Shinzo Abe killer and JWs?

[Tortuga]

"Shinzo Abe killing: Why a religious group has been put in the spotlight - BBC News" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62173865.amp

 

Why are Jehovah's Witnesses mentioned in this article?

 

The article interview someone that was raised a Witness and he "understands" why the kid killed Shinzo. Idiot. Put Jehovah's name in the news for nothing.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Tortuga

[carlos]

Sounds like an apostate taking advantage of an absolutely unrelated event in order to make waves against Jehovah's Witnesses.

[Hinata]

The killings of Shinzo Abe has been quite a news for some time here, especially considering when it was announced to have seems to have some kind of connection with false religion called “unification church,” often called the “moonies.” But it definitely does not seem to has any connection with Jehovah’s Witnesses.

 

In the article, it mentions how this “religion” even has connection with politicians, and many were wondering if this is what we mean when we say “religion excerts power onto politics.”

 

1 hour ago, carlos said:

Sounds like an apostate taking advantage

 

Quite possibly so. I looked up that twitter account mentioned in the article, it was very suspicious already when they vaguely stated it was run by someone who “grew up as JW.” That could mean anything.

 

But ofc, in reality, it meant that Twitter account was run by someone who was raised as JW and now no longer isn’t one, but is an apostate.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Hinata

[New World Explorer]

As soon as he turned 18 years old, @syuukyou2sei severed ties with his mother.

 

And without Jehovah's wise guidance he ended up as a killer! 

 

So many times we are told that Jehovah's arrangement protects us from this world. 

He did not listen ...and became a disgraceful sinner and murderer.

[hatcheckgirl]

I think you've got that guy mixed up with the killer, Greg.  @syuukyou2sei is a disgruntled man brought up by a witness, the other was the killer with his mum who gave money to the moonies.

 

I had an idea JWs would be roped in, even though it has nothing to do with us.....

[Dages]

In Japan, it's quite tough for us too because we are considered a "new religion"... That put us on the same level as the Moonies. 🤮

[Parale]

3 hours ago, Dages said:

In Japan, it's quite tough for us too because we are considered a "new religion"

The graph showing average publishers in Japan tells an interesting story... for example compare the 23 years from 1976 to 1998, with the following 23 years from 1999 to 2021...

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Parale

[Dages]

3 minutes ago, Parale said:

Japan's graph tells an interesting story... compare the 23 years from 1976 to 1998, with the following 23 years from 1999 to 2021...

 

 

 

 

Your graph is incomplete in 2017 and 2018

Also, it would be interesting to discover what happened in 1997-2000... I guess this is the starting point where many publishers got into foreign languages and went to other countries, especially South-East Asia to preach. That's why there is virtually no progression.

I don't know if the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist attack (1995) and Kobe huge Earthquake (1995 too) had an impact

[ship]

The number of publishers in Japan increased by 1% for the first time in 23 years in 2021.

I guess one of the reasons for that was because so many publishers were coming back from abroad😅

[Parale]

2 hours ago, Dages said:

Your graph is incomplete in 2017 and 2018

Yes that is right, they are listed as 'Not Available'. Unfortunately the Governing Body did not provide the annual publisher numbers by country for those two years following the cancellation of the Annual Yearbooks 😞

 

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Parale

[Parale]

2 hours ago, Dages said:

Also, it would be interesting to discover what happened in 1997-2000... I guess this is the starting point where many publishers got into foreign languages and went to other countries, especially South-East Asia to preach. That's why there is virtually no progression.

What is interesting to look at is the annual baptism numbers, after all these are really the foundation for the average publisher numbers....

 

Thus for example when looking at the above 'Average Publishers' graph it would appear '1975' had no real discernable effect - there is a fairly smooth upward flow all the way to 1998 - yet the annual baptism numbers provide a slightly different story....

 

2 hours ago, Dages said:

Also, it would be interesting to discover what happened in 1997-2000...

Rather than perhaps looking at what happened in the late 1990s, the annual baptism numbers would indicate the need to look at the early/mid 1990s instead...

 

2 hours ago, Dages said:

I don't know if the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist attack (1995) and Kobe huge Earthquake (1995 too) had an impact

Yes, very possible as external influences. Also, internally, 1995 saw the introduction of the new Bible Study publication "Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life", as well as a clarification regarding Matthew 24:34 "this generation".

 

 

Note: Baptism numbers per country not provided until 1969 Service Year.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Parale

[Parale]

1 hour ago, ship said:

The number of publishers in Japan increased by 1% for the first time in 23 years in 2021.

Yes that was very good indeed, especially considering the effect of COVID.

 

It was all the more impressive too considering that the lowest baptism number since 1969 was recorded for last year too! (See the above graph) This would appear to indicate that a number of publishers where successfully reactivated

 

[Dages]

1 hour ago, Parale said:

Yes that is right, they are listed as 'Not Available'. Unfortunately the Governing Body did not provide the annual publisher numbers by country for those two years following the cancellation of the Annual Yearbooks 😞

 

 

They are in the statistics. The numbers are available on the website. I checked.

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2017-service-year-report/2017-country-territory/

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2018-service-year-report/2018-country-territory/

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2019-service-year-report/2019-country-territory/

Edited July 24, 2022 by Dages

[Parale]

1 hour ago, Dages said:

They are in the statistics. The numbers are available on the website. I checked.

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2017-service-year-report/2017-country-territory/

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2018-service-year-report/2018-country-territory/

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2019-service-year-report/2019-country-territory/

Sorry, I had a problem with my original reply above (it didn't like me adding the graphic, messed it all up and I lost my original text, hence my two replies above as I didn't want to run out of editing time) and therefore my reply was not a clear as I had originally hoped, or wished for, and I apologise for that.

 

My graph was labelled as showing the Average Publishers in Japan for each year. Although the average number of publishers by country has been listed each year in the WT publications since at least the 1950s. When the Governing Body cancelled the Annual Yearbook, and replaced it with the Annual Service Report, they decided to remove four data points for each country, namely Average Publishers; Average Auxiliary Pioneers; Total Hours; and Average Bible Studies.

 

Therefore for the 2017 and 2018 Service Years, the 'Average Publishers-per-Country' are not provided in the WT statistics

 

In 2019 the data point 'Average Publishers-per-Country' was re-introduced

 

As my graph that was labelled as 'Average Publishers', I decided for the two missing years I would simply leave it blank, with a note 'Not Available', rather than try to provide a guesstimate.

 

Although those two years are missing, the trend that the graph is showing is still very clear. After some amazing growth, which has now levelled out for the past 23 years, the work that our fellow brothers and sisters face in Japan is, as you said: "tough".

 

How 'tough'? Well in 2016, the last year for which 'Hours-per-country' where listed, it took our brothers and sisters in Japan some 37,761-hours-of-ministry for each baptism - that compares to France which was 10,598-hours-per-baptism. Our brothers and sisters in Japan provide a fine example in not giving up though, and not only did they report a 1% increase last year, they also enjoyed their highest Memorial attendance since 2011! 😃

 

 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Parale

[Hotteok]

 

Unification church literally robbing money.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Hotteok

[Dages]

Maybe they could think about destroying BtG because of her relation with politics ? Come on, Beast, do something !

[-Chris-]

On 7/24/2022 at 5:40 AM, Dages said:

Also, it would be interesting to discover what happened in 1997-2000... I guess this is the starting point where many publishers got into foreign languages and went to other countries, especially South-East Asia to preach. That's why there is virtually no progression.

I don't know if the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist attack (1995) and Kobe huge Earthquake (1995 too) had an impact

In addition to the other reasons proposed, the 1990s and 2000s were a period of economic issues in Japan.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades

 

However that transition out of steady growth seems fairly sharp for an economic downturn lasting more than a decade. 

 

I wonder what effect other historical economic crisis have had on publisher numbers. We know we should rely on Jehovah through those hardships but they often prove a severe trial for the friends.

[hatcheckgirl]

The government is really distancing itself from the Unification Church with a cabinet reshuffle, ousting MPs who have an affiliation or relationship with the church.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/unification-church-japan-cabinet-reshuffle/101319718

 

The PM is “basically doing damage control," said political commentator Atsuo Ito.

"What people are really watching is the Unification Church."

The religious group itself is set to hold a rare news conference with foreign media late on Wednesday.

Mr Kishida is set to remove several members from his cabinet, according to Japanese media reports, with the Mainichi newspaper saying as many as seven could be replaced.

Multiple cabinet members have publicly disclosed links to the church.“

 

So, this looks interesting. Unfortunately I think the people will get JWs mixed up with this kooky religion. It may be a tricky time for face-to-face witnessing over there. Still, sincere ones will be drawn out by Jehovah, no matter what.  Eventually, we all will be immensely hated and Jehovah’s eyeball will be touched.  In the meantime, it interesting to watch BtG having limbs chopped off before the final head chop (a bit too gory? 🤔).