Posts by neverendingjourney

32

Invisible Rulership - one of the dumbest things I ever believed in

by Black Man in

jw
friends

having now been out of the cult for a few years, it really shocks me about some of the nonsense i used to believe in.

like for instance, christ ruling in the midst of his enemies, but doing so invisibly.. let's let that one sink in for a minute.

you've supposedly got a king who is ruling for a kingdom, but it is an invisible rule.

neverendingjourney

I'm having sex with Kate Upton at the moment...invisibly.

26

48th ANNIVERSARY of me GOING TO PRISON

by Terry in

i was twenty years old.. as a jehovah's witness, i had no career path ahead of me, no college to attend, and no prospect for my future other than.

knocking on people's doors and scanning the horizon for signs of armageddon:).

i was engaged to a 17-year-old witness girl i had met at the mineral wells assembly.. what was our future together?

neverendingjourney

Thanks, Terry. I don't believe you and I have ever interacted, but I've followed your story and find inspiration in your perseverance. Were I in your shoes, I'm not sure I would have adapted as well.

51

Another anti-gay Republican Senator (in the USA) caught advertising his body

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

link.

why do the republicans seem to have a monopoly on this behaviour?.

neverendingjourney

The news story in the OP is several years old.

53

Printing Company to Video Production Company - Insider Information

by thedepressedsoul in

many people think that wt is a publishing company and at one time that was true.

however, they are slowly fading that out into more digital publications.

we all have come to the conclusion that printed material from the wt is going way of the dinosaur.

Given their lack of tithing requirement and the fact that they have the lowest educated membership of any denomination surveyed by the Pew Foundation, they have to find a way to monetize their members' labor.

Once upon a time, that was accomplished through field service. Even if members sold one magazine per hour, that was $.25 per man hour the WT was receiving. My guess is the WT hasn't been turning much of a profit on literature placements in a very, very long time.

If they were to turn their volunteer literature-distribution salesforce into a construction force, then they could monetize their labor in the context of a real estate model: construct various buildings using free labor and a few years down the road sell them at market price. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

As to the video production piece, I think it has to do more with the GB's ego and information control. Instead of allowing talented orators to become powerful locally, they can pump in the desired message directly to kingdom halls across the world. It also solves the problem of having a real lack of qualified public speakers in some parts of the world. A movement towards pre-packaged video content in lieu of talks presented by local speakers might explain why they're doing away with the theocratic ministry school.

98

My Opinions on whats going on in WT land - Insider Information

by thedepressedsoul in

first off, i'd like to state that i currently have "privileges" in the congregation and volunteer at bethel on and off throughout the year.

that's as much information as i will currently give about myself.. starting off, i think something big is coming in the form of lawsuits and bad pr.

they seem to be batting down the hatches in preparation for something the last few years and even more so the last few months.

neverendingjourney

Re: poor construction oversight

I know a lot of the assholes who ran the RBC and the assembly hall build in my area. These were almost uniformly low-level grunts who maybe took a CAD or project management class or two and worked at the very lowest levels of construction/engineering firms. Yet they acted like they were gods among men when around their fellow believers.

I don't think that experience was atypical. The OP rings true to me.

98

My Opinions on whats going on in WT land - Insider Information

by thedepressedsoul in

first off, i'd like to state that i currently have "privileges" in the congregation and volunteer at bethel on and off throughout the year.

that's as much information as i will currently give about myself.. starting off, i think something big is coming in the form of lawsuits and bad pr.

they seem to be batting down the hatches in preparation for something the last few years and even more so the last few months.

neverendingjourney

Cannot happen, unless there is a complete change of business model.

Interesting. I wonder where that line is set. What if they were to set suggested donation amounts? Seems like mainstream churches get away with "suggesting" their members give them ten percent. Admittedly, I'm not an expert in 501(c)(3) organizations.

98

My Opinions on whats going on in WT land - Insider Information

by thedepressedsoul in

first off, i'd like to state that i currently have "privileges" in the congregation and volunteer at bethel on and off throughout the year.

that's as much information as i will currently give about myself.. starting off, i think something big is coming in the form of lawsuits and bad pr.

they seem to be batting down the hatches in preparation for something the last few years and even more so the last few months.

neverendingjourney

The wildcard in all of this is the following:

If things get dire enough, do they accept having a tax imposed on them and go back to charging for everything, a quarter for digital downloads, a dollar per magazine, etc.?

Seems like a lot of their money woes were self-inflicted. Revenues plummeted after they went to the donation-only model.

98

My Opinions on whats going on in WT land - Insider Information

by thedepressedsoul in

first off, i'd like to state that i currently have "privileges" in the congregation and volunteer at bethel on and off throughout the year.

that's as much information as i will currently give about myself.. starting off, i think something big is coming in the form of lawsuits and bad pr.

they seem to be batting down the hatches in preparation for something the last few years and even more so the last few months.

neverendingjourney

They believe their own BS. If the top hand guys actually believed their own BS, that Jah would provide, the end was so close, that their was going to be huge growth at Jah's hand, they are in deep, deep trouble. It could be panic mode up there. People's heads spinning as to how their financials are falling apart, how Jah hasn't stepped in. They could have made huge financial decisions based on their interpretation of the bible. They are a doomsday cult, they could have been heavily invested in OIL or Gold thinking currency would die or that oil would always go up because of greed and other things. Who knows what big decisions they made based off of their interpretation of scriptures.

This point cannot be overstated.

75

Brooklyn Layoffs and Halt to Kingdom Hall construction projects

by James Jack in

a good source just just told me that at morning worship today that the governing body announced that a total of 1600 bethelites will be let get go and not transferred to warwich when the last property is sold in brooklyn and all kingdom hall building projects are on hold for at least a year so that all the focus will be on the preaching work.

neverendingjourney

Did people donate more back then?

They just charged for everything back then. The food was for sale. The literature was for sale. The donation-only arrangement ate into the bottom line tremendously.

75

Brooklyn Layoffs and Halt to Kingdom Hall construction projects

by James Jack in

a good source just just told me that at morning worship today that the governing body announced that a total of 1600 bethelites will be let get go and not transferred to warwich when the last property is sold in brooklyn and all kingdom hall building projects are on hold for at least a year so that all the focus will be on the preaching work.

neverendingjourney

I feel bad for most of the people who'll be laid off. Many of them sacrificed a lot in service of what they sincerely felt was right.

However, one of the most arrogant people I know is a Bethel elder who gets sent to conventions to give talks. I knew him 20 years ago before he ever went to Bethel. I won't feel sorry for him at all if he doesn't make the cut. He can go to hell.