dropoffyourkeylee

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Posts by dropoffyourkeylee

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  13

  How baptism rate at conventions relates to yearbook growth rate (Discussion)

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we had a number of posters report on the baptism rate at conventions which is usually less than 1% and rates lower than 0.5% is by no means uncommon.

  despite this there is still a positive growth rate in the us (0.71% according to the yearbook) and i wonder how these numbers relate.

  i wonder if anyone can help me out if these assumptions are true:.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Thanks for taking the time and thought for putting this together. Over the past few years this or similar reasoning has been discussed here. It is a difficult problem for several reasons.

  One issue is that we have some actual data that is either published or observed and reported on, for instance: Number of baptisms, number of average publishers, number of peak publishers, Memorial attendance, attendance at conventions, the average mortality rate in a country. But other data is either assumed or only reported on incompletely, for instance the number disfellowshipped, the number of faders/ returners, the number of immigrants/emigrants between countries.

  All in all it is a difficult math problem to try to explain how the WT can have positive growth in its published figures, yet every other measure we look at is in steep decline.

  Getting back to the original post observation about the number of baptized as a percent of the attendees at a convention, the ratio has been running about 0.3% to 0.5% for last few years. As a comparison, I have an old assembly program from a big convention in Detroit in 1973 where the ratio was about 2.5%. I posted screenshots of it once on this site but cannot seem to locate it right now.
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  18

  Moral indignation against "faders" shows JW apologists are morally bankrupt

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i came across this weird blog that castigates fading jws for their "cowardice" and "hypocrisy" for not making themselves vulnerable to shunning.

  apparently in the view of this blogger jws who discover it's not the truth are morally obliged to play by the watchtower rules and face the consequences of shunning.. http://jwresearchblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/fading-faking-and-lying-as-unbelieving.html#comment-form.

  what is absent from the blog post is any discussion of the statement in the july 2009 awake!, that no one should be made to choose between their beliefs and their family.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I've heard statements from JWs about apostates to the effect, "Why don't they just leave?" My answer to that is "Why are there repercussions from leaving?. I was baptized at age of 13, and as I reached adulthood I figured out it was all wrong. So why cannot I annul the baptism and just go on with my life without being treated like dirt?" Any contract involving a 13 year-old is not considered valid, so how can you hold an underage person accountable for life for getting baptized. They get them baptized at younger and younger ages now, it is simply wrong.
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  34

  An exJW for Prez?!! Peace, for Prince!

  by Spartacus II - The Equalizer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it appears there is about a million voting age jws in the us right now.

  it appears there is 8 million ex jws or in the shadows.. if those 8 million would have the guts to come out for a presidential candidate to come out, we can finally end the slavery, tyranny and corruption in this and many other circles.. cowards die many times but a hero only dies once.

  and cowards die in revelation.. so, to you reading this, are you a coward or a true steward of the earth and creation?.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  It isn't precisely true that Ike was raised a JW. His mother was a Bible Student in the years that Ike was growing up, and she stayed with the religion until she died, which by then had adopted the JW name. I don't think his father was ever a Bible Student.
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  11

  JW sell a Kingdomhall to a church in germany

  by crazy_flickering_light in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  the dubs sell a hall to a free church.. source: http://www.badische-zeitung.de/weil-am-rhein/gemeinde-gottes-kauft-koenigreichsaal--123461266.html.

  price: 388.000 eur around 431.200,00 usd.

  (exchange today).

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Does that mean $440,000 US? If so, it's not that much. Depending on the location, it could easily be much more.
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  7

  Watchtower African Editions

  by universitystudent in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  that’s my first post here.

  i came to this forum site in hope to find an archive of the watchtower magazine including all the african editions.

  i’m currently a student in history and religious studies at the university of fribourg, switzerland.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  The OP is definitely an interesting idea, and the chief understanding is that it is referring to the legitimate WT Society publications. But be advised that in some parts of Africa there have been some non-legitimate 'Watchtower' religions who have had nothing to do with the Watchtower Society. A few have been little more than a front for a political party or armed bands. I don't know if any of those groups every had publications, but their existence has caused some grief for the JW branches and missionaries.
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  221

  Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

  imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

  by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I wonder how any lawyer representing the JWs now can stomach it. In the old days when they were fighting for free speech and freedom of religion and winning many of their lawsuits, it was a good cause, or at least I'm sure they thought of it that way. But now? It's positively shameful.
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  175

  The facts on crucifixion, stauros, and the "torture stake"

  by Leolaia in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  finally, i will look at biblical and patristic evidence bearing on the crucifixion of jesus in particular.

  we need to examine the earliest known descriptions of the kind of crucifixion adopted by the romans and the specific terms they used to refer to it.

  apparently the society believes that crux still meant "stake" in the second century a.d., when tacitus composed his annals.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Has leolaia ever published a book? Writing like this deserves to be printed.
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  29

  Do flat earth beliefs deserve respect?

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what say you.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I don't think the flat earthers are any worse than those who believe that the earth was created in seven days, or in 42000 years, as some I have known (my mother for instance). It's stupid, but meh.
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  19

  1930s Vertical Phonograph for Bethelites and Pioneers- of passing interest.

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just thought this might be of passing interest to a few members.

  we were unpacking some estate items from a 1930s bethelite and were confounded by his vertical phonograph.

  lots of old rutherford books, and some trashed rutherford records, but the phonograph was something to behold.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I remember that one of the two other guys in that photo was John Kurzen.
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  25

  Why a drop of over 3,700 publishers in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  looking at the figures for 2014 to 2015 the numbers have dropped from 180,343 to 176,585.. any idea why?.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  After I got home from work, I looked at the last few years 'average publishers' for Congo DR:

  year	average publishers	percent increase
  2010	151,842
  2011	161,298	6.2%
  2012	163,349	1.3%
  2013	174,687	6.9%
  2014	180,343	3.2%
  2015	176,585	-2.1%