Posts by dropoffyourkeylee

16

Harold Camping has been Raptured - OK he's dead

by cantleave in

jw
friends

so i have just heard.....it maybe an unsubstantiated rumour.

dropoffyourkeylee

"the rumors about my death are
greatly exaggerated"... Mark Twain

220

2011 Watchtower publisher statistics with analysis

by jwfacts in

the 2012 yearbook has released the publisher statistics for the 2011 service year.

a scan of the report can be found at http://www.jwfacts.com/images/2011-publisher-report.pdf and i have started updating the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

as expected, it is following on from similar trends to the last 15 years.

I think that another measure we are not looking at enough is the number of congregations. I don't have access to the past years reports (had a big bonfire with all my old literature, including the yearbooks - what fun!), but I would be interested in the percent increase in number of congregations is similar to the reported percent increase in publishers

220

2011 Watchtower publisher statistics with analysis

by jwfacts in

the 2012 yearbook has released the publisher statistics for the 2011 service year.

a scan of the report can be found at http://www.jwfacts.com/images/2011-publisher-report.pdf and i have started updating the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

as expected, it is following on from similar trends to the last 15 years.

dropoffyourkeylee

It is indeed curious that the Society would list the Palestinian Territory as one of their 'lands' when its very existence is a matter of political dispute. Here is the first paragraph from Wikipedia:

The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries to be part of the State of Palestine, [ 4 ] although this status is not recognized by the United Nations, Israel and major Western nations, including the United States. Effectively parts of the West Bank are currently governed by the Palestinian National Authority, while other parts are governed by Israeli military authorities, which the UN and international legal bodies often refer to as the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Gaza Strip is being controlled by Hamas-led Palestinian Government.

Doesn't the Society's recognition of the Palestinian Territory as an entity mean it is making a political statement in support of its existence when many (1/4) of the nations, including the US, does not recognize it? Where is their supposedly neutral position?

33

I've been crunching the numbers, and the concept of Santa Claus doesn't add up

by keyser soze in

jw
friends

maybe i'm overly skeptical after years of having been lied to by the wt....but from a purely logistical standpoint, the idea that he could cover the amount of territory necessary in the amount of time allotted, just doesn't seem feasible.. now, granted, there are certain variables in the equation that are highly speculative, such as the speed he would be travelling at.

it's quite possible that reindeer travel faster through the air than by land, maybe quite faster.

but even if we assume he is travelling the speed of a lear jet, and you factor in all the differen't time zones, i still don't see how he has enough time to complete his task.. am i missing something, or is the story totally bogus?.

dropoffyourkeylee

Surely we are all happified that Santa is speeding up the work! and truly covering the globe with his life-saving message gifts

33

Gravitation and Electric Energy, Golden Age, August 17, 1932 [Repost]

by VM44 in

the sheer literal stupidity of clayton woodworth publishing this article in the golden age demands that it be reposted.. this article is in the "not even wrong" category!.

*** the golden age 1932 august 17, pp.707-710 ***.

gravitation and electric energy.

dropoffyourkeylee

I found this interesting and was wondering who CE Stewart was. I found two mentions of him in the early Zions WT CDRom which I got from a Bible Student group some years ago. One mention that he had taken THE VOW in 1908, and another in Feb 1914 where he wrote a letter to Russell. It is kind of boring, but it gives some info about this brilliant early Bible Student, CE Stewart:

DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:--

Just a little anniversary note: Twelve years ago today, in

Marten's Hall, St. Louis, I met and heard you for the first

time--having since listened to you seventy times.

You discoursed that day on THE RESURRECTION OF THE GOOD

UNTO LIFE, AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE EVIL UNTO DAMNATION.

One of my eyes was opened by the unreasonableness

of a twenty-four hour Judgment Day, as exposed by you--a

sort of a burlesque on my Methodist training. The other eye

was opened by the reasonableness of the Scriptural Thousand-Year

Day of Judgment, which you explained.

I had been reading THE WATCH TOWER about five months,

and had "gathered in" a little of its Message, as indicated by

the notations on their margins; but I think the impression

made on me that day fixed upon me, somehow, a determination

to know God--to study His revealed Word. What it

would lead to, of course, I could not comprehend. But I

thank our dear Heavenly Father for His merciful and patient

leading. I thank Him for the great responsibilities which are

now mine! I am happy to be in the Truth and to know the

Spirit of the Lord; and my earnest prayer is for wisdom to

properly manifest in my daily life the fruits and graces of

that Spirit.

I wish to express to you my gratitude for your helpfulness

all along the way. I love you for it. I pray daily for the all-sufficient

grace to you-ward--for the Heavenly Father to sustain

and cheer you, and to make you the happiest of men.

Your confidence in, and loyalty to, Almighty God has borne

much fruit for others as well as for yourself, and will certainly

meet with a great reward--shortly.

Somehow--I don't know how--I thought I could see a

climax to culminate in the Seventh Volume, and from the

first I have prayed that God might prepare my heart for that

Seventh Volume. This Harvest Message as a whole has included

so much. I feel confident that this great anticipation

for the consummation of the Divine Plan of the Ages, in

narrowing down the rays of prophecy and Present Truth to

the focal-point, "It is Done," has carried me over many

bridges where rails, ties and pillars had been removed.

I am praising God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

and our Father, for an appreciation of, and a participation in,

the Precious Blood! With tenderest love to my Pastor, I

remain,

Your fellow-servant in Christ, C. E. STEWART.

87

Is this HARD evidence that the INTERNET is hurting the Watch Tower Society?

by cedars in

these are the countries with 80 to 89.99% internet penetration:.

these are the countries with 70 to 79.99% internet penetration:.

these are the countries with 60 to 69.99% internet penetration:.

dropoffyourkeylee

Am I the only one, or doesn't Cedar's first graph have the x-axis backwards?

33

Gravitation and Electric Energy, Golden Age, August 17, 1932 [Repost]

by VM44 in

the sheer literal stupidity of clayton woodworth publishing this article in the golden age demands that it be reposted.. this article is in the "not even wrong" category!.

*** the golden age 1932 august 17, pp.707-710 ***.

gravitation and electric energy.

dropoffyourkeylee

<I didn't know glass amd wood were elements.>

It's amazing what you can learn on the internet!

35

The Real Purpose of Shunning Holidays

by metatron in

jw
friends

the watchtower endlessly prates on about pagan traditions in popular holidays - while the bible itself is loaded with subtle pagan religious ideas - such as wicked spirits being cast "into tartarus" (a pagan greek place in which the rebels against zeus got imprisoned) or "sacred secret" - a term the apostle paul likes that was adopted from pagan 'mystery' religions.. then we can throw in the reference to being divinely 'called christians' in acts - which uses a pagan term that refers to demonic oracles of the day.. of course, the watchtower has no objection to accumulating millions of pieces of paper that feature occult symbols (any dollar bill!).

in recent years, for good measure, they have added birthdays and thanksgiving to the official banned list, despite the sketchiest justification for doing so.

if birthdays are wrong simply because they figure in two negative accounts, then it makes much more sense to ban dogs as pets because of all the negativity in the bible about them!.

dropoffyourkeylee

I have come to believe that the anti-Christmas, anti-most other observances came about in the Rutherford years when about half of Bible Students left. Families were split, and the holidays were when the two sides would come together. This Rutherford did not want, so any holiday which would bring the two sides of a family together was eliminated. It was a control move on the part of Rutherford.

33

Gravitation and Electric Energy, Golden Age, August 17, 1932 [Repost]

by VM44 in

the sheer literal stupidity of clayton woodworth publishing this article in the golden age demands that it be reposted.. this article is in the "not even wrong" category!.

*** the golden age 1932 august 17, pp.707-710 ***.

gravitation and electric energy.

dropoffyourkeylee

Now this is really funny! I wonder who wrote this. Do you think Woodworth wrote it himself and used a pen name?

Usually when they printed something like this it was intended to somehow tie into their wacky beliefs, but I don't see the connection. Anyone? What were they trying to accomplish by printing this?

220

2011 Watchtower publisher statistics with analysis

by jwfacts in

the 2012 yearbook has released the publisher statistics for the 2011 service year.

a scan of the report can be found at http://www.jwfacts.com/images/2011-publisher-report.pdf and i have started updating the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

as expected, it is following on from similar trends to the last 15 years.

dropoffyourkeylee

In terms of growth, my observation (midwest US) is that the 'growth' they keep reporting is coming from two sources; 1) from children becoming unbaptized publishers, and 2) from re-activation of formerly inactive, such as family members who have attended all along with spouse or parents. There are VERY FEW newcomers who buy into it anymore. I can't remember the last time a respectable couple started studying and came in, as was common in the pre '95 days. The number of baptisms at assemblies is at a level so low I am astonished. Last one I attended had 1 baptized with 750 in attendance.

A number of people have commented that there is growth in the foreign speaking congregations. My personal observation is otherwise. I have a family member who transferred to a French-speaking hall about 4 years ago. Virtually all their 'growth', increase in attendance, is in additional English speakers who transfer to French. They also pick up a number of immigrants (mostly from Africa or the Carribean) who bacame JW in their home country and attend the French congregation here. This congregation has never yet had a French-speaking convert to accept the message, despite the fact that about half of their congregations are pioneers. Pioneering for them consists of driving around to specific addresses supplied by the English speaking congregations when they run across a French speaker... talk about ineffective... it can take hours just to get to 2 or 3 addresses.

On another note: The last 'genuine' anointed, and I use the term loosely to mean someone who was a JW and accepted consecration before 1935, died in '89.