recently a doubting jw asked who else did worldwide preaching.
i gave examples of the mennonites and the society of friends (quakers).
last night while watching tv, i saw a profile on the show mediatelevision, a show about the various media and methods of persuasion ( http://www.citytv.com/mediatv/) about trans world radio ( http://www.gospelcom.net/twr/), an evangelical group that preaches, via radio, throughout the world, "even if they have to skirt anti-evangelical laws, and risk offending other world faiths in the process.".
do any of these other groups (like our new mormon friends) have sustained growth like JWs? of course we were always told that no one did and i basically still believe that that was true up until about 10 years ago. its hard to compare growth stats objectively but how unique is JW growth?
mox
the society tries very hard to present the idea that the door-to-door work was essentially the same in the 1st century as now.
the rendering of 'door to door' in ac5:42 creates that impression.
so do the talks that discuss the missionary efforts then in modern terms (eg "paul was making a return visit here on an interested one") philo's hospitality question earlier shows that we have all been a bit taken in by this.. wt covers like this (4/1/01) sure help too:.
ok cmon its an ornate house number # 12 and below is a doorknob. get it?? haha!
please respect my photoshop skillz!
mox
i sat at the dc today (yawn!
) trying to keep myself entertained i looked around and was wondering to myself how many that were there today were lurkers, trolls & fred halls.
what were the possibilities that some may have even read some of my comments.
nyt: as one fellow lit servant to another, Im sure youre aware that not every one of the 5300 attendees went up to get there copy of the book personally. normally one family member waits in line to get enough for their family or car group or what have you. now 8 does sound like a lot, maybe some of the eight were not actually in attendance, if they were, im sure the brother asking for the 8 wouldve made that clear. (it isnt clear from noidea's account whether he did.) its tough, i remember, you dont want to make it look like you are outright accusing your brother of deception, but you want to gently remind them of the limited quantity. arguing the man down from 8 to 2 seems over the top. i dont recall an attendant so much as batting an eye at requests for 4 or 5 books.
mox
embarrasingly, even i know which spice jerri halliwell is and ive never intentionally listened to or watched a single spice girls song or video.
i didnt know benson was a mutliple DFer. what hapnd?
mox
hello i'm new to the whole jw study thing, but they said it fell in 607 but due to the advice of others here i looked it up.
i found in 3 encyclopedia's online that it fell in 586. i printed them out and am going to get more.
i'm going to show the lady i study with, i'm just curious what you think will happen, and if she will try to deny it.
lol@fred. think about what you just said.
tattoo: sorry to offend. i dont mean to imply that you are pretending. this sister who is studying with you seems very irregular as witnesses go. your comments indicate that you understand that to be true as well. dont take anyone's word for anything about the 587/607 dates. check it all out for yourself. check out what humble says and see how compelling it is under scrutiny.
mox
i mentioned that the dc in our area featured a talk where the speaker, as an illustration of endurance, mentioned methusaleh, the bristlecone pine that had lived for 4700+ years.
i asked here for some possible explanations of this that allow for the wt flood dating.
i had assumed that the standard response would be that the dating of the tree was wrong, that the rings had gotten doubled a few times or something.
it seems to me like the water at the bottom of the floodwaters wouldnt be salty so much as really, really dirty. if nothing could survive except life that was already adapted for deep sea, ie the land was nearly devoid of life when the waters drained, then how do creationists/JWs explain the marvelous recovery the eco-system seems to have made?
im not asking you to defend the explanation, i just want to hear it.
mox
hello i'm new to the whole jw study thing, but they said it fell in 607 but due to the advice of others here i looked it up.
i found in 3 encyclopedia's online that it fell in 586. i printed them out and am going to get more.
i'm going to show the lady i study with, i'm just curious what you think will happen, and if she will try to deny it.
tattoo: i dunno bout you. you sound genuine but some of the stuff you say is a little hard to understand. like the sister studying with you whose daughter is getting a tattoo and thinks that that's absolutely fine for a witness. and then you find fred's ravings 'helpful' - i hope you're just being polite :)
your story is compelling. i would like it to be true because i would really like to see what happens if it is. i will take it at face value tho, i do not wish to sound insulting.
the sister will likely not so much deny it as dismiss it. she likely will not even be aware that 587 is the accepted date and will assure that 607 is an absolute certainty, probably figuring that 587 is refering to some other event, a different part of the siege or something. she will be genuine in her certainty. it is the product of the date 607 being repeated like a mantra for generations (and 606 for generations before that) by JWs - without any real evidence ever presented. you hear it enough, you assume it to be true.
stick at this tho. you will uncover some interesting stuff on the way. good luck!
mox
i remember that many jw's were falling for amway scams here in the us.
one of amway's latest scams was quixtar, some internet online mall that is a complete rip-off.
quixtar even used cult-like language, making up new words.
wasnt including daytrading in with 'scams' so much as in with the category of new jobs that seem to provide the ideal schedule that a bunch of brothers seem to flock to.
a little while ago there were a bunch up our way that got into this thing where they'd get permission to bring in snack stands to office cafeterias and leave them there on the honour system and just pick'em up at the end of the day. this was described by the DO at a circuit pioneer meeting. he encouraged it as good initiative taken by those struggling with finances. apparently they made good money for minimal effort and i believe the market was already getting saturated by the pioneers.
mox
i remember that many jw's were falling for amway scams here in the us.
one of amway's latest scams was quixtar, some internet online mall that is a complete rip-off.
quixtar even used cult-like language, making up new words.
good points.
i think there's also something to be said for the traditional approach to employment. you do not require education or training beyond the minimum because as long as you make pioneering your goal, jehovah will provide. what does this say to people? its not explicit of course, but a lot of people (the same people that see demons and angels behind every event in their lives) will think that this means that magical employment that requires no special education but will not demand a great deal of time, allowing them a good 'service schedule' should present itself by jehovah's hand. so despite earnest warnings against these schemes from the publications, some will convince themselves that this is how jehovah is looking after them.
have there been a lot getting into daytrading too? ive heard of a couple.
mox
really simple question for the fundys.
why is god invisible?
"The argument goes something like this: `I refuse to prove that I
exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am
nothing.'
"`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it?
It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so
therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'
"`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly
vanished in a puff of logic.
"`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to
prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next
zebra crossing."
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (r.i.p)
mox
