Posts by konceptual99

13

Stephen Lett admits income/expenditure shortfall as he reminds Witnesses to donate “valuable things”

by defender of truth in

it's well worth taking a look at the article, it will only take you a few minutes.

but i would particularly like to highlight this part: .

if you are going to divulge a shortfall in funds, particularly with the aim of leveraging more donations (or valuable things) from a pool of supporters who are already lagging in this regard, the least you can do is treat them like adults and give some hard numbers.

konceptual99

Very interesting. So you have several big construction projects moving forward right now with Warwick, Temple Farm (UK branch) and South Africa branch. In the UK they want to do well over 200 KH projects. That's not because they are needed for new congregations but because there are a host of congregations that have halls that they own outright and don't owe any money on. They need these congregations to build a new one so they can get a recurring revenue stream from their donations. The same model is being rolled out around the world.

There is a host of other building work going on.

The cost of this work is clearly WAY beyond the levels of donations coming in however they are neglecting to mention that the cost of these works is more than covered by the value of the real estate they have in places like Brooklyn and Mill Hill. If cash flow is an issue they must be able to borrow against the value of these. But they won't.

So, what happens... they get a cash injection now based on the response to this call to action. They then realise the value of their assets and don't publicise it. When these projects come to fruition they will herald it like it's some amazing blessing from Jehovah and get yet another round of funding on the back of that. Not to mention the influx of visitors to the new HQ "theme parks" that will all donate...

Any other corporation would call what they are doing "investing", for which investors would stand to get a return. They cannot use the word "investing" for several reasons. They are setting themselves up for years to come but cannot come clean about it.

31

Apostate views?

by Richard C B in

if a brother is starting to look at material on the internet and starts to have serious doubts about the jw organisation and questions the integrity of the governing body.

what steps would be taken to by the congregation to readjust his thinking.

and also if the congregation is not aware of this but he has confided in an individual how would that individual try to help such a brother?.

konceptual99

To be fair I think that if you are not a generally controversial person and perhaps have had been a pretty good dub for a while then at least an element of the BoE would try and be loving.

However, the more you point the finger at the F&DS, the more you express dissatisfaction, the more vocal you become, the less you accept "readjustment", the more it becomes obvious it's not a phase of "tiredness/depression" and so on, then the more chance you have of getting some increasingly heavy pressure to lay your cards on the table.

30

CAH closing down in upstate NY

by oppostate in

yet another circuit assembly hall is going to be sold off!.

they've been reducing the amount of congregations assigned to meet there and using the times when it isn't in use to make repairs.

elders have now been informed that they are selling off the property and buildings and that circuits would be assigned to attend other sites, twice as far, three or four hours away, like montreal.

konceptual99

Is there any formal confirmation of this such as a copy of letter/announcement?

28

Are J.W's obsesed with their statis??

by karter in

jw
friends

i went to a j.w funeral and saw some people i used to hang out with many years ago and they all seemed to want to tell me if they or any member of their family were elders,m.s's,pioneers ect.. karter..

konceptual99

To be fair it's just their form of establishing a social status. People tend to mix with with people of similar social, economic and political views. Employment is often used as to establish common ground and hierarchy. In dubland this holds true as well however the predominate social acceptance benchmarks are based around "spiritual" standing which is measured by having a title in the congregation. It's a simple way of establishing the credentials of someone new and vetting them.

The fact it's just a way of prejudging someone, has no real link to spirituality and ignores the fact you can get on with people that don't agree with you on everything passes your average JW right by but is really just a form of social behaviour that is manifest in pretty much every population group in the world.

30

Nothing Says, "I Love You!" Like Institutionalized Shunning!

by Oubliette in

why disfellowshipping is a loving provision.

.

may 15, 2105 watchtower, pp.

konceptual99

Yup, why us this only in the one version? Is it because the "meek" of this world can see the obvious problems with the policy?

37

£150,000,000 Jehovahs Witnesses HQ approved

by defender of truth in

the jehovahs witnesses have gained planning to build a vast uk headquarters complex in chelmsford.the international bible students association, which manages the christian groups literature, gained planning to redevelop a derelict farm near galleywood with a 1.2m sq ft scheme.the 150m complex will provide homes for 1,200 people spread across 16 five-storey blocks, a large printing plant, offices, auditorium, health and fitness centre, water treatment plant and on-site parking for 1,040 vehicles.. the ibsa is now set to begin groundwork at the 82-acre temple farm site and start construction by 2016.. .

www.constructionenquirer.com/2015/04/29/150m-jehovahs-witnesses-hq-approved-for-chelmsford/.

konceptual99

Be prepared to see Bethel homes become cheaper per square metre. Right now these things are not saleable - who wants to buy big accommodation blocks? They need to be cheaper to build as it's the land they sit on that has the value. This is another area where outside contractors are useful - they know how to build stuff like this to a price.

26

Pacquiao vs Mayweather

by Clambake in

i have a ton of filipino friends and this is huge.

manny is a huge underdog but it is literally good vs evil.

go manny .

konceptual99

You can listen on the BBC as well. bbc.co.uk/5live. Btw who is that murdering the U.S. National anthem?

37

£150,000,000 Jehovahs Witnesses HQ approved

by defender of truth in

the jehovahs witnesses have gained planning to build a vast uk headquarters complex in chelmsford.the international bible students association, which manages the christian groups literature, gained planning to redevelop a derelict farm near galleywood with a 1.2m sq ft scheme.the 150m complex will provide homes for 1,200 people spread across 16 five-storey blocks, a large printing plant, offices, auditorium, health and fitness centre, water treatment plant and on-site parking for 1,040 vehicles.. the ibsa is now set to begin groundwork at the 82-acre temple farm site and start construction by 2016.. .

www.constructionenquirer.com/2015/04/29/150m-jehovahs-witnesses-hq-approved-for-chelmsford/.

konceptual99

On the point of European branches, we shall see. I think it's more likely that it will take over work in parts of Africa, the Indian sub-continent and even Asia. The most important branch outside the US is not the UK, it's Germany. So perhaps there will be some consolidation but don't expect the UK to start taking over Germany's role.

Germany is the link to eastern Europe and Russia.

Chelmsford is near to large sea ports. I don't think that this is a coincidence and I think signals an intent to work wider afield in the EMEA region.

37

£150,000,000 Jehovahs Witnesses HQ approved

by defender of truth in

the jehovahs witnesses have gained planning to build a vast uk headquarters complex in chelmsford.the international bible students association, which manages the christian groups literature, gained planning to redevelop a derelict farm near galleywood with a 1.2m sq ft scheme.the 150m complex will provide homes for 1,200 people spread across 16 five-storey blocks, a large printing plant, offices, auditorium, health and fitness centre, water treatment plant and on-site parking for 1,040 vehicles.. the ibsa is now set to begin groundwork at the 82-acre temple farm site and start construction by 2016.. .

www.constructionenquirer.com/2015/04/29/150m-jehovahs-witnesses-hq-approved-for-chelmsford/.

konceptual99

There is a mix of outside contractors and volunteer labour working on Temple Farm. The WTS is moving to use outside contractors for a number of reasons such as continuity of work, expertise, health and safety, costs etc.

It's easy to say that using volunteer labour reduces cost but if the project takes longer, has peaks and troughs of labour availability and involves overheads in accommodating these people then there are hidden costs that can be increased.

Health & Safety legislation on building sites is always being tightened and nowadays you typically need documentation to prove you are competent just to get on a site, let alone do things like operate certain machinery or work at height. The logistics of making this happen with your weekend warrior volunteer is very complicated. Much easier to pass the risk and responsibility onto a contractor.

The expertise required in large projects is increasing as well. Large groundworks, steel erection, modern building management and lighting control systems, facade systems, building code adherence etc. all require more skills than the WTS can be sure to have on tap at the right time. There's plenty of Bob the Builders in the congregations but not that many construction and engineering specialists with years of experience in large commercial building projects. That's not to say they are not there, just that having a contract in place means timescales can be more reliably followed and the right resource available.

The final factor is that they don't want huge numbers of elders, servants and pioneers out of the congregations. They want them there leading people and keeping the numbers up. There is no doubt that when a large proportion of the bright lights in a congregation get embroiled in a construction project then everyone else slacks off or get hacked off at the workload they are enduring just cos the COBE is off enjoying cushty days eating bacon sarnies and home made cakes on site.

29

4 New BOEs as of Tuesday 4/28

by Atlantis in

we thank our informant for these documents and hope he/she will remain under the radar safely!.

click the green download button... 2015 april 17, boe (re: meeting medical needs in the foreign-language field).

.. http://wwwb.fileflyer.com/view/gukk6aq.

konceptual99

I don't know if this is simply JW Bethanal (sp intentional) bureaucracy at it's worst or a cynical attempt to weed out those who don't really support the blood doctrine.