Posts by kaik

153

Jesus' Teachings - Helpful or Harmful?

by jgnat in

spinning off from another thread, have jesus' teachings been less than universally helpful to mankind?

how do we measure if a particular philosophy is helpful or harmful?.

i am going to use the "universal morals" listed here.

kaik

What we know about Jesus, is secondary source. He did not left any written material and most of the gospels were written 20-30 years after his death. I personally like the human site of Jesus that JW do not bother to teach. For me the wake up call was the story of the Jesus and Samaritan woman at the well. Woman, who had multiple husbands in her past and lived in concubinate relationship (there are articles that disputes it) as said in John 4:18. Last year I had visitited my JW relatives and I had read this story in the magazine that I bought with me to read on the bus. We eventually came to this article and I was very suprised that my JW relatives had no recollection of this story. For JW that I grew up with Jesus is like conqueror who like Gengis Khan will take over the world and I was constantly remained in my childhood that earth will be covered with so many bodies that birds will eat them. This is the vision my JW family had.

I will say the biggest disservice toward Christianity came from the founder itself, the Apostle Paul. He was antisemitic, homophobic, intollerant, and misogynic bigot, who eventually had to seek a protection from his fellow Jews in Rome at Nero itself...

9

would this work?

by jeremiah18:5-10 in

hypothetically speaking, if you are dfd and witnesses call at your home and you give a warm reception and in the course of discussion tell them you had just been praying to jehovah to help you get back on track with him, would they go full force at helping you get back in, even fast tracking it?.

as with many who are dfd with family still in, at time i entertain the notion of returning just to get my family back.. so what do you think about this scenario, would it help or hurt?.

i ask because of how enamored they are with the idea that angels guide their efforts in service and lead them to the sheep.

kaik

Not sure it will ever work. Some JW will shun you for the rest of their lives. I seen that with my relatives who were DF for misconduct and were reinstated back but many JW refused to have anything with them, even years and years afterwards. I do not think people are such masochists and will put themselves through life-long shunning.

35

2013 Publisher Statistics now available from 2014 Yearbook.

by jwfacts in

the 2014 yearbook is out, and i have scanned the publisher figures into a more readable format at 2013 service year report.

i have updated some of the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php and will do the rest tonight.

there are no real surprises, with very similar results as during the last couple of years.

kaik

To JWfacts. When I was 20, I was the most acceptable to JW ideas. Older I got, I faded away as 1) seen irrational beliefs 2) remembered flip flopping doctrine 3) and critically think about the faith and existence of God especially after taking university courses.

My grandfather was born at the turn of the 20th century, the generation that should never fade. He warned my parent that JW as any religion is there for two things: for money and for control. My grandparents were highly secular, agnostic, and ambivalent toward religion. My parent, my aunt, and others in the family became JW when they were in their 20's. My grandparents were either laughing on the nonsense, or were extremely irritated when the JW family tried to convert them.

Today, average age in industrial world is 40. This is a critial breakpoint as peopel experience the best career moment in their life and less concerned with religion, which is either domain of young and old generation. What you see in your chart that the growth is strongest in countries that have one of the highest natality in the world and have extremely young population. Countries like UK are aging, but their population is still growing due immigration. The share of JW in these societies is continue to decrease. Income and per capita is less prevalent as the decreases happens even with countries having very low GDP like Moldavia. Moldavia like rest of the Eastern Europe is aging.

43

Is there anything you could do forever that wouln't get boring?

by mynameislame in

not sure when i came to this conclusion but i can't imagine living forever.

after a while i think i would be completly bored with everything.. not saying i wouln't like to live for a few hundred years or maybe even a few thousand if i could travel through space and discover other universes star trek style.

but the thought of living forever sounds like it would eventually become a complete drag.. maybe i'm wrong, maybe after a thousand years or so you would foregt all the stuff that happend at the beginning and just start over in an infinite loop..

kaik

The question for infinitive life is the existence of time. If there is a no time, there is also no measurement of the infinity. People who had NDE often describes a moment of singularity, a dimension where time did not matter.

24

What if the GB hired you as the new CEO of Jehovah's Witnesses?

by kneehighmiah in

i'm pretending the gb decided to hire a ceo to combat dwindling membership and overall apathy.

here is a list of the changes i would make to the organization if i were hired as ceo.

feel free to list your ideas (serious and humorous)!.

kaik

Also get rid of the division on Great Crowd and the Little Flock as two tier class.

35

2013 Publisher Statistics now available from 2014 Yearbook.

by jwfacts in

the 2014 yearbook is out, and i have scanned the publisher figures into a more readable format at 2013 service year report.

i have updated some of the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php and will do the rest tonight.

there are no real surprises, with very similar results as during the last couple of years.

kaik

Also is important to point out that Western world is aging. JW used to attract young people who will bring thier children into the organization. Today's industrialized countries are much less religious than they were in the past, and average age had increased. At certain point in the life, people are not easy to proselyte. It is much easier to bring naive 20 year old with full of ideals into new faith than retiree. In earlier part of the 20th century, JW could count on deep dissatisfaction of people with traditional established religions in their native countries. Today's industrial world cares less about the faith, and the faith as a necessary part of their life. This shows clearly on the charts.

8

Yearbook increases and deceases: Top lands

by Londo111 in

looking at the percentage of average publishers of 2013 over 2012 (not the peaks):.

brazil 1.46%.

nigeria 2.60%.

kaik

I am actually suprised with Poland as declining, but Poland had modernized a lot and people are less religious than they were in the past. Hungary does not suprise me a bit, as JW peaked there in the 1990's as did in Czech Republic.

65

Will this Memorial be our last?

by pixel in

they just put up the march km 2014 on the private website.

most of it is same-old-same-old, with info here and there about the memorial.. somebody here might post the march km for all to see, i wont.. i just wanted to share the paragraph from page 2 q&a anticle: will you seize the opportunity?

upcoming memorial enables us to show gratitude .

kaik

Sure it will be last memorial for someone. People die all the time, even from the generation that should not pass away.

32

Lies on the JW.org FAQ section

by EndofMysteries in

it's riddled with lies.

here are a few, "are you an american sect?

all of our teachings are based on the bible, not on the writings of some religious leader in the united states.1 thessalonians 2:13.. we follow jesus christ, not any human leader.matthew 23:8-10.. .

kaik

Of course JW is American based religious group that will always entices people outside USA due its American origin. My family in Eastern Europe felt that way (which was probably reason why they joined during communist era), and I believe much of the developing world will see it as something extraordinary. Just look into the Book of Revelation analysis where seven trumpets are associated with some unimportant assemblies in Ohio through 1920's .

11

How to Cause a Hardcore JW Brain to Malfunction

by Apognophos in

i am leaving it to the reader to decide whether this trick is funny in a cruel way, or potentially beneficial.

it can definitely be used for evil, that is to say, personal amusement.

then again, it could be a kind way to help someone start thinking outside the box.

kaik

Many JW do not care what Bible says or what WT had published in the past that is contradiction with a present, momentary teaching. They are appologist of the organization will accept whatever belief they borg will pursue. Just look into the change of the generation of 1914. Couple years back my JW relatives insisted that the generation was symbolic, it does not represent a human lifespan, but human era. My sybling compared to Renaissance generation that lasted 200 years. All these people from 1400 to 1600 were part of the same generation, the renessaince one. We are living in the last generation that started in 1914 and continue till 22nd century. I just shook my head.

Problem for hard core JW that many of them will not think outside of box. They know that they will question some of the doctrine, which would weaken their faith; therefore, will cause them DF/DA with organization. They will not risk losing the only habitat they know. Hence, for many, there is no way to allow any self questioning.