (18th-20th) and next (25th-27th).
Any PIMOs attending either location in the next fortnight, let us know what the attendance and baptisms are!
And any other useful observations too. Will there be fewer volunteers and/or attendants, with more having to work longer shifts? Will there be any visible difference in the quality of the organisation? What will the general atmosphere be like - buzzing (because it's the first one for several years) or flat (because everyone's tired now)?Excel has been used before so it will be good to compare stats with pre-COVID years.
I think this is the first year they're using Wembley arena though, so it will be harder to assess any decline so easily from those numbers, but I looked online and saw the venue holds 12,500 people so it will be interesting to see how many seats go unused. I don't know how many circuits are assigned there, but my guess is that the org would not book a venue unless they hope to fill it at least 75%, so they're probably anticipating around 9-10,000 minimum?
Incidentally, I notice that there is The Big London Tattoo Show at Excel on the second weekend - at the same time as the JW convention. That should be funny to see the two different audiences mixing on the concourse! 🤣
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"the other sheep will feed the other sheep"
by enoughisenough ininteresting statement in this video...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zchsc1wedns.
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Journeyman
Some interesting details given here, which will help to show how reliable the information from WarwickPIMO is. So far there's been nothing that's rung alarm bells, but it's hard for outsiders to know much of this stuff for themselves.
Unfortunately, it won't be clear until next year's convention season (although evidence of some of what is said might appear after this year's annual meeting, which is only a few weeks away).
Interesting times, if true! Could cause more ripples and disaffection among the R&F, especially the older and more long-standing ones.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Journeyman
Interesting. Thanks to the PIMO follower from the Cult of Evans for this!
Some direct quotes from the man himself:
- "I've been crazy, crazy busy" Riiight.
- "It's a very challenging time of year" Uh-huh.
- "I tend to aim higher... I tend to set my sights high when setting targets for myself... and I think I just bit off more than I could chew in July" Ooo-kay then.
Regarding the "scholars" he says are due to feature soon on his channel, he names:
- Dr Dennis MacDonald
- Dr Kipp Davis
- Dr Robyn Walsh
Do these individuals know anything about his background and how he is perceived within the exJW community, I wonder? If these are the three I've found, they all seem to have appeared on the MythVision Podcast YouTube channel recently, so it seems Lloyd may have simply farmed these contacts from a single source.
He later claims his Faith Unchallenged episode on the Hare Krishnas will be done in a "very non-confrontational way" and he will be having a "respectful dialogue". We've heard those words before, and "respectful dialogue" is not something he's best known for among former friends and critics alike!
Finally - the 'new hire': "someone who has just been brought in recently" to get interviews booked, he says. I hope that means Dijana has finally told him where to shove his channel and his 'activism' and is now distancing herself as fully as possible from Mr "Respectful Dialogue" Evans (apart from the inevitable access rights to the kids). It might be that he cut her off, but I do hope she made the first move. Either way, it will be for her longer term benefit (and that of the girls) to have as little as possible to do with him from now on.
Now then - since Lloyd seems to like copying the patterns set by the GB, I wonder if he will imitate them with regard to desperately trying to find the PIMO 'leak' source and 'disfellowship' them? 🤣