Doubting Bro

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Posts by Doubting Bro

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  32

  Stagnation of JWs in Britain

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is an 'off-topic' continuation of this discussion.

  steve2: in britain, growth of publishers is slowing down, if not stagnating.

  darkspilver: .

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  Doubting Bro

  Just a thought, field service has very little success in actually making converts especially in first world countries. The whole purpose in those countries is to give members a sense of purpose, unity and keep them busy. If you were running a business based on production and looked at their success rate in making converts, you would definitely change the model. The amount of FS reported directly correlates to how spiritual a person is viewed and their standing in the congregation. The only way you can drop the requirement to report would be to replace it with some other measure.It honestly has nothing to do with making converts.
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  59

  What can the leadership at Watchtower do to turn things around?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  let's play devils advocate here.. put yourself in the governing body's shoes.

  they are well aware of all the issues they are facing.

  they know their numbers (they 'do the math' as they say in the us).

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  Doubting Bro

  Hopefully, they will continue to make blunder after blunder! They don't have a creative thinker among the higher ups so their answer to everything is doubling down on what already has been ineffective. The cuts they are making to literature, etc are not strategic but more reactionary. I think they generally believe that the Big A will come soon and bail them out.

  I've said it before and will continue to say it, apathy among members is far and away the cause of their problems and until they make people really care again, they will continue to slowly lose momentum.
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  13

  Captain Obvious: A Success Story

  by Captain Obvious in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  january 2012, at the age of 24 i “woke up” to the truth about the truth.

  march 2012, i joined this esteemed message board and was welcomed.

  this forum was such a help.

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  Doubting Bro

  Congratulations on the fade and on your new addition!
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  14

  which member of the GB would you like to see on here ?

  by stan livedeath in

  1. social
  2. humour

  if any member of the gb were to turn apostate---and join this site-----who would you like it to be ?

  and why ?.

  and--least like--and why ?.

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  Doubting Bro

  Jackson seems like a nice guy (although misguided). Definitely Tight pants Tony. He would be a fire breathing, no holds bar old school apostate! LOL - He already hates individual JWs more than any of us put together! Especially elders which he especially has contempt for it seems.
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  20

  Explanation please on the change of the term "worldly"

  by careful in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've picked up from several replies to posts here that the org has stopped using the term "worldly" as it applies to people.

  this must have happened after i left.

  would someone be so kind as to explain the "rationale" behind this shift?

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  Doubting Bro

  Same here. It may not be in print but it's a huge part of the average JW vocabulary and is used from the platform all the time.
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  12

  Self Intro

  by Cimarrona in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i've done a good deal of posting in my brief 24 hours here so far, figured i might as well provide a slightly more in depth narrative.

  second generation born-in.

  elder's daughter and elders' granddaughter.

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  Doubting Bro

  Welcome and look forward to reading your contributions!
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  23

  Update on the $4000 day fine - Padron v Watchtower

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  from reddit:.

  this was an oral argument to dismiss the $4000/day fine.

  both sides presented their arguments and now the judges will write an opinion (30 to 90 days).

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  Doubting Bro

  Thanks for the update. I think if the WT loses, the flood of lawsuits could be problematic for them. That's why they are fighting tooth and nail. The 2m fine is nothing compared to what could happen.
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  19

  AGM - Are they now teaching predestination?

  by Doubting Bro in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  another agm thought.

  in tight pants tony's part, he mentioned several times that jehovah draws those he chooses and only those rightly disposed would come in.

  and individuals that liked the literature but made no progress towards becoming jw were a "waste of time".. was he setting the stage for them introducing the thought of predestination?

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  Doubting Bro

  Of course none of it really makes sense. And, I know before they've had instructions to only study with folks 6 months and if no progress, cut the study. But, he seemed to go on about how JWs shouldn't spend time on calls that don't lead anywhere. I glanced around at the pioneers and they seemed less than amused. Who could blame them? Without those coffee clutch calls, their days become even that much more dreary.

  The reality is that many people choose their religion based on where on this planet they were born and what religion their parents were born into. JWs used to be a bit different (talking about Western nations here) in that you had many adult converts. That hasn't been the case for sometime now. I would venture to say the overwhelming majority of JWs under 50 are born-ins at least in Western countries.Immigrants are likely the only exception to this rule.

  I did think it was funny how during his announcement of how they were going to cut the mags down to 6 a year say in the same breathe how their literature was the most wonderful on earth or some such nonsense. So, let me get this straight, you are producing the most important message the world has ever seen and you decide that you should reduce publication drastically and then not produce anything new after 2 years (potentially). Talk about making no sense.

  As others have mentioned, this seems to be but one step towards moving to an all digital religion. And, I know they will always have some aspect of "preaching" but I do think it will continue to morph.
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  19

  AGM - Are they now teaching predestination?

  by Doubting Bro in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  another agm thought.

  in tight pants tony's part, he mentioned several times that jehovah draws those he chooses and only those rightly disposed would come in.

  and individuals that liked the literature but made no progress towards becoming jw were a "waste of time".. was he setting the stage for them introducing the thought of predestination?

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  Doubting Bro

  Another AGM thought. In Tight Pants Tony's part, he mentioned several times that Jehovah draws those he chooses and only those rightly disposed would come in. And individuals that liked the literature but made no progress towards becoming JW were a "waste of time".

  Was he setting the stage for them introducing the thought of predestination? Before, they were against it saying that individuals acted on "accurate knowledge" and that individual JWs teaching abilities were directly linked to whether a person would accept JWism and that you could be "bloodguilty" if you didn't put forth enough effort in preaching.

  Now, its really whether the person has been chosen by God to become a JW and has nothing to do with seeking out "sheep".

  This could be a first step in a change to how they evangelize. They could easily keep the carts but discontinue the door to door which would be another way to cut down on literature printing needs.

  What do you think? At the same time, drop the annual report then discontinue reporting time. Of course, the only reason they ask for a time count is to measure how committed a person is to the cult so they likely wouldn't do that.

  Just struck me as different as I guess.
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  16

  Trivial stuff about the AGM

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  lots of good comments already about the content of saturday's agm broadcast.. i just thought i'd add my (trivial!

  ) comments about the magnificent 7:.

  -- loesch - was he intentionally trying to be boring?

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  Doubting Bro

  I had to look away when Lett was on the screen for fear of bursting into hysterical laughter. That was such a boring program. Jackson came off the best as the host err chairman of this snore fest.

  Also, that culty choir before it started was really weird. I know lots of religions have a choir and that's fine. But, I guess the expressions on their faces were so creepy with forced smiles and why were they holding the largest songbooks I've ever seen. Its one crappy song, can't you memorize it? It's a surreal experience being PIMO. Stuff that you never see when you are a true believer makes you very uncomfortable.

  One last thing, the "interview" with the boys on the project committee. Of course, it was all BS, but I thought overall that came off fairly well. But, the story about the wife that was hit by a car while her husband was changing a tire on the way to the airport to work on the project was over the top. Let me get this straight, Jehovah's hand was all over this project to build some buildings but he couldn't be bothered to have this poor lady take 5 steps away from the highway or the driver to get off their cell phone or whatever caused them to drift over to keep her alive? GTFOH. Yet, the husband deciding to come to Warwick despite his wife getting killed was a blessing to him? Jesus, he was probably in such shock and yeah maybe doing something like that took his mind off what just happened, but that was such an insensitive and callous remark that it really pissed me off.