the waters are drying up!
a congregation of 110+ publishers will be contributing only $200 a month to the society in the new kingdom hall construction arrangement.
that's less than $2 a publisher!
daringhart13: It's tragic........I would love to be inside the head of these folks in their 60's and 70's........they have to be going 'huh?'
I would love to get inside their heads, too. I really want to talk with some of the old-timers I grew up around, but all are gone except one. She might be gone, too; I just don't know. What are they thinking?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=potrr2qxhue.
.. if armageddon is "imminent", why is wt focused on sight-seeing, entertainment, travel, etc.
instead of preaching and saving people??.
If JWs really think the end is imminent and that every passing minute brings us closer to the death of every non-JW (billions), it seems that as time passes, they would be more serious, more single-minded, less distracted, more focused on warning; but the opposite is true as this video shows. They seem to get less serious. They get weaker, softer. They can't defend their doctrine as they could in times past; they don't even know their doctrine anymore. They become more commercial, more like the world. Don't some of them see it or are they just totally blind?
If there is a Jah and there is an imminent end and JWs are his people, then it seems that he would hold the org accountable. Would he really want them spending all the time, effort, and money on entertainment, practicing skits, etc. so close to the end? Shouldn't they be marching around Jericho wlith a serious attitude?
Actually, they can't really warn people strongly anymore. Their record of failed predictions has made them such that nobody can take them seriously anymore. They cried wolf too many times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=potrr2qxhue.
.. if armageddon is "imminent", why is wt focused on sight-seeing, entertainment, travel, etc.
instead of preaching and saving people??.
Another point. Didn't they use to stress that conventions were to be spiritual occasions - not like vacations for entertainment? What the hell's going on? Who's behind this rebranding, this overhaul? Somebody said here in the past few weeks or months that they're trying to be more like Mormons or SDAs. Do you think that's true?
My god, I wish some of the old-timers who have died could see this. I'd love to get their comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=potrr2qxhue.
.. if armageddon is "imminent", why is wt focused on sight-seeing, entertainment, travel, etc.
instead of preaching and saving people??.
I just can't believe it. It is a rebranding. What's next - congregation softball teams? I remember in the older days being impressed that JWs were supposedly focused on important things and not stuff like that shown in the video and not social stuff and entertainment stuff like the churches. But that’s changing. It truly is a different religion.
I’m familiar with the two JW males shown at the beginning, Starrett & Belson. Both seemed friendly, but neither gave evidence of liking the dirty work – the ministry. Starrett loved to do stuff like RBC work. Belson had a federal government job with, I think, the National Park service. He made big money. He was head man at several national parks. Probably got a huge retirement now. He was making big bucks in his ranger suit when I was busting my a$$ pioneering and living like a tramp. Why didn’t he pioneer like I did? It bothered me a little back then, but I thought I would get my reward in paradise soon. He got the reward – from the federal government. I got zero. He was not very bright. I know a sister who was in a book study he conducted; she said he didn’t know what was going on. I visited once and verified that. He didn’t know how scriptures applied, applied them incorrectly, etc.
“Get ready for the time of your life”. Heard that I think twice in the video. That just doesn’t sound like the JW org I knew. It’s just so different. I can’t believe the focus on entertainment. Like AndDon’tCallMeShirley said, according to JWs, isn’t the greatest destruction the earth has ever seem imminent? Aren’t billions about to lose their lives? If so, why in the hell would JWs be wasting precious time, effort, and resources having ‘the times of their lives’? It’s just so wrong. Why can’t more JWs see it?
At about 1:27 as Belson is speaking, notice the three big Creation books on the shelf in the background. Belson is clueless. I assure you he doesn’t even know there’s anything wrong with the book.
As somebody mentioned above, notice the private JW homes shown at about 4:47. Can the average part-time janitor JW afford one of those? Most couldn’t afford the taxes and upkeep. I can’t believe they show those homes! They tell young ones to pioneer and work part-time and not get an education and then they show homes like that???
They are showing and referring to the GB more and more. In the old days the GB weren’t featured so prominently. The GB are like celebrities to JWs. So the rock star GB are going to be tied in to other conventions. Oh aren’t we lowly peons privileged?
“Listen, obey, and be blessed” was said at least twice by a child (maybe the same one) including once at the end. Notice that it’s all about listening to and obeying the org, not Jah & Jesus. What the hell does a five-year-old know about what kind of blessing comes from listening to and obeying the org? So I’m supposed to be encouraged and strengthened because a five-year-old with zero life experience says “listen, obey, and be blessed”? I listened and obeyed for over six times that child’s lifetime, and I was cursed – no blessing here; that’s my experience. What do you know little girl? Not a #$% thing.
Notice that comments are disabled for the video. JWs are scared as usual. They know their “truth” can’t stand up to the slightest questioning or testing or opposition. They always dish it out, but never in a way that allows for them to be opposed, challenged, etc.
The phrase “the friends” was used several times; it sounds so cultish.
Overall, it’s just a different religion – a rebranding. I don’t like it. I liked the more serious, more noble-seeming JW religion of the past.
has anyone ever called bethel and asked why they dont have the revelation book online anymore?.
So it's not online anymore? Was it ever? Does anybody know what's up? Are they releasing or working on another book on Revelation? Are there problems with it as there are with the Creation book and Trinity brochure?
the other day i was sitting in one of those meetings where the public talk was absolutely mind-dumbing.
by minute 5 i couldn't take it anymore paying further attention to what was being said, so my mind wandered.
i looked around to my own kh and started to notice something.
Dang - just noticed I wrongly spelled "Absalom" above (I spelled it "Absolom") (too late to edit). Just had to correct it; my spelling OCD was getting me.
the other day i was sitting in one of those meetings where the public talk was absolutely mind-dumbing.
by minute 5 i couldn't take it anymore paying further attention to what was being said, so my mind wandered.
i looked around to my own kh and started to notice something.
Zero with education in the last thirty years. I only know of one outsider, but he was studied with for years. Was in his fifties when dunked. Has personally known several JWs for several decades, so not really a complete outsider. He's actually a nice guy. Seems to be a hardworking, stable, family man. He's a maintnenance man. Doesn't know Abraham for Absolom.
And I'm not talking about just my congregation; I'm talking about every congregation I know of.
One semi-exception: In another congregation in the area, there was an older medical doctor who was baptized (about 20 yrs ago), and I don't think he had any family connections. However, even though he had the piece of paper saying he was educated, he wasn't too bright. His wife was far sharper than he was. If you didn't know he had the degree, you'd just think he was some weak, uneducated JW. So I put more emphasis on what's between a person's ears than what's hanging on his wall. And it's been 30 yrs since I've seen a person get baptized with a decent chunk of functioning gray matter between his ears.
I just don't see how any educated people could come in anymore [by "educated", I don't necessarily mean having formal schooling or a degree, but I mean intelligent, emotionally stable, logical, reasonable, well-read, & knowledgeable]. It was possible a few decades ago when the org seemed more scholarly and noble and individual JWs were of higher caliber, but now, I just don't think it can happen. I don't think I would have come in if I had come along at this time. There's so much info available now. The message and the messengers are dumbed down. The passing of time is showing JWs to be more and more wrong - not more and more right. With every passing year, the chances become less for educated outsiders to become JWs.
yesterday i was having a beer with a friend of mine who happens to be an accountant, and we began discussing this ridiculous arrangement that the watchtower has put in place.
after giving him the backstory of how the watchtower has been lending money to the local congregations and charging interest, he simply could not believe they had been doing that.. he then offered an explanation which really made sense to me.
he said that in reality what the watchtower society has been doing is actually not legal in light of their tax-exempt status.
insidetheKH: this is one of the best arrangements the WTBTS did come up with
You never explained that statement. You simply indicated that some congregations are donating more to the org now. So in what way is that better? Better for whom? Better in what way?
the waters are drying up!
a congregation of 110+ publishers will be contributing only $200 a month to the society in the new kingdom hall construction arrangement.
that's less than $2 a publisher!
friendaroonie: Its just wishful thinking that the wt is going to fall. There is just no sign of that. A member here and there leaves and the exjw goes cheering. But every congregation I visit has all the same members I remember from 20 years ago, 30 even. They are all there still making the same comments and going out in service. I just dont see what people are talking about when they say the wt is receding. No they are growing like always and no revolution will ever happen in their ranks.
I disagree. I don't know much about the money situation, but the org has already fallen in a big way. It IS NOT the same as it was a few decades ago, Most (almost all) of the deeper, smarter, more knowledgeable old-timers that I knew are gone and they have not been replaced by an equivalent group. The new group is far less intelligent, less knowledgeable, etc. The org has been dumbed down. The mags are almost irrelevant now. It seems that as time passes, they are taken less seriously by non-JWs.
I can't find anybody among them to talk with anymore - nobody that can carry on an intelligent Bible conversation; they can't even carry on an intelligent conversation about their own doctrine. I know an elder who went to the annual meeting at which the big FDS=GB change was made. He didn't even know the change was made, and I think he still doesn't know the difference.
It just ain't the same. I think that my two favorite elders in the whole circuit are having doubts. They are the two most intelligent, reasonable, normal elders, and both know something is wrong.
they are growing like always
I do not see that. I actually see negative growth. I honestly can't even remember the last time I saw a quality (intelligent, stable, normal, well-read) individual get baptized. I see virtually no outsiders (those without JW family connections) come in, and the ones that do are not quality. There at least used to be the appearance of scholarship in the org, but no more.
I also see very few (if any) prospects among the JW family members that come in. I don't trust the numbers the org provides, but I think they should start showing negative growth in the relatively near future.
please check out this you tube video on the "new donation" arrangement update.
its pretty interesting.. see link below.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsodgtx6d58.
ll.
I agree with the above comments indicating that the videos should be concise and to the point. I have never finished one of their videos and don't even think I've ever gotten to the main point of one. I don't have much tolerance for rambling either (as somebody mentioned above).
villagegirl: he has often been drinking and they just muddle up the issues and seem like two mal-contents who have no life other than just rambling on and on and on and on ......really... really.... boring. Its disorganized and irrelevant and not very informative.
That's blunt, but I agree with it.
So did anybody watch it? What is the update?
