so, now that some time has passed, i’d like some input/thoughts/analysis/etc.
on the jw construction situation in the last few years.. first, why did they discontinue the rbc arrangement and institute the ldc arrangement?
was it for more and/or better control?
My personal opinion is that they had a sudden financial reversal and had to change plans.
Remenber they produced a calendar praising increased construction, that was released in time to coincide with the halt in construction?
Nowadays they've stopped publishing calendars altogether as an unnecessary expense.
i hope someone has documented in full the hype that surrounded the "increased construction" and the subsequent climbdown, from elder letters, broadcast statements and so on.
i've only just discovered an important book on the topic of atheism was published in 2015. it's title is, "battling the gods: atheism in the world.
" by tim whitmarsh, professor of greek culture at the uk's university of cambridge.. whitmarsh reviews a 1000 years of greek/roman writings and can demonstrate that the surviving writings of many famous ancient authors discussed disbelief in the god(s).that alone casts doubts on the concept many 'believers' today promote, that a belief in divinities is hard wired into the brain.
and, just as clearly, atheism is not just a modern view.. whitmarsh argues, " that early societies were far more capable than many since of containing atheism within the spectrum of what they considered normal.
This book about seculatisation.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Secular-Religion-Worldwide-Cambridge/dp/1107648378
It seems robust methodologically and has been praised by other social scientists of religion such as Steve Bruce.
It uses social attitude surveys and compares them with a security and development index (from memory, I can't remember the exact term) to conclude that: religion thrives in societies that are unstable and insecure and it diminishes in peaceful societies with strong social security provisions.
So it concludes religion is declining in the west but is robust elsewhere. And because of demographic patterns in poor countries compared with wealthy countries, the percentage of atheists is going down globally while the number of believers is increasing.
i've only just discovered an important book on the topic of atheism was published in 2015. it's title is, "battling the gods: atheism in the world.
" by tim whitmarsh, professor of greek culture at the uk's university of cambridge.. whitmarsh reviews a 1000 years of greek/roman writings and can demonstrate that the surviving writings of many famous ancient authors discussed disbelief in the god(s).that alone casts doubts on the concept many 'believers' today promote, that a belief in divinities is hard wired into the brain.
and, just as clearly, atheism is not just a modern view.. whitmarsh argues, " that early societies were far more capable than many since of containing atheism within the spectrum of what they considered normal.
Yes I've got this book. Not read it I must admit. But I didn't find the proposition surprising, so far as I gather. I had anyway thought that belief and non-belief have a long and paired history. I think some atheists have this notion that at one time everyone believed in God(s) but that with the advent of the enlightenment atheism has steadily grown and will eclipse belief.
In actual fact there are a number of problems with this. At the moment the proportion of atheists appears to be going down not up. This is because believers have much higher fertility than atheists. Plus when most people turn away from religion (as many are in the west) they tend toward mysticism, apathy and agnosticism, rather than atheism. In fact Steve Bruce boldly argued that atheism is a symptom of religions societies, and that as society secularises we can expect the proportion who identify as atheist to go down rather than up.
there are several confirmed announcements in some congregations around the city regarding the sale of the assembly kingdom hall.
one of the reasons why it will be sold is that expenses are not covered by donations.
the hall was dedicated in 2009. actually, in some congregations the elders have not given the announcement for the publisher's reaction... .
I think they're in real financial trouble and simply have no option but to sell assets to stay affloat. It's not part of a long term strategy, it's panic selling. What are they going to do when they run out of assets to sell?
Plus selling assets may produce a downward spiral, as morale goes down, contributions go down, and more assets need to be sold.
It's no wonder really when you think about it. JWs are a worldwide publishing company with dozens of expensive branches and tens of thousands of workers, but since the 1990s no reliable steady source of revenue. Voluntary donations clearly never made up for the charges for literature. Now they don't know what to do, except to sell the assets they accumulated during the good times.
Mexico was once a major area of growth for JWs at 5% plus increase per year. Now it's close to zero.
someone said on forum they knew someone df for not going to assigned meeting in old days .
One couple for practising Feng Shui, a sister for smoking, and a brother for running a business that provided Christmas entertainment. At least those are the reasons I heard for the disfellowshippings. Not being an elder or a great gossip gatherer I can't be completely sure about the details.
has anyone noticed this new song?
i think it's absolutely beautiful.
it's got a film score quality about it, with depth and feeling.
143 in the 2009 songbook and 77 in the 2016 songbook.
I wonder why there are fewer songs in the 2016 songbook, and what songs fhey dropped.
i think it's a pretty good song. But at the same time I didn't mean to exaggerate. Last month we heard A German Requiem by Brahms in Greyfriars Kirk. The "dwelling place" song had been my favourite, but this time the song about all flesh turning to grass was amazing. Much better than any Kingdom Song and written by an atheist. Truly amazing music.
i am translating jwfacts to spanish.
i am doing the "statistics" section.here are two graphs that show that the statistics have never been worse for the watchtower:quantity of hours required for 1 baptism: note how low it went in 1974-1975, and note that 2016 is much higher than the slump of 1978... about double, to be exact.
2016 was a historical record in this statistic (higher is worse for watchtower).. this stat is the baptisms as a percentage of the publisher average.
Paul, I think Mormon numbers have collapsed quicker than JWs. If you look at the right numbers.
Select most western countries on the drop down option and notice the decline in number of congregations.
http://www.cumorah.com/index.php?target=countries
For example:
Britain has 333 congregations down from a peak of 374
Germany has 166 congregations down from a peak of 189
France has 108 congregations down from a peak of 128
Australia bucks the trend and currently has an all time peak of 312 congregations
Japan has 265 congregations down from a peak of 317 (this is perhaps the only country where JW decline in congregations matches or exceeds Mormon decline)
Italy 101 congregations down from a peak of 133
Many countries have this pattern of around 10 to 30% reduction in Mormon congregations over the past couple of decades. I think that's a pretty significant decline, and far greater decline than JWs have experienced so far.
has anyone noticed this new song?
i think it's absolutely beautiful.
it's got a film score quality about it, with depth and feeling.
Exactly, it's not like any Kingdom Song I have heard before. And they sing it very well at our Kingdom Hall, but the singing is always good.
The lyrics of this song are very generic. No mention of Jehovah, God, Jesus, Bible, ransom, faithful slave, or anything like that. The only clearly religious word is "pray". Although, of course, the words can be understood religiously, and with JW worldview in mind, in itself, the vocabulary is not specifically JW.
So I'm not entirely sure what to make if it, but I do like it. The tune and orchestration sound good to me, and the sparseness of the words imbue it with a certain power. I also like the songs that use Jehovah's name, of course. I'm not so enthusiastic about the swaying "how do you feel" one or the "obey and be blessed" one. But each has their own preferences.
has anyone noticed this new song?
i think it's absolutely beautiful.
it's got a film score quality about it, with depth and feeling.
Has anyone noticed this new song? I think it's absolutely beautiful. It's got a film score quality about it, with depth and feeling. And the lyrics, what to say about the lyrics? There are few if any specifically JW words, or even Christian words come to that. Any Christian, or other kind of believer, could surely sing it with no problem. In fact many secular optimists would surely be happy singing it, apart from the one word "pray", socialists, communists, liberal progressives, could sing it just as well. And you could interpret "pray" in a secular sense.
i am translating jwfacts to spanish.
i am doing the "statistics" section.here are two graphs that show that the statistics have never been worse for the watchtower:quantity of hours required for 1 baptism: note how low it went in 1974-1975, and note that 2016 is much higher than the slump of 1978... about double, to be exact.
2016 was a historical record in this statistic (higher is worse for watchtower).. this stat is the baptisms as a percentage of the publisher average.
Ha! Yes I was going to post the diagram but I don't know how to link images. Search for "Steve Bruce secularisation paradigm" and the diagram comes up.
