In Britain? They'd run to European bodies/courts screaming that their religious freedoms were being harmed. Much as they have been doing about Sweden refusing to give them funding as a religious order there. I couldn't see them changing policy in a meaningful sense - they'll fudge things to a point, but not to any meaningful change (eg blood transfusion = DA not a DF).
Mephis
JoinedPosts by Mephis
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14
ultimatum stop the practice of shunning or lose your charity status.
by joe134cd injust curious what would wt do if a government said reform your policy on shunning or you will lose your charity status.
we will also be monitoring your reforms and there will be consequences if not brought up to our standards.
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Jephthah's atrocity
by opusdei1972 inin judges chapter 11 we read that jephthah committed an atrocity by offering his daughter in sacrifice.
however, the watchtower, study edition of april 2016, reads:pages 6 and 7:not only was jephthah a mighty warrior but he was a student of gods dealings with his people.
jephthahs thorough grasp of israels history gave him a clear picture of what was right and what was wrong in jehovahs eyes.
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Mephis
Clearly Jephthah did not burn his daughter alive, because that would be wrong, instead he lovingly forced her into a life of celibacy and servitude she'd otherwise not have chosen. What a loving provision by Jehovah.
Snark aside, it is reasonable to read it as meaning the whole mourning thing was because it was temple servitude and ended the family line etc. Irony of the man named 'God opens [the womb]' using God to prevent his daughter having kids and all that. Personally think it still seems probable the original story compiled was about human sacrifice but it's another of those moments when flat out admitting it doesn't fit the narrative because 'God' accepted the sacrifice and he continued to be Judge.
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New BBC article on JW abuse
by snare&racket inis religion doing enough to root out abuse?.
he would go upstairs, on the premise that he was saying a prayer with his niece, then sexually abuse her.
mark sewell was sentenced to 14 years in prisonafterwards, the elders told her that as it was only her account against that of sewell, nothing more could be done.
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Mephis
it's not a bad religion or a 'cult' (using Cult in a negative way)
I use cult in a descriptive sense and I see many aspects of a cult in how they operate. They even have had the charismatic leader model in the past, although not at the moment. But high control group is not overstating how JWs work. Any group which insists that one should automatically assume negative information is a lie, which is what JWs do, is not coming from a good place. No-one would disagree that the Catholic church also has totalitarian tendencies too.
the majority of elders are not trained policemen or trained counsellors but men who are trained in biblical matters and it's hard for them sometimes to come up with the right answers and they should go to the Governing body where research is done to help them find answers to whatever problem comes up.
Disagree. They should go to the police, and, where appropriate, child protection agencies. This shouldn't be complicated. If Jackson's view, as given to the Australian Royal Commission, that elders should follow their own consciences to report is correct, then there really shouldn't be an issue in this being explicitly stated in the policies they send out. It's simple, it's common sense, it's morally the right thing to do with serious crimes, and it ensures the safety of not only the congregation but also the wider community. There are no excuses not to do this. None. And when called to court to testify, they should be willing to go on oath and say what they know. There should not be an unseemly rush to claim First Amendment protections (in the US) or ludicrous attempts to extend that to jurisdictions which do not recognise clergy privilege in the same way.
I'm sorry that you were abused within the Catholic church. What you describe of how difficult it would have been for you to report is very similar to how survivors from JWs and other institutions describe it too. I'm sure you'd support action taken to help remove or at least reduce that problem by having a reporting system where the assumption is not that the child is lying but one which provides a safe space for the child to report. That's really where people are coming from with their criticisms of JW policies. The effect of what they do is to discourage children from speaking out. One has situations where teenagers are disfellowshipped for an adult abusing them. That is just unacceptable. This should be dealt with by the appropriate and qualified authorities rather than an unqualified, and typically cackhanded, investigation into 'sin' based on iron age evidential standards.
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Watchtower crackdown on anointed expansion - are they reaching for a solution to the expanding numbers problem?
by slimboyfat inif this has been discussed i missed it.
i think the january study watchtower is a concerted attempt to reduce the numbers claiming to be anointed.
but i love the sneaky way they go about it this time.
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Mephis
Possum wrote: Mephis/talesin ditto totally agree............makes you wonder for all the individuals obviously suffering some sort of religious mania or undiagnosed/untreated mental illness who profess to be anointed.
It's obviously a sensitive subject/issue, for a number of reasons generally with religion/mental health stuff, and especially with the GB explaining the increase in numbers as being a result of mental health problems. But the definition they themselves are giving there of someone who is a 'genuine' partaker is of someone who could likely benefit from seeing a mental health professional. 'Genuine' anointed have to be delusional to partake, but if you're delusional and partake you're not 'genuine'. It's quite the catch-22. But turtles all the way down I guess.
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Watchtower crackdown on anointed expansion - are they reaching for a solution to the expanding numbers problem?
by slimboyfat inif this has been discussed i missed it.
i think the january study watchtower is a concerted attempt to reduce the numbers claiming to be anointed.
but i love the sneaky way they go about it this time.
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Mephis
Elders count partakers on memorial, including those they visit who aren't well enough to attend congo one. They're allowed to ignore anyone who does the crispy bread and wine thing who they don't think should be doing it. -
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Watchtower crackdown on anointed expansion - are they reaching for a solution to the expanding numbers problem?
by slimboyfat inif this has been discussed i missed it.
i think the january study watchtower is a concerted attempt to reduce the numbers claiming to be anointed.
but i love the sneaky way they go about it this time.
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Mephis
If I were to be convinced, without any self-doubt or questioning, that I had been specially chosen by god, I'd get a two week stay for observation at local psychiatric ward and advice on appropriate medication for a delusional mania. (I have a bipolar diagnosis.) The seven men in Brooklyn seem to be saying they genuinely get that feeling and it qualifies them to run a non-profit. Not throwing stones, just saying. -
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If a year is really 365 1/4 days why 360 days to calculate 1914
by blondie indoesn't that throw off the date?.
*** w51 6/15 p. 383 questions from readers ***.
in establishing the length of the seven times of the gentiles, a time or year of 360 days is used, to give 2,520 days, which become 2,520 years when ezekiel 4:6 is applied.
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Mephis
Always amused me that the Jews cribbed the Babylonian calendar (down to the month names and possibly even the concept of a sabbath) rather than the timekeeping Egyptian one (12 x 30 day months plus 5 festival days), or even one of the Phoenician ones (eg 5 x 31 day months followed by 7 x 30 day months).The 19 month Metonic cycle pre-dates Meton, and he likely copied it from the Babylonians too. This all predates Hillel II by the better part of a thousand years.
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If a year is really 365 1/4 days why 360 days to calculate 1914
by blondie indoesn't that throw off the date?.
*** w51 6/15 p. 383 questions from readers ***.
in establishing the length of the seven times of the gentiles, a time or year of 360 days is used, to give 2,520 days, which become 2,520 years when ezekiel 4:6 is applied.
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Mephis
They did go by the lunar year of 360 days and the calendar was only adjusted in roman times, was it not??
Lunar year is 354 days. So they added 7 extra months in every 19 year period to make it work out. So a Hebrew year was normally 354 days (12 x 29.5), but quite often was 384 days. When the trippy prophetic stuff was being written, that's the sort of Babylonian influenced calendar that they'd have been used to.
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Mephis
Population growth in Britain runs at 0.6% according to ONS. Average publishers for that many people could reasonably be expected to rise by around 800 as new unbaptised publishers/born-ins start counting hours. People are leaving faster than are being born in, and new recruits aren't covering it up.
24m hours for an increase of less than 200 to average publishers is incredible in its waste of time. Mind boggling makework. No business could sustain that kind of crappy results from a marketing campaign. No-one could afford the £130m cost to employ people at even national minimum wage to even begin to achieve that level of failure. Bankrupt model is bankrupt.
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2014-12-17-BOE-Children Give Up Your Pocket Money!
by Atlantis inpetra!
2015-12-17-boe already, you dear brothers have done so well, sending gifts both large and small.
for in-stance, two children, five and seven years old, sent their pocket money to help build our new bethel instead of going to the circus, writing, "this is much better than that!
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Mephis
Targeting the kids to give money is something even other religions shy away from. They're an absolute disgrace. Really. It's old people for the legacies and kids for anything which might brighten up the misery of being inside that vile cult. I'm proud of myself for typing that without the string of Anglo-Saxon epithets they really deserve.