i have to agree with a lot of you. Forbidden from taking part in soccer teams, I had no friends and consequently grew up as a bit of a loner. The few people in the hall close to my age just ignored me.
truthseeker
JoinedPosts by truthseeker
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7
Were you ever bullied at school for being a Witness?
by truthseeker ini was very badly bullied in school, although most of the bullying was verbal.
i was the only witness kid in school too.
when i got to college, i made damned sure i never told anyone what religion i was.. .
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Were you ever bullied at school for being a Witness?
by truthseeker ini was very badly bullied in school, although most of the bullying was verbal.
i was the only witness kid in school too.
when i got to college, i made damned sure i never told anyone what religion i was.. .
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truthseeker
I was very badly bullied in school, although most of the bullying was verbal. I was the only witness kid in school too. When I got to college, I made damned sure I never told anyone what religion I was.
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Can anyone confirm this? New congregation consolidation 'unofficial' policy
by truthseeker ini recently was told by an elder in queens, that there are so many young people being df'd, marriage problems and divorce, that some congregations in the queens, bronx and manhattan areas are very small as a result of the above problems.
he said that there is an unofficial policy of the gb, that they don't like congregations with less than 75 publishers.
as a result, some kingdom halls are being sold and congregations with few publishers are being consoloidated with bigger congregations.
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truthseeker
I recently was told by an elder in Queens, that there are so many young people being df'd, marriage problems and divorce, that some congregations in the Queens, Bronx and Manhattan areas are very small as a result of the above problems. He said that there is an unofficial policy of the GB, that they don't like congregations with less than 75 publishers.
As a result, some Kingdom Halls are being sold and congregations with few publishers are being consoloidated with bigger congregations. Does anyone know anything about this?
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Increase in Bible Studies - not a good indicator of growth
by truthseeker injoker said the following recently in his 2003 jw worldwide report... .
almost every country saw an increase in bible studies.
from last year, tens of thousands more in the united states, and 10,000 in the uk.
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truthseeker
Joker said the following recently in his 2003 JW Worldwide report...
Almost every country saw an increase in Bible Studies. From last year, tens of thousands more in the United States, and 10,000 in the UK. As expected, Bible studies rose to 5,726,509 (up 7.9%).
Should we take this to be a good sign of potential growth?
For anyone that can go back this far, when the Live Forever book was released in 1982, there was no special time limit (correct me if I'm wrong) on going through this book with a Bible student. Most studies took roughly a year, sometimes longer to go through this book.
When the Society released the Knowledge book in 1995, it was said from the assembly, that as the remaining time left for this system is so short, we should consider covering the material in this book in no more than 6 months. A year later, in 1996, the 'What Does God Require' brochure was released, which is now the primary method of indoctrination for new bible students.
Nearly the best part of a decade later, what do the results show for Bible studies?
Let's look at the figures.
Joker's report says that there were a peak of 5.7 million Bible studies. Looking at my 2003 yearbook, there were 5.3 million Bible studies. The service report as you know runs from 1 Sep to 31 Aug. Assuming that each Bible student took a year to go through the Knowledge book and got baptized, you would have had a peak of 11.7 million active Jehovah's Witnesses.
Instead, you have a 2.2% increase and more Bible studies!!!
Even if you account for just 50% of 2002 service year's bible students getting baptized, you should realistically have 9 million JW's.
With 5.7 million Bible studies for the 2003 service year, one can only wonder what on earth there Bible teachers are telling them.
How about another way...
If it took 1 year to decide whether a bible student wanted to commit to the truth or not, theoretically, there should not be 5.7 million Bible stduies. It's just not possible.
The Society have released a few hints in recent issues of the WT, that many Bible students are 'holding back' from getting baptised.
5.7 million Bible studies is not a good sign - it's a disaster.
There's no way that you could consistently have so many people studying the Bible year after year, with that number getting ever higher, and yet the actual number of JW's increases by only 100,000+.
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Special Offer of the month - how did it originate?
by truthseeker infirst of all, maybe the question should be, 'why do we need a special offer of the month?'.
every other week, i get a macy's catalog with their special offer of the month, the society is no different.
if this is supposed to be truth, you should not need to have any special offer of the month.
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truthseeker
excellent viewpoint exjw, thank you.
i never bothered with special offer of the month - for the most part, none of the householders had any idea that we were doing this!
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What do you think the cover title will be of the Jan, 1st, 2014 Watchtower?
by cyberguy in.
here?s mine (he-he): armageddon, it?s closer than you think!
1914 and the "gentile times.
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truthseeker
1914 - Gunshots that Still Shake Our World - from the 1994 WT.
Ha ha
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Special Offer of the month - how did it originate?
by truthseeker infirst of all, maybe the question should be, 'why do we need a special offer of the month?'.
every other week, i get a macy's catalog with their special offer of the month, the society is no different.
if this is supposed to be truth, you should not need to have any special offer of the month.
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truthseeker
First of all, maybe the question should be, 'Why do we need a special offer of the month?'
Every other week, I get a Macy's catalog with their special offer of the month, the Society is no different. If this is supposed to be truth, you should not need to have any special offer of the month. Why don't they just stick to their Bibles?
Does anyone know how this got started, any of you long timers?
Typical KM Announcements
October - Awake and Watchtower magazines
November - Any book published prior to 1988, if you do not have any in stock, please check to see if a local congregation has any.
December - Liveforever Book - you know, the book with the 1914 Generation in and the Soddom and Gomorrah resurrection yes/no article.
why are they STILL offering old light? All books published prior to 1988 have old light in.
Why would they still offer an old study book with old doctrine in?
Did any of you bother giving the Special Offer of the month?
Doesn't this sound like one of those Best Buy magazines?
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Dec 15th WT - Our Watchfulness Takes on Greater Urgency
by truthseeker inwhen i picked up this copy of the wt, i couldn't believe what i saw in the two study articles.
the first one is entitled "our watchfulness takes on greater urgency" and the second article is "prove yourselves ready for jehovah's day".. i'm not going to go into these articles in depth, as that is blondies job!
but i will elaborate on a few points.. before i begin, let's consider a recent comment at the annual general meeting by bro barr, a gb member to put things into perspective:.
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truthseeker
got my forty homey, I read the WT as I am trying to chart their self destructive course. I am still 'in', have no choice at the moment.
The WTS forces those of us who are still in to lead a double life - all smiley at the Kingdom Hall, but depressed inside because they don't believe the babble of WT leaders and don't want to be shunned by friends and relatives.
Take if from me - it's like being between a rock and a hard place.
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Dec 15th WT - Our Watchfulness Takes on Greater Urgency
by truthseeker inwhen i picked up this copy of the wt, i couldn't believe what i saw in the two study articles.
the first one is entitled "our watchfulness takes on greater urgency" and the second article is "prove yourselves ready for jehovah's day".. i'm not going to go into these articles in depth, as that is blondies job!
but i will elaborate on a few points.. before i begin, let's consider a recent comment at the annual general meeting by bro barr, a gb member to put things into perspective:.
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truthseeker
Thanks all for your comments, especially Ozzie!
Metraton and Minimums - enjoyed your replys, JT as well.
Yes, this 'sense of urgency', is wasted on many.
For example, one of my relatives asked an elder why the reason is for the delay of Armaggedon. His response?
'Well, Abraham didn't live to see the future promises.'
so, in other words, you have to serve this religion till you drop dead, even if the big A doesn't come in your life time.
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Dec 15th WT - Our Watchfulness Takes on Greater Urgency
by truthseeker inwhen i picked up this copy of the wt, i couldn't believe what i saw in the two study articles.
the first one is entitled "our watchfulness takes on greater urgency" and the second article is "prove yourselves ready for jehovah's day".. i'm not going to go into these articles in depth, as that is blondies job!
but i will elaborate on a few points.. before i begin, let's consider a recent comment at the annual general meeting by bro barr, a gb member to put things into perspective:.
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truthseeker
When I picked up this copy of the WT, I couldn't believe what I saw in the two study articles. The first one is entitled "Our Watchfulness Takes On Greater Urgency" and the second article is "Prove Yourselves Ready for Jehovah's Day".
I'm not going to go into these articles in depth, as that is Blondies job! but I will elaborate on a few points.
Before I begin, let's consider a recent comment at the Annual General Meeting by Bro Barr, a GB member to put things into perspective:
Our 2004 year text, Matt. 24:42, is very timely indeed. As Brother Barr pointed out in his talk, even among us there is NOT A SENSE OF READINESS, as we are always sidetracked by the lures of this system of things. At the annual meeting yesterday Bro. Barr gave a wonderful talk on the new year text which is: Matthew 24:42, (this part only) "Keep on the watch,.....Prove yourselves ready," He spoke about no one knowing the day or hour, only the Father. Therefore the admonition to be ready at anytime or any day. He emphasized that in Noah's day they took no note. They said that even among Jehovah's people there is not a sense of readiness. We are getting side-tracked due to the fact that the end has not come yet. We need to strengthen one another.
The fist article, "Our Watchfulness Takes On Greater Urgency" starts off with a quick review by Bill Emmott of the 20th century in paragraph 1. Paragraph 2 tells us about the composite sign of Jesus' presence and paragraph 3 makes the following comment:
How do you view the worsening trend in human affairs? Many are indifferent, even callous, to distressing events of the day. The world's influential and intellectual men do not discern the meaning of "the signs of the times"; neither have religious leaders given proper guidance in this matter." Jesus admonished his followers to "keep on the watch". To keep on the watch we must be vigilant. This requires more than simply acknowledging that we are living in the last days, more than recognizing that times are hard....Only then will our watchfulness take on a sense of urgency. Hence, the question that we must reflect on is: 'What will help us to strengthen our conviction that the end is near?'
My take is on this, is the Society believe that they are the only ones who think we live in the time of the end. While it's true that the average man in the street doesn't talk about or know about the end times, there are hundreds of websites out there that are about the end times prophecy, and these are not witness sites. the Society seems to think that being intellectual is a liability for some reason. Is it good to be dumb?
Then in paragraphs 4 and 5 you have the Noachian account, how they were all eating and drinking and took no note till the flood came and swept them all away. Another cut and paste artwork shows Noah building his ark on page 15.
Paragraph 7 says the following
"After being given divine warning of things not yet beheld," says the apostle Paul, "Noah showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household." What about us? Some 90 years have passed since the last days of this system of things began in 1914. We are certainly in "the time of the end." How should we respond to the warnings we have been given?...Now is the time to do Jehovah's will with a keen sense of urgency.
Can anyone spot the delibarate mistake?! Not only are we living in the last days, we are also living in the time of the end. How can we be living in two time periods at the same time? When will they get it, that the last days were for the Jewish people living at the time, or just before the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Not only that, but they actually acknowledge that we are now 90 years from the date that Christ supposedly came invisibly and set up his kingdom. 10 years ago, they were still spouting the 1914 generation doctrine, now they are blaming us for the kingdom delay. How much more hypocritical can you get than that?
paragraph 8 continues...
In modern times, sincere students of the Bible have learned from the inspired Scriptures that this system is doomed to destruction. Do we believe this?
It is obvious that many witnesses do not believe this the GB would see no need to write this. Witnesses are just not bothering to reach out and pioneer, as is eveidenced by the slow decline of fulltime regular pioneers.
Paragraph 9 states the following...
Jehovah has kept these warnings in front of his people by means of timely reminders through the spiritual food provided by the faithful and discreet slave class.
Once again, Jehovah = faithful and discreet slave
Jehovah's timely reminders = faithful and discreet slave watchtowers
Some timely spiritual reminders are as follows...
Millions now living will never die.
Why can you look forward to 1975?
The generation of 1914 that will see the conclusion of the system of things.
Towards the end of the article, they talk about how widespread the preaching work is, how 25,000,000 mags are printed even though the population of earth is over 6 billion and 6.5 million JW's have 6.5 million of those 25 million magazines as personal copies. Yet again, those surviving out of earth's billions will be few.
Paragraph 22 is unbelieveable
Today, Jesus Christ is directing a tremendous spiritual buidling work. For the security and survival of true worshippers, an ark-like spiritual paradise exists. To be preserved thorugh the great tribulation, we must remain in that paradise.
I won't even bother with the 2nd article, it's more of the "keep on the watch stuff".