Posts by Doubting Bro

10

Wills - A disgruntled father making a final point

by Listener in

an unusual and amusing will was contested in an australian court a few years ago.the deceased man separated from his wife in 1959 and shortly after the wife was baptized as a jw.

in the following years their four children also got baptized.

apparently this enraged the deceased for the remainder of his life, who was himself a catholic.his will included two conditions that his four children were required to fulfill before they would qualify to receive their share of the inheritance.

Doubting Bro

I don't see this as any different from when a JW parent cuts a DF/DA child out of their will and leaves the money to the WTS. Legally, you can leave your money to whoever you wish. Ideally, you'd want to continue your legacy by passing things on to your children. But, obviously the relationship was strained and thus the conditions. Was their being JWs the cause of the strain? Likely but it could have been more him than them. Really difficult to tell. At least he left things to his relatives and not to some huge non-profit organization.

It's a shame that religion is such a divisive influence. Probably the most divisive in human history.

17

Why I DON'T Fear The Future - A Conversation With My JW Mum

by Divergent in

jw
friends

3 questions i hit my jw mum with:.

first question: do you believe that god is love?

third question: do you think a god of love would choose to destroy me for not doing something i cannot do (be a jw) because i am not convinced rather than convince me beyond doubt?

Doubting Bro

But what if God has convinced you that the WTS isn't the truth. By not following His direction, aren't you willingly sinning against Holy Spirit?

35

What age were you when you were counted as a publisher?

by OrphanCrow in

the wts has always included minors and adults in the same categories - publisher and baptized.. i am interested in knowing how many minors, approximately, are included in the publisher count.

and, at what age a person started publishing.

what age was the youngest publisher reported?.

Doubting Bro

Was 8 when I joined the school, 10 publisher, baptized at 17 (late).

As far as current makeup, in my congo there are some kids but honestly maybe out of 110 or so publishers, only about 10-15 unbaptized publishers who are minors. There are just a couple of minor baptized kids.

When I was a kid, the number of UBPs was much higher and I know we probably had 30 or so out of 100 publishers. I think that JWs aren't having as many kids as they used to (English - USA)

25

Watchtower's "New Light" re Babylonish Captivity, November 2016 WT

by Room 215 in

has anyone noticed the wt's most recent shell-game revisionism in the november study tractazine, relating to the shifting of its "babylonish captivity" doctrine, from a 3 1/2-year period around the ww 1 years, to a period now spanning about 16 centuries, or from the 4th century (constantine's legal recognition of christianity) to 1919?.

Doubting Bro

Eventually, they will need to scrap everything since it's all inter-related. It hasn't fit together (well it never did but at least it used to actually work on a timeline) in quite sometime. Every time they make a change, the rest of their interpretation suddenly doesn't fit.

Honestly, when they started making changes going back to the change in generation in 1995, that was an eyeopener for me and cracks began to form in my belief. Of course, like many here, I pushed it down and doubled down in my efforts. What an idiot!!

30

GB "... it can make mistakes when explaining the Bible ..." Simplified version WT Feb 2017

by freddo in

study article: who is leading god's people today?

start of paragraph 12.. standard version: "the governing body is neither inspired nor infallible.

therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.".

Doubting Bro

They've always said they were not infallible. It's the saying they make mistakes that feels different. The old way was getting clarifications which in fact were complete reversals of previous positions and not "clarifications" at all. But, they never couched it in terms of a "mistake" only a "new understanding".

The more I think about this, the more I wonder if there is a major change coming.

But, the average JW WILL NOT CARE! Seriously, there may be a few that get awakened just like with the last crazy "adjustment" with the generation. But, I'm not sure if at this point, anything they say or do would cause a major fallout. As a matter of fact, I would venture to guess that any major doctrinal adjustment would either 1) go over everyone's head or 2) get people more enthused for a short period.

Cults change things all the time to keep people off balance. And so the GB will continue to make changes big and small and the beat will go on. Eventually this religion will bleed out by a thousand cuts but it will be a slow fade into the dark night and that will take several generations (real ones not their definition).

I hope I'm wrong but I don't think I am.

9

Circuit Organization Guidelines English (S-330-E Us)

by wifibandit in

circuit organization guidelines english (s-330-e us) 03/13.

Doubting Bro

Much thanks go to both you and your sources!!!

15

Realtors and Financial Advisors needed: Watchtower Real Estate deals

by Hecce in

https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/ds/documentsearch/partynameresult?page=2.

i don’t know if this topic has been discussed before.

here are the public records of some of the re transactions done by the wt.

Doubting Bro

The IRS couldn't keep the tax exemption away from the Church of Scientology and after that loss, I don't think they want any parts of wacky religions. In the US, freedom of religion is equated with freedom from taxes and its so ingrained in the culture, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

39

The increasing WT magazine

by darkspilver in

jw
friends

apart from the interesting block color change for the title strip on the front page.... the new 2017 wt mag has some new (updated printing figures):.

2016: produced each issue: 58,987,000 available in 282 languages .

2017: produced each issue: 61,651,000 available in 294 languages.

Doubting Bro

Interesting they say produced instead of printed. I wonder how much of that number includes downloads?

33

Disassociation revealed what type of man my father really is.

by Paul Mooney in

i began my exit from the jehovah’s witness organization about 5 years.

i was a 4th generation born-in, with all the baggage that comes with having the “spiritual heritage” attached to the group.

i was an elder/bethelite/pioneer/whatever other useless privilege there was, i had no family or friends outside of the organization… my entire life was that org.

Doubting Bro

Paul,

What a moving note your dad sent you. It's so sad what this religion does to people and hopefully you'll be able to smuggle something back to him.

10

Which Kingdom Hall Should They Sell? How Does The Governing Body Decide?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

well what rule of thumb do you think these financial dim-wits dream up?

i think those not sending in their money to the org are some of the first properties to unload while you spare the higher payers for last.

you don't want to piss off the loyal contributers by making them miss meetings,, that's a no win situation so dump the free loaders as a negative asset and keep the more profitable ones.. and those who's loans the wt forgave, watch what happens if you're not send in those regular payments like before, and slack off by a significant amount.

Doubting Bro

I know for a fact that at least one local KH had the same cost/benefit analysis done. It was a building that needed a bunch of cash to get up to snuff but was in a good location. The congregation had about 40-50 publishers and none of the elders were all that connected. They were given the option of moving to another KH in a nearby town and staying together or disbanding and dispersing. They chose to stay together, likely because these elders wanted to keep control as opposed to being a new boy on another body.