I agree with everyone else. I saw this firsthand as well. It wasn't my experience, but I had a part on the assembly one time, so sat in on the entire rehearsal program with the CO. When it came time for "experiences", he did just what the others have described... he "altered" them to fit his agenda. It was my first time that I had seen this actually being done. It was blatant, and embarrassing. It was an outright fabrication and a lie. By the time he was done, the experiences were mere fiction. Even the guys and gals giving the parts were embarrassed, but they went along with the "glorious one" and his "instructions". It was definitely a defining moment for me at the time.
Tech49
JoinedPosts by Tech49
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'Experiences(tm)'! Made up or totally true??
by punkofnice inat one assembly(tm), i was asked to relate an 'experience(tm)' which i did.
however, during rehearsals, the geezer in charge elder or co or some such title, told me that i shouldn't tell it the way it was.
i did a 're-enactment(tm)' with another 'brother(tm)'.
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Not training speakers/teachers any more?
by eyeslice2 innot having attended any meetings since about 2001, for reasons of safety (sounds a bit dramatic but i don't like my wife being out on her own late at night where we live now), i have started accompanying her to the mid-week meeting.. when i was young, the ministry school and service meeting were central to training brothers to take the lead.
you were assigned instruction talks, then if you cut it, you moved pretty rapidly to public talks - a full 55 mins at the time.
i was just 18 years old when i gave my first public talk and this was a first step to moving rapidly through the ranks.
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Tech49
About 13 years ago, I spent around 5 years as a Ministry School Overseer. I loved it! I took it very seriously, and spent a lot of time making sure to match the right people together for demos, and to assign talks and subject matter to the most appropriate speakers, and to really "teach" using the BE Book (school guidebook). I wanted people to be better public speakers, and to learn to reason, no matter what the subject was. I never had a formal teaching degree, but it was rewarding to see the efforts of my "students" really make a difference in the way they read and were able to carry on conversations with an intelligent level of reasoning.
All that is gone now. There is no Ministry School any more. Currently, it consists of: 1. only a cursory reading of a set of scriptures (Bible Reading). No opening or closing comments. Just get up and read, get down. Any brother of any age, even those with years and years of experience with public speaking. The other "parts", or "talks" are scripted "presentations", or "return visits", or "bible studies", all limited to 4-5 minutes. Most of the time, those parts are just watching a video presentation of how to do it "right". About once every 5-6 weeks, there is a 5 minute slot assigned to a brother to give a "talk", on some random subject, using only WT information of course. Literally, some of the initial call parts are no more than offering a business card, pointing to JW.borg.
The other day, my wife says "hey, you were assigned a TALK". I said "actually, no. I was assigned to read 13 scriptures from the bible". Any child can do that. No thank you.
There is no more "school". The sheep are no longer taught to reason in any way, shape, or form. Public speaking training is non-existent. There is no latitude for freedom of expression in any of the parts.
I remember when I was assigned to give a "talk", that consisted of taking the lead in a field ministry style initial call, with some other brother as my "householder". Seriously? What's the point? I'm over 50 years old, I'm not taking the time to do an initial call/presentation with some dude I cant stand. And I'm sorry, but I'm not going to do a "bible reading", when you can have any 8-year old do the same thing. I don't consider that a "privilege".
The Ministry School has become so dumbed down that it is pointless. Even when a meatier subject comes up, it usually gets assigned to someone completely incapable. (example: I was almost disgusted when an actual "talk" assignment, with the subject matter of PORNOGRAPHY (of course), was assigned to a pasty pale 15 year old in our congregation..... jeez come on already!)
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Have you heard of a Jehovah's Witness on federal SSDI disability Pioneering ? How common is this ?
by BottleGate_ inasking 4 a friend.
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Tech49
It’s very common. I know several firsthand. In fact, I have a family member, a young lady, who is having a hard time finding the “perfect” job to fit her “pioneering” schedule. So she isn’t working at all, not because she can’t find anything....no, she has been offered jobs, but refuses them if they conflict with her schedule at all. So she is a broke-ass pioneer, sponging off her friends. She’s basically lazy. Some of her “pioneer” buddies (and some of these people are in their 60’s) encouraged her to file for state benefits (welfare) to “support” her pioneering. Because you know, Jehoober will provide!
Absolutely disgusting. In my humble opinion...
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Disability Discontinued for Lifting Religious Pamphlets!
by Atlantis indisability discontinued for lifting suitcase of pamphlets!.
https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20191202/news08/912331976/disability-discontinued-for-man-caught-lifting-religious-pamphlets .
petra!
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Tech49
When I was an elder, one of my best friends was the PO, he was on full disability and was a regular pioneer. One time I went over to his house, he was in his garage where he had a full on gym set up, working out with the garage door closed. It was the middle of summer, and I asked him why he didn’t open the door and get some fresh air and let the sun in while working out. His response was “in case someone sees me working out, I might get my benefits denied....”
No joke. 6 months later his wife, who worked at a hospital in clerical position, got a paper cut, (seriously not making this up), claimed infection and nerve damage, and eventually got on disability also. They were thrilled! Subsequently rented out their house and moved to Mexico to “serve”, thus keeping a US address to keep their benefits intact.
I specifically told him that was BS and was lying, and he just shrugged his shoulders and said “oh well, we gotta live within Satans system!”
Needless to say, we haven’t spoken since. The hypocrisy was too much even for my PIMI self at the time.
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3-File Requests: Destroy Notes BOE--Publications For Discard--Where Are The Nine!
by Atlantis in2019-08-28 destroy notes.. https://docdro.id/ojsdss2.
2012--2018 publications approved for discard.
https://docdro.id/llottt0.
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Tech49
At one time, I served as the congregation Secretary. Many congregations keep detailed notes on judicial meetings in a sealed envelope in their safe/files. I remember being told to hand over all of our notes when serving on a JC, so that they could be put into an envelope for future reference if needed. Many of these envelopes are years, and decades old. Some can provide some pretty interesting reading (or so I've been told )…... As noted in the letter above, GET RID OF IT ALL! And those pesky letters of introduction that can come around to bite you in the ass.... get rid of those too!
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Can This be Verified?
by Atlantis incan this be verified?
just speculation so far, so i was just wondering.. .
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/bawoeu/getting_rid_of_the_literature_counter_all_together/ .
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Tech49
Yes, I can confirm. We just had a remodel at our KH, see one of my previous posts. The literature counter was completely eliminated, replaced with a small IKEA cabinet, literally no more than 36” wide. Self-serve only for the basic items.....tracts, magazines, a few brochures. Everything else we have been instructed to download and use electronic versions.
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Short-sighted WT ?
by Tech49 init has always struck me that wt is so very short-sighted in many things.
often, they are very re-active, and not so much pro-active in their reasoning and the way they plan for the future.. just thinking today, and have kicked this one around for a while now.. is the watchtower organization truly sustainable?
is a new monetary structure on the horizon?
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Tech49
Its definitely the disposal of the tangible, finite, hard assets that will come to an end within a given period. Like sir82, the first thought that popped into my head was 10 years. It doesn't seem logical that this particular business model can go more than around 10 years. Now I'm not saying the sky is falling and WT will go out of business. But I do believe that there will be a DRASTIC change in the way they obtain funding in the near future.
The obvious ones come to mind, I'm sure there are many more ways that are being dreamed up by the Holy Quarum: mandatory tithing, in whatever form they want to call it..., electronic printing across the board, no more physical publications and all that goes along with it (printeries, binderies, presses, supplies, etc)...…., online KH's, with actual physical brick and mortar buildings becoming a rarity, much like the assembly halls...…..online and internet-based meetings from a central location, with a subscription fee...…….. pay-to-play visits to the NY headquarters, admission fees to the holy mecca with a yearly mandatory visit for all "true" Christians (following the example of the first century xtians of course)…….
Anyways...….. I can see changes coming.
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Short-sighted WT ?
by Tech49 init has always struck me that wt is so very short-sighted in many things.
often, they are very re-active, and not so much pro-active in their reasoning and the way they plan for the future.. just thinking today, and have kicked this one around for a while now.. is the watchtower organization truly sustainable?
is a new monetary structure on the horizon?
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Tech49
It has always struck me that WT is so very short-sighted in many things. Often, they are very RE-active, and not so much PRO-active in their reasoning and the way they plan for the future.
Just thinking today, and have kicked this one around for a while now.
Is the Watchtower organization truly sustainable? Is a new monetary structure on the horizon? Here is why I ask this, and welcome all of your thoughts....
FACT: Cash donations coming from the congregations are meager at best.
FACT: With every month that goes by, more and more KH’s are sold, with none being built.
FACT: The growth of the organization has slowed or halted, and sometimes gone in revers, in most 1st world countries.
FACT: Multi-million dollar lawsuits and subsequent pay-offs are occurring almost weekly.
As was mentioned by Stephen Lett not long ago, the organization’s expenses are exceeding their income. Probably far more than they are letting on. Is it sustainable?
In order to keep and maintain the carnivorous budget requirements, including the construction and continued maintenance of a multi-million dollar corporate headquarters in addition to other facilities, the cash has to keep flowing in at an unprecedented rate. Hence the perceived "need" to consolidate and sell off properties. But that too, by its very nature, is not sustainable.Doesn’t it make sense that within a reasonable amount of time, at some point, all the “extra” and “superfluous” Kingdom Halls will have been sold off.? Even as they are selling properties, the total brought in cant really be that much, given what they are giving up. It takes quite a few KH buildings to make up for legal expenses and payoffs of lawsuits. Example: Lets say a KH property can be sold for $500,000 USD. Those funds can get eaten up pretty fast when you start talking lawsuits, outside legal fees, payoffs, etc. But the bigger thing to consider is that is a one-time cash grab. That particular building is now GONE, forever. You cant make money off of it again. However, another lawsuit can pop up in place of the other one... TOMORROW!
And so ok, what if they have a bunch of cash tied into stocks. Right now, things are moving along well, and maybe they are making money. But what happens when, not if, but WHEN, the stock market or housing market takes a nosedive like it did 12 years ago?
From a business model perspective, the whole mess is unsustainable and severely lopsided in its construction. Realistically, its like a bad gambling debt that just cant be dug out from. I'm sure there are plenty of other analogies that illustrate the point, but I think you can understand the issue.
I guess the other aspect of all of this is that the sheeple in general are completely oblivious, its almost as if they don't WANT to see the crash coming.
What say you?
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2019-March-File!
by Atlantis in2019-march-announcements and reminders.. https://we.tl/t-ezzkzv9q6n petra!
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Tech49
Boys, boys. Settle down... FOCUS....focus........…. (points over there...>>>>>>> .) Look, something shiny!
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2019-March-File!
by Atlantis in2019-march-announcements and reminders.. https://we.tl/t-ezzkzv9q6n petra!
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Tech49
There it is.! No more WT Libraries on DVD/CD-ROM.