Could someone with access to this KM please advise what week the Question Box will be studied.
I'm thinking of popping into my local Hall for the 1st time in a few years.
Week commencing Sep 10th - elder to take audience discussion (15 mins).
Posts by dozy
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181OKM 09/07 (english)- Just another brick in the wall...
by metaspy inok guys and gals, i (being the assistant to the magazine counter) have acquired the newest okm.. i have uploaded it to imagevenue.com: here.
hopefully that works!.
by the way drew, your translation was very close.
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dozy
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KM 09/07
by Philippus79 indoes anyone know or have a scan of the km 09/07.
in the german edition the question is raised and answered if the "faithful and discreet slaves" encourages biblestudy groups who study "deeper" topics.
obviously the answer is "no" don't do that the slaves feeds you more than enough.. i could do with an english copy.
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dozy
How do they know whether the FADS "approves" or not? I'm not aware of any attempt to determine the opinions of the 8000 or so , according to the WTS definition of the FDS.
This is a clear rebuke to the likes of Greg Stafford et al.
Thanks for the translation - looks OK.
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30 minute public talks
by dozy inapologies if this has been discussed elsewhere (i can't find any thread that mentions it).. letter read out at meeting on thursday confirming public talks to be reduced to 1/2 an hour - watchtower same length (one hour).
no new outlines to be given out (yet) , but brothers to reduce the length of their talks by cutting out non-essential material.
no start date given for the change.
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dozy
Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere (I can't find any thread that mentions it).
Letter read out at meeting on Thursday confirming public talks to be reduced to 1/2 an hour - Watchtower same length (one hour). No new outlines to be given out (yet) , but brothers to reduce the length of their talks by cutting out non-essential material. No start date given for the change.
Extra 15 minutes to be used for field ministry or association.
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Claims about decreasing donations.
by proplog2 inevery so often it is mentioned that donations are decreasing.
i have never heard that directly from the publications or from the platform.
this is the only place where i have seen this claim.. is there anything factual to this?
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dozy
Without published USA accounts , we can only surmise somewhat. The only tangible evidence that I have seen is in the UK accounts which show fairly much a flat-line of 20 million UKP income for the last 7 years... http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?remchar=&chyno=1077961
Canadian and Australian figures are broadly similar.
A study going further back indicated that there was approx a 25% fall-off when the "paid for" literature arrangement stopped , though this did recover somewhat.
Anecdotally , my understanding is that the income in the USA is broadly the same over the same period (ie no increase but no decrease in overall contributions). While direct donations have gone down slightly , this has been made up by legacies ,as a result of increasing equity and property values. In the UK in 2006 , total income was approx 7.6 million UKP donations and 3.8 million UKP legacies.
The WTS really needs to increase income or cut costs by about 5% per annum. In the absence of the former , the WTS have achieved the latter. Their main costs are newsprint , which hasn't really moved for the last ten years , and fuel which has increased considerably. The recent cost cutting measures (Bethel lay-offs , selling of buildings , WT & Awake on a monthly basis etc) have reduced their cost base considerably.
Having done this , the main issue that the WTS needs to address is the vast amount of literature virtually "given away" in the 3rd world. I'm advised that is the main reason behind the plethora of "special tract campaigns".
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July KM - warning against active apostates - summary
by dozy inthe question box in july deals with the internet - mainly concerned with children on myspace & similar sites -mentioning that your child could be talking to paedophiles , dfd ones or even "active apostates" .
the main article deals with the - "exciting" and "thrilling" news of the new wt arrangement (maybe some people should get out more).
nothing new in the article , which has as the sole justification the need no longer to explain "theocratic" terms like "pioneer" , but it does seem that the awake will be tailored more to non-christian people.
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dozy
Link here for scanned document:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x212/glugglug_bucket/KM007b.jpg
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July KM - warning against active apostates - summary
by dozy inthe question box in july deals with the internet - mainly concerned with children on myspace & similar sites -mentioning that your child could be talking to paedophiles , dfd ones or even "active apostates" .
the main article deals with the - "exciting" and "thrilling" news of the new wt arrangement (maybe some people should get out more).
nothing new in the article , which has as the sole justification the need no longer to explain "theocratic" terms like "pioneer" , but it does seem that the awake will be tailored more to non-christian people.
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dozy
Does it actually mention 'myspace'? And since when had it been a 'children's site?'?
Not mentioned by name , though it refers to sites where blogs and personal profiles are posted and where you can chat to other online users. The article primarily seemed to be targeted at parents monitoring their childrens contacts and internet activity.
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July KM - warning against active apostates - summary
by dozy inthe question box in july deals with the internet - mainly concerned with children on myspace & similar sites -mentioning that your child could be talking to paedophiles , dfd ones or even "active apostates" .
the main article deals with the - "exciting" and "thrilling" news of the new wt arrangement (maybe some people should get out more).
nothing new in the article , which has as the sole justification the need no longer to explain "theocratic" terms like "pioneer" , but it does seem that the awake will be tailored more to non-christian people.
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dozy
The Question Box in July deals with the internet - mainly concerned with children on Myspace & similar sites -mentioning that your child could be talking to paedophiles , DFd ones or even "active apostates" .
The main article deals with the - "exciting" and "thrilling" news of the new WT arrangement (maybe some people should get out more). Nothing new in the article , which has as the sole justification the need no longer to explain "theocratic" terms like "pioneer" , but it does seem that the Awake will be tailored more to non-Christian people.
New peak of regular pioneers in the UK. WTS keen to get experiences from tract campaigns - asking elders to send them in ASAP.
That's about it - not much else to report......
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How much control does the WTS really have?
by dozy ina theme regularly running through ex-jw / apostate posts is their conviction that the worship of jws is at best of a high control basis or at worst exhibits cult-like tendencies , so they often delight in the freedom that they now enjoy.. but in reality , how much control is exhibited on the average witness?
to take one example , at least 40k are dfd in an average year , and one would assume 3 - 5x this figure are reproved privately or publicly.
that means that over a 10 year period 20% - 25% of jws are seriously flouting the strongest moral code of jws , usually for immorality , emphasized in wt after wt , meeting after meeting.
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dozy
A theme regularly running through ex-JW / apostate posts is their conviction that the worship of Jws is at best of a high control basis or at worst exhibits cult-like tendencies , so they often delight in the “freedom” that they now enjoy.
But in reality , how much “control” is exhibited on the average witness? To take one example , at least 40K are dfd in an average year , and one would assume 3 - 5X this figure are reproved privately or publicly. That means that over a 10 year period 20% - 25% of Jws are seriously flouting the strongest moral code of Jws , usually for “immorality” , emphasized in WT after WT , meeting after meeting. For a supposedly high-control organisation , that is a seriously high rate of dissent.
Ex-Jws often point to WT articles or quote public talks which state strict and often silly restrictions , non or dubiously-biblical in many cases. I’ve even highlighted some of these myself , in the past. But how much notice is really taken by the average JW? Other than a hard-core 20% (which you would get in any organisation) , I just don’t see the average JW paying much attention , and they often seem happy to duck and dive and rationalise away any issue that they don’t agree with.
One specific aspect of Jws is that the GB try to exhibit control via the one way media of magazines and talks and are loath to devolve any power to branches or congregations. The nature of this means of communication is that it is one way - the JW can choose not to read the magazines (which many do) or ignore counsel given in talks (or even not bother to turn up). Frustrated by the apparent lack of conformity , the GB feel the need to “turn up the voIume” with increasingly shrill demands - blissfully ignored by the R & F. To apply to a congregation setting . the classic illustration is the local needs talk on encouraging meeting attendance given to the 70% regular attenders - the 30% who the counsel is targeted at haven’t attended and don’t hear it. No matter how loud or blunt the message is , the hapless elder is merely preaching to the converted.
The two primary control aspects have also been diluted in recent times. The ban on blood transfusions has largely lost any relevance due to the WTS policy of gradually allowing all blood fractions and medical advances that obviate the need for transfusions. And the shunning of DF ones is often ignored , with the get-out clauses of “business communication” and family members often liberally applied.
The real control victims (if that term is advisable) are the hard core 20%. These are the ones learn foreign languages , actively pioneer , give up parenthood , often have the most mind numbing of secular jobs or toil away in Bethel for years. They apply WTS counsel to the smallest level , even down to the smallest trivial degree , often to their own disadvantage. Sadly they take on board counsel that isn’t really directed at them.
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Zone talk by David Splane - Four figurative giants - Education etc
by truthseeker infound this interesting talk on e-watchman's site.
it was given by david splane, a gb member.. the talk is really interesting as it gives a more focused look at the troubles the society is facing as it trys to cope with education, peer pressure etc.. .
http://e-jehovahs-witnesses.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=454.
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dozy
Splane has been taking this talk on tour for the last couple of years - I heard it (on tape) in 2005 , when he gave it in the USA. See an earlier review on JWD:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/106787/1.ashx/%22Extremely+helpful+in+a+spiritual+way%22
What I find interesting is that it has morphed from 3 "giants" to 4 with "negative publicity" as the fourth giant. Clearly the WTS are concerned at press reports & tv programs.
He does seem to be more specific than I can recall on children being UBPs & baptised. A little bit silly to give specific ages - for someone who has never had kids , he seems to be extremely knowledgeable about bringing them up "in the truth".
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Jehovah's Witnesses turned Christian....Post Here
by R.F. ini would like those of you former jws turned christian to post here.
specific denominations can be mentioned.
i'd just like to get an idea of how many of you there are.
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dozy
I've always noted that the few ex-JWs who retain a Christian belief and respect for the bible tend to merge into the primary denomination of their area - hence the Greek ex-JW going to the Greek Orthodox church & LT going to the Calvanists who are very strong in his neck of the woods. (Would LT have associated with his particular religion had he moved back to England , or would he perhaps have attended an Anglican or even a Catholic church - who knows?)
Interestingly , presumably influenced by a hang-over from the GB /FDS control as JWs ,many seem to evolve a criteria in defining Christians that is inclusive of all religions otherthan JWs. Note LTs comments - his definition would include non Mary devotional Catholics as Christians (some of his Calvinist friends may beg to differ) while excluding JWs...
Do the priests actively disuade them from praying to Christ ... for all my tolerance and broadmindedness , I still can't find it in myself to call JWs "Christian".
If I recall correctly , it was Jesus who encouraged his followers to pray to the Father rather than to him , but I desist. As other posters have noted , ultimately the only judge of whether we are Christians or not is the Almighty.
