Very interesting thanks for putting this together.
I made a graph of part of this data a few months ago.
slimboyfat
JoinedPosts by slimboyfat
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21
REVEALED: The number of Bethelites over the years
by darkspilver inin response to this thread.
i've put forward the argument that i believe that the 'organization' is financially effectively bleeding itself dry - it is actually financially imploding.. i believe that over the last 45 or so years, in particular, it has evolved from a relatively 'lean machine' into what is now a huge unwieldy organization.
as an organization grows i would expect increased efficiency through by both economies of scale, and advances in technology.. how has the watchtower organization fared?....
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38
If the WT is a "money making machine"...who gets the money?
by NikL ini've seen claims over the years that wt is in the real estate, book publishing business and is a for profit enterprise at it's core.. can those of you that believe this to be the case tell me who benefits from all this wealth?.
the governing body lives in relatively humble conditions no?.
i've been curious about this for a while.
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slimboyfat
Sorry wrong thread.
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57
Jehovah's Witness / ex-JW Suicide Rate?
by Simon init's no secret that both remaining a jw or leaving the wts can take a toll on mental health.
some will suffer from depression and ultimately some will have thoughts of suicide and a few will succumb to those.. but i don't recall ever seeing any hard stats or studies on it though.
i'm sure we all know of some people who have committed suicide but i don't know if, because you may have loose association with a much larger pool of people through the religion, that this only seems higher or maybe not be actually higher than the general population.. what i mean is, you go to a kh here there maybe 100-150 people, you attend circuit and district conventions with many tens of thousands - if any one person commits suicide then you likely hear about it and it becomes part of the anecdotal 'evidence' that is then put forward as a fact that there is a higher rate ... but is there?.
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slimboyfat
I really rate Bergman at all. It's best not to quote his studies on mental health because he doesn't have any credibility.
His other work suggests he might be at home in a Fox News studio.
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Jehovah's Witness / ex-JW Suicide Rate?
by Simon init's no secret that both remaining a jw or leaving the wts can take a toll on mental health.
some will suffer from depression and ultimately some will have thoughts of suicide and a few will succumb to those.. but i don't recall ever seeing any hard stats or studies on it though.
i'm sure we all know of some people who have committed suicide but i don't know if, because you may have loose association with a much larger pool of people through the religion, that this only seems higher or maybe not be actually higher than the general population.. what i mean is, you go to a kh here there maybe 100-150 people, you attend circuit and district conventions with many tens of thousands - if any one person commits suicide then you likely hear about it and it becomes part of the anecdotal 'evidence' that is then put forward as a fact that there is a higher rate ... but is there?.
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slimboyfat
Carl Olof Jonsson referred to the work of scholars in relevant disciplines and built his case on that. I don't think he claimed to produce new findings from his own research on the primary data.
Rolf Furuli on the other hand is proficient in Hebrew, Akkadian, Ugaritic and goodness knows what else. And yet other experts don't rate his work on chronology.
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What would happen to the assets of the JW organisation if the cult went into meltdown?
by Half banana inwhat if the jw org became publicly exposed as a repressive and harmful cult working to the detriment of society, the membership dropped away and the gb woke up to reality and quit .
what would happen to the worldwide property and investments of the wtbts and allied companies?
where would the money go then?
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slimboyfat
When a Presbyterian congregation in the west of Scotland closed down because of declining membership, they donated their remaining funds to the local hospice. I wonder if any JW congregation has ever done that.
http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/14821523.Greenock_church_s___20k_parting_gift_is_Godsend/
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Fade Advice Please
by Zeds Dead ini got reinstated in the last month and had my record cards sent to a new congregation.
i went to a few meetings until i heard the cards had been sent and now i am looking to do a complete fade, no longer go at all.
the new congregation does not know me well and further away from where i live so i am hoping they will give up trying to make contact quickly.. any advice on do's and dont's and what to expect?.
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slimboyfat
It would help if you explained why you are going about it like this, because it really depends on family or whatever your objectives are.
because the Elders will get someone you trust to try and get the information out of you
This happened to me. I wouldn't have believed it until they did it. -
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Jehovah's Witness / ex-JW Suicide Rate?
by Simon init's no secret that both remaining a jw or leaving the wts can take a toll on mental health.
some will suffer from depression and ultimately some will have thoughts of suicide and a few will succumb to those.. but i don't recall ever seeing any hard stats or studies on it though.
i'm sure we all know of some people who have committed suicide but i don't know if, because you may have loose association with a much larger pool of people through the religion, that this only seems higher or maybe not be actually higher than the general population.. what i mean is, you go to a kh here there maybe 100-150 people, you attend circuit and district conventions with many tens of thousands - if any one person commits suicide then you likely hear about it and it becomes part of the anecdotal 'evidence' that is then put forward as a fact that there is a higher rate ... but is there?.
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slimboyfat
We don't have good data on the subject. But it's worth noting that a major reason we don't have good data is because the WT leadership has consistently prevented researchers from gathering this sort of information on members.
We know that the WT organisation gathers all sorts of information about the membership through circuit overseers in particular. I think it's reasonable to assume they have surveyed their membership at various times on various levels on mental health and suicide issues. If the results had shown the organisation in a favourable light they probably wouldn't prevent others from gathering the information.
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THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION) APRIL 2017.....Scare tactics
by RULES & REGULATIONS inthe watchtower (study edition) april 2017 .
“you must pay your vows to jehovah.”—matt.
5:33.. * to all intents and purposes, he presented himself as one who was wholly dedicated to god.
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slimboyfat
13 There is no way to undo a dedication vow, taking back what we promised God. If a person tires of serving Jehovah or of living a Christian way of life, he cannot claim that he was never really dedicated and that his baptism was invalid.
Well that's their opinion. In my opinion I was 14 years old and not fully informed what the choice meant, therefore I do "claim" it was invalid.
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Mexico branch......Now closing!!!
by krismalone ina circuit overseer friend of mine serving in latin america called me today to say hi.
i asked him what's new and he dropped the news that they have received notification that the branch in mexico will be closing!!
this branch also called the central american branch (although located in mexico) oversees all of mexico's 800,000+ publishers plus all 7 countries of central america of over 100,000 publishers.
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slimboyfat
When are they going to introduce the change where Governing Body members get a job and support themselves. Ridiculous? I don't see why not, those that are young and able. They could work part time or part of the year, to pay their travel and living expenses.
Which makes me wonder, suppose a wife of one of the GB one day said, "I fancy getting a job", or even pursuing some sort of career. I wonder what they would say to that. Or what if they tried to stop her but she did it anyway. It's funny that the JW organisation is such a rigid system that such a natural everyday thing as a woman wanting a career or indepdendent income seems a far fetched notion at the top of the organisation. In other churchs, being a leader of then church is no barrier to the spouse having an indepdendent career.
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Which bible translation do you think is best and most acurate?
by NikL infor those that still care to read the bible of course.
those that don't, please keep the snarky comments to yourselves :-).
i am assuming nwt is not very popular?.
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slimboyfat
When I was at uni I did a few courses on Hebrew and the New Testament. In all the courses I attended the NRSV was used as standard. It was regarded as the best translation available and I guess I have internalised that bias. If I want to know simply what "the Bible" says, I look up the NRSV first. It is in easy to understand modern English, uses good base texts, and was produced by a team of very capable scholars. It avoids the extreme sectarian bias of some translations (it's commonly used as an ecumenical version, acceptable to Catholics and Protestants), the translators were neither extreme conservatives nor extreme liberals, and the version retains a flavour, but does not follow slavishly the King James tradition.
So all around I think there is a good case to be made for the NRSV as one of the most reliable, accurate, and useable translations.
But I like a lot of other translations. In particular I enjoy where translators have gone to the trouble of translating individual books with lots of footnotes amd explanation. Robert Alter's translation of Genesis for example is excellent, as is Raymond Scheindlin's version of The Book of Job. For a readable and interesting version of the New Testament I like The Authentic New Testament by Hugh Schonfield. The Jerusalem Bible is a well respected Catholic version with loads of helpful footnotes.