I had a dream last night Sam Harris gave a talk at the local Kingdom Hall. It wasn't about religion it was about relaxing with plants. He ran over time and the chairman tried to cut him short. But I told the chairman to let him finish and bizarrely he listened to me. When the meeting was finished I tried to find Sam Harris to speak to him but I couldn't find him until someone pointed out that he had painted his face red and was difficult to recognise. That was an understatement he looked like the Podigy. Friendly enough but he didn't have a good explanation what he was doing in a Kingdom Hall. That's when I woke up and read the 2017 Yearbook.
slimboyfat
JoinedPosts by slimboyfat
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36
An interesting reasoning for the existence of God (from JW public talk)
by anointed1 ini was on an official tour last week to another part of my country.
on my way to the hotel, i noticed sign-board of jw kingdom hall.
i thought i would attend sunday meeting as i knew no one would recognize me.. seeing “a new-comer” in the audience, public speaker adapted his material making it especially appealing to me.
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117
2017 Yearbook released
by bohm ini saw this on reddit:.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.
overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).
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slimboyfat
That's very interesting dropoffyourkeylee. JWs also made early progress in Southern Africa when they were among the first to distribute books and other printed material in the region early in the 20th century. They became known by some people as "the people of the books". It's interesting that they continue to use technological advances to get a competitive edge in less developed regions.
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117
2017 Yearbook released
by bohm ini saw this on reddit:.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.
overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).
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slimboyfat
Also striking was a comment that churches in Congo (Kinshasa) accused JWs of producing their literature from the spirit world because they said the letters www mean the number 666 in Revelation. This is the country where JWs claimed 22% growth over the last year. Maybe they are producing members, not just literature, out of thin air.
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2017 Yearbook released
by bohm ini saw this on reddit:.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.
overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).
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slimboyfat
I have just finished reading the Yearbook. It actually didn't take very long because of the large print and fewer pages than there used to be.
My conclusion, reading between the lines, is this is a religion that is beginning serious decline.
For example they showcase the great efforts they are making to preach to refugees in Germany. They have started hundreds of foreign language groups and special preaching campaigns in Arabic ("authorised" by the Governing Body no less). Yet when you look at the figures there has been no increase in publishers in Germany, and the number of congregations has declined by over 1%. If that's the best they can do in these circumstances, I think it portends real decline to come.
Countries that once had impressive growth (like Georgia which is featured) now have little to no growth at all.
The messaging of the Yearbook is highly confused as well. They quote many who were laid off from bethel service saying how happy they are to be in the "field". One of the more revealing comments insisted: "we don't regret joining bethel service". Well if you've got to say that, it tends to indicate what people are thinking. Another bizarrely jarring comment from a 9 year old Witness says she looks forward to growing up and being a missionary or bethel service. Why are they encouraging such aspirations while winding down their operations?
Plus there is the list of "branch dedications" in various small counties, only prompting the reader to wonder how long before they are closed down and the buildings sold.
One story I found slightly believable was about a CEO who praised JWs for having a very sophisticated, appealing website. I agree their website is impressive. It's well laid out, the pictures and design are excellent, and the number of languages available is amazing. Just a shame most of the content is so superficial.
But then there is a really cringeworthy comment from a sister who says watching the Governing Body on JW broadcasting is like listening directly to Jehovah. How can they print that with a straight face? These people have truly jumped the shark.
I think JWs are in serious decline from here on in. There are strong indications in this Yearbook. For most of their history the Yearbook has presented a picture of relentless onwards and upwards progress of JWs. This Yearbook is full of mixed messages, underwhelming stories of activity, and various implicit indications of deep decline.
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Is the year 2020 the new prediction for Armageddon?
by Disassociated Lady 2 ini have had a conversation this evening with a jw friend i have known since childhood.
he is of the opinion that armageddon will have come and gone within the next 5 years.
are the jws now pinpointing 2020 as the supposed year?
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slimboyfat
Armageddon in 2020? Yes I can see it clearly now.
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What is Gilead's current curriculum?
by careful insome years back alltimejeff reported on what gilead's curriculum was like from a guy who had gone thru it.
it was detailed and enlightening for those of us in the dark.
(hey, atj, are you still checking in here?).
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slimboyfat
Good question, don't know the answer.
The latest 2017 Yearbook has hardly any mention of Gilead or missionaries. The Yearbooks used to be full of it.
What year was Gilead downgraded?
2010 is the earliest Yearbook in PDF I can find on the site. There was much more about Gilead and missionaries back then.
2010 Yearbook
Gilead - 13
Missionary - 34
Missionaries - 72
2017 Yearbook
Gilead - 1
Missionary - 1
Missionaries - 2
In fact the single 2017 use of "Gilead" is for a "Gilead extension programme" in Germany. And one of the instances of "missionaries" is in the regular financial statement. So in 2017 Gilead and missionaries are practically extinct.
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Britain in the doldrums!
by Nicholaus Kopernicus inthe 2014 - 2015 jw statistics showed a peak publisher decline of 884 with the average publisher tally showing a gain of 183. .
the 2017 yearbook is now available via jw.org and the statistics for britain show a 2016 peak publisher increase of 630 and an average publisher increase of a paltry 26!.
nothing to shout about on the part of the followers of caiaphas in the britain branch.
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slimboyfat
darkspilver that looks more comprehensive. How did you get that information?
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Britain in the doldrums!
by Nicholaus Kopernicus inthe 2014 - 2015 jw statistics showed a peak publisher decline of 884 with the average publisher tally showing a gain of 183. .
the 2017 yearbook is now available via jw.org and the statistics for britain show a 2016 peak publisher increase of 630 and an average publisher increase of a paltry 26!.
nothing to shout about on the part of the followers of caiaphas in the britain branch.
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slimboyfat
Nicholaus doing that search for Polish only produces congregations in the South East of England. It doesn't count the congregations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and so on.
So there probably a lot more foreign language congregations in the UK than your figures.
The search on the website is clumsy for finding total numbers for whole countries.
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2017 Yearbook released
by bohm ini saw this on reddit:.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.
overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).
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slimboyfat
Although the average number of publishers in the United States increased by 2,945, the total number of congregations declined by 23, down from 14,063 to 14,040. This looks like the beginning of decline to me.
Looking at the table of growing and declining countries, it's very easy to imagine that they could be in overall decline by next year. Remove the abnormal growth in Congo, and Brazil growth slows like Mexico has, and they could easily fall into overall decline in publishers.
But I wonder, if the figures next year show decline in the United States, and more countries declining than growing overall, will they still publish the numbers?
If decline becomes a persistent trend I am sure they will stop publishing numbers, at least in this form and detail. I just wonder how long and what level of declines it will take.
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Britain in the doldrums!
by Nicholaus Kopernicus inthe 2014 - 2015 jw statistics showed a peak publisher decline of 884 with the average publisher tally showing a gain of 183. .
the 2017 yearbook is now available via jw.org and the statistics for britain show a 2016 peak publisher increase of 630 and an average publisher increase of a paltry 26!.
nothing to shout about on the part of the followers of caiaphas in the britain branch.
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slimboyfat
How did you extract the data on the number of foreign language congregations from the website?
It will be very interesting to see if the total number of congregations begins to decline in coming years.