Posts by darkspilver

3

John Shuttleworth on JWs

by punkofnice in

this graham fellows (jilted john), character makes me depressed but laugh at the same time..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ixjk1tgvk.

darkspilver

In a similiar vein - if you haven't already seen it, check out Count Arthur Strong recent TV series.

Series 3, Episode 6: "The Lucky Streak" - He joins a cult (AKA Scientology)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xhbtq

37

Was there really a specific request for money in this week's meeting?

by stuckinarut2 in

i have seen a few comments about this week's meeting.. was there actually a part that specified an actual per-publisher amount that should be donated regularly?.

can this be confirmed please?.

i truly cant believe just how brazen the society seems to be getting - and how desperate they are!.

TBH, I wonder why a congregation resolution is even really needed for the GAA and the COAA.

They would both seem to be regular annual expenses incured as part of the congregation's normal recurring operating expenses and therefore do NOT need a resolution?

Actually I would have thought the only need for a resolution would be if the elders wanted to give more than what was required (ie they rounded up the amount).

The principle is outlined in the letter below:

BoE Letter, May 25, 2011 - Re: Public speakers
Travel expenses for visiting speakers should be considered recurring operating expenses. Thus, a congregation resolution is not needed. Congregation funds should not be used to cover expenses for other forms of hospitality, such as entertaining or providing meals.

Of course the requirements for the need for resolutions may change depending on the country you are in - and thus there may be some countries / congregations that present and pass a resolution every time the electricity company issues a bill, or more toilet paper needs to be bought....

10

Jw meeting locator

by Done in

i was born in and a jw for about 40 years, most of it in the same state.

im getting ready to move about an hour away and typed in my possible new zip code to the meeting locator to see who of my past contacts i will possibly run into.. when the locator gives you the list of nearest congos, is congo "a" the one that your address would be "assigned" to?

the congo that works your territory?

darkspilver

Done: When the locator gives you the list of nearest congos, is congo "A" the one that your address would be "assigned" to? The congo that works your territory? There is a congo A and B at the same hall.

The JWorg Meeting Location Finder is available at: https://apps.jw.org/E_SRCHMTGMAPS

Interesting question.

Short answer: NO

Long answer: NO. The meeting finder lists, in order, firstly the physically closest Kingdom Hall to your location and then, secondly it lists the congregations that meet at that KH in alpabetical order.

I've tested the above with location zip/post codes in congregation territories I'm familiar with and which go to multi-use KHs.

One of the locations I tested was physically closest to one KH, which was listed as the first result, BUT actually the location is within the territory of a congregation that meets in a different KH (which was listed third, as two congregations meet at the physically closest KH).

Thus, although the local Bethel does have a 'masterplan' of each congregation's territory, the public online meeting finder appears to work on a purely mathematical 'straight-line' geo-distance/alphabetical basis.

In addition, while discussing this, it is probably worth mentioning that there are also two other 'limiters' that effect results on the JWorg meeting finder - which interestingly Nicholaus Kopernicus fell foul of last year when doing some research on foreign language congregations:

The congregation search facility on JWorg appears to have two 'limiters' on the results you get - a maximum number and a maximum distance:
Firstly it limits any search to a maximum of 100 results
Secondly it limits search results to a maximum distance - from a quick check this appears to be 100 miles
READ MORE: https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6349425083416576/britain-doldrums

9

Why do some British journalists ...

by LoveUniHateExams in

jw
friends

... go full retard whenever an arabic name appears on the autocue, and 'give it the full arabic', so to speak?.

rageh omar is a british somali of sunni muslim heritage so it's understandable when he pronounces arabic names with an arabic pronunciation/accent.. but what about people who have nothing to do with arabic - huw edwards, emily maitlis, moira stewart, etc.?

they don't speak arabic, do they?.

darkspilver

LoveUniHateExams: My OP was talking about place names.

Your OP said "whenever an Arabic name appears" - it was just by coincidence that all your examples where place name.

I understand that Arabic, although a 'common' language, is pronouced differently (dialect?) depending on the actual country you are from with cross-country broadcasters such as Al Jazeera using a formal form of Arabic.

Indeed, the WT's website JWorg lists 'Arabic' along with seven variations: Algerian Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Jordanian Arabic, Lebanon Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Sudanese Arabic and Tunisian Arabic - that's eight version of 'one language'

9

Why do some British journalists ...

by LoveUniHateExams in

jw
friends

... go full retard whenever an arabic name appears on the autocue, and 'give it the full arabic', so to speak?.

rageh omar is a british somali of sunni muslim heritage so it's understandable when he pronounces arabic names with an arabic pronunciation/accent.. but what about people who have nothing to do with arabic - huw edwards, emily maitlis, moira stewart, etc.?

they don't speak arabic, do they?.

darkspilver

LoveUniHateExams: Rageh Omar... Huw Edwards, Emily Maitlis, Moira Stewart, etc.?

All the examples you mention appear to be BBC news presenters?

Oh! Is this a BBC-bashing thread??

Just wondering.

Anyway, the BBC have what is called the 'BBC Pronunciation Unit' - they tell presenters how to pronouce words and names.

The BBC Pronunciation unit is staffed by professional linguists who research and provide advice about pronunciations in any language. This advice is free of charge and is available exclusively to BBC staff, programme makers and independent production companies producing content for the BBC.
READ MORE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/production/articles/production-resources#pronunciation-unit

36

Jehovahs witnesses that believe its "The Truth" vs JW's who know it isn't

by Christian Gutierrez in

jw
friends

hey guys!

what do you think is the percentage of jw's believe that it is the truth and the percentage of those who think it might be some false or all false??

?.

darkspilver

Christian Gutierrez

see this recent discussion here:

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6205543758692352/watchtower-doctrines-jws-most-commonly-dont-believe

and you can compare with the previous discussion here:

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/132878/percentage-jws-that-undercover

You could do a youtube video comparing the above two threads

36

Repository for JW "experiences" with Hurricane Harvey

by sir82 in

jw
friends

it's only a matter of time of course..... jw rumor mills will start up soon, with stories of how jws were "first on the scene" as the flood waters receded..... how the red cross and/or us national guard and/or doctors without borders and/or [you name it] were marveling at just how "organized" the jws are..... how zealous jws were pulling their trolleys thru ankle-deep water to "offer comfort" to victims, by giving them - sandwiches?

bottled water?

to offer them comfort by giving them 16 page "magazines" to read in their spare time..... so as the stories start to come in, you can "deposit" those little nuggets of bs here.. once collected, we'll wrap them in a pretty bow and flush them away where other instances of pure manure go..

darkspilver

Almost a week after the above New York Times front page story - the WT have now added the following to their 'news' page regarding Hurricane Harvey (featured in 'bold' at the top of the original news item):

Update: Sadly, it has been confirmed that one elderly sister died as a result of Hurricane Harvey.
READ FULL ARTICLE: https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/united-states/hurricane-harvey-jehovahs-witnesses-cope/

It should be noted that, while the very brief details that WT gives do match up with the NYT article, so although it is likely this is the tragic death that the WT refer to, there is no actual definite confirmation.

18

The Challenges and Benefits of Home-Schooling

by pale.emperor in

a pro jw forum.

interesting reading, very one sided of course:.

https://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/23726-the-challenges-and-benefits-of-home-schooling/.

darkspilver

stan livedeath: in the UK home schooling=no schooling. its just a trendy fad used mainly by young single mothers who are too lazy to get their arse out of bed and drag their brats to school.

in the UK home schooling=£30,000 to £40,000-per-year. When done properly - the problem is when it's not done properly.

18

The Challenges and Benefits of Home-Schooling

by pale.emperor in

a pro jw forum.

interesting reading, very one sided of course:.

https://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/23726-the-challenges-and-benefits-of-home-schooling/.

darkspilver

pale.emperor: This is my fave comment: Well I got taken to court about homeschooling my children and the court ruled that since I didn't go to college to be a teacher then I didn't qualify to teach my children at home. This was in the early 90's. But the problem too was that apostate literature was presented in the court to make me look very bad. So I had many things going against me, it was a 5yr battle.

I'm wary of home schooling - partly because often, but not always, parent's appear to try to do it on the cheap - but it also depends on the local public/state-run schools

I think the fuller quote from the OP is much more interesting - both about home schooling (elementary school age), and about why pale.emperor apparently choose to quote-mine as he did:

Well I got taken to court about homeschooling my children and the court ruled that since I didn't go to college to be a teacher then I didn't qualify to teach my children at home.
When I started High School I was in all the honorary classes and I went to college and High School at the same time. My goal was to go to UC Davis and become a vetrinarian and since it takes approx. 10yrs I wanted to get a head start.
Due to circumstances my college fund was spent by my step-mother and I was thrown out of the house the year I graduated from High School.
Therefore I married an older man that turned out to be gay and we went through a nasty divorce. My children were reading by the time they were 3 and 4yrs old and had Bible reading parts on the school before they turned 5yrs old. I made my own reading books when they were between 2 and 3.
So even though my kids were still elementary school age, I was not qualified to homeschool them from the court's perspective.
When my kids went back to public school they were so far ahead of the class that the teachers used them as aids. They didn't learn a thing in public school.
Also my worldly parents were against me saying that my children wouldn't be socialized properly, etc. So I had my own family against me.
I used to be defensive because of what I went through but now of course my kids are adults, I have seen both sides of the coin.
I have seen really good parents teach their children and I have seen ones just leave it up to the child to finish their books and of course the child doesn't finish the required curriculum. But that happens in public school too and really each time it comes down to the parents involvement.
I think the parent that is involved with their children are most likely to be on the defensive because they are putting in the time, energy and mental preparation that it takes and they see the results compared to their children's peers.

Home Schooling is trendy - it was featured last year in a big article in the glossy Sunday Times magazine - How the rich home-school their kids - Sunday 24 July 2016 - click here

38

In the last 20 years How Many Changes Have Occurred in Watchtower Beliefs?

by minimus in

jw
friends

jehovah's witnesses say that they have the truth and the truth is constant.

they believe that what they teach is the truth that comes directly from jehovah god.

can you think of anything that has changed in the last 20 years to show a jehovah's witness that the truth is not necessarily the truth..

darkspilver

minimus: interesting list but we would not know what the differences are so if you don't mind elaborate please.

It's your OP, as I said above, the link below has all the links for the changes since 2000

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200277174