Posts by cookiemaster

59

Ex JW's - Which Christian denomination are you with now and why?

by Truthexplorer in

this is a question for ex jw's who have joined another christian faith group.

the purpose of my question iis to find out which christian faith group you chose after leaving watchtower and what convinced you to travel this new spiritual path you are on.

i am interested to know because i personally would like to find a genuine faith group where i can feel true christian liberty as i initially thought i had with the witnesses.

Kim and mikeys chanel on YouTube they uploaded a video of more singing and dancing

by Crazyguy in

on their chanel they are showing a video of a special assembly day in belgium i believe.

the jws are dancing dressed in black and red, satanic colores.

singing and playing worldly songs and kingdom melodies.

I remember being at a wedding ten years ago and of course being worldly music and dancing. Some of the most pious elders and older JWs went all pious and gave everyone a hard time because of it. Now, they sing worldly songs themselves and they're not even at a wedding? WOW! Things have changed. So much hypocrisy.

35

What did being a JW teach you?

by punkofnice in

these are some of the things the wbt$ 'taught' me:.

dishonesty is fine if it's to trick people into joining the cult.. if your spouse stops believeing, the best thing you can do is break up the family.. the laws of the governing body overrule any other laws...or else!.

my friends are conditional.. avoid loving people, they'll only let you down or get df'd.. unintelligent dumbos are better than intelligent ones if the dumbos are elders or above.. hate is better than love.. i am not good enough and god will probably enjoy killing me.. demons will appear in my room at night.. ignore practicallity if being practical or loving prevents the leaders getting money or praise.. god hates.

cookiemaster

The borg has taught me to not be capable of any meaningful social interaction. It has taught me to fear people outside the borg. It has taught me that God might kill me at any moment. That god wants my mother to die when life-saving medical treatment is easily available and probably most characteristic to the borg, that love is always conditional among JWs.

20

Statistics - Spreadsheets - Opinion

by berrygerry in

so, spent a fair bit of time on the stats.. the 2010-2015 numbers are available here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0bwv5uvzb3-67axpzavk0m0nttfe&usp=sharing.

also there are spreadsheets of: ratios, peak-pubs, and the best is a combo of ratios, peak pubs & average pubs.. you can play with these by "select all" and "sort" according to your preference.. if you would like any other combination, i would try to create it and post it for you.. of interest:.

as has been noted, the biggest standout of 2015 is the increase of only 18k in peak pubs while having 260k baptized.

cookiemaster

Yes, and lets not forget that many of these publishers might not really be genuine publishers. For example, I'm one of them. I haven't been in field circus since 2013, but my father keeps reporting fake hours for me every month. He hasn't been to the field in years also, but he also keeps reporting fake hours for himself. My mother is disassociated due to the blood issue.

So, in our congregation, at least two "publishers" don't actually "publish" shit but merely pretend two. I'm betting there are more. Fifteen years ago, our congregation had around 60 individuals. Now it barely has over 30 and many of those are pioneers sent here by the branch. If your remove those, as they eventually all leave, there are barely over 20 JWs in the area, some of which, like myself or my father, only pretend to be active.

Among children I grew up with, one was an unbaptized publisher but lost this "privilege" for having a worldly girlfriend. Another was baptized but hasn't been to the hall in 2 years, has long hair and a beard. A girl got herself a rocker boyfriend. Her father was just disfellowshipped. I'm widely seen as an apostate in the congregation. Especially to the elders, to whom I'm the no.1 suspect of apostasy at all times (but they've been unable to catch me so far). And this is the only congregation in a 40 mile radius. Yup, things are going great in the borg.

42

2016 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

by wifibandit in

the 2016 yearbook is now on the official site.

pdf.

it has been added to the archive of all prior yearbooks.

cookiemaster

So Romania, my country, has had a decrease of 1 individual in average publishers. They are around 40300 now. This is an absolutely and utterly pathetic result considering how much they invested in preaching in this country. So many foreign pioneers, COs, etc. So many special preaching campaigns. So much effort. And for what? A decrease by 1 individual. Bahahahaha, it's becoming sad. Even sadder knowing that a decade ago they had something like 37000 avg. publishers. So, they managed to gather 3000 new members in a decade, in a country with 20 million people? Many of which are probably new born-ins. Disastrous I'd say. Considering how much bad press they've gotten due to the blood issue, 2016 will be an even worse year for them.

Another point I'd like to make is that the worldwide growth is really weak and pathetic. Why? Because it's mostly taking place in third world countries with easy to manipulate, poor, uneducated, ignorant populations. Many of these people don't even have internet access. As soon as that comes, expect dismal numbers like in the Western countries. And let's be honest, the rich countries are the ones that matter. Brazil isn't going to support the financial needs of the WT billionaire club.

That's what's laughable. They show some growth but where? Significant growth in Europe? Nope. USA? Nope. Canada, Australia, Japan? Nope. Nope. Nope. The growth is in South America, but even that growth appears to be slowing down. Which is really a shame for WT, because I think South America is most open to them culturally and socially.

Finally, another interesting thing is their abysmal numbers in some highly populated countries. Bangladesh has a population of 160 million and 243 avg. publishers? Hahahah! India has 1.3 billion people and 43000 avg. publishers. Again, laughable. Thailand has 67 million and 4300 avg. publishers. Turkey 77 million and 2500 publishers. And the examples continue. I know the climate in these countries is very hostile for JWs, but how can they claim they are getting to all people before the end, when most of the people in these countries don't even know who JWs are?

23

JW Version Of Spring Cleaning

by JW_Rogue in

from the january study edition second study article paragraph 10:.

we can use the memorial season as an opportunity to look through our wardrobe, our movie and music collections, perhaps even the material stored on our computers, smartphones, and tablets.if i were going to a place where jesus would be present, would i feel uncomfortable wearing this clothing?if i did wear it, would it be obvious to all that i am a follower of christ jesus?would jesus be entertained by watching this movie or by listening to this music?

if he borrowed my cell phone or tablet, would i be embarrassed by what he saw there?as you consider the subject matter of a video game, ask yourself: would i find it difficult to explain to jesus why i enjoy playing it?

cookiemaster

I find it very interesting how they used the term "Memorial Season". As if the Memorial has suddenly become a season. Now that they make regular dubs pioneer, give invites and attend memorial, they also want to add a sort of spring cleaning action? It sounds almost like the "Holiday Season", only devoid of any fun or enjoyment. They are actually trying to make JWs feel they have a holiday season. Only this holiday season is one no one is looking forward to.

23

How did you feel on Christmas as a JW child?

by cookiemaster in

this is obviously a question for born-ins like me.

so, how did christmas feel to you as a child?

to me it was awful.

cookiemaster

Outlaw - you are amazingly creative and funny as ever! I'm sorry you had your share of this type of experience.

Adjusted Knowledge - That's exactly what it's about. I don't care about the presents. But I'd love for the whole family to get together and celebrate. So show some appreciation for being able to be all together and live. To at least make it a celebration of life of nothing else.

Sour Grapes - Quite the thing isn't it? How fast can a nice life come crashing down and be ruined by a stupid cult. I was born in this ruin so I didn't get to experience this type of loss.

Finkelstein - Exactly!

Late Bloomer - Welcome! I quite enjoyed reading your novel. I've had very similar experiences. And yes, that's one of the worst things about JWs. They have absolutely no celebrations or joy in their lives. Conventions? Three days of hot boredom. Hell if you ask me. The memorial? Not a real celebration. Weddings? Maybe, but even then as you said they're quite somber and there are always some fanatical uber dubs that start complaining and ruin everyone's fun because they think the music or the dancing is too "worldly". As a JW kid you can little to look forward to.

Phaedra - You said something that resonates with me more than anything else. It's like the entire world is having a party that you aren't invited to. That's exactly how I felt and I still feel sometimes. Just like you, I still have family in and it still sucks. I'm also trying to avoid isolation these days, although it's not always easy. I wish you a Merry Christmas to you too!

Shirley - You didn't have it that bad. Kinda lucky!

StuckInaRut - Same here!

Belle - I'm glad you gave your child the opportunity to not suffer from this nightmare.

23

How did you feel on Christmas as a JW child?

by cookiemaster in

this is obviously a question for born-ins like me.

so, how did christmas feel to you as a child?

to me it was awful.

cookiemaster

LITS - The part about hiding the tree is kinda funny. But sorry your grandmother died and you had a hard time after that, especially at school. I know first hand how hard school can be when you're made fun of or bullied. I think most JW kids are bullied at school.

23

How did you feel on Christmas as a JW child?

by cookiemaster in

this is obviously a question for born-ins like me.

so, how did christmas feel to you as a child?

to me it was awful.

cookiemaster

Oh, I forgot about the return to school part. All the teachers and students bragging about the things they did for Christmas and New Year's, the presents they got, they fun they had and I dreaded the moment when they'd ask me about all that.

23

How did you feel on Christmas as a JW child?

by cookiemaster in

this is obviously a question for born-ins like me.

so, how did christmas feel to you as a child?

to me it was awful.

cookiemaster

This is obviously a question for born-ins like me. So, how did Christmas feel to you as a child? To me it was awful. Everyone was singing Christmas Carols at school in the weeks before Christmas. Being the only kid who doesn't do that sucks. You instantly become the one that's different from everyone else and thus the class weirdo. My parents wouldn't let me visit non-JW friends or relatives on Christmas. Obviously, no presents. No celebration. Nothing. It was kinda sad.

As a child, you feel left out. It doesn't help that all you can see on TV is Christmas movies and similar things. It's a time when everyone celebrates and you're stuck sitting in the house doing nothing. Or even worse, there were super fanatic dubs that wanted to go in service even on Christmas day. Of course, this made most people we visited quite mad.

But it wasn't all bad. I was free from school. Sometimes other JWs would come over and it would get quite celebratory despite the fact that we weren't celebrating anything. We would drink mulled wine. There was some cool stuff on TV too and I'd play video games with other kids.

My parents had this lame excuse that worldly people only show love to each other and give presents on Christmas while JWs do it all the time (which actually meant never). Generally, it was a pretty sucky time of the year, especially for a child that had to obey religiously fanatic parents. So, how was it for you? Equally shitty?