Quiet one=the figures I have given are very broad. It could be any where.
joe134cd
JoinedPosts by joe134cd
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7
Trying to establish the demographic trends of congregations. Wanting counters please. Big brother needs you.
by joe134cd ini'm just curious?
since i have become aware that witnesses are getting older and that the youth is leaving (well in western lands anyway), i have started doing counts by age group of the people sitting in the hall.
generally in the hall that i attend i have found that 2/3 are 40 and over while 1/3 is 40 and under.
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Trying to establish the demographic trends of congregations. Wanting counters please. Big brother needs you.
by joe134cd ini'm just curious?
since i have become aware that witnesses are getting older and that the youth is leaving (well in western lands anyway), i have started doing counts by age group of the people sitting in the hall.
generally in the hall that i attend i have found that 2/3 are 40 and over while 1/3 is 40 and under.
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joe134cd
I'm just curious? Since I have become aware that witnesses are getting older and that the youth is leaving (well in western lands anyway), I have started doing counts by age group of the people sitting in the hall. Generally in the hall that I attend I have found that 2/3 are 40 and over while 1/3 is 40 and under. Also notably in the 18-25 year old bracket is around 7% of total attenders. BTW I live in a western country. So for those of us who still go to the meetings, I am asking if you could do a count by age group and post it back on here. What I would also like to know is, if you live in a 1st world/developing/3rd world country, as I'm guessing that the congregations in 3rd world countries would show a lot more younger membership.
Im not totally convinced that the reason witnesses are getting older is totally the WTS fault either, as in the USA and other countries the population is ageing, and also youth in general are turning away from religion. So I'm guessing this phenominum could perhaps be seen in other religions, e.g how many youths do you see walking out of the Catholic Church. I will admit that compared to other churches the WTS has under performed in trying to retain its youth. So please get counting as I like to see the numbers, and to see how the composition changes from one land to another. Thank you.
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Stupidest thing a JW ever told you
by Nosferatu inwhat is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?
we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.
for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.
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joe134cd
Oh yeah got another one that is up there with the "foreign paper confusing me".i remember telling this elder that I had just seen Star Wars. He replied (& I was made to feel bad about it) that he had no intention of taking his son to see it because it had the word "war" in it, and as true Christians we aren't meant to practice war. Self righteous A-Hole.
Another one as a teenager raging with hormones I remember referring to a member of the opposite sex as pretty hot. Then an elder the following meeting telling my parents I had unclean speech.
Asked to take a poster down in my room by an elder because person had a cross as an earing. Oh man I could write a book on all the weirded and wiled things I've heard.
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Stupidest thing a JW ever told you
by Nosferatu inwhat is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?
we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.
for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.
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joe134cd
I think I've got the best one.I mentioned about the conti case to a brother and I was immediately stopped with the reply "I'm not interested in media hype".went onto another Dubbie about this & was asked how I found this out. I bull shitted & told them I stumbled across it in the N.Y times. The reply I got was "reading foreign news papers was going to confuse me, and this was apostate information. Yup you got it. The NY times had gone apostate against gods people, and this foreign paper had confused me. I give up.
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Rick Simmons Received Honor of the 2013 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award
by Gayle in"the rick simons case is truly exceptionaland for that, rick received the honor of the 2013 trial lawyer of the year award.
this case, involving the jehovahs witnesses, was originally referred to rick by my good friend and pretty much the first client of cogent legal ever, ed casey.
ed referred the case since rick had done a number of church molestation cases in the past, and there are issues with those cases that make them difficult.
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joe134cd
What saddens me the most is that it took it been dragged through the media and then this verdict before they finally realized that there theocratic arrangments were just hurting people. Lets hope they will learn the same thing about shunning (although I think it highly unlikely).
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(1)is WTS greedy and heartless or (2) Sincerely trying to do the will of God
by joe134cd inin my reading there seems to be 2 schools of thought and i am just wondering which one is correct.. (1)watchtower is a multi million dollar corporation that is making its money by fleecing its flock e.g k.h refurbs, giving preference to houses with an insurance cheque under the banner of emergency relief and pocketing the money from volunteer labour.
to a lesser extent (although it wouldnt generate nearly as much money as the 2 examples above), getting kick backs from international conventions,charging for car parking when they got it for free, society approved motels that are grovels in the middle of no where.
i do wonder how they can get away with this under the title of of a charitable trust, and i do at the very least think, this is cheeky.. it is cold and hartless and will roll anyone who gets in its way e.g menlo park elders.
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joe134cd
In my reading there seems to be 2 schools of thought and I am just wondering which one is correct.
(1)Watchtower is a multi million dollar corporation that is making its money by fleecing its flock e.g K.H refurbs, giving preference to houses with an insurance cheque under the banner of emergency relief and pocketing the money from volunteer labour. To a lesser extent (although it wouldnt generate nearly as much money as the 2 examples above), Getting kick backs from international conventions,charging for car parking when they got it for free, society approved motels that are grovels in the middle of no where. I do wonder how they can get away with this under the title of of a Charitable trust, and I do at the very least think, this is cheeky.
It is cold and hartless and will roll anyone who gets in its way e.g Menlo park elders. It will chew you up and spit you out e.g career Bethelites who got the ax with little support- particularly if they were in bad health or older. When the WTS knew it was going to have to provide health care it was also "See you latter"
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(2)They are loseing money and members at an alarming rate. Althought they sincerely believed that Jehovah would provide when they went to the donation arrangment , this has proved to be a flop e.g I had a friend who was accounts/magerzine servant, I recall him telling me that he was embarrassed at what he used to send to the society in the way of donations. This has now left them having to resort of cut backs and asset stripping of real estate. So hence it would make sense that an organisation that was running on an unsustainable financial model would have to let people go with out any after care or be able to pay medical. I think the reason they could be finding it difficult now from a financial stand point is that the system that was set up at its inception (e.g Russel) was only supposed to run until Armageddon which was just around the corner. That hasnt happened and its a case of what do we do now.
So my question is this??? How can a money hungry, heartless corporation at the same time be supplying its products at a loss. To the extent that this has forced them to sell up and cut back. I believe that although they may be well off as far as assets go they are struggling to get cash flow. Remember to, that this real estate was built up over a period of about 140 years. I have heard estimates of its value at about $2 Billion dollars. I do believe they could of done a lot better than this had of they wanted to and compared to some other religions who have been around for a lot shorter time that have been run more to a business model (e.g TV Avangalists, LDS). The WTS wouldnt be a big player in comparision.
I tend to go with option (2) myself. But hey I wanna hear what you say.
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Is the average age of a J.W going up???
by karter inas atleast 65% of young ones are dropping out,are the j.w's getting older??.
in the inner city congro's were it is expensive to live there is not alot of young ones in the congro's there,seems the average in them is going up and up.. karter..
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joe134cd
The simple answer to this is yes. Since I found out about this on joining this site (I'm guessing the WTS ain't going to say anything) I have just been doing random counts of the ages of the people sitting in the hall (and by all means i invite you to do the same). In the counts I have done 2/3 of the people sitting in the hall would be 40 and above and 1/3 would be 40 and under. So it makes me wonder how the congregation will look in another 40 years time. I also saw a photo taken of a recent elders school and out of the ones I observed in it only 3 wouldn't of had grey hair, which would back up the rumour that they are finding it hard to get elders now. Even before I joined this site, I sort of suspected that the youth may be leaving. I honestly believe the WTS has to be more proactive in catering to the youth e.g youth groups, increasing social interaction etc, but they don't seem to be interested. I suppose you keep doing the same thing you keep getting the same results. I believe if the society is wanting to grow (well in westernised countries at least) it has to focus on caring for its existing members and retaining them rather than trying to make new converts. When comparing this to some developing countries that I have visited, this is almost the reverse. In fact I just couldn't get over the youthfulness of the congregations. Another surprise was the amount of young converts e.g early 20s and were realy doing well. Something that just isn't seen in the west. But how long this can be maintained for is anyone's guess. I suppose this would explain why most of the growth is coming from developing or 3rd world countries, and why the majority of people from this sight are from westernised countries.Got it homie.
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Are the society making or losing money?
by joe134cd inin my reading there seems to be two schools of thought.. (1)watchtower is a multi million dollar corporation.
that is making millions of dollars from scamming its members.
the examples i site are k.h refurbs, doing houses where there is an insurance cheque under the banner of emergency relief.
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joe134cd
In my reading there seems to be two schools of thought.
(1)Watchtower is a multi million dollar corporation. That is making millions of dollars from scamming its members. The examples I site are K.H refurbs, doing houses where there is an insurance cheque under the banner of emergency relief. To a lesser extent (although it wouldn't generate nearly as much revenue as the above 2), getting kick backs from international assemblies, charging car parks when they got it free, society approved motels that are grovels in the middle of no where. I do wonder how they can get away with this under the title of charitable trust, and I do think it is some what unethical.
It is cold and heartless, and will roll anyone who gets in it way e.g menlo park elders. They will chew you up and spit you out e.g career Bethelites who got the axe with no support. They will kick you to the kerb The minute the society knew it would be liable to provide health care it was see you latter to anyone in bethel who's health wasn't the best.
(2)they are loosing money and members at an elarming rate. Although they sincerely believed that jehovah would provide when they went to the donation arrangment , this has proved to be a flop e.g I had a friend who was accounts and magerzine servant and i remember him telling me that he was embarrassed at what he used to send to the society in the way of donations. Because they are loosing money they are asset stripping and cutting back. So hence they had to let people go simply because they couldn't afford to keep them and pay medical. They are trying to survive, although i think they are far from the point of complete financial ruin at this present moment. i think the reason they may be finding it hard now is because of the system that was created at its inception was only meant to last until Armageddon which was just around the corner. Now that hasn't happened its a case of how do we reverse this.
So my question here is. So how can a money hungry heartless corporation at the same time be supplying its products at a loss. To the extent that they are now cutting back and selling up. I believe although they may be asset rich I also think they are cash poor, and what has to be remembered is that this wealth in property was built up over a period of 140 years. Although some say the value is at about 2 billion dollars, I think they could of done a lot better if they had wanted to, and compared to some other religions run more along the lines of a business model they wouldnt be big players e.g jimmy swagart / LDS. i tend to go with option 2 myself. But hey I wanna hear what you say.
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OMG He is so delusional!
by Iamallcool injohnny the mysterious bethelite shows up on the six screens "late night with the twins" program april, 20, 2013. .
johnny claims to be an active bethelite and is serving as a "mole" (an insider divulging adverse information about the watchtower) and uses the six screens tele-network as a conduit to speak up.. .
if you are an active or former jehovah's witness listen in to johnny, you will be shocked... johnny says he was offered jw sisters by a governing body member in an attempt to quiet him..
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joe134cd
Steve I have sent you a message
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Where else to go.I sticking up for the WTS.
by joe134cd innow i am going to do a rear thing here and i am going to stick up for the wts.
i realise that the wts hasn't got the best of track record, and sure they have made mistakes.
but if i was to go to another church wouldn't they still have the same issues.
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joe134cd
Julia/chicken little = I actually went to a Pentecostal church last Sunday before I attended the K/Hall in the afternoon. I spoke to the pastor there (he was actually quite a nice guy and very understanding) and he said the exact same thing. Follow Jesus and show love to your fellow man. But what bothered me is if I left the WT i'm pretty sure I would start seeing the faults there as well. It's a bit like quitting a job as a Plasterer because of a sore shoulder to take up carpet laying and then getting sore knees then changing that job to be a car painter and getting inflamed lungs. Did I really solve the problem or just shift it around.
BOHM=I realise to STFU or they will kick my ass out. That is why I am trying to build bridges up as the old ones crumble behind me. I am also on here as we'll for the same purpose.I have to start planning now so I can make an easy transition, if when I decide the time is right.