Posts by konceptual99

21

Interesting Pew Stats on JWs--Alarming Trends for the Borg

by Cadellin in

someone may have linked to this already, but the this interactive page in the pew religion study is pretty interesting, especially when you look at the trends for jw between 2007 and 2014. here's what it shows:.

jws are increasingly non-white.

in fact, the percentage of white jws has decreased from 2007 to 2014 by 12%, while hispanic jws have increased by 8%.

konceptual99

I am slight surprised that almost half of those that were raised as Witnesses go to another faith. I would have expected a larger number to simply keep away from religion.

10

Newton versus Watchtower quackery

by opusdei1972 in

the following is a watchtower's criticism against newton:.

down through the ages, talented scientists have indeed made surprising breakthroughs in their search for answers to puzzling questions about nature.

some, however, have also made serious errors in the process.

konceptual99

Errr... CTR.....Pyramidology.... Numerology.... Anyone?

36

Something tells me 1914...

by Monsieur in

after todays watchtower lesson, and the lessons coming, something tells me bigger and bigger new understandings are coming.

and that it will culminate with 1914. notice how jesus is now coming, and no longer already here.

the current understanding is both, he is here and hes also coming.

konceptual99

I am not sure what the long term position on 1914 & 607 will be but I am sure there is a long term succession plan for the generation teaching and the length of the time of the end. I can't believe they have not addressed the elephant in the room when it comes to what happens if the big A is not here within the next 5-10 years. I suspect they have already determined what the doctrinal changes will be over that period to allow people to just think the last days can be ongoing without giving it a second thought. I think they will have to accept that they cannot foster a long term view of the last days without compromising a sense of urgency.

I think the current changes to try and secure cashflow are there to pre-empt a drop in attendance as the urgency diminishes.

I predict increasing emphasis on texts such as the "love of the greater number cooling off" and application made to directly to Witnesses.

I suspect that they will seek to manage any decline by playing on the fears and cognitive dissonance of those left, shored up with the threat of DFing as a stick to keep people toeing the line. You cannot under estimate the strength of the pure psychology of people wanting to feel accepted by family and long term friends.

It could be that the seeming encouraging to get young ones baptised is part of the plan to get them ingrained in the system as early as possible.

I am sure this year's memorial figures will be down in many areas based on anecdotal reports which may be the first sign of a shift in attitudes and why the GB will be thinking about the plan for the next decade.

40

Comments at the WT this morning

by OneFingerSalute in

so as i am "listening" to the wt study going on this question was asked.

"how do you feel about refined understanding?".

some of the comments were:.

konceptual99

So discreet they have shed any pretence of being semi-anonymous to most of the flock and have their own TV broadcasts...

17

JWs are being told Watchtower is financially strapped because they forgave Kingdom Hall mortgages!

by PokerPlayerPhil in

here's why the governing body did that little line on jw broadcasting, i have a source still inside new york and being as sneaky as ever, the watchtower is claiming they need the cash because they forgave the kingdom hall mortgages!

not all the kingdom halls are hitting the targeted monthly donation-revenue range, they are still asking other kingdom halls to pony up cash for kingdom halls that can't afford the "recommended donation rate".

pure evil, that's the jehovah"s witness watchtower theocratic war in action!

konceptual99

There is someone on another site (pro JW) saying that they will have to cut down on their fresh vegetables and groceries as that is the only place to make further savings to be able to make more donations. They have cut out cable TV and gone to basic internet but are finding JW TV to choppy so are sure Jehovah will understand if they go back up to a higher speed subscription. That will be part of their budget for "kingdom interests".

They are also thinking of cancelling or cashing in life insurance policies to further kingdom work. Jehovah is speeding up the work and "with Jehovah's day upon us, it's probably silly to be paying extra out of what little we already have for life insurance now that we are so close to the end".

They sign off with a...

"How blessed we are to be able to do so much for Jehovah and his organization"

That's the spirit the GB want to see, even if their example of spend, spend, spend on long term infrastructure projects is in direct contrast with the attitude of cutting back and cashing in 'cos the end is nigh!

25

So Why Do They Need The Money?

by konceptual99 in

so, as well reported, the latest jw broadcasting show is all about giving money.

as far as the wt society goes they have been pretty candid about there not being enough funds to meet the expenditure.

there are plenty of views on if this is really the case or not but underlying this is why are they spending so much money?.

konceptual99

I hear the message about property flipping and there is no doubt that the current plans with the US and UK HQ buildings does allow the society to capitalise on the massive profits made on property purchases in the cities but are these really property flips? Not given the timescales involved. Some of the properties were purchased decades ago. Of course the new purchases and developments give them yet more profit opportunities however there will not be any quick turnaround on these so, again, can it really be property flipping?

I would suggest that rather than this being traditional property flipping, which is based around rapid turnaround, this is a far more long term view. The GB have probably admitted that they are looking at still being around in this world decades from now and are looking at how to secure long term investments. There is never a bad time to get into property, you just need capital.

So, have donations decreased? There is no way of really knowing but seems clear is that there is a rush to purchase and develop properties. Even if they can do it with current cash reserves there is nothing stopping them also taking advantage of the moment and getting people to donate on the back of the works being undertaken.

25

So Why Do They Need The Money?

by konceptual99 in

so, as well reported, the latest jw broadcasting show is all about giving money.

as far as the wt society goes they have been pretty candid about there not being enough funds to meet the expenditure.

there are plenty of views on if this is really the case or not but underlying this is why are they spending so much money?.

konceptual99

So, as well reported, the latest JW Broadcasting show is all about giving money. As far as the WT Society goes they have been pretty candid about there not being enough funds to meet the expenditure. There are plenty of views on if this is really the case or not but underlying this is why are they spending so much money?

They have several branch new builds and refurbishments going on. I am aware of the US, UK, France, South Africa and Cameroon.

They are building these Regional Translations Offices.

These could be seen as valid infrastructure works and money needed for them, regardless of what could be released through the sale of existing real estate.

The one thing I really wonder about however is the number of Kingdom Halls being worked on. Why do they need to do thousands of KH works in the US, UK and Western Europe? There are few congregations without a hall. Few that have outgrown their's or have something that is not more than serviceable for another 5-10 years. I can only assume that the push to do loads of KH building work in areas already well served by halls is to ensure ownership is forced from the hands of the local congregation to the WTS through the "carrot" of a new hall for "free", which they are then guilt tripped into creating a perpetual donation arrangement on.

They seem desperate to rush into this and either have not counted the cost, miscalculated the donations that would come in under the new arrangements or simply want more.

If they were promoting a building programme through poorer areas where there are no halls then you could understand the need but this is simple asset grabbing.

Do they really need to be doing all this building work? Would not their existing facilities make do until the end of the system? Could the work be stretched over a longer period to avoid burdening hard pressed brothers and sisters? Not a chance. I have never seen such a blatant plea for cash as this video. I have never seen a the need so fabricated, simply by the desire to invest in property as quickly as possible.

I will be very interested to get feedback from ones in the congregation about how they really feel about all of this...

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?