Richard Oliver

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Posts by Richard Oliver

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  39

  ...It Belongs to the Society

  by Lostandfound in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  way back in the 70s around the time when the elders arrangement was new i recall a particular co who tried to replace all the circuit arrangement with young pioneers, in fact he tried to infest all of circuit with youth.

  my father in law was removed by this person from his circuit position and that added to the complete disdain even contempt my fil had for him.

  my fil was one of a small group that had formed congregation , built the kh with their own funds and where very loyal to the organisation, never commenting or expressing dissent in any form.

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  Richard Oliver

  So Outlaw. If a kingdom hall is too small or no longer needed the property should just be kept there to make you happy.
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  41

  Numbers don't lie... and these numbers are beautiful!!

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the numbers don't lie... definitely slowing down!!.

  in the 40´s the average growth per year was 20%in the 50´s it was about 10%they had four decades of solid 5% per yearnow the average for the past 16 years has been 2%.

  maybe in the future it will be 1% or 0 or even negative????.

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  Richard Oliver

  How is my reasoning off? 250k increase would be a smaller percentage increase of 8Million than it would be of 7Million. That is a statistical fact. Is it good sense if you are talking about business? Absolutely not. But statistically it is a true thing.
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  39

  ...It Belongs to the Society

  by Lostandfound in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  way back in the 70s around the time when the elders arrangement was new i recall a particular co who tried to replace all the circuit arrangement with young pioneers, in fact he tried to infest all of circuit with youth.

  my father in law was removed by this person from his circuit position and that added to the complete disdain even contempt my fil had for him.

  my fil was one of a small group that had formed congregation , built the kh with their own funds and where very loyal to the organisation, never commenting or expressing dissent in any form.

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  Richard Oliver

  So what is your solution? Should ever member who contributes to a Kingdom Hall receive a portion of the ownership of the kingdom hall? Should it be based on how much you gave? If you want to move to another hall, does your ownership stake stay at that hall or move with you to the new one? What happens when someone dies, who gets their stock? What happens if the person who contributed the most wants out of it, do they get to decide that the kingdom hall gets sold?
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  41

  Numbers don't lie... and these numbers are beautiful!!

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the numbers don't lie... definitely slowing down!!.

  in the 40´s the average growth per year was 20%in the 50´s it was about 10%they had four decades of solid 5% per yearnow the average for the past 16 years has been 2%.

  maybe in the future it will be 1% or 0 or even negative????.

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  Richard Oliver

  Like I said. I did not mean to say that Watchtower does not have a problem growing. My contention was, looking exclusively at the percentage of either increase or decrease does not provide the whole story and you cannot extrapolate conclusions exclusively on that number. Just like in business, a stockholders or analysts have to look at a whole set of numbers not just one in order to make an informed decision.
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  27

  More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

  it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.

  comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.

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  Richard Oliver

  If a language group is associated with a congregation, they are not counted as two different congregations they are counted as one. The only time they start to be counted as two is when they form their own congregation, that means that all meetings are held on their own, with their own body of elders and their own service committee. Up until that point the host congregation is still responsible for the language group and they are still counted as part of that congregation.
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  41

  Numbers don't lie... and these numbers are beautiful!!

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the numbers don't lie... definitely slowing down!!.

  in the 40´s the average growth per year was 20%in the 50´s it was about 10%they had four decades of solid 5% per yearnow the average for the past 16 years has been 2%.

  maybe in the future it will be 1% or 0 or even negative????.

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  Richard Oliver

  You cannot just look at percentage as the only number you look at. Think about it this way, if you get a raise of $1 per hour each year. If you start at $15 dollars an hour the raise equals about 7% but the next year when you get the raise because the starting point is now $16 dollars an hour the increase is now less percentage wise it is now only 6%, then the next year the percentage increase is even lower is only 5% and so on and so on. So Yes in the 40s and 50s the percentage increase for Watchtower was greater because they had a smaller starting number, but as that starting number gets bigger, unless the amount of people you add gets bigger at the same rate the percentage is still the same.

  I am not saying that Watchtower doesn't have a increase problem, but you cannot solely look at the percentage increase.
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  27

  More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

  it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.

  comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.

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  Richard Oliver

  For a long time people on here, possibly some of the same people who comment on this thread, have been saying that Watchtower has been merging halls in order to sell off property to make money. It cannot be both where Watchtower is trying to make these large central congregations in order to sell off property, but at the same time making small congregations everywhere in order to inflate numbers. These are contradictory things, so which one is it. Are they money hungry so they are forcing people to travel longer distances to that they can sell the property or are they number-centric and they just make congregations everywhere to inflate the congregations number?
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  15

  Injustice In India Over National Anthem

  by Iown Mylife in

  1. social
  2. current

  jehovah’s witnesses will seek to overturn the apex court’s order .

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  Richard Oliver

  I find it ironic that so many people here have the problem with Watchtower because you claim that Watchtower forces you what to think and believe, but have no problem with this. This is a way for a government to tell people what to think and feel, to feel patriotic and show honor for a government. The 49ers QB Kapernick kneeled during the US Anthem because he felt that the government did not show him and other African Americans with respect, so you can't say that only JWs have a problem with the National Anthems around the world. If you were a FARC rebel how would you feel if there was a Columbia law that forced you to sing the Columbian Anthem. How about the Basque Separatists feel about singing Spain's Anthem.

  In the US, Justice Jackson wrote "[t]hose who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard." This was after he gave evidence that such unity is a futile thing when it comes to patriotism.

  He goes on to eloquently stated: "no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."
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  33

  Leaving the jws is a "lifestyle choice" according to a counsellor

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i had my first appointment with a counsellor, of course i explained about being a born in jw, mentally leaving, the penalty of doing so and therefore the mental strain of pretending to be someone i'm not.

  her response was that she couldn't help me with that because leaving a cult was a "lifestyle choice".

  i tried to say to her that its a cult not a religion and how it brain washed me but no.

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  Richard Oliver

  I do believe that, that counselor should have waited before giving you advice like that. But on the other hand people go see counselors not so that someone to reinforce what they already believe, but for an objective professional to listen to help you in the best way possible. I know for myself when I go see my psychiatrist for my depression, I sometimes think that the depression is caused by problem A, but after our conversation he helps me to recognized it is being caused by problem D and he knows that trying to work on problem D would be much more beneficial for me. So my point is, it is more beneficial to go into a situation with a counselor or psychologist or psychiatrist with an open mind as to what the root cause of the issue is. That is the point of going to see a mental health expert is to have a productive analysis of your issues and to have a professional help you work through the most damaging parts.
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  13

  ROJW - Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was going through some research i had done a few years ago and came across something that referenced rojw healthcare support and a note to myself to take a look at rojw when i had the time.

  so i did a search for rojw (an acronym for religious order of jehovah's witnesses).. the search turned up some interesting bits of information.. according to dun & bradstreet, rojw was founded in 2011:.

  since 2011, rojw has been providing nonclassifiable establishments from wallkill.. for a list of persons who have worked for rojw:.

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  Richard Oliver

  Actually sorry. When I said that the PA was the parent company I forgot what recently courts have ruled, that the PA Corp doesn't have operational control over the others. That is why when you read transcripts of suits against watchtower the lawyers contend when the acts occured because that determines which corporation is potentially liable. If the acts occured before 2000 a civil action can be brought against the the PA corporation, after 2000 it is harder and may only be brought against CCJW.