Posts by cookiemaster

47

CO visit... Circuit is not growing at all, he said during midweek meeting

by StarTrekAngel in

so that was a "shocker".

i was not able to attend the meeting.

i had a more important one with my other apostate friends in the area.

cookiemaster

This might not be the most relevant piece of information but in my congregation here in Romania there used to be 60+ people regularly attending when I was a child, and now two decades later they barely get 20 people, sometimes not even that. This is with pioneers from other congregations being sent here, who will most likely leave in a few years at most.

Nobody got baptized in forever (probably a decade). There are only two local elders, one of which is 70+ and other in his 50s. Only two JW males under 40 in the entire congregation, one of which being me (inactive-rumored apostate) and the other guy isn't even an MS. It's pretty much the same everywhere in the country and most countries in Europe.

This is definitely a larger downward trend for JWs that is taking place on a global scale. In this growingly less religious/traditional world, JWs with all their stupid rules are completely unattractive.

7

My old congregation is gone

by cookiemaster in

went to the hall today as i was the designated driver for my parents.

an elder who was in our old congregation in the city gave the talk.

i've had a little chat with him and apparently our old congo is gone.

cookiemaster

Went to the Hall today as I was the designated driver for my parents. An elder who was in our old congregation in the city gave the talk. I've had a little chat with him and apparently our old congo is gone. The borg decided to sell their KH for lots of $$$ (probably a few hundred thousand euro) and merge their congo with another, now having 140 people crammed into a single congo. Nice money making scheme the borg seems to have going on.

23

Besides Beards . . .

by neat blue dog in

beards have been talked about a lot, especially with the recent wt article, but what about other types of non-mustache facial hair, like goatees chinbeards and soul patches?.

in my own experience i've seen a white young man with big handlebars and a soul patch run mikes, do literature and give talks not too long ago.

i saw a black older man with a sizeable soul patch as the focus of one shot in a jw.org video about an annual meeting a few years ago.

cookiemaster

I did go out in service, even with a CO, and many elders, while sporting quite a puffy soul patch and a little trace of beard. None of them have said anything.

28

Where does WT get their money?

by Dreamerdude in

i assume they get most of it from cash donations and assets left in wills.

there may also be some income from invested assets.

i guess they get a lot of money from old jws who die childless or with only df'd kids.geographically i assume they get it mostly from a few countries that have many publishers and strong economies.

cookiemaster

I think they've been saving a ton of money since cutting back in printing. Everyone uses tablets now. That's the new fad. They barely have to publish anything.

Dreamer - I'm not sure if they send money to HQ. I'd say it's very likely. Although, Romania is a relatively small country in the grand scheme of things and they won't be making impressive sums of money from just below 40,000 publishers. Growth is also at a standstill. They probably do make a few million euro in profit which goes to HQ but I think they also reinvest their money into the real estate business. It's their biggest money maker here.

Take for example the local KH in our town. Huge multiple story house bought by my parents along a small group of other JWs in the early 90s. A lot of money was invested by the locals into renovations. When the local group finally became a congregation officially, the Watchtower took ownership. Now it's worth at least 200-300 grand in euro. A 98 year old brother died recently. Donated his house and all he had to the Watchtower. Another couple hundred grand there as well. So, they have more than half a million Euro in real estate assets only in our small town. I think this is pretty much the case for every European country. Donations might not be making much money, but real estate is making them a fortune.

28

Where does WT get their money?

by Dreamerdude in

i assume they get most of it from cash donations and assets left in wills.

there may also be some income from invested assets.

i guess they get a lot of money from old jws who die childless or with only df'd kids.geographically i assume they get it mostly from a few countries that have many publishers and strong economies.

cookiemaster

I'm not entirely sure, but I think most Western countries they're present in, turn a profit. The US of course has over a million publishers, hundreds of thousands that probably donate and tens of billions in real estate. Other Western countries have much smaller JW populations, so they're probably only a fraction of the income brought by the US, but they're still profitable. Going by the reports, here in Romania they get quite a nice profit. All conventions seem to be making money. KHs have lots of money. They also seem to have tens of millions in real estate throughout the country. Just in this circuit they have all sorts of assembly halls and kingdom halls in cities where they can easily be sold for millions each to all sorts of corporate businesses. All build with free slave labor, of course.

3

How does Life expectancy by Country affect JW growth?

by dropoffyourkeylee in

here's something i haven't considered before.

below are the average life expectancies by country (male and female combined), which i found at:.

http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/life-expectancy-country.html.

cookiemaster

Average life expectancy does not mean people in Malawi don't live longer than 60. It's just the average length of a human life in that country. Being an average, it can be dragged down severely by those dying young and dragged up significantly by those that reach old age. People in Malawi can too die of old age at 80 or 90 naturally, like everyone else, but huge infant mortality brings the average life expectancy way down. You'll find plenty of people over 60 there.

24

Embellished assembly interviews/"experiences"

by ab.ortega in

oh how wonderful those experiences at assemblies and "schools" are - not.

at times it seemed as if these "experiences" were scripted.

the speaker gets criteria in the outline regarding what the experience or interview has to be about.

cookiemaster

I've known a few assholes that really enjoyed lying in these interviews. I'm sure the CO or whomever was in charge was fully on board with this. Thing is, these people were arrogant and saw these interviews as the perfect opportunity to brag in public with their spirituality and so they came up with all sorts of bullshit pioneering stories that were a little too incredible. Oh, the richness of 'spiritual food' in Jah's organization.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, I have a more rebellious friend who's now faded. In our teenage years he had an interview at a convention. Pretended to be totally on board with it, but hated it. On the day of the convention, he came there with a beard. LOL, the CO and the elders were pissed as hell. They basically dragged him to the toilets and shaved him by force. Such a hurried shave that he had cuts all over his face. I couldn't stop laughing. Good times!

57

Did you participate in a Drama?

by Hecce in

i am bringing this up because even it was a lot of work, for the majority of the friends this was a rewarding experience.

camaraderie, joking, costumes, props and when the time came the celebrity status of being in the drama.. back in the 50s and 60s, conventions could be as long as 8 days and from about 1966 the dramas became an integral part of the program.

we had one per day and the brothers looked forward to their presentation.

cookiemaster

Nope, but my best friend was. He was just a kid. Now he has a large beard, long hair and looks like a viking. He also doesn't want to be a JW anymore. Oh, how the times have changed.

As for the dramas themselves, they were always my favorite part of the conventions, because they were the least boring. Sadly, nowadays are aren't any more dramas. Just stupid videos that they make us watch over and over again.

14

Changes in the last 7-ish years?

by FinchAndWeston in

what has changed in the last 7 years?

just curious .... 1) do they still shun?

what's the policy on da's, df's and a?.

cookiemaster

I think to sum it all up in a few words I'd say the JW religion is now much more about show and much less about substance. Basically, they're all about how they're perceived. Fancy magazines and publications that contain little to no substantial religious dogma. Lots and lots of videos that give the illusion they're a "modern" religion, but again there's no substance in them, just cheap indoctrination for the feeble minded and small children. Fancy stands and carts for the public to see. The JW logo plastered everywhere. Using all kinds of media. Even fancy looking store like places in some countries. To put it differently, if in the past the JW cult amounted in their religious dogma to the equivalent of a pie, now they amount to a really small, apparently fancy and expensive cookie.

13

Can a DFed person donate?

by Lostandfound in

rereading a post re the shunning wt in feb made me think, do the wt accept money from the dead?

not inheritances but from the "living dead" as they perceive df and da people to be.. personally i think they accept or more correctly badger members who are really brain dead into giving.

or do attendants guard contribution boxes to stop such non existent people from putting money in.

cookiemaster

I don't think they have any limits when it comes to money. They'd accept money from the Catholic church if offered. Quietly, of course.