slimboyfat

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Posts by slimboyfat

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  2

  Reading hearts - Only Jah can.. but Jesus too.

  by Sanchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was reading the daily text this morning (june 26th, 2017) and found this:.

  but jesus, who could read hearts, discerned that the people were more interested in physical food than in what he taught.

  he saw what was wrong, patiently corrected them, and explained how they could improve.. .

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  slimboyfat

  John 5:19-22 Therefore, in response Jesus said to them: “Most truly I say to you, the Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things that One does, these things the Son does also in like manner. For the Father has affection for the Son and shows him all the things he himself does, and he will show him works greater than these, so that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead up and makes them alive, so the Son also makes alive whomever he wants to. For the Father judges no one at all, but he has entrusted all the judging to the Son,
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  28

  Report from Japan

  by wifibandit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anon in japan says:.

  i served in the third circuit of shikoku japan.

  a few years ago, a well-known theocratic family disassociated.

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  slimboyfat

  Well, despite millions of immigrants over the last few years, German JW growth is still among the poorest in Europe.

  Plus Germany had more immigrants than the UK even before the recent influx - 2010 figures in table:

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Germany
  
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  60

  Introducing Our Rockstar Governing Body

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  isnt nice to see the governing body being so humble, meek and not seeking their own importance?.

  .

  stash: /intesoft-inc.appspot.com/post/005df9f7e68e40cb9b013248fe7b670c.html

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  slimboyfat

  If I give a book to someone as a gift I might sign it too. But I would tend to describe it as an inscription not an autograph.

  In decades past, particularly when there was still a charge for the literature, sometimes JWs would buy WT books and give them as gifts with inscriptions inside.

  "To Betty, love from May, Edinburgh Assembly 1969"

  So maybe the GB "signing" Bibles and giving them to Cuban officials a gifts was not all that peculiar, if it was intended as a friendly gesture.

  Initially I had the notion of JW "fans" presenting the GB with Bibles to autograph. But clearly that's not the situation.
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  28

  Report from Japan

  by wifibandit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anon in japan says:.

  i served in the third circuit of shikoku japan.

  a few years ago, a well-known theocratic family disassociated.

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  slimboyfat

  The thing is that Internet access is a factor that is difficult to distinguish from other potentially more significant factors such as wealth and security of a country.

  To prove that the Internet is independently a determinant of JW activity you'd need to find poor/insecure countries with high Internet access and vice versa to test it out.

  Pippa Norris showed that religiosity generally is higher in counties with low security and development.

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Secular-Religion-Worldwide-Cambridge/dp/1107648378/

  I suspect JWs follow the same pattern as outlined in this study, although I've never done the numbers.

  In fact I think I can think of a counter example. Internet access has taken longer to grow in Germany than the UK for example, despite Germany being more prosperous. Yet JW growth has been more sluggish in Germany over the past two decades than in the UK. It's weak evidence either way, yet if the Internet significantly slowed growth we might expect the opposite pattern, ceteris paribus.
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  28

  Report from Japan

  by wifibandit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anon in japan says:.

  i served in the third circuit of shikoku japan.

  a few years ago, a well-known theocratic family disassociated.

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  slimboyfat

  Discussion of Mormon growth in countries with Internet:

  http://cumorah.com/index.php?target=view_case_studies&story_id=339&cat_id=8

  Not sure internet access is an important variable.
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  60

  Introducing Our Rockstar Governing Body

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  isnt nice to see the governing body being so humble, meek and not seeking their own importance?.

  .

  stash: /intesoft-inc.appspot.com/post/005df9f7e68e40cb9b013248fe7b670c.html

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  slimboyfat

  Can't see much wrong with getting pictures taken with people. They look fairly normal.
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  28

  Report from Japan

  by wifibandit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anon in japan says:.

  i served in the third circuit of shikoku japan.

  a few years ago, a well-known theocratic family disassociated.

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  slimboyfat

  Very interesting what is going on in Japan. I wonder how it will play out and whether other countries will follow the same pattern. The number of congregations is also beginning to decline in Germany and a few other countries.

  Steve the peak year in Japan was a bit later, around 2000 or so, and the publisher numbers are down since then. Pioneer numbers and hours are also down whereas worldwide they've continued to increase.

  Plus you mention the declining Japanese population. To be clear Japan's population was still growing until as recently as 2011. It is set to decline in future based on reasonable demographic projections, but it doesn't yet explain the decline in JW numbers since the 1990s.
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  39

  (Not so) Subliminal Shave Your Beard Message

  by Funchback in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm in the middle of dissecting the june 2017 jw broadcasting video.. in the first minute, they summarize a story about a guy who apparently was a one-time bad ass (showed a picture of him with a beard while posing on a chopper).

  then, they show him shaving at the exact same moment the narrator is saying how he regained "a clean conscience".. this no-beard obsession by the jws is beyond nuts.. .

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  slimboyfat

  In a recent WT gentile Christians without beards were portrayed as being shunned and mistreated by Jewish Christians including Peter with beards. See page 23:

  https://download-a.akamaihd.net/files/media_magazines/31/w_E_201704.pdf
  
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  16

  Just had to share.

  by Coded Logic in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  anybody into art out there?

  i was just so blown away by this piece i had to share.. .

  at first i was just like "oh, that's a clever idea".

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  slimboyfat

  I am at this very moment reading a book with an illustration on the front cover very similar to this painting. Click on "search inside" to view it enlarged.

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0230360696/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

  It must be the same artist.

  But the concept is slightly different. In the case of the illustration on the cover of the book I am reading, it seems to be posing the question: how can you be sure the reality behind the representation is accurately depicted?
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  45

  What did NOT get you out?

  by problemaddict 2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i realize this is odd, but a "how you woke up" thread and the personal stories that are told which i know we all enjoy, made me think of this.

  in helping my wife and a couple others get the ball rolling, i realized the thing that resonated with me, didn't even move the needle with them.

  i wanted to rail on and on about blood, because that was my conduit to waking up, but for my wife it was about shunning.

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  slimboyfat

  I think the videos make it more interesting and the words on the screen are handy and make singing easier.

  I don't like looking up the scriptures on tablets instead of reading along in the Bible itself.