Posts by Mephis

55

Mays JW TV Broadcast/Your feedback is appreciated

by ToesUp in

jw
friends

i have a pretty good intuition but i have to admit i am going back and forth on the jw tv may broadcast.

i keep asking myself are they really in financial trouble (wishful thinking) or are they just grabbing for more money?.

i always appreciate reading everyone's thoughts and ideas on here.. let me know what you think.

Mephis

I agree with d4g's points, but do wonder whether there are deeper issues there. What triggered the restructuring to begin with? And the more recent cash grabs on kingdom hall funds hint towards a genuine current cashflow problem.

The capital projects are grandiose and obviously, in a sane business, would be carefully examined for value. Is there genuinely a need for hundreds of millions to be spent on RTOs? Or on increasing the pace of kingdom hall construction/refurbishment in a low growth area such as the USA? And where does the massive new development in Britain fit into things?

They clearly do have problems there, with many of them being a product of their own delusions.

172

May tv.jw.org program

by zophar in

jw
friends

the may broadcast on tv.jw.org.

we need money!.

http://tv.jw.org/#video/vodstudio/pub-jwb_201505_1_video.

Mephis

The Welsh language RTO cost £910k (c.$1.4m US) just for the 5 bedroomed house they bought in Snowdonia, and presumably there will be costs on top of this to make it fit for purpose. This at the same time as they're going to spend an estimated £150m (c$230m US) on a massive new facility at Chelmsford. It's an utterly bizarre use of money given the translation does not need to be done in rural NW Wales.

As Jesus was meant to have said: "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?". Clearly not for this lot.

38

ARE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY STATISTICS REALLY TRUSTWORTHY?

by TerryWalstrom in

of these, over 2,000 were admitted to concentration camps.

1,000 died in prison and concentration camps.

another 1,000 of jehovah's witnesses died in prisons and concentration camps.".

Mephis

The neutrality aspect is one where I'd trust little of what the WT self-reports. 1950 and Cold War Europe. Everyone had been an anti-Nazi or member of a resistance movement. The WT rides popular political trends just as well as everyone else. Look at how keenly they've hammered the Catholic church in the past, whilst Rutherford's political overtures get the whitewash treatment.

Just to add some more suggested figures, the best I can come up with is of c.30,000 'witnesses' in Germany, c.10,000 were at one point or another imprisoned in what was a clear attempt to eradicate the religion. Of those c.10,000, c.2,000 went to camps where c.950 died. If one wants to make a comparison, one could look to the death rates of those sent to camps for homosexuality where around 50% died.

Sources: Niermann, Die Durchsetzung politischer und politisierter Strafjustiz im Dritten Reich (Dusseldorf, 1995), 295 -305, Schmidt, 'Beabsichtige ich, die Todesstrafe zu beantragen', 105-107 and Wachsmann, Hitler's Prisons, 180-183

8

Legally can WT forcibly remove money from KH bank accounts with out the signees permission

by joe134cd in

i just wondered if the wtbts could legally remove the money from the congregation accounts with out the signees permission.

are the bank accounts deemed society property with the change of realestate ownership into the societies name.

legally could they get away with it if the situation arose , and if not how could they manipulate the situation so they could.

Mephis

In Britain, each congregation is registered as an individual charity. The trustees are typically the elders and some ministerial servants.There will typically be authorised signatories within that group who are able to access the kingdom hall bank account/s. It falls onto them to make decisions. Of course, they'd be very unlikely to kick against anything they're told to do but they don't get to pass the buck for those decisions.

139

Favorite Music Video

by WildTurkey in

.

what is your favorite music video?

after shes my cherry pie, i like foo fighters learn to fly

Mephis

Couple of mine, helps I like the songs too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHFtKYPrE0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCDIYvFmgW8

32

Would you call JW HQ???

by DATA-DOG in

i have a friend who is still in.

this friend is a partaker, but has serious doubts about the org.

this friend wants to stand up as a man, and wants to call wtbts hq.

Mephis

Fair play to your friend for wanting to see change. But, as others have said, the results will either be disappointing or your friend will find themselves in the back room answering the loyalty question. If your friend is willing to challenge evasions, misstatements and outright falsehoods, then s/he's showing that they're not being loyal to the GB. And if s/he isn't willing to challenge and push then what is his/her hope for the conversation to accomplish?

It doesn't really matter if you give name, congregation or claim to be the appointed if the GB wave the apostate stick in your direction. There's enough already who've been down that road to show that.

16

The Bible Does Not Say - But ...

by berrygerry in

painfully reading an article of may 15, 2015 (extra-simplified edition) and again observed this phraseology: the bible does not say, but .... so, did satan hope to tempt her with the luxurious palaces of pharaoh and abimelech?

did satan think that she would betray her husband and even jehovah by marrying one of those kings?

the bible does not say, but it is very likely that the devil would have been overjoyed if sarah had lost the opportunity to become part of the messiahs family line.. .

Mephis

It's an invitation to speculate, but only in the direction which best fits the point a piece is trying to make, which also seems to serve the purpose of pulling the reader away from a bit of critical thinking over the substance of what is being said.

eg what the Bible does say is that it was Abraham's idea on both occasions to pretend she was his sister and both Pharoah and Abimilech were more than happy to send her on her way once they found out Abraham had been lying. What has Satan do with this in the first place?

26

Pacquiao vs Mayweather

by Clambake in

i have a ton of filipino friends and this is huge.

manny is a huge underdog but it is literally good vs evil.

go manny .

Mephis

Clear for Mayweather. Bar a couple of rounds, Manny didn't even get close. Not even sufficient to justify the rematch. Horrible man, sublime boxer.

30

Would you give your life for those that shun you?

by Esse quam videri in

'no one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.'.

many have been hurt by the practice of shunning.

family members, [former?

Mephis

I don't have any hate or animosity towards my family, who all remain inside. But it is 20 years of shunning this year. These people are strangers to me now. My actions would be based upon whether I would do it for a stranger on the street. Sometimes that means 'yes', other times that would be a 'no'.

26

Pacquiao vs Mayweather

by Clambake in

i have a ton of filipino friends and this is huge.

manny is a huge underdog but it is literally good vs evil.

go manny .

Mephis

Dislike Mayweather the man intensely, for the obvious reasons, but he's a marvellous boxer. Think he'll win on a split decision - just so they get the re-match. Manny's still got that lingering suspicion of being on the juice for a period, so I wouldn't call it 'good vs evil'... Wondering which Manny will turn up on the night, the more recent one hasn't looked anything like as impressive as the one who knocked Mosley out. Hope he does well all the same and tests Mayweather properly.