The area covered by this Bankruptcy is huge. A giant chunk of California, from Stockton north to the Oregon border.
Balaamsass2
JoinedPosts by Balaamsass2
-
6
Will Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses suffer the same fate as the Catholic Church?
by Balaamsass2 innorthern california, 4/2/2024.
"sacramento catholic diocese files for bankruptcy reorganization in wake of abuse lawsuits".
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sacramento-catholic-diocese-files-bankruptcy-160421282.html.
-
-
-
2
NOT on JW.org.: Author Jodie Chapman on growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness
by Balaamsass2 indoes anything sound familiar?
‘fiction opened my eyes’: author jodie chapman on growing up as a jehovah’s witness.
this article is more than 1 month old.
-
-
Balaamsass2
Does anything sound familiar?
"
‘Fiction opened my eyes’: author Jodie Chapman on growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness
This article is more than 1 month oldThe author was told she was living through ‘the time of the end’ – then Margaret Atwood, Thomas Hardy and George Orwell challenged her understanding of the world".
"I
used to knock on people’s doors and tell them the end of the world was coming. We were born imperfect, I would say, and soon will come the day of Armageddon when we will all be tested. Be good and you could win life in Paradise. Be bad, and your reward is annihilation. No wonder people would see us coming and turn off the lights.
Stories have always been in my blood. Until a few years ago, I based my life on their outcome. Raised in the UK as a Jehovah’s Witness, I was told we were in “the time of the end”, which meant we were in the third act of Life’s story, when I would soon be rewarded with eternal life on a paradise Earth.
John Hurt as Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Photograph: TCD/Prod.DB/AlamyEvery Witness child was given a copy of My Book of Bible Stories, a heavy yellow hardback. From the moment I could listen, I was taught the story of Abraham, who almost murdered his son after God commanded him as a test. The accompanying illustration of Isaac tied up on a sacrificial altar as his father looms over him with a knife was terrifying. Then there was Lot’s wife, who was turned to salt for daring to look back at the fire God was raining down on her hometown. I never questioned these stories or their morals. Why would I? They were taught to me at the same time as my ABC. They were my version of “normal”.
My entertainment was heavily vetted. Anything with ghosts or witches was banned. Christmas and birthday colouring pages were ripped out. Looking back, I struggle to think of books that would have been more shocking than the Bible. Babies’ heads dashed against rocks, entire nations murdered by an angry God, an upcoming worldwide genocide of billions … yet it is a tree with coloured lights that was deemed offensive.
I was allowed to choose my own books, but reading was a pastime that came second to religious activities. I attended a mainstream school, leaving after A-levels, but usually Witnesses attain only the most basic education, and are instead encouraged to direct all effort towards preaching. University is frowned upon. Although I was never forced into full-time preaching, there was little encouragement to take my education seriously. Books have always been the easiest way to travel.
George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four gave a label to the “doublethink” and “thoughtcrime” that I accepted as normal. When I read it in my early 20s, I had a genuine watershed moment. The way that “The Party” alters beliefs and insists followers accept these changes without dispute mirrored my community. The story of Winston, who knows the truth and yet must conform for his own survival, opened a door I had never dared to touch.
The TV adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale. Photograph: BFA/AlamyMargaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale opened my eyes to the danger of a patriarchy that positions itself as beneficial to women. I had recently become a mother and so the themes of suppression of women and loss of agency in the name of religion inspired a visceral reaction. I was already having doubts about my faith, and this book made them snowball.
Perhaps because my imagination was forged in such bloodthirsty fire, stories have always felt more alive and memorable than nonfiction. What could be a more devastating teacher on the subject of slavery and its subsequent trauma than Toni Morrison’s Beloved? Parts of the story left me so angry that I had to keep putting down the book to compose myself. I read it after I had stepped away from my community, but it only confirmed my doubts. How could a powerful god stand by and watch this happen and not feel compelled to intervene?
A rule I had always struggled to accept was disfellowshipping, when wrongdoers are cut off and even their family are not to have any contact. Shunning those who simply no longer want to be a member is also normal among Jehovah’s Witnesses. Classics such as Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga, which feature characters cast out for allegedly going against the accepted morals of their day, helped me realise the unfairness of such a practice.
In my community, shunning was viewed as a loving action that would bring the shamed one to their senses. This is not love, I realised. It is like what a wicked stepmother in stories would do, locking up a child until they begged to be released. Anything, the child would scream, I’ll do anything if you just let me out of this dark and lonely room.
skip past newsletter promotion
In my first novel, Another Life, written soon after I stepped away from my community in my 30s and lost many friendships, the character of Anna is cast out of her religion for the sin of no longer believing. In my second, Oh, Sister, I explore the struggles of three women within the confines of a doomsday patriarchal religion based heavily on the Witnesses. Their names – Jen, Zelda and Isobel – form a loose anagram of Jezebel, perhaps the most reviled biblical woman, who was pushed from a window to her death, trampled by horses then eaten by dogs.In the real-life story of my former community, female characters are not allowed a voice. The elders in charge are men. They make the decisions, and the women (“sisters”) must abide by them. I was often labelled “a sister with opinions” and remained an active member until several years ago, when my doubts became too large to ignore. Despite my ability to speak up, talking about myself and being the centre of attention have never come easily. If you are taught all your life that you are not equal to any man, even the most stubborn must absorb a little of that narrative. Perhaps this is why I wrote these women, so that through their stories, I could process the strangeness of the world that was once my home.
Reviews of Oh, Sister call it “a horror story” and “a dystopian fairytale”, which has been surprising because the world in which these women live was my definition of normal. If not for the power of fiction, perhaps I would still be there now.
-
2
Not on JW.org, A THIRD Bomb found at an Austrian Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
by Balaamsass2 inattacks in the usa, germany, india, and now austria.
is it becoming more dangerous to attend jw meetings?
explosive device found at jehovah's witness meeting in austria.
-
-
Balaamsass2
Attacks in the USA, GERMANY, India, and now Austria. Is it becoming more dangerous to attend JW meetings?
Explosive device found at Jehovah's Witness meeting in Austria
"A package containing explosives has been found at a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Austria.
As it turned out on Saturday, it could have "potentially caused great damage," the police reported. The service took place on Friday evening in Kalsdorf, to the south of the southern city of Graz. Around 50 people were in attendance.
The package was discovered in the entrance area of the building. The police arrived, cordoned off the area and recovered the package. The operation lasted all night because explosives experts feared that the parcel was dangerous and could only move it with extreme caution.
After a thorough investigation, a police spokesman said on Saturday: "It is an unconventional, homemade, but basically functional explosive device."
According to the police, state security was investigating.
There was no information on Saturday about possible perpetrators or the background to the incident.
Last year, there were already two incidents involving explosives at Jehovah's Witness organizations in Austria.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/explosive-device-found-jehovahs-witness-173717519.html
-
8
Prediction: I think the Blood Policy is about to change.
by underground ini’d like to start out by saying this is my opinion.. i believe that the organisation is about to make blood transfusions in any form a conscience matter.. they will still ban the eating of blood.. they will gaslight everyone by talking about how it is so much safer now.
and will say something along the lines of how our stance protected us from the aids crisis etc.. and i believe this change is going to happen before the annual meeting 2024.. i think the annual meeting will announce they are scrapping the midweek meeting and instead we get to watch a streamed talk at home through a revamped website similar to the way netflix works.. obviously take my opinion with a hefty pinch of salt..
-
-
Balaamsass2
I was expecting a change...especially for minors...until I read the 2024 Flock book Atlantis posted yesterday. GB 3.0 are still hanging on to the illogical and unscriptural views that even Orthodox Jews repudiate.
-
85
Disaster preparedness
by ElderBerry inas your family considers its disaster preparedness plan, please ensure that the secretary has up-to-date contact information for you and your emergency contact.
also, we have re- peatedly seen good results when brothers and sisters are prepared with go bags and are ready to obey direction when they face various kinds of disasters.
please be sure you have a go bag, and review its contents at least once a year.
-
-
Balaamsass2
The GO-BAG idea is one of the better GB 3.0 ideas.
(I had to smile watching my mom and aunts get excited talking about them in their 80s. Of course, they never really worked out the details of where they would sleep or rest their 80-year-old bones. How they would cook their canned beans, or go to the bathroom.)
For JWs, Go bags are a physical reminder the "END" is near. :) The elders can keep an up-to-date list of WHERE everyone is...easier to monitor. :)
PS: When half our town had to evacuate because of a wildfire a few years ago, we were unable to find one empty hotel room within 150 miles. So having canned food, water and camping equipment eased our minds. With 30k people evacuating, many people ended up "camping" for a week in shopping center parking lots. (we were fortunate the winds suddenly changed when the flames were just a couple of blocks away and spared our home).
As usual, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, (eventually FEMA, the National Guard and some other groups) showed up to help folks within 48 hours. Watchtower...crickets...lol.
-
27
2024-April Shepherd The Flock Of God Manual.
by Atlantis in2024-april-elder-manual.. .
https://files.accessjw.org/s/qpctw2hg87t9hxx .
grandpa!.
-
-
Balaamsass2
Thanks Atlantis!
Very WEIRD.
Why release the book this month when it conflicts with the announcements? It's not like they had printed thousands of copies...they simply needed to change the pdf.
All the weird hard line stuff is still in the PDF.
Removing servants for allowing their kids to attend college? Crazy!
-
6
Will Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses suffer the same fate as the Catholic Church?
by Balaamsass2 innorthern california, 4/2/2024.
"sacramento catholic diocese files for bankruptcy reorganization in wake of abuse lawsuits".
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sacramento-catholic-diocese-files-bankruptcy-160421282.html.
-
-
Balaamsass2
Northern California, 4/2/2024. "
"Sacramento Catholic Diocese files for bankruptcy reorganization in wake of abuse lawsuits"
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sacramento-catholic-diocese-files-bankruptcy-160421282.html
"Beset by hundreds of abuse lawsuits, the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in federal court Monday, a move designed to allow the diocese to provide settlements to plaintiffs.
The diocese, which previously announced its plans for the filing, said the move came “as it faces more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors by clergy and other employees reaching back to the 1950s.”
“This wave of new claims followed a 2019 law allowing victim-survivors to file lawsuits regardless of when the abuse occurred,” the diocese said in an announcement Monday. “The likely cost of the lawsuits far outstrips the diocese’s funds available for litigation or settlement.”
Bishop Jaime Soto said in a statement that the bankruptcy filing will allow for the court to oversee how assets are distributed to plaintiffs.
“There are many victim-survivors who have long suffered from the reprehensible sins committed against them,” Soto said. “This reorganization process will allow me to respond to them as equitably as possible.”
Court documents state that the diocese has between 200 and 999 creditors, with an estimated $100 million to $500 million in assets and the same amount in liabilities.
Sacramento’s diocese joins several others in California and nationwide that have turned to bankruptcy court for protection, and representatives of victims of clergy abuse have denounced the move, including the Survivors of those Abuse by Priests, or SNAP.
“In a bankruptcy, those who have filed lawsuits become ‘creditors,’” SNAP said in a statement last month. “The court will allow a certain period of time for other ‘creditors’ — victims — to come forward.
“However, once the bankruptcy proceeds to its conclusion, anyone abused before the filing date who did not come forward is barred from ever filing a lawsuit. This would include those who do not remember their abuse, those who do not understand the impact it has had on their life, those who are not yet ready to speak out, and – most disturbingly - those children who are too young to understand that they needed to file a claim before the bar date.”
In his statement, Soto said that the financial abyss the diocese is facing stems from church officials who committed the abuse or failed to address allegations of such actions.
“It is the sickening sin of sexual abuse – and the failure of church leadership to address it appropriately - that brought us to this place,” Soto said. “I must atone for these sins.”
The diocese has set up a webpage at scd.org/chapter-11-bankruptcy with additional information.
-
21
SCHEMING TO END YOUR MARRIAGE NOW AS BAD AS APOSTASY
by raymond frantz inhttps://youtu.be/-yvykw37rzo?si=vwokohrdq2b53fmh.
by now, it should be painfully obvious that we live in a post tonny morris era where the floods of organizational changes have become possible and a new version of the religion, some have called it warchtower 2.0 is emerging with a soft approach to disfellowshipping practices across the board for all those sinners.
nevertheless 3 groups of people will still be targeted for harsh excommunication, we know the first two well :csa perpetrators and apostates.
-
-
Balaamsass2
It will certainly improve C.O.'s yearly "green handshake" income. :)
-
29
To those JW's at age 10 and above who read it, understood it, got played, and survived. 😇
by was a new boy ineverybody plays the fool.
lyrics.
'okay, so your heart is brokenyou sit around mopin'cryin' and cryin'you say you're even thinkin' about dyin'well, before you do anything rash, dig this.
-
-
Balaamsass2
Cult star Chuck :) correction
-
25
Who is Charles Sunutko?
by VM44 inin the spring of 1967 district overseer charles sunutko gave in sheboygan, wisconsin, the talk, "serving with everlasting life in view"
a recording of that talk is available on the internet at several places, easily found by a google search.. but who is (was?
) charles sunutko?.
-
-
Balaamsass2
quite the story.
