Is this anything like Super Mario Cart? I'll just drop that here...
CC
i have a confession to make.
a strange urge is building in my brain... each time i see a jw literature cart on the street it builds.
it is becoming a stronger and stronger thought in my mind.
Is this anything like Super Mario Cart? I'll just drop that here...
CC
what is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
All dictionary and scholarly and "Theocratic" definitions aside, the common use of the term cult really refers to whether a religion (a) has unreasonable and non-sensical requirements and (b) whether the doctrine is generally accepted or not, in my opinion.
I would most certainly say that most people consider Jehovah's Witnesses a cult due to their position on holidays, neutrality, medical treatment with blood products, and shunning/disfellowshipping.
Not sure why it is a debate. If Jehovah's Witnesses are convinced they are right, why bother debating whether this is a cult or not. I would argue that under the classical definitions that the 10,000% greater emphasis and visibility of the governing body (deliberately not capitalized) makes the organization more focused on individuals than ever before.
CC
if the preaching work is now so important (with all the lay offs at bethel and also stopping all construction work around the world) does this mean that all branch offices will be paying living costs for all pioneers sp that rather than working for satan they can be doing gods work.dont hold your breath lol
Nope. Not happening. I think there will be no special pioneers appointed for a while and between layoffs and attrition the number of special pioneers will shrink drastically.
It has helped my analysis very much to think of this is a very large corporation. I've been in middle management for years and I know the drill. This is now a slash and burn operation until they exit panic mode. Which might be never.
CC
just realised i've got to go through this tomorrow.
does anyone know of a summary of changed teachings so i can do some reverse witnessing?
i checked jwfacts but nothing specific.
Latest I am aware of is that the antichrist is false religious leaders of all types.
CC
went to over to family gathering at a cousin's home in upstate ny over the weekend.
in the late afternoon, several bet-hell constructions workers arrived (some family, others just friends), after a nice day of slavery at the construction site.
endless bragging ensued while we gathered around a bonfire, from how "the construction is going forward in seamless way", using "the best techniques and materials in construction" to the fact that the obama care website doesn't work properly and how it's "complete garbage when compared to the jw.org.".
Excuse me, but jw . org is terrible, speaking from an infrastructure perspective. It was down most of the weekend because it couldn't deal with the load put on it for a million people to hit it to get the new publications. What kind of worldwide organization website can't deal with the load of a portion of its members hitting it all at the same time?
The underlying architecture is flawed and beyond repair.
CC
http://www.warwickadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20151001/news01/151009998/warwick-seeks-amendment-to-town-code.
supervisor michael sweeton also sought a resolution to reduce the performance bond from pledged collateral account control agreement with the watchtower bible and tract society of new york, inc. from $22.6 million to $7.3 million and to authorize the release the difference to the organization.the watchtower bible and tract society jehovahs witnesses world headquarters is advancing in its new construction.
the 45-acre development site on the tuxedo-warwick border, in sterling forest, is set to be completed by the end of 2016.the motion passed..
More evidence that the organization is just flat out of money. These kind of deposits/escrowed amounts are normal for a large organization.
CC
none of my jehovah's witness relatives called to tell me or my family.
just found out this morning.
Perry - I'm so sorry to hear about your tragic loss. I'm sure that Jesus would not have let any circumstances or procedural issues prevent him from doing the human thing - tell a man when his mother is near death or has died.
This was truly heartless.
CC
its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.
in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.
carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .
I'm pretty sure they are out of money for two reasons. First, they are now setting up a reserve for contingent liability related to child abuse and this amount is likely to be staggering because the snowball has just begun to roll down the hill. Second, the new Kingdom Hall construction in addition to Warwick was planned without full financial modeling, in my opinion. Once they realized that the new commerical-style construction would be much more expensive than regular KH construction AND that they were going to have to support hundreds of special-full time servants in the field for the new LDC work, I think the gig was up and all non-essential spending had to stop.
Regional conventions and circuit assemblies are consistent cash flow so they likely won't be changed, but I believe that very little KH construction will commence in the US branch territory for years. There will be one or wo new style KHs built in the most crowded areas to make it appear there is progress, but little else. Also, I believe we're about to see the most massive consolidation of congregations and facilities ever within the next six months. Bonus: less COs will be required in the US branch territory. Too bad to elders who like prominence - less open "special" positions for you. Other elders will be relieved to not have "special" privileges and can throttle back.
As for door-to-door ministry, since their financial base depends on growth and it isn't happening from door-to-door, I think they will phase it out as others have mentioned. Some other ploy more like Scientology uses for recruiting might be in the works.
Just my $0.02.
CC
this question came out frequently from a situation known to some of us who knew of 2 cases.... if a single or married sister gets rapped by stranger or incest, a pregnancy results, she is not allowed to have an abortion but neither is she allowed to give it up for adoption?...i always question why not up for adoption?...
no you will be blood guilty because the child won't be raised in the "truth"... hmmmmm does anyone heard of that?
is it a matter of consciousness?
Although she could not abort the baby as this would amount to murder (more than just Jehovah's Witnesses believe this), there is no scriptural reason she cannot give the baby up for adoption and no elders anywhere should give her trouble about this. I don't have a reference but I will see if I can find one.
CC
anybody know?
No, we were not informed. I heard it first here (along with hearing about the Oct 4th letter here first) and then heard the next day from someone else with connections to a branch office.
As a matter of fact, the reason I stumbled on this site in the first place was looking for a copy of a km that I couldn't get online for some reason. Then I learned that I could get most information in advance here and between that and learning TTATT here I'm on almost daily now. Look at my previous posts and you'll see that I'm still very heavily involved in the organization mainly because (a) I want to keep my family and (b) if I can help one person make sense of this madness all the insanity I put up with is worth it.
CC