Posts by Doubting Bro

46

Updates to Public Talk Outlines 2 & 3

by wifibandit in

will you be a survivor of the last days?.

serving with jehovah’s unified organization.

move ahead with jehovah’s unified organization.

Doubting Bro

Couple of thoughts:

1 - Talk 2 was the first PT I ever gave and I tended to gravitate towards talks that dealt with prophesy when I was a young super righteous elder (eye roll). When I got some maturity, I started focusing on talks with a more Christian focus (like the mercy talk above). At the last couple of years, I couldn't give most of my earlier talks because I just disagreed with them. But, I did notice they dropped the whole "wheat & weeds" portion of #2. I don't remember that teaching having changed recently, did I miss it?? Or do did we get a clue as to an upcoming change?

2 - The funeral talk looks much better. I saw the note that said you don't have to cover all the scriptures or even all the points. That gives the speaker some latitude to focus on the person if they are so inclined. Interesting development. Maybe they realized that going to a funeral where the deceased is spoken about for 5 minutes or less probably isn't appreciated by non-JWs. It's usually the only time you get a non-JW into a KH so they don't want to come off too crazy.

29

Circuit ASSembly low-lites

by FedUpJW in

so in an effort to relieve some pressure here are what i term the low-lites of yesterday's assembly that i had to endure for the sake of family still in and my progressing fade.

apologies in advance for being pretty long winded.. these may not all be the actual words used, but the ones i use are close, and they pretty well say what was said from the platform.. right off the bat in the opening prayer the praises of the governing body were spoken.

thanking the g.b.

Doubting Bro

Wayward - Yes, the CO at the one I attended also mentioned how JWs can show faith by attending where they are told to go, even if that means their current KH is being sold and they have to drive a little further to meet. The plan to combine unprofitable congregations seems to be accelerating. I just heard about a congregation around here that had one of the most outdated KHs in the area and really needed to do something. They were given two options: 1) they could dissolve the congregation and have members absorbed into a few neighboring congregations or 2) they could meet at another KH 20 miles away that only had one congregation meeting and stay in tact. They chose #2 because likely the BOE just wanted to keep control. Probably the best thing for their members was to dissolve but then brother COBE would lose his position and you can't have that!!

To be fair, the congregation only had about 60 publishers which seems on the small side.

10

To all those underage and awake…

by Londo111 in

jw
friends

i salute you.. when i was in, i was a brainwashed idiot.

it instilled an arrogance and made me part of a community that contributed to your suffering.. i remember when i would see a jw parent drag their teens to the meeting.

some of these parents had converted recently, some had been some years.

Doubting Bro

Amen Londo!

Sometimes I still kick myself for being so gullible.

15

Moore's Law And The Survival Of The Watchtower Corporation? When Will Instant Processing Push These Dumb Bastard Into Bankruptcy?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

the internet value increases with this moore's law doubling effect and information is there for the picking.

how long do you think these old geezers on the governing body can keep this currant generation of members in the darkness of stupidity?

the human mind while it has it's fault will pick up on fraud at least on the unconscious level and stop giving time and money to these clowns.

Doubting Bro

While I'd like to see them slip into oblivion, it's not going to happen in my lifetime outside a black swan event.

They can downsize to almost nothing and still run the religion. Their structure allows for that since the local elders who run the individual congregations are volunteers (not on the payroll) and the buildings themselves are maintained by the local congregations. All they really have is the Bethel's (which they are dumping all over the place), the COs (remember they dumped the DOs), missionaries (they've already stopped sending new ones out so are phasing that out)and branch staff. The printing of literature I think will cease altogether and will likely be outsourced. That way, literature orders could be moved back to a paid structure with the WTS having the local congregation submit orders to a 3rd party and pay for them at the time of placing the order. You could reduce public placements to just pamphlets that can be printed by the local congregations.

There are still downsizing levers to be pulled:

1 - Eliminate COs and turn the position into a local committee of elders. Super easy to do.

2 - Eliminate special pioneers (very easy)

3 - Stop printing literature and outsource with payment by the locals.

4 - Continue consolidating KH & AH. You could do that until you make the religion a web only religion if you really wanted to.

5 - Stop distributing print literature only on-line unless the person wants to order and pay for something.

6 - Reduce staff at branch level to just a few folks. Eventually you could even have branch stuff done by volunteers.

7 - Have RCs in the already paid for AHs or even a web event at the local KH.

Are they in decline? Yes. Certainly in influence and not growing much at all. But, religion is part business and part emotional attachment and when you put emotion and tradition into it, I just don't see it completely going away. I do think it will be a slow decline and could get to the point that they are less than 50k but I don't see them going away (unfortunately).

22

How To Spot A Cult - This is what started woke me up!!

by pale.emperor in

this is the article that woke me up.

i felt sick after reading it.

then sad.

Doubting Bro

It was lists like this that made me finally admit that the WTS is a cult or high control group.

38

2016-07-15 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS IN RUSSIA New law on missionary activity

by wifibandit in

2016-07-15 to all bodies of elders in russia re: new law on missionary activity.

translation:.

to all bodies of elders in russia new law on missionary activity.

Doubting Bro

Splash - Thanks for putting that information in one post. As much as I disagree with any government infringing on anyone's personal freedom, the WTS instructions are just going to get JWs in Russia thrown in jail. It's ABSOLUTELY NOT a "personal" ministry and every aspect is controlled by the WTS. I think that's the thing I hate the most about them. They lie and mislead on any number of subjects. If they had any balls, they would say what they really think, that they are acting under authority of Jesus as reigning king of Jehovah's organization and that the FDS is directly appointed to spearhead the preaching work that is mandated. If they REALLY believed what they teach, then why would they be afraid? Sergei from the RC videos wasn't afraid and didn't lie about what he was doing. Why is the GB?

31

Why JW's Rave So Much About Conventions

by freemindfade in

"it was so beautiful, we are truly blessed!

now, they also plaster these affirmations all over social media, "this is the best life", “so blessed”, “best convention”.. why the gushing?

have you ever heard anyone say, “mmmm it was ok”?

Doubting Bro

All good points. Because I'm an ass, I ALWAYS follow up that statement with the questions Sir82 listed. Usually, you get the answer that it was all great or some other generic response. Sometimes I will follow up with more pointed questions about the program and press them. Otherwise, the person usually changes the subject pretty quickly.

Its a real sore spot for me because even as a Kool-Aid drinker, the conventions were exhausting and usually not that great. So, I know they are only saying it's the best because of all the reasons above.

Wait, could this be why people don't like me?????

3

Court of Appeal Civil Division UK - "A" v The Trustees of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and Ors 7th July 2016

by Paul Bonanno in

jw
friends

in june 2015 the high court of justice in london awarded damages of £275,000 to an unnamed women known only as 'amelia' alleged stewart abused her from the age of four and threatened that she would be "damned as a sinner" if she told anyone about the abuse.

the abuse ended only when stewart was arrested for offenses against another child.

the court held that the watchtower society failed to warn the members of the congregation about their knowledge on past abuse by a child molester in the congregation.

Doubting Bro

So what happened? I'm assuming the appeal was denied?

41

Convention Weirdness

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

well i just got back from 3 days in hell, and geez was this convention strange or what?

im sure someone's probably made a topic about this already but i can't believe that there weren't any new releases besides the movies.

has that ever happened before?

Doubting Bro

This was definitely one of the weirdest conventions I've attended. Very few local "experiences", just a couple of interviews. Lots and lots of videos. I will say the production quality has increased dramatically and so has the acting. They really pounded on being loyal to the organization and mentioned several times how people are "going through the motions" (a direct quote from the last speaker). Also, in several of the videos, you saw active JWs who had expressions very similar to what must be on my face at the meetings. And all those folks ended up leaving, so maybe there's hope for me!!

It's clear to me that the GB realizes that one of their biggest problems (outside their terrible handling of pedophile cases that is costing them $$$) is that they no longer have control over the rank and file like they used to. This RC was an all out attempt to drive JWs who believe but are slowing down back into a more controllable state. The problem with emotional manipulation is that while it can be very effective in the short term, it doesn't really work in the long term. And the more you use it, the less effective over time it becomes. I remember at the International Convention a few years ago here in the US, they showed a video with people being resurrected and there was hardly a dry eye in the house. This year, the last video I really didn't see many people crying at all. Actually, the only time I saw any tears was in the first drama when the poor parents lost their little boy and grandpa in a car accident.

My guess is there will be a 2-3 week increase in attendance after the RC then back to normal.

23

What was the point of the bunker video

by Crazyguy in

they get caught by the bad guys at the end anyway, don't get what thier point is to the video?

of course i haven't seen it all they way either.

.

Doubting Bro

In speaking with some true believers after the RC, the fear worked. These are generally "balanced" JWs, active yet younger and do their own thing many times. However, they were all talking about how frightened they were at the prospect of having to be in a bunker (their words).

As much as I know this religion is BS and even watched some of the bunker videos here, I have to admit I got a knot in my stomach. It reminded me of dreams I had when I was a kid. Of course, now I think that Brother Brown (or whatever the service group overseers name was) would have handed out the Kool-Aid as the authorities were coming!

The ending was so weird. You would think that the police would have either overlooked the room or dropped dead when they entered. Seems like the JWs just made it easy on the cops. Why gather together if you aren't going to be protected?