Yup - no comment on your sisters but the number of Witnesses with ME, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression and other illnesses that let you spend lots of time doing nothing is incredible. There are undoubtedly genuine cases but there are also plenty of "me too" kop outs.
konceptual99
JoinedPosts by konceptual99
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12
Is it a once a week church now? Or can you skip that and listen on the phone?
by Xanthippe ini would like to outline what exactly this religion is now because i've lost track of all the changes on here.
this forum's my only source of information as my family still-in shun me.
so what do jws do now?.
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Is it a once a week church now? Or can you skip that and listen on the phone?
by Xanthippe ini would like to outline what exactly this religion is now because i've lost track of all the changes on here.
this forum's my only source of information as my family still-in shun me.
so what do jws do now?.
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konceptual99
Two meetings a week. You can listen in on the phone if you are long term sick. Some regular attendees who are short term sick/away for work are sometimes given the code to get in over the phone but they discourage the regular use of this facility by any one they deem not worthy.
One Regional Convention in the summer. Three days.
Two one day Circuit Assemblies a year.
FS reports are still mandatory if you want to be considered as "active". "Irregular" is still not reporting for one month. "Inactive" is still 6 months or more consecutive non reporting.
Keeping your head down and doing what you like has been the order of the day for years.
For elders and MS it's still about being seen to be doing the right stuff but you still get the elders who swan off organising everyone but don't do any work. Licking backside is still the route to circuit assembly and RC assignments.
The JW definition of spirituality is still as much about what you are seen to be doing as any notion of connection to God/Jesus let alone thinking about help out those in need in the community.
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The Watchtower's Real Crisis
by JeffT inwhen discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.
i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.
this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.
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konceptual99
Ahaa - gotcha waton
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The Watchtower's Real Crisis
by JeffT inwhen discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.
i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.
this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.
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konceptual99
Yup - I'd forgotten the F&DS only being the GB as a recent change.
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The Watchtower's Real Crisis
by JeffT inwhen discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.
i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.
this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.
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konceptual99
Virtually everything over the past few years has been distraction.
Rebranding, carts, meeting changes, organisational changes, restructuring, Warwick, Chelmsford, South Africa, the Silver Sword, broadcasting etc. etc.
The only major doctrinal point addressed in recent history has been the overlapping generation and that has been a classic exercise in trying to sell the impossible.
They have offered nothing in the meat of the scriptures and how world events are reflecting a progression towards Armageddon for YEARS.
The fluff and guff continues with the change to the WT & Awake. It's just meaningless and more and more people are working it out.
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2017 Annual Meeting
by Jules Saturn inthis just in from the 2017 annual meeting:.
1. watchtowers and awakes won't be released regularly, at least three watchtower and awakes per year.
6 magazines a year.. 2. a new book is being released: remain in god's love, more of an update like how they did for the what does the bible really teach book.
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konceptual99
This is very true Steve. The org is lost about it's position and place in time as far as it's understanding of the Bible is concerned. They are caught in this dichotomy of needing to feed urgency and expectation whilst also having nothing to give back in terms of concrete understanding of world events and their relationship with their beliefs.
To that end, I can believe that they might create their own news but you are absolutely right about the risks.
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2017 Annual Meeting
by Jules Saturn inthis just in from the 2017 annual meeting:.
1. watchtowers and awakes won't be released regularly, at least three watchtower and awakes per year.
6 magazines a year.. 2. a new book is being released: remain in god's love, more of an update like how they did for the what does the bible really teach book.
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konceptual99
I've seen this rumour hinted at on pro jw sites as well. Not sure if it's people speculating, people having some inside knowledge or simply the rumour mill but it would be interesting if true.
If true then it could be a tactic to raise expectation further or even something to try and deliberately encourage persecution and that feeling in the org that the world is turning against the Witnesses.
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2017 Annual Meeting
by Jules Saturn inthis just in from the 2017 annual meeting:.
1. watchtowers and awakes won't be released regularly, at least three watchtower and awakes per year.
6 magazines a year.. 2. a new book is being released: remain in god's love, more of an update like how they did for the what does the bible really teach book.
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konceptual99
Probably only publishing stats online so they can make adjustments to the # on the fly and not have to worry about print copies floating around proving the change.
Maybe but I am not sure that even the WTS would try that trick knowing how good a memory the internet has. I think it's simple financial common sense. The YB takes time to write and print. Every Witness orders one but how many read it? It ends up on a shelf, no use to anyone.
The website has plenty of capacity to promote the various experiences. The monthly broadcast has numerous life stories and accounts of times past. The Awake already has articles about countries around the world.
I think they will continue to publish figures. If they take this away then they reduce the drive to report. If they reduce the drive to report then they risk reducing the drive to go out. If people don't go out then the hold of the cult diminishes.
When I was an MS and always being battered about my hours in the ministry they would talk about the average hours being a benchmark. I used to argue the toss over this. Firstly I would ask about what scriptures they could use to back this up. None of course. Secondly I would ask them what the average is - congregation or national - and how would I know what it is? The national numbers had not been published in the Kingdom Ministry for years and the congregation average is not announced. Therefore how could I know what the benchmark was and if it was such an important benchmark why was it not being published.
Take that argument forward to if they stopped publishing the numbers. There is no incentive to report. The common argument used to be that the org needs to know numbers to know what literature to print. They've all but stopped compared to a 10 years ago. It makes no difference to them. Now they are not even printing different mags, just recycling the old ones.
Take the numbers away and people will ask why they bother at all.
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Child Baptism
by konceptual99 inthe latest round of changes to the magazines are yet further confirmation that the wts has lost it's way with the preaching work.
imho this is driven by the incessant prioritisation of fiscal goals but also by the fact the gb don't have a clue what is happening in the world and how it really relates to their traditional eschatology.. what they have turned to is child baptism.
i know the wts says it does not baptise infants but the drive to encourage children to get baptised at earlier and earlier ages knows no bounds.
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konceptual99
The latest round of changes to the magazines are yet further confirmation that the WTS has lost it's way with the preaching work. IMHO this is driven by the incessant prioritisation of fiscal goals but also by the fact the GB don't have a clue what is happening in the world and how it really relates to their traditional eschatology.
What they have turned to is child baptism. I know the WTS says it does not baptise infants but the drive to encourage children to get baptised at earlier and earlier ages knows no bounds. They seem to have accepted that the only way to keep the organisation from imploding is to lock in the kids.
We have seen numerous references in publications to child baptism in a positive light over the past few years. It's mentioned regularly and there plenty of pictures of young people getting dunked. Anyone who has attended CA/RC events over the past few years will testify to fact that most of the people getting baptised are born-ins and it's not uncommon to see pre-teens and early teens lining up to get baptised.
This gives the WTS two problems. Firstly, a bit like the congregation money grab, once a person is baptised that's it. They may inflate the baptism figures for some years but at some point is is highly likely that the rate of youth baptism will decrease simply because the pool of available young ones is filling more slowly than the numbers committing the organisation.
Secondly, just because a child is baptised it does not mean they will stay faithful. It's much harder for young teenager or pre-teen to follow through on their vow than someone older who has made a commitment to the organisation. They are changing and developing as people, subject to intense peer pressure and don't know how they might be affected as they change.
I think it is really telling therefore that the org has published an pair of articles specifically on this.
The first is aimed at parents but is clear that children can be encouraged to get baptised. It discusses what happens when a baptised child then expresses doubts.
The second is aimed at young people but it makes direct reference to pre-teen baptism:
For example, if you were baptized as a preteen, you likely will face new feelings and pressures as you enter and pass through adolescence.
The WTS wants kids to be baptised. It says it wants them to be convinced about their faith but knows that parents have to push that. It knows that there is far more chance of a child having issues through their teen years and so is trying to address it.
It's the a tactic of desperation and cannot work in the long term.
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The Watchtower's Real Crisis
by JeffT inwhen discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.
i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.
this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.
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konceptual99
100% agree Jeff.
They have a massive issue in that nothing is panning out in the way they expected. Time goes on and the world keeps turning. 1914 and the generation has become a joke even amongst the faithful. They cannot make any statement that has any meaning about TKOTN since they know they don't have a clue. Predictions about the outworking of events leading to the big A and things like Gog of Magog are woolly and predicated on future events that can always be alluded to but never firmly established with concrete certainty. The figures they publish show the exact opposite in terms of indicators that were used to imply the nearness of the end 20, 30, 40+ years ago. Sustained large increases in certain fields have slowed, in some places reversed.
The doctrine and predictions are as unsatisfying when peeled back as everything they have ever criticised Christendom for and I think they know it. They seem to have accepted that the only route to sustaining some kind of base is to lock in the born-ins and try and offset yearly losses through some organic growth but mainly by getting kids to get baptised.