by garlic81 105 Replies latest jw friends
Christian Women – weighed in the balances and found too heavy
Unfortunately the original German joke doesn't work in English. The German title of "Survival Into a New Earth" is
Überleben - und dann eine neue Erde ("Survive - and then a new earth")
which I changed to
Übergewicht - und dann eine neue Waage ("Overweight - and then new scales")
Just a minor side note, in the usa, soft cover bibles are no more.
why no more soft cover bibles? do you know why?
There was an annoucment made, i can find it later, but gave no reason. Inside info was the soft covers didnt last long at all, looked vad in fs really quick, and the "friends" were getting new ones all the time to compensate. It was penny wise, pound foolish. They have always made soft covers but they were exclusive to prision work.
When I was an active Witness, the district convention was the equivalent of the holiday season to me. I got to see friends I hadn't seen in at least a year, meet new people, and best of all, get new "presents" in the form of the convention releases. I know I wasn't the only one who felt that way about the district convention experience.
I haven't attended a convention in seven years now and have absolutely no desire to ever do so again. It has been interesting to me to see how quickly their importance first faded and then completely disappeared from my life. I look back now and can only marvel at the herd mentality these events created, at how instead of attending a rich spiritual banquet, we were led to a spiritual feeding trough and made to feel privileged to attend instead of abused.
I had thought that the convention releases would be chock full of information to enable us to survive the world's end and prepare us for glorious new world living. Jehovah would use these gatherings to prepare his people for everlasting life in paradise. We would also be educated in a truly spiritual way so that we could not only live in a way pleasing to God but also be equipped to share spiritual riches with others. That was one reason I was eager to read the announcements for the convention dates in the March 15 issue of The Watchtower every year.
But as the years turned into decades and Armageddon drew no closer, my enthusiasm for these gatherings began to wane. After I was disfellowshipped, I refused to attend and subject myself to the cruel shunning I knew I would have to face. That first year of missing the convention didn't make me feel as badly as I thought I would. Each succeeding year was even easier than its predecessor so that when I made up my mind to renounce this religion for good and all, there was nothing left to feel about the conventions at all except the freedom to enjoy my summer without their interruption.
Quendi
"just the style, comes in different color, the letters are bigger and now they have a bigger appendix on the back ... "
That's it? You don't jest? How disappointing.
Wonderment wrote:
Slimboyfat said: "Do they have anyone who is capable of revising the NWT?"
If they feel there is a need for updating their translation, they WILL find someone capable of revising the NWT, even if they had to pay an outsider to do it. We would never get to know the intimate details of any of their projects.
The original version of the New World Translation (1950-1960) was not really translated, but rather rewritten in [then] modern day American English. Fred Franz did most of the "translating" and then the translation committee voted on suggestions and changes. Franz approved or rejected their suggestions. Nathan Knorr, as president, signed off on the final version based on Franz's assurances that everything was a accurate as possible.
Recent updates to the NWT have mostly involved correcting some of Franz's tongue-tying sentence structure and to update some verses to conform with current WT "new light" teachings.
Any college level English major could re-edit the NWT in a way that would make it far more readable using 21st century English. In fact, there are several excellent automated editing programs that could correct Franz's awkward phraseology (From "Jehovah, he himself will..." to "Jehovah will..."). I always found reading the earlier versions of the NWT to be exhausting and lacking style.
You can still see Franz's influence clearly in many of the magazine article titles, the yearly scripture phrases (posted on the stage of the Kingdom Halls), and the theme names for the various conventions.
JV
MY prediction:
A "Simplified" NWT.
Quendi- I felt the same way about the district conventions years ago. They were the highlight of the year for me and the anticipation for the new books was very high.
Yes, looking forward to the convention theme and locations in the March 15 w and later the convention preview in the June 8 g was something I eagerly looked forward to as well.
I'd consider the titles of the closing talks each day and guess at what the new releases would be.
It was very exciting when we'd get more than one book.
There was so much anticipation during the talks, finally the title would be announced and the purpose of the book and first chapter discussed.
I could not wait for the closing song and prayer to end so i could go to the bookroom to get my copies.
But as the years went on, starting in 1987, the releases became somewhat lackluster.
And I was greatly let down when there was no new book released.
My last DC was 2000. It was sweltering hot in Veterens Stadium in Philly. 90 degrees. I felt sick. Many went home sick. The Morning attendence was higher than the afternoons for all 3 days.
I decided I could no longer go through that. I got nothing out of the convention at all.
As the years went on I no longer felt much of a desire to go through the trouble and expense of going to the conventions.
It has been 12 years since I last went. I will not go again.
Does anyone else get this suspicion?
They are going back to a "Require" type brochure to study first with people before moving into the Bible Teach Book.
Only those still interested in continuing the study will get the BT book.
This could result in a reduction of BT books being ordered and a cutback in production to save more money. They have been producing 20-30 million copies EACH year of that book since it came out in 2005. They may want to cut pack on having to print so many, right?
The new edition of the NWT will have more appendix material.
But is this from the Reasoning book?
Does this mean they will stop printing the Reasoning book to save money? Maybe that is why they have not revised it since 1989.
And by producing a NEW edition of the NWT, most if not all publishers and their studies or kids will want a copy.
Increased donations! And no more Reasoning book to print.
By putting out the dvds at conventions instead of having them only on the website, more donations will come in for it.
They need to continue with physical releases at the conventions to keep more donations coming up.
Without new physical releases they won't get as much in donations at the conventions.
I guess the 2 "Faith" dvds will lead to the Proclaimers book going out of print.
I am curios to see the new brochure about the witnesses, but otherwise this years releases are a big disappointment.
No new study book again?
Cutting costs. But what are they doing with all of the donations saved by their cost-cutting efforts?
