I remember doing rural territory on the islands in car groups. That was fun! And not much preaching either. On the rare occasions when householders would want to talk you'd have to say, "we'd love to talk to you longer, but we've got people waiting for us in the car".
slimboyfat
JoinedPosts by slimboyfat
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70
Witness Carts - A Vehicle for Significant Decline
by slimboyfat ini was stalking to a jw today about her recent experience on the carts and with being a jw generally.
until this conversation i considered the carts as just an ineffective preaching method and a harmless waste of time.
but now i wonder if the effect of the carts might be to produce noticeable decline in jw numbers.
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70
Witness Carts - A Vehicle for Significant Decline
by slimboyfat ini was stalking to a jw today about her recent experience on the carts and with being a jw generally.
until this conversation i considered the carts as just an ineffective preaching method and a harmless waste of time.
but now i wonder if the effect of the carts might be to produce noticeable decline in jw numbers.
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slimboyfat
I was stalking to a JW today about her recent experience on the carts and with being a JW generally. Until this conversation I considered the carts as just an ineffective preaching method and a harmless waste of time. But now I wonder if the effect of the carts might be to produce noticeable decline in JW numbers.
This sister has been a JW for over 30 years and pioneered at various points. In the last couple of years she has done a lot of cart witnessing. She enjoyed it at first because it was easy and she could chat with other JWs. Over time it practically replaced door to door ministry and return visits. More recently she got bored cart witnessing because there is a complete lack of response from the public and she fell out with some of her witnessing partners, perhaps partly due to with the stress of standing for hours with no results. So she's stopped doing cart witnessing and is less regular at the meetings. And she's not gone back to regular witnessing either. For the first time in 30 years she had no time to report for the month of May.
If this experience is in any way replicated elsewhere, the carts may not simply be a mind-bogglingly ineffective preaching method. They may actually contribute significantly to reduced morale, activity, and overall JW numbers.
Has anyone else heard similar experiences?
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147
Challenge to Creationists
by cofty inin response to the 37 threads in my evolution is a fact series - see bottom of op for links - perry posted a link to an article "44 reasons why evolution isn't true".. i offered him a challenge on the thread and by pm.
predictably he is totally ignoring it, so i am offering the challenge to any evolution-denier who thinks they have evidence to support their position.. please present one specific piece of evidence for creationism.. my task will be to refute it with evidence within 24 hours.. then i will present one piece of evidence for evolution and your challenge will be the same.. all posts must be as succinct as reasonably possible.
entirely in your own words, without copy-paste, videos or links.. please post your interest to take part and we will set it up before the first actual post in the exchange.
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slimboyfat
If evidence emerged to support creation would you change your mind?
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How to shake up Jdubs...
by Rather Be the Hammer ini didn't attend the meeting last night, but my in husband came home and was quite shocked because there was a letter announcing that there will be no wt-library cd-rom any more, and..... no more calendar.. he said there was a lot of talking and noise when that was announced.. i didn't expect the calender to go, by the way.
and my husband sounded really concerned, talking about how society is cutting down.
i love it when he says with a tone of surprise in his voice: 'you were right, now they want us to do everyting digital, and throw out the printed stuff.
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slimboyfat
No calendar? They really are cutting to the bone.
The library can be downloaded online so that's less of a surprise.
They will have very little left to print. Soon they may abandon printing themselves entirely and print the few remaining stuff with commercial printers.
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Could we use the new shunning guidelines to our advantage?
by Island Man inaccording to new, officially published guidelines, jws can now shun a person who has not been disfellowshipped from the congregation.
i see this guideline being abused by many jws who have an axe to grind with a fellow jw.
for example, let's say sister peinindiass rubs sister sensitive the wrong way.
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slimboyfat
They already have the "marking" system over which there seems to be some confusion. Some JWs think a person is only "marked" if there is a talk specifically about them In a local needs talk. Others seem to think it's up to individuals to decide who is to be marked when, based on their own "consciences".
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Could we use the new shunning guidelines to our advantage?
by Island Man inaccording to new, officially published guidelines, jws can now shun a person who has not been disfellowshipped from the congregation.
i see this guideline being abused by many jws who have an axe to grind with a fellow jw.
for example, let's say sister peinindiass rubs sister sensitive the wrong way.
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slimboyfat
I was thinking similar. But then again, the new guidelines (if they really are new) seem to be talking about inactive people. Apparently meaning people who no longer attend meetings and may not have done so for a long time, but who somehow slipped under the net and escaped disfellowship while doing things that would merit disfellowship. So it wouldn't arise that a sister in the congregation does this to another sister in the congregation. If they are both at the meetings then neither is inactive and they are not covered by the instructions.
But it does seem like it gives license to bully inactive people who may have maintained some contacts in the congregation. They probably perceive these people on the periphery as corrosive and time they were rooted out.
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71
Confusing Opinions with Facts
by cofty inin a discussion about the best flavour of ice cream everybody's opinion is equally valid.. in a discussion about the shape of the earth or the origin of species everybody's opinion is equally irrelevant.
only objective facts and evidence matter.. confusing these two categories is a common feature of conversations in this forum.
people deserve respect, errors do not..
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slimboyfat
I can respect it is your opinion that there is a clear distinction between opinions and facts. However some of the leading thinkers of the last century have tended to argue otherwise, such as Quine: "no statement is immune to revision".
You can't say that you allow evidence to shape your views, and yet also say that no evidence will ever make you disbelieve a certain fact. You can't have it both ways.
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RC 2016 Leaks & Releases
by wifibandit inin an effort to reduce the number of posts, this year i will try to add links to this post.
now, on with the leaks & releases!
first up.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzvwhflss4.
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slimboyfat
If shunning is sanctioned on mere hearsay without a committee, doesn't that just give a green light to gossip and bullying? What's the point of protesting innocence?
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Please sum up the last decade in JW history
by oldskool ini used to be a member of this site, but jumped off a good number of years ago (08?).
i don't have access to my old email, so i'm using a new account.. anyway, i was baptized jw in late 90's.
da'd mid 2000s.. when i left there were three meets a week plus field service.
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slimboyfat
Decline, from gentle to precipitous, with distinct indications of panic emanating from the top.
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Where to draw the line: how Platonism haunts our discourse and the search for exorcism
by slimboyfat inin the discussion about race i adopted a position i am not entirely comfortable with.
i think there is a sense in which it is useful to distinguish categories of description that can be fruitfully defended (apples and bananas) and those that cannot (caucasian or other racial descriptions for example).
but there is a more fundamental sense in which i believe that everything is socially constructed, every single line you can think of.
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slimboyfat
Reports out of WT land indicate that the discourse surrounding the construction of insiders and outsiders is changing with possible consequences. This worm sees things differently from the WT.