i have been bothered for some time by the sneaking suspicion that the publisher increases published annually are never realized in a tangible way.
therefore, i sat down and studied a 10 year period of what has been published by the society to see if i could get a warm and fuzzy feeling about these increases.
after hours i have realized the following:
Buster, what I was saying is that aside from losses due to death, over half of the yearly increase due to new baptized ones is offset by those who leave the organization or become inactive. So yes the turnover is low but on both sides, increases and decreases.
FM
i was looking at the jw list that nikl posted and i came across this: .
read the bible in one year.
the guy broke it down day by day.
I read the Bible from cover to cover after an Elder asked in a public talk "how can you call yourself a Christian if you've never read the entire Bible?” I took my time (about four months) and feel I benefited tremendously. Down through the years the scriptures have allowed me to discern WT hypocrisy.
FM
these are making the rounds in an e mail and i thought i would pass them on to you in case anyone is interested... .
scriptures on line: .
http://www.desinger.com/scriptures .
Thanks! Links like these are great information and software.
i have been bothered for some time by the sneaking suspicion that the publisher increases published annually are never realized in a tangible way.
therefore, i sat down and studied a 10 year period of what has been published by the society to see if i could get a warm and fuzzy feeling about these increases.
after hours i have realized the following:
I'm disagreeing with Buster. The turnover is quite high. My calculations for the USA only would indicate that on the average about 57% of the increases in publishers due to baptisms are lost (in addition to the losses due to death) because of other reasons (fading, DF, DA or just plain inactivity). The yearly average growth for the USA appears to net-out at 1.1% for the 1993 - 2002 time period.
FM
ok i was at the doctors office with my son and is hernia problem.
well as the dr was telling me that he needed surgery and was trying to explain what he was going to do and how it will be done just so i would know what going on with my kid.
as i sit there and he is explaining things to me he uses the word "gonad"!
TigerMan, you can move to Wisconsin if you want but I'm moving to North Carolina.
i am a bit fuzzy, but i always remembered that the "faithful and discreet slave" were the annointed members of the governing body and that they were led by jehovah god.... of course according to the wts.. now, as they get older and other wts corporations have been formed and the president of the wts himself isn't of the "annointed" then what happens when the "annointed" governing body members who represent the "faithful and discreet slave" die off?.
where is the intermediatary between the regular jw's and jehovah?
what will happen to the light that kept getting brighter?
THIS IS REALLY THE RIGHT ANSWER! They'll all be dead.
FM
sorry about the double post, i had problems with the computer....
before i go into some parts of the program, here is the program for the following weekend.. .
circuit assembly program 2004-2005. .
Where's Alabama?
lately i've been giving a lot of thought on my decision to leave the wts behind and during the course of my musing i contemplated the meaning of the composite sign.
and then it kind of struck me that perhaps this composite sign was really just a declaration of the obvious.
for example some of the elements of the composite sign are: famine, pestilence, reports of natural disasters (earthquakes, etc..).
Yes, I believe that the “composite” sign given by Jesus in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13 are events that signal when mankind would be in the last days and when Jesus would return. One of the things Jesus said was that “if those days were not cut short, no flesh would be spared”. My take on this statement from day one was that mankind would wipe itself off the face of the earth if God did not intervene. Of course the WTS says this applies to God’s concern for the anointed and not mankind in general.
The time we are now living in is dangerous without precedent for example consider the information presented at following link; http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/.
Consider all of the concern with nuclear proliferation and the potential of biological warfare. Think about damage done in the last 50 years to our environment and what the short-term future holds there. While terrible disasters and pestilences have always occurred, prior to our day, mankind did not then have it within his power to bring about his own swift and total annihilation.
My thoughts are that the criticisms levied toward the WTS and religion in general are justified. However, abandoning faith in God, discounting his warnings and criticizing the Bible might just be a dangerous road to travel.
FM
i have been seriously thinking that jw's and born-again christians have both been victims of the armaggeddon/rapture merry go round.
christians have been looking for the rapture for 2000 years and still nothing has happened.
jw's have been looking for armaggeddon for over 130 years now and still nothing has happened.
No earthly man or organization knows exactly when the end of this system or present world will occur. This includes the WTS or any other religious organization.
Personally I believe that the Bible is the word of God. Since I believe this, then I could not with good conscience say I don’t believe we are living in the time of the end. My opinion is based not on a date but on what I perceive as indisputable proof of the things occurring that Jesus said would mark the last days.
Now let’s suppose that the Bible is not God’s word, wouldn’t the present course of mankind still suggest that we are marching down the road to something climatic and terrible? The way I see it is that if there is no God to step in and stop us, things will only grow worse, not better. We will (1) Run out of Oil and see global starvation (2) see nuclear war and also use of nuclear devices by terrorists (3) experience devastating changes in climate due to global warming and deforestation (4) experience the nightmares of biological warfare. I know that all of this sounds a little doom and gloom but mankind now has the technological capabilities to initiate his own destruction in all of the foregoing ways.
The permanent forestalling of worldwide calamity would depend on NO ONE WHO IS EVIL ever acquiring the power to use the means of destruction now available. It would also depend on GOOD MEN cooperating together without selfish motives. I don’t think either of these propositions can occur on a permanent basis. When will the end come? I don’t know but it will come!
FM
i typed "ray franz" into my wt cd library.
this is what was in the kingdom ministry of august, 1980:.
announcements.
When Ray Franz was disfellowshipped the scuttlebutt (untrue) I remember hearing was that it was for apostasy. He supposedly was against the preaching work and had become an evil slave. Later I moved to a section of NW Central GA (USA) near where Ray now lives. The brothers in this locality knew Ray from when he first moved here after being dismissed from Bethel and before his disfellowshipping for having a meal with his employer (a real railroad job). Most of those who knew him still had great respect and sympathy for him even after his disfellowshipping. Its’ amazing the attraction a Christ-like personality projects.
FM
