i just finished looking through the circuit overseer manual, so here are some highlights.
first up, regarding circuit assemblies:.
if a brother is so extremely overweight that others would be distracted if he had a part on the program, good judgment would need to be used in deciding whether to give him an assignment.
It is important that circuit overseers avoid being extravagant or giving the appearance of wanting the best of everything in the way of food, clothing, apartment furnishings, the latest electronic devices, vacations, and so forth. In this way they will avoid “any cause for stumbling”
That will just be available to "higher ups" in Bethel , then....
evolution is how we got here.. demonstrate that you believe that all species evolved from a single cell over/within 3.5 billion years by tapping "like" below.. demonstrate that you believe in special creation by tapping "unlike" below..
roughly a third of Americans reject microbe to man evolution as well.
With respect , this is the country that elected Donald Trump as President. Not exactly the brightest...
What always strikes me with JWs is that on the one hand they deny evolution , on the other hand they say that all of todays life forms have developed over just over 4,000 years ago from all the animals in the ark - which would be an astonishing rate of hyper evolution.
i have a married cousin who has moved to work at the walkill farm.
what is the financial situation of someone like this?
i would assume they do not build social security or medicare.
Basically , other than free food & accommodation for some, the Society treats its workers like crap ( unless they are GB level ). I'm no fan of the Mormon church , but the way they treat their workers is far better.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/employment/compensation-benefits?lang=eng
i see top uk jw lawyer richard cook is finally having to move out of his jw "grace & favour" house , currently for sale for a cool £2.75 million.
https://solicitors.guru/office/3466-richard-cook-solicitors/.
https://ibsaproperty.com/houses/lowood-house/.
I see top UK JW lawyer Richard Cook is finally having to move out of his JW "grace & favour" house , currently for sale for a cool £2.75 million.
https://solicitors.guru/office/3466-richard-cook-solicitors/
https://ibsaproperty.com/houses/lowood-house/
Richard is a key man , very busy with child abuse and other cases and ( more importantly ) has the ear of the Governing Body.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33201010
My British Bethel contacts tell me that Richard wasn't too keen on losing his prime London home and the thought of moving out of the city to the wastelands north of Potters Bar and decamping his family filled him with great anguish so the Society are trying to figure out what they can do to keep him on-board as he could earn much more money in the private sector. Should any forum readers wish to help a homeless man , please send your donations to the UK Bethel!
The other Society big wigs ( mainly lawyers and accountants ) living in similar properties also are wondering what the next move will be - the prospect of living in a shoe box studio flat at the new Bethel at Chelmsford doesn't really appeal. The long standing gravy train where these guys lived in luxurious rent free homes in leafy suburbia seems finally to have pulled into the station.
i may have got this wrong, but using the dreaded jw website, they seem to be directing the irish j.w's to go to birmingham in england this weekend.. is this correct ?
they always used to hold two conventions in ireland, are there none in 2019 ??.
probably the irish ones actually, truly, made a loss, but think of all the travelling, including a flight or sea ferry crossing if i am correct.
Birmingham is a delightful city so I am sure the Irish witnesses will be overjoyed at the privilege of being delegates and the "Instagram Perfect" crossing over the tropical Irish sea to the scenic port of Holyhead will allow many opportunities for pints of Guinness to be sampled while admiring the wonderful views. Truly a sign of Jehovah's wonderful & loving organisation - all praise to the Governing Body and the faithful and discreet slave. :-)
i do not want this to develop into another discussion on "607 bce date is wrong".. when the a-e section of "aid to bible understanding" was published, i was able to show that the article on "chronology" employed deceptive techniques when it cited its sources.
whenever i provided jws the evidence in print, it was like water off a duck's back.
"the brothers in brooklyn have done all the research, write to them", they would tell me.. i soon recognised that the jws followed the wts because of who it claimed to be.. it became clear that another, stronger force existed--the impact of shunning with the loss of close friendships and with the impact on their family relationships.. one could only stand by with concern thinking of the impact of the cognitive dissonance and observing the regular changes requiring lock-step obedience.
Further to what previous posters have said , you also have to remember that the average JW really doesn't care less about anything "deep". As an experiment , go to a JW trolley / magazine stand and ask the pioneers to explain from the scriptures how they come to 607 BCE when all the authorities say it is 586/7. There are a few examples on Youtube of this. eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgTanYOAjRo
Invariably the pioneer looks anxious , suspicious , has a "deer in the headlights" look and then they tell the questioner to go to JW.Org ( "our website has all the answers"). Persist and they might make an effort , but most would struggle to give any coherent explanation or even find the relevant scriptures scattered all over the bible to support it - time , times and half a time in Revelation , the image of Daniel etc etc. Note what the pioneer says in the above Youtube clip "I'd have to go back and do some research on it." It's a core teaching , totally fundamental to JW theology. They shouldn't need to have to do that.
JWs ( including myself , for 40 years ) just broadly accept whatever the Society tells them without any real thought process , which is why they are so ready just to shrug off any changes , such as the various flip flops / abusurdities of the "generation" doctrine. When I tell my dog to go into the car or to fetch a stick, it doesn't hang around and ask questions. It just does it ( usually! ). Frankly - 586/7 / 607 doesn't matter , because what keeps JWs as JWs isn't really about doctrine. It's family , community , hope , fear , habit etc.
from a whistleblower on reddit: https://testimonidigeovaconsapevoli.blogspot.com/2019/07/le-gole-profonde-ci-passano-questa.html.
That - I doubt. The UK portfolio , currently being liquidated , is bringing in tens of millions of pounds - a Bethelite told me the Society reckoned they would yield over £250 million eventually.
Greece Bethel for sale as well... http://www.pspgreece.gr/en/commercial/kifisias-77
i have never been invited/requested/applied to any international convention, other than it happening to be our own convention in new york city where we were already assigned (i think back and maybe this happened two times or so when i was growing up).. anyway, people here keep commenting about the cost to attend; the inflated airfares, rooms, transportation, etc.. does anyone have some actual numbers to provide?
i realize that the cost of attending a convention in a different country will be affected by some variations in airfare from the departure city but generally how much do these things cost?
are they comparable to a tour from an expedia, travelocity or other travel site?.
A few threads on this ...below. A relative of mine recently went to Canada & he reckoned the hotel was 30% higher than he would have paid via Expedia etc and no reward points and the cost of the tours are grossly inflated , especially as the Society don't pay the ( usually ) pioneer guides. Because a show is put on for the "delegates" and everybody is ( superficially ) super friendly , they kind of are guilt tripped into donating far more than what they should. My relative put £300 donation on his credit card ( for him & his wife ) at the convention so goodness knows how much the whole convention got in cash.
Even back in 2009 , 6 days in France from the USA was $2900 plus $500 airline tax. This did include breakfast & lunch but not dinner , drinks , tips , "donations" etc etc. You could probably double that cost nowadays.
http://www.wegieltours-wcs.com/parjw/parisbrochurewegieltours.pdf
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/7cybbg/watchtower_making_money_off_hotel_deals/
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/95llm9/international_conventions_the_good_the_bad_and/
" A friend of mine was a delegate to an international convention a few years back and he said the price he paid through the WT society was almost double what he could have arranged independently for flights, hotels and tours. The thought was that the extra money was used to fund a CO and his wife who became the ‘Group Captain’ even though my friend said he really did nothing of any worth except drink a lot of red wine. "
"A friend of mine went to a international convention in Africa 20 years ago and he was telling me that the travel company used was a JW operation that charged more than double the price of what he could have arranged independently. But the delegates had to be approved by local elders as suitable candidates and no independent travel was allowed. "
an interesting read on the decline of the christian scientists (cs) .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/06/christian-science-church-medicine-death-horror-of-my-fathers-last-days.
re jws , from a quackery pseudo medicine / religion standpoints , thankfully the crazier woodworth / rutherford anti vaccination etc inspired medical nonsense was mostly ditched in the 50's and 60's.
the ban on transplants was ditched more recently.
The semi collapse of the Worldwide Church of God after Armstrong died is another ( probably better , in terms of JWs ) example of what happens when a USA Protestant sect starts to decline. It eventually splintered into a dozen or so different groups and the parent group changed a lot of beliefs and became much more of a traditional church.
The key to maintaining the current structure JWs is the authority of the GB. At the moment , that looks secure , but who knows? Sooner or later , people are begin wondering if Armageddon is really going to come - the Society can only stretch out the 1914 generation doctrine so much When these things start unraveling ( as they almost did with the purge of Franz , Dunlap etc in the late 1970's ) things can happen very quickly.
an interesting read on the decline of the christian scientists (cs) .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/06/christian-science-church-medicine-death-horror-of-my-fathers-last-days.
re jws , from a quackery pseudo medicine / religion standpoints , thankfully the crazier woodworth / rutherford anti vaccination etc inspired medical nonsense was mostly ditched in the 50's and 60's.
the ban on transplants was ditched more recently.
An interesting read on the decline of the Christian Scientists (CS) .
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/06/christian-science-church-medicine-death-horror-of-my-fathers-last-days
Re JWs , from a quackery pseudo medicine / religion standpoints , thankfully the crazier Woodworth / Rutherford anti vaccination etc inspired medical nonsense was mostly ditched in the 50's and 60's. The ban on transplants was ditched more recently. The only residual health related teaching remains the ban on blood transfusions , but even that has been watered down with the Society permission now granted to use blood fractions , new technology ( like cell savers ) and even whole blood products like hemoglobin.
Otherwise seeing the way a late 1800's USA religion declines is of interest. The CS leadership have faced the same challenges as JWs and have tried to cope with them in a very similar way. The young people stop attending , the general public are much more informed so very few new people enroll , the church is hit by lots of child abuse lawsuits and with the finances drying up , it relies on real estate development to keep going. Congregations are merged , halls are sold off , new properties are developed with mainly volunteer labour and then flipped for big tax free profits a few years later.
In many respects , the CS church in 2019 is probably where one imagines the Society will be in 20 years time.
