Thanks @darkspilver. I was hoping to attend but due to the train strikes could not so appreciate the videos.
konceptual99
JoinedPosts by konceptual99
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20
Faith to Faithless XJW event London, UK
by Fe2O3Girl indescription.
we often come across jehovah's witnesses near station entrances and at our front doors, but we never hear about what happens when they leave.
if you're near london, uk, faith to faithless are doing their first ever event at kings college london, and their first ex jw panel!.
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konceptual99
Money goes from the UK to Germany. Expect more to do so now Seltzers does the printing. Large sums of money were also going to the US but I don't know if that has changed.
I find it hard to believe that 130k people donate £60m - that's almost £500pa per person and we all know that we are probably being generous if we suggested that 65k donate the best part of £1000pa each.
The figures for income and expenditure on KH construction is also interesting - approx £8m going each way - no doubt some circular charity A-B-A thing as per Lostandfound's comment.
I also note that investment management costs are approx twice as much as income. That does not sound very sensible but perhaps there is an accounting reason for this.
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konceptual99
You probably don't remember the Portsmouth / Leigh Park witness wife-swapping escapades of the 70's....
ooh, tell me more. I know people from Leigh Park...
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konceptual99
There are plenty of people from the UK on here. Stan always points newbie UK members to a thread on the very subject.
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How do you categorise the Society - Cult or High control religion
by UnshackleTheChains ini have often seen many categorise the organisation in different ways.
some say cult, some say high control religion.
cult or high control religion?.
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konceptual99
As many have said, they are both. It's just a case of where on the line between two extremities they sit. They are not the most extreme but in some ways that is worse than if they were an all out stereotypical cult. At the moment they can present a veneer of acceptability, point to having millions of members, not being obviously segregated or separated from mainstream living. Don't let that fool you - it's high control cultism.
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Cutbacks
by pepperheart inwhat other cut backs do you think will be coming or might be coming these next few years for the borg ?.
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konceptual99
They are already cutting back the living conditions for Bethelites in third world countries. I was talking to a brother I know in the WDC and he was saying about the fact that Bethels have always had good first world living standards. They were finding that many were coming to Bethel as a route to escape poverty at home.
As part of the cutbacks they are limiting the standards of living for accommodation to that which would be considered good by local standards. This would reduce things like AC, number of rooms, people in rooms, quality of building etc. This reduces costs during design and build as well as in-life.
Of course, there are many existing buildings which already have a good standard of fit-out but remember that they are reducing branch facilities and concentrating on Remote Translation Offices. These projects involve far smaller buildings and since they are only used by locals can have more basic fit-outs than facilities where visiting dignities from HQ need to be accommodated.
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Goal: To digitize all WT statistical data
by ILoveTTATT2 ini have the goal of digitizing all wt statistical data, as much as possible, as far back as possible.user 88jm.
i recently did 1980 and i had a friend help me with 1979 and 1978.. do we have any volunteers to help me with previous years??.
it's a lot of work, but if you know excel you can make some macros that will speed up the work..
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konceptual99
What's the process? How long does it take? Do you have to type in individual figures or proof read tables that have been OCRed?
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JW.org as a Prank Tool
by schnell inthe moment i saw the "request a study" form on the site, i thought, "umm, that could be a bad thing.".
but to date, i have heard of only one case where it was used for less than genuine purposes.
that was in the case of a "game developer" who was selling crappy asset-flips on steam.
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konceptual99
If prayers really work to attract Witnesses to your door, why does the Borg need a website function that's so prone to fraud?
Because 99.99% of the world's population does not even know this feature exists let alone care about using it to send a couple of dubs on a wild goose chase.
It would be quite fun if it got some viral traction though...
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Not a sympathizer
by Richard Oliver ini think everyone here is under the impression that i am a watchtower sympathizer, i am not.
i just like facts and when people say things, which are their opinions but that facts point out as not being true, than that is when i get so motivated to make a comment.
i have read posts here, listened to six screens and read jwsurvey and seen things that people say, which are opinion, but pass them off as fact.. there are legitimate things that people on here and former jws have concerns over without manipulating what is said or trying to pass off opinion as a fact.
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konceptual99
I had told Elders, COs and other people that I would rather not say. I told some family members and chose not to tell others. I told some people in my halls and chose not to tell others. In the gay community this is not all that uncommon. I have plenty of gay friends who never were witnesses or don't have religious family members, who they have never come out too. Coming out is a very personal and private matter for every gay person and they have to tell the people who they want and not tell the people they don't want to.
I never felt a bit of prejudice by the people I told. I didn't tell everyone, but that was my choice. And beyond the people I told, at least as far as I know, no one else knew.I understand you will choose who you may wish to come out to and who you may not - the extent of your decisions on this was not the point of question. It was more based on surprise that you did not feel any prejudice at all.
TBH, I can imagine them (elders/CO specifically) being outwardly understanding and not actually making a big thing of it but only really if they felt comfortable that you were not "practising" (for want of a better phrase), if they felt a sense of penitence or shame from you that you were simply battling emotions. I am 100% sure that if they felt you were in or actively seeking a homosexual relationship then you would be looking at the threat of judicial action.
Regardless of individual responses there is no doubt that any gay person wishing to be a Witness has to make a stark choice - suppress their emotional desires and opportunity to find happiness with a partner or become someone not welcome at the hall. There is zero option for anyone to be sexually active (or assumed to be so by the elders) gay person and be an active Witness. When push comes to shove, the people you came out to would have to choose the party line above whatever their supposed acceptance and non judgemental, lack of prejudiced attitude to you was to remain Witnesses themselves.
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130
Not a sympathizer
by Richard Oliver ini think everyone here is under the impression that i am a watchtower sympathizer, i am not.
i just like facts and when people say things, which are their opinions but that facts point out as not being true, than that is when i get so motivated to make a comment.
i have read posts here, listened to six screens and read jwsurvey and seen things that people say, which are opinion, but pass them off as fact.. there are legitimate things that people on here and former jws have concerns over without manipulating what is said or trying to pass off opinion as a fact.
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konceptual99
Hi Richard, firstly I want to say that with many of your posts and arguments I really can see where you are coming from with your points about how you felt you have been treated as a gay person within the WTS and why you might have a different definition of the scope of homophobia within the WTS and I think this in itself could be the subject of an entire thread.
What does particularly interest me, however, is that (if I understand you correctly) you feel that no one you came out to in the WTS treated you any differently. I find this surprising and wondering who it is you came out to. If it was close family members who really loved you then I can understand it but even coming out to close friends would surely be a major risk?
You clearly would have had to assure people you were celibate and were putting your relationship with Jehovah above your physical needs. I really can't imagine that there would have been that many people for whom it would have been as casual a thing to accept as it would be for many people in the world.
I have never met an openly gay Witness. I have never know of anyone described as an "NPG" where there has not been some level of comedy or disgust attitudes attached to discussion about them. Whilst overt homophobia is perhaps a bit less common than it was there is still plenty of casual homophobia that is completely acceptable within regular conversation amongst Witnesses.
I would be very interested to hear a little more about the types of Witnesses that were completely accepting of you when you came out.