Posts by berrygerry

34

Russian BOE letters of instruction - meetings and $$$ matter$

by OrphanCrow in

jw
friends

these letters can be found in the original russian on jwforum.eu.. i will provide links but also copy and paste the english translation that was provided for each one.. this first letter was dated may 21, 2017 and concerns instructions on how to handle the donation$.

(*bolding is mine).

we should not make the same boxes for all groups.

berrygerry

Preferably choose a method of funding, which allows you to do so without presenting your passport. In the terminal, you need to select the partition recharge debit (or credit) card Tinkoff Bank, indicate credit card number (or number of the contract) and a row inserted into the bill validator bills until reaching 15,000 rubles. Take the receipt and complete the operation. To make a large sum, do 2-3 sets of 15 000 in the same or in different terminals. If you can not find in your region terminal systems listed above, you can use the other replenishment points, presenting a passport or send funds from any personal bank account, but in this case, one person should not list more than 15 000 rubles. In operations need to be cautious.

Money laundering?

No, we know nothing about money laundering.

66

Do you think the general public cares about former Jehovah's witnesses?

by Christian Gutierrez in

jw
friends

i was wondering if you guys think if the general public cares about our stories or if they even care what the watchtower does to people??

?.

berrygerry

Attention Mods:

Outlaw made a post without using a meme.

Isn't that a violation of forum rules?

14

Just a survey

by Homer notsimpson in

jw
friends

just to get others opinions and experiences.

out of everyone in the jw organization, how many do you think never get caught doing a "gross sin "?

and how many do you think actually get caught?

berrygerry

WT used to report the number of those DF'd, stating one year that it was 1 in 80 - the majority for immorality. They then stated that an even greater amount were in a JC, but not DF'd.

Based on this, and the number not "confessing," and the number when elders did not want to do the paperwork, it is then a high percentage.

32

Invisible Rulership - one of the dumbest things I ever believed in

by Black Man in

jw
friends

having now been out of the cult for a few years, it really shocks me about some of the nonsense i used to believe in.

like for instance, christ ruling in the midst of his enemies, but doing so invisibly.. let's let that one sink in for a minute.

you've supposedly got a king who is ruling for a kingdom, but it is an invisible rule.

berrygerry

I'm having sex with Kate Upton at the moment...invisibly.

Damn. Kate had telepathically said to me that we were exclusive.

21

So how come Jehovah can do anything but he still needs angels.

by zigua in

as the title says :p.

berrygerry

It's how he set his sim game up.

19

The number of translations boast

by Just stopping by in

just stopping by to share this... .

after seeing a watchtower representative paste the same thing over and over, about jw.org being available in 850 languages.... we all know how the watchtower loves to boast about the number of languages it translates into.

what are the facts?

berrygerry

Much ado about nothing.

The website languages boast and the cart work amount to the same thing - nothing.

Bums in seats and dollars in the box - are they there?

17

Isn't there a better way

by FedUpJW in

just got done clicking streets signs, store fronts, vehicles, mountains, and roads capcha squares.

and yes, i clicked what was requested.

each time i login i get one or two more capcha challenges added to the number.. isn't there a better way to login?.

berrygerry

Can bots defeat the simpler captchas?

https://thenextweb.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/10/recaptcha.png

23

Will there ever be an apology from GB for going beyond what's written ?

by Chook in

just a simple " we are sorry " .

.

berrygerry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7cPgQcYkvo

2

Has This Newspaper Article Been Reviewed Before?

by berrygerry in

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1917-02-04/ed-1/seq-52/.

one poster's comments:.

nyc was advocating for watch tower to be taxed as a business (legitimate reasons to follow).

berrygerry

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1917-02-04/ed-1/seq-52/

One poster's comments:

NYC was advocating for watch tower to be taxed as a business (legitimate reasons to follow)
The three officers who control the voting stock and spend the money say they are not accountable to anyone but God
Rutherford claims there's nothing to conceal and anyone who wants to know about the inner workings of the society just have to ask
Bethel housed 20 families in 1917 who were paid $11 monthly ($229 adjusted for inflation)
When Russell founded the watch tower in 1884 he was worth $250,000 ($5.2 million adj) from his clothing business
Russell believed the day of resurrection would occur in 1914 and prophets would be resurrected to lead the new world
In 1917 his followers were saying his prediction was a bit soon but the war in Europe (WW1) justified his claim and after the war would come revolution among the worldly governments and the gods kingdom.
Russell founded a "charitable foundation" called the Good Hope Fund.
Some of Russells money making schemes: "miracle wheat" supposedly outgrows any other wheat, a cemetery company for the poor, "angelaphones" to carry sacred music into homes, a moving picture of creation, a salve designed to heal almost anything, a cancer cure. The society claims to make no profit from these.
The Good Hope fund was bringing in from $200k-450k ($4.1 million-$9.3 million adj) annually.
Rutherford claims receipts never exceeded $500k and as low as $150k and are often left with a deficit at the end of the year.
400 people worked for free exhibiting the photo drama of creation. Nonbelievers were paid.
600 colepourters on the road selling Russells literature. They had to buy the literature at cost and sell it at a price that would cover their living expenses (pyramid scheme). They also sold "Brown's wonder salve."
Travelling speakers had their expenses covered, unlike colepourters.
In 1896 Russell had two enterprises, the watchtower bible and tract society and the United States Investment Company, a holding corporation for real estate. It was organized to take over properties that it was not thought advisable to have owned by a religious organization. Willed properties were sold through the USIC and the funds donated to WTBTS.
The People's Pulpit Association was founded after Rutherford (a lawyer) advised Russell he couldn't purchase NY property with his PA corporation.
Bethel has or had a 10:30 bedtime.
Google search was fruitless in figuring out what the hell a "wireless plant" is. Context makes it sound like a kids playground apparatus?
Every $10 ($208 adj) donated to WTBTS earned you one voting share if* he or she asks for it. Russell turned over $300k ($6.2 million adj) from his Pittsburgh properties in exchange for voting shares.
Russell gained more shares by instructing followers to give publications for free to those who couldn't afford and in exchange donate one of their shares to him.

To be continued.....

Edit: (continued)

Very few outside the officers of concern asked for voting shares with only 48,000 outstanding, 45,000 owned by Russell, 1000 by contributors and the remainder by officers. Russell was in absolute control of the society and didn't send out invitations to shareholder meetings, as he deemed it unnecessary considering he had sole decision making power. Russell would have had no power if contributors had asked for their share, which totalled 200,000.
Rutherford claims so many shares were purchased in later years that Russell was technically powerless but did not have to worry about a power struggle while alive.
Those who donated to the Good Hope Fund received two ongoing pledge documents, one to send to the society and one to keep as a reminder. Rutherford claims it's not a contract and wouldn't hold up in court. The pledge encourages the signee to set aside money every week and give more than pledged when possible. To comply with US mail laws, pledges could be claimed as subscription fees to the watch tower magazine.
Donations dropped sharply between 1914 and 1917
Russell sued the Brooklyn Eagle for libel over "miracle wheat." The courts sided with the newspaper after expert testimony claimed several varieties of wheat outperformed the miracle wheat. Russell claimed a farmer discovered a wheat that could outgrow any other and donated some to the society. They sold it for $1 ($20 adj) a pound.
Russell claimed there would be a famine in 1914 but the miracle wheat would survive, conning believers into purchasing it. He later offered refunds to those who requested
Russell taught that angels lived in earth's atmosphere and would occasionally materialize to trouble men. Russell claims one of these angels materialized in his image to a married Australian woman (yeah, right, charlie....)
"Angelaphones" were produced and sold at a slight profit by a watch tower subsidiary. The courts used this as an example of watch tower being a business, not a religion.
A "cancer cure" was offered for "free" with the instructions you couldn't share it but had to tell others where they could receive it for free. The package contained a pledge with information on how to donate to watch tower
Brown's Wonder Salve was sold by mail for 8 cents ($1.67 adj) and claimed to treat anything from corns, to nosebleeds, to inflammation.

41

48% Capacity at Kingdom Halls - A post on reddit

by berrygerry in

there was a letter read this week, followed by a talk about all the changes that are coming in the next couple of months regarding merging congregations in the area (va/md/dc) - the letter said that the kh's in the area are only being filled to 48% capacity.

this was music to my ears as i have noticed the decline in attendance in all the neighboring congregations.

they will sell some kingdom halls and merge some congregations.

berrygerry

depression era mentality (middle America) where they rode bikes and may have done odd chores here and there and bartered for food. But, the fact is the religion built a whole culture and mentality around this!
This was a brief era in time and is OVER. The country and the world is not like this!!.

Mentality that exists only among CO's and those long-time sheltered at Bethel.

It may also exist in third-world countries, accounting for the growth in those countries, and the decline in the west.