Mephis

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Posts by Mephis

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  20

  Nativity Scene in JW Literature

  by Wild_Thing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone know if the jws have very printed a picture of, what might be considered, a nativity scene in any of their literature?

  i think it would funny to create a christmas card using their own artwork!

  haha!

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  Mephis

  Thanks for link OC. Never seen those before.
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  23

  Sales of Watchtower headquarters could total $1.2 billion, real estate pros predict

  by MaybeSo in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  we let the qualified buyers participate in a competitive bidding process and see where the market goes with it, devine told the eagle.. doesn't this logic reflect the same expectation of gambling or buying a lottery ticket?

  you don't know if you are going to win big or if you're just going to come out even or lose your $1 investment.. how do they know there's not going to be another market or housing crash the next day and get pennies for their properties?.

  how can they honestly say: "...see where the market goes with it" and at the same time condone other for playing lottery tickets or gambling or leaving things to chance like not getting higher education.

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  Mephis

  I'd suggest the issue is precisely the same one I see with my own family. Armageddon is late. What few plans for that possibility have long since ran out of money. Stagnating numbers in affluent countries won't help with grandiose expansion plans on 'jehovah jireh' economic principles, and even less so with those who stay inside being less educated and less affluent and many starting to see retirement much closer on the horizon than the grand fireball fest. They can't afford to keep on bloating, so this is the transitioning into something more sustainable for a few more decades. Just what my money's on. Things like lawsuits will add to the problem for them. Even in dubland they surely must have already budgeted based on the money from selling these, and they're just getting the money some months earlier.
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  36

  Care Home Exclusively for JW's "Inadequate" and "Unsafe".

  by snugglebunny in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the home: http://www.jah-jireh.org/.

  the independent report: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/aaab3073.pdf.

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  Mephis

  There's exemptions in discrimination law for things like this. They're a registered charity (so not a commercial outfit), they're providing a service to a specific religious group etc. Applies to all religions, so you can get Jewish care homes and so on. Recruitment may be a problem for them judging from comments about staffing levels in the report.
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  36

  Care Home Exclusively for JW's "Inadequate" and "Unsafe".

  by snugglebunny in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the home: http://www.jah-jireh.org/.

  the independent report: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/aaab3073.pdf.

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  Mephis

  They're an independent charity as far as the British side of things is concerned, no ostensible relationship to WBTS other than them being JWs and only accepting JWs. They run 4 homes in Britain. Because they're working with the elderly, they get regularly checked by local authorities and even have unscheduled visits by other groups to check they're up to at least minimum standards.
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  36

  Care Home Exclusively for JW's "Inadequate" and "Unsafe".

  by snugglebunny in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the home: http://www.jah-jireh.org/.

  the independent report: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/aaab3073.pdf.

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  Mephis

  Worrying report from their Blackpool home. It's almost a metaphor for how the borg runs internally. Everyone's very spiritual, but basic needs are neglected and no-one sees the individual, whilst management is clueless and puts people at risk of harm. But they think it's ok because no-one complains, and expressions of discontent are viewed as behavioural abnormalities.

  They'll be forced to at least care for people safely in future in that care home.
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  16

  2015 Tax Effective Giving brochure!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  just for your records!.

  2015 tax effective giving brochure..click the green download button.http://wwwb.fileflyer.com/view/7auljal..wtunderground!

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  Mephis

  I really hate the fact that my taxes go to subsidise them. I really, really hate that my taxes go to subsidise them with so little transparency in what exactly it is spent on which justifies a 'charitable' gift aid top-up.

  Question which intrigues me is what makes them choose to funnel things into IBSA over WBTS when they do that. IBSA's stated aims are not those given in that brochure. IBSA's stated aims are printing, providing literature and arranging conventions.They make minor charitable gifts according to their accounts, but £1.7m last year (of which £1.6m was cash to 'Europe') when taking in £22.5m. They're not fibbing as such, IBSA's MoA is a carte blanche really, but it just strikes me as odd that they're funneling cash into what primarily is the printing arm. But then IBSA is also where they tuck away other stuff too (eg information handling registration).

  And these sort of little leaflets aren't new in Britain. The Gift Aid is something they really, really, really like. I remember seeing similar 20 years or so ago.
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  34

  Do most ex JW's go politically left?

  by Lightgrowsbrighter in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've found it interesting that- imho- most of the politically vocal ex-jw's at this website seem to lean left.

  i'm personally pretty centered- right on some issues, left on others, but overall have a pretty cynical view of all political/religious leaders.

  i find it somewhat ironic that people who leave such a dogmatic group like the witnesses become so politically dogmatic.

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  Mephis

  JWs are left wing economically (insert Jewish socialist gags here) and authoritarian socially (which is typically seen as right wing outside of extreme examples from communism). To all intents and purposes the JWs' dream world is a more extreme version of Ted Cruz's but on the other side of the divide economically. Look to Stalinist Soviet Union or the Stalinist style North Korean regime for real world examples I guess. Current right wing examples may well actually be some of the Islamic dictatorships. Irony overload.

  That authoritarian extreme of JWs makes it harder to be more authoritarian, so everyone will fall somewhere below that on the axes when they leave dubland. Head right economically and keep most of the social views, and the US Republican Party is your friend. Believe in the ability of change to happen through communal effort but want more freedom and you'd likely be happier under a Green Party government in a European country. Go polar opposites and you end up an anarcho-capitalist, territory into which the US libertarian movement dips (too conservative socially really to fully count - calling yourself a libertarian and believing the state has the right to dictate social matters based on religious views is oxymoronic).

  I actually think it's healthy to see ex-dubs engaging in real world politics and becoming passionate about it. Even if I disagree with someone's views with every fibre of my being, I'll celebrate with them casting the vote and being out enough to try to address real world problems rather than waiting for 'God magic' to fix things.
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  16

  A 'Paradise' for mice turned out not to be so

  by Petraglyph in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in this experiment, mice were given a perfect environment in which to live.

  for the mice you would think this was 'paradise'.

  but due to their nature it did not take long for this to become a horrible place to live.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z760xny4vm.

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  Mephis

  We're moving into a future where we begin to manipulate genes and technology to transform humans themselves. Interesting times.

  The mouse experiment is fascinating because one of the ideas proposed was that it wasn't physical crowding but over stimulation socially which was producing the results. The big question, which is unanswered, is how much about human behaviour can we learn from studying mice and rats.

  I guess the JW utopia to me is always the one of thought crime and total loss of individuality and creative expression otherwise. My idea of hell really. Even growing up inside, the idea of a panda was nice but listening to kingdom melodies every day really didn't appeal. Nor did having to live with the people in my congregation for all of eternity (with a couple of exceptions). And no books but WBTS ones was really not going to make me want to go to paradise. Liberating moment to realise that you don't mind not having that fixation on getting through Armageddon to the 'promised land'.
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  34

  Do most ex JW's go politically left?

  by Lightgrowsbrighter in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've found it interesting that- imho- most of the politically vocal ex-jw's at this website seem to lean left.

  i'm personally pretty centered- right on some issues, left on others, but overall have a pretty cynical view of all political/religious leaders.

  i find it somewhat ironic that people who leave such a dogmatic group like the witnesses become so politically dogmatic.

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  Mephis

  Decent way to judge where you are on the political spectrum using a fairly neutral way of judging things because there's a fairly international community here. Both right/left economics and libertarian/authoritarian.

  https://www.politicalcompass.org/test
  

  I'm a leftwing libertarian. (-7.88 left, -6.41 libertarian).

  Personal feeling, it really varies with which group. In some ex-JW fb groups, I'd not be surprised at all to be the only 'commie' in the group. My suspicion is that it will break out broadly reflective of broader society, especially so as people's views and beliefs become their own again post-exit from dubland. Seems to hold true, at least from British perspective, for things like belief in God from polls of ex-dubs and then comparing to what I see in broader society in Britain. Which is of course a very different place to, say, Bible Belt USA.
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  1

  PAUCITY OF EMPATHY IN WTBTS / GB of JW

  by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  emotional intelligence why it can matter more than iq (1996).

  daniel goleman.

  ch7 the roots of empathy.

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  Mephis

  Enjoyed that post Nicholaus. .

  On the subject of candour, Jackson said at the Australian Royal Commission that they have apologised in the past. I'm still to locate an apology too. I can find lots of excuses, and I can find lots of blameshifting, even the odd acknowledgement of error in doctrine, but an actual apology seems elusive.