ScenicViewer

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Posts by ScenicViewer

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  10

  The Amazing Teeth of the Great White Shark

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  great white sharks are able to subdue and eat almost anything they come across, thanks to their amazing teeth.

  consider: the great white shark (carcharodon carcharias) needs to catch and process food in order to survive.

  its teeth are remarkable, being arranged in rows and rows that move forward, like a conveyor belt, so that these animals always have a full set of functioning teeth at any one time.. furthermore, the shape of this shark's teeth changes throughout its life.

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  ScenicViewer

  @ Giles Gray

  Lol. Oh yes!
  

  You know how tough sea weed can be. And it's fast too. They need those sharp, triangular shaped teeth, row after row of them, to grab it and take out big chunks of it.
  
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  117

  2017 Yearbook released

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw this on reddit:.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

  overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

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  ScenicViewer

  ...letters www mean the number 666 in Revelation. This is the country where JWs claimed 22% growth over the last year.

  That looks like something JWs themselves might have said not so many years ago. Superstition is as superstition does. Watchtower is getting what it deserves.

  The people coming into the Organization are probably just as superstitious as their critics.
  
  
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  117

  2017 Yearbook released

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw this on reddit:.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

  overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

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  ScenicViewer

  ......comment from a sister who says watching the Governing Body on JW broadcasting is like listening directly to Jehovah.

  “I feel as if Jehovah were talking to me right in my room when I listen to members of the Governing Body and their helpers,” says Agatha, a circuit overseer’s wife in Ghana.

  Isn't a remark like this clearly promoting creature worship, making the G.B. seem like the equivalent of God? And from a Circuit Overseers wife no less. (I assume that both quotes above refer to the same remark in the Year Book.)

  If I was an active Witness I would be longing for the teachings of Fred Franz, with the types and anti types, the King of the North and South explanations, and the "deep" understandings of prophecy. Of course it was all wrong, and F. Franz was a false prophet, but at least it was something you could get your teeth in to and it made you feel good about being a Witness.

  Remarks like the above quotes come across as nothing more than immature fluff. I guess it's the GB's way of promoting itself as the source of truth on earth, but it is incredibly naive and transparent of them, making it obvious that Watchtower is just another man-made religion.

  How could there not be a decline after a few years of this?
  
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  39

  Is the year 2020 the new prediction for Armageddon?

  by Disassociated Lady 2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have had a conversation this evening with a jw friend i have known since childhood.

  he is of the opinion that armageddon will have come and gone within the next 5 years.

  are the jws now pinpointing 2020 as the supposed year?

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  ScenicViewer

  I remember the talk and opinions of Witnesses in the 1970s. A Circuit Overseer would give a talk about how close the end was, then you would hear Witnesses say "the system can't last two more years," or "the world won't last another year."

  I haven't heard anything about 2020, but in general the opinions of JWs about the end of the system are worth nothing.
  
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  117

  2017 Yearbook released

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw this on reddit:.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

  overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

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  ScenicViewer

  Slimboyfat: There is the component of commitment and enthusiasm to consider.

  I think this speaks volumes, and leads to another component of measuring true growth or decline, but unfortunately it's something we can't measure because Watchtower won't disclose it.

  Donation money.

  If there is zero growth, or even a decline, in many advanced countries, there must be some who are still for various reasons but not committed, whose donations have declined along with their enthusiasm.

  Donations are likely declining much more than the number of people, which would be a major problem for Watchtower.
  
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  44

  Update to UK “Child Safeguarding Policy”

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  a known poster on this site (anon) says:.

  i have just received a text from an elder i've known for decades in my circuit who has some sympathy for my feelings and who is aware of the arc, the uk charity commission, etc., etc.

  here it is verbatim, and my reply.

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  ScenicViewer

  This whole document is too wordy for the average elder to understand what it's actually saying.

  Using too many words BTW is a common tactic of the chronically dishonest.

  Watchtower's attorneys at work, no doubt.
  
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  57

  Jehovah's Witness / ex-JW Suicide Rate?

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  it's no secret that both remaining a jw or leaving the wts can take a toll on mental health.

  some will suffer from depression and ultimately some will have thoughts of suicide and a few will succumb to those.. but i don't recall ever seeing any hard stats or studies on it though.

  i'm sure we all know of some people who have committed suicide but i don't know if, because you may have loose association with a much larger pool of people through the religion, that this only seems higher or maybe not be actually higher than the general population.. what i mean is, you go to a kh here there maybe 100-150 people, you attend circuit and district conventions with many tens of thousands - if any one person commits suicide then you likely hear about it and it becomes part of the anecdotal 'evidence' that is then put forward as a fact that there is a higher rate ... but is there?.

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  ScenicViewer

  Watchtower's disfellowshipping policy, which isolates people, leaving them completely cut off from their social group, is a contributor to suicide. Watchtower admits admits that isolation is deadly but never applies it to their own shunning policy....

  And the consequences? “I know of no more potent killer than isolation. . . . It has been shown to be a central agent in the etiology [starting cause] of depression, paranoia, schizophrenia, rape, suicide, mass murder, and a wide variety of disease states.”—Psychology Today, August 1980.

  Awake 5-22-1983 p15 (Bold added)

  Former friends, and especially family, refusing to have anything to do with you must be the worst kind of isolation there is.
  
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  9

  Black Mirror TV Series

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  if you're looking for something new to watch, i can really recommend this show.

  it's on netflix and there is a new series starting soon.

  don't let "series" put you off - they are only 3 or 6 episodes long.. how to describe it?.

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  ScenicViewer

  I really like most of the Netflix series that I have seen. I'm going to have a look at Black Mirror.
  
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  40

  Sisters running microphones?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so our sunday meeting was on the 25th (christmas) and my active jw wife and i were out of town enjoying some family time with relatives.. apparently there were many others in our congregation that missed as well.

  so few were there in fact that sisters ran the mics.

  (actually it was a sister running one of the two mics) a friend of my wife commented to her about how the brothers just aren't stepping up and it "makes her want to cry.

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  ScenicViewer

  Did the sister handling the microphone have to wear a head covering?

  I am aware of women offering prayer, reading the Watchtower, or even conducting a meeting when qualified males were not present. In these situations head coverings were required.
  
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  25

  JW employing pre-teens to work religious propaganda phonebank

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  .

  what do you think about using pre-teens to work religious propaganda phonebank?.

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  ScenicViewer

  Spoletta: it looks to me as if the kids are just doing a demonstration.

  It looks that way to me too. Maybe something as simple as a demonstration on how to witness to someone who calls you, like a relative - an example of "giving a thorough witness at every opportunity."

  (That is something that, notably, Governing Body members refuse to do, ala Gerritt Losch, who refused to appear in court to testify regarding Watchtower's child protection policies, using the lame excuse that "I don't answer to Watchtower." That would have been a perfect opportunity for the GB to practice what it preaches to JWs, but instead Gerritt Losch passed on the chance to "give a fine witness.")