http://www.jwfacts.com/ has a lot of information which covers the whole history. Obviously in English, and whether what it quotes is also available in Russian is another matter altogether.
Mephis
JoinedPosts by Mephis
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JW's in Ukraine
by Psalm1611 inneed help finding jw material written after 1986. good day!
i am reaching out for help from those of you that know your material better than i, an outsider.
i am a baptist missionary in ukraine for 5 years now.
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This thread is for proof that God exists
by juandefiero inhowever, i haven't found any evidence to support that belief.. have you?
if so please, show me the evidence that god exists, and i will believe along with you.. criteria:.
(1) you must specify which god you are talking about;.
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Mephis
Tallis is fun. He took a tutorial on lit crit I was in a long time back. He's good mates with one of my old tutors. He doesn't half like tilting at strawmen arguments though. He was on his 'post-structuralism is bunk' phase back then. He does have a point with the brain, but I'd question whether that is the correct understanding to take from the work establishing the processes anyway. Like his work on post-structuralism, it's all kind of truism based and seems to miss the real point. -
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Why is the Bible silent about the real Israel/Egyptian connections?
by fulltimestudent inthe bible does connect egypt and israel (including judah), but does not tell the truth about the connection.. an exhibition at the israel museum tells a clearer story.. it tells of two periods of connection;.
the first connection around 1800 to 1550 bce when canaanites settled in the eastern section of the nile river delta.
it seems this is the era that saw the development of stories like the joseph story and the mose's story.
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Mephis
Nice article covering the exhibition: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/.premium-1.706655 -
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Car crash
by truthwillsetyoufree inboy who was seriously injured in a collision at gamlingay in cambridgeshire last thursday has died.. nine-year-old archie stevens, of western way, sandy, bedfordshire, died in hospital early on saturday afternoon.. the collision at about 10am in drove road, which involved two cars, also resulted in the death of his grandfather, 68-year-old martin harker, of green acres, sandy, who died at the scene.http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/update/2016-02-22/nine-year-old-boy-dies-after-cambridgeshire-crash/.
the boy and his grandfather were jehovahs witnesses and they were on field service when a car drove into them.
the lad, who is the son of an elder who moved to a cambridge congregation to serve where the need is greater, was on life support before the sad decision was made to turn it off.
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Mephis
Incredibly sad for the family. -
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Reveal article: 6 ways religious exemption laws are exploited - Excellent!
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.revealnews.org/article/6-ways-religious-exemption-laws-are-exploited/.
by amy julia harris / february 29, 2016 .
6 ways religious exemption laws are exploited.
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Mephis
In the Uk (and some of this stems from European law mixing with UK law).
Exemptions in equality and employment law exist for religions when a role or service is solely about the religion or for adherents of that religion. There's been a lot of debate over whether these exemptions need to be narrowed down.
Corporal punishment in schools is flat out banned regardless of who runs them. Some religious schools tried to challenge that ban and were reminded that freedom of religion didn't mean freedom to do whatever your religion told you to do.
Child abuse reporting isn't the same as the US so can't really be compared. There is no right never to report, but the obligation to report is framed differently too.
No idea on day care sorry.
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OKAY, GAME OVER! The number one reason the New Testament amounts to bunk
by Terry infor me, the dead giveaway is this.
jesus wrote nothing.. stop and think about that.. if jesus were the authentic messiah, his ministry would not simply be local.. his instructions, his mission, the details of his teachings would be too precious to risk leaving it in the hands of "men unlettered (illiterate) and ordinary (blue-collar yokels).".
jesus, were he the one and only hope of mankind, would be absolutely certain to write down with great simplicity and specificity the exact owner's manual necessary to rescue mankind.. never happened!.
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Mephis
The spiritual abuse idea must be comforting for believers who think that it was just believing in the wrong imaginary friend which was the problem, but the number of atheists amongst exJWs seems no greater than in society generally here in Britain. I know that's something of a surprise to those who can't imagine places where even many Christians are happy to accept the bible is just a story book. -
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OKAY, GAME OVER! The number one reason the New Testament amounts to bunk
by Terry infor me, the dead giveaway is this.
jesus wrote nothing.. stop and think about that.. if jesus were the authentic messiah, his ministry would not simply be local.. his instructions, his mission, the details of his teachings would be too precious to risk leaving it in the hands of "men unlettered (illiterate) and ordinary (blue-collar yokels).".
jesus, were he the one and only hope of mankind, would be absolutely certain to write down with great simplicity and specificity the exact owner's manual necessary to rescue mankind.. never happened!.
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Mephis
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Why is the Bible silent about the real Israel/Egyptian connections?
by fulltimestudent inthe bible does connect egypt and israel (including judah), but does not tell the truth about the connection.. an exhibition at the israel museum tells a clearer story.. it tells of two periods of connection;.
the first connection around 1800 to 1550 bce when canaanites settled in the eastern section of the nile river delta.
it seems this is the era that saw the development of stories like the joseph story and the mose's story.
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Mephis
One idea which has been suggested, and seems to have held up to scrutiny, is that Song of Solomon is remarkably similar to Egyptian love poetry of c.1200 BCE. Coincidence I'm sure, ahem.
Looks like a fascinating exhibition.
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Louisiana Judge Rules That Priests Don’t Have to Report Abuse if They Hear It During Confession
by ttdtt inleave it to the deep south.. sad.. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/01/louisiana-judge-rules-that-priests-dont-have-to-report-abuse-if-they-hear-it-during-confession/?utm_source=silverpopmailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=friendlyatheist_030116utc050309_daily&utm_content=&spmailingid=50816439&spuserid=mty4mdi2oty3odkws0&spjobid=880120009&spreportid=odgwmtiwmda5s0.
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Mephis
Hi Jan. I know some Anglican vicars also use a formula to establish limits too. I know I used a similar formula as a teacher when asked by a child, "can you keep a secret?" or something like that. Clergy/penitent privilege is confidentiality in common law (outside the US anyways..), and sometimes confidentiality isn't the most important thing.
It is complex as you say, and reporting laws are blunt tools which represent a failure of adults to protect children for too long and in too many cases. You're right, there's not going to be a perfect solution. No-one wants to drag a survivor through a legal process, at the same time how does one also ensure they are safe from further abuse and other children are not at risk? There is more leeway with adult survivors for that to be a matter for the survivor, but for children and vulnerable adults then there may only be that one opportunity and there may not be a responsible adult able to act otherwise.
I know some believers will strongly disagree, but I personally don't feel an offender's ability to confess counts for much if children are still at risk. Sadly, if spiritual support on its own worked well for pedophiles, we wouldn't be dealing with so many cases within religions. This may be a case where secular society will have to cut the Gordian knot on this for religions. It will be interesting to see what recommendations come out of the Australian Commission and the Goddard Inquiry for how best to deal with this.
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Louisiana Judge Rules That Priests Don’t Have to Report Abuse if They Hear It During Confession
by ttdtt inleave it to the deep south.. sad.. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/01/louisiana-judge-rules-that-priests-dont-have-to-report-abuse-if-they-hear-it-during-confession/?utm_source=silverpopmailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=friendlyatheist_030116utc050309_daily&utm_content=&spmailingid=50816439&spuserid=mty4mdi2oty3odkws0&spjobid=880120009&spreportid=odgwmtiwmda5s0.
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Mephis
There's a difference between a confession and a child reporting rape though. And what's currently happening is children reporting being raped or sexually assaulted are being treated as giving a confession by some religions in order to claim an exemption from reporting. That's clearly all shades of wrong.
In the UK, there is no clergy/penitent privilege recognised as a right. People still go to confession. Judges are granted discretion on deciding whether or not such evidence should be called. Most churches with a trained clergy have procedures to warn people that there may be circumstances where a conversation may not be kept confidential if they work in jurisdictions where this can happen. Even JWs in some countries have been warned by letter from the platform that elders may be required to disclose some information to secular authorities.
Really, there should be no excuse for an adult in a position of authority not to report abuse of a child or a vulnerable adult (legally defined as needing assistance to safeguard themselves) to safeguarding authorities. It really shouldn't be difficult to find systems and procedures to do that.