When I was 12 I asked mom; "If God sees everything and the future, and tells Bethel about it...why do they ask for money?" "Wouldn't they know where to dig for gold, or what stocks to buy?" Mom boxed my ears for that. I should have gone with my gut right then.
Balaamsass2
JoinedPosts by Balaamsass2
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22
What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???
by Balaamsass2 ini was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".
third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?
could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?
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New investigation of Watchtower in Europe
by Balaamsass2 inczech culture ministry considers deregistration of jehovah’s witnesses.
the czech ministry of culture is considering the possible cancellation of the religious registration of the jehovah’s witnesses religious society, and has sent the organisation an appeal to desist from its illegal activities, ministry spokeswoman jana zechmeisterova told ctk today.. the ministry has received thousands of complaints from the jehovah’s witnesses about the proposal, which must be dealt with first.
administrative proceedings have not yet been initiated, zechmeisterova said.. she said the ministry had begun to deal with the proposals it had received about the cancellation of the registration of the religious society of jehovah’s witnesses (nssj).
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Balaamsass2
Czech Culture Ministry Considers Deregistration of Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Czech Ministry of Culture is considering the possible cancellation of the religious registration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Religious Society, and has sent the organisation an appeal to desist from its illegal activities, ministry spokeswoman Jana Zechmeisterova told CTK today.
The ministry has received thousands of complaints from the Jehovah’s Witnesses about the proposal, which must be dealt with first. Administrative proceedings have not yet been initiated, Zechmeisterova said.
She said the ministry had begun to deal with the proposals it had received about the cancellation of the registration of the Religious Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses (NSSJ). They were mainly about damaging the social ties of society members and their families and preventing minors from receiving medical care appropriate to their health needs, according to reports from novinky.cz and iROZHLAS.cz.
The Culture Ministry, led by Martin Baxa (ODS), accuses the NSSJ of five offences, which they were supposed to address within three months. Both parties involved confirmed to iROZHLAS.cz that they had not been corrected.
“The ministry is looking into the issue, but no administrative proceedings are currently underway,” Zechmeisterova told CTK. “The ministry will decide on whether to initiate administrative proceedings after it studies the content of several thousand complaints from NSSJ members that we have received in recent weeks.”
The complaints against Jehovah’s Witnesses relate to alleged damage to people’s social ties and families. When members leave the religious society, other Witnesses have to severely limit, and often completely cease, social contact with them. The Ministry also stated that it respects the right to religious freedom and values the contribution of fellow believers to society.
“There is no legal or doctrinal reason for the cancellation of the registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” iROZHLAS.cz quoted David Kula, director of the NSSJ’s public relations department, as saying. “Such a move would be discriminatory, illegal and for thousands of peaceful citizens of the Czech Republic would mean a gross interference in their religious life.”
See alsoThere are 13,298 NSSJ members in the Czech Republic, according to the latest census data, but the society itself claims 30,000 witnesses and sympathisers.
Jehovah’s Witnesses began operating in the territory of the present-day Czech Republic in 1912, and were registered in 1934. Two associations, the International Association of Bible Scholars and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, were active in Czechoslovakia at the time. They were persecuted during World War Two before resuming their activities after the war, but were forced underground again after the 1948 Communist coup.
They reapplied for registration after the collapse of the regime in January 1990, and registered as the 20th official church in the country in September 1993. https://brnodaily.com/2025/02/05/news/czech-culture-ministry-considers-deregistration-of-jehovahs-witnesses/
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What the new JW light position really is 👍
by ElderBerry ini’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
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Balaamsass2
Lutheran lite, episcopalian lite, Presbyterian lite....I can see. But JW lite?
Sounds like cult-lite, mobster lite, child rapist lite, warren jeffs lite, branch davidian lite to me. A bridge too far for us.
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I think I may be becoming an X-X-JW
by joe134cd ini think i may be moving on shortly.
i officially joined this web-site 12 years ago as pimo about to exit the organisation.
i had spent about a year before that, as just a none commenting member.
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Balaamsass2
Third Gen and I are seniors now. We would love to be ex-ex JWs, but not a day goes by without a reminder of the damage Watchtower did long term to our parents, our extended family, our kids, and us personally. Emotionally, educationally, and financially.
Every missed funeral, missed family reunion, grocery store shunning, and Saturday knock on the door is an unwelcome reminder we were in a cult for 65 + years. It is not an everyday reminder, but it comes up more frequently than we wish.
We hope we can be object lessons to young JWs so they don't repeat our gullible example.
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Diligence and Enthusiasm - LDS vs JWs
by Rivergang inon a scale of 1 to 100, i would put the lds in the high 90s, and the witnesses at about minus 10.. these days (well, around here at least) one encounters the mormon missionaries all over the place.
if they are not knocking at your door, they are approaching you out in the street.
of late, this has been happening all the bloody time!.
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Balaamsass2
I admin a few local Chamber of Commerce Facebook groups. Our local Morman missionaries offer online to help the poor, seniors and widows with chores for free. Very simple, effective and earnest outreach.
Firewood, lawnmowing, and weed-whacking fire breaks. More useful than cart witnessing for seniors -in my opinion. Hell...mow my lawn and even this grumpy grandpa will listen to you for 15 minutes. lol.:)
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The Share of Religious Americans will continue to decline- New York Times. Why? New Pew Study
by Balaamsass2 inlocally, in northern california i have seen/heard a drop in jw and mainstream church attendance especially in person attendance.
(exception: a new creepy local new-age charismatic/pentecostal group: "bethel church" 11,000 and growing mega church(kundalini yoga/sex combined with prosperity gospel, trumpism, guns, rock music, dancing, glitter, speaking in tongues, and faith healing).. for me this paragraph sums it up regarding jehovah's witnesses: " ...smith described organized religion to me as having become a “polluted” idea in the american mainstream, because of the publicity around sex abuse scandals and financial malfeasance in many different faiths in the ’80s and ’90s as millennials came of age.
“the scandals violated most of the virtues believed to make religion good,” smith wrote.
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Balaamsass2
I think the agnostics, and "spiritual but not religious", are growing just like the "no party preference" /independent voters. A lot of people are turned off by dogma...and the dogmatic in particular.. who claim to KNOW All with great conviction. :)
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Investigation Announcement
by Newly Enlightened inlinks to website: https://www.worldorganizationwelfare.org/.
https://youtu.be/fzfklh2f458?si=gk-lonkld4dkhjk8.
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Balaamsass2
I am puzzled. This attorney is in Eureka, California. Since when has this been a trafficking hotbed? The video is 16 minutes long, is there a written summary? :( . (There have been some weird stuff and murders with the Emerald Triangle cannabis growers for the last 20 years in the local news. )
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What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???
by Balaamsass2 ini was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".
third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?
could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?
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Balaamsass2
Wow- thanks Kenmayo1! Adding all those charges up for a congregation of 60 people annually is a pretty penny. No wonder their "club " has decided to suddenly become more welcoming! lol :) No wonder some of our old halls have combined! Four of our old congregations have been combined into oblivion.
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The Watchtower Wins, Disfellowshipping stays, Shunning stays.
by liam inhttps://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1jb6nv6/jw_vs_norway_march_2025_from_jan_frode_nilsen/.
the verdict is out.
after full understanding and decision by the state administrator, full confirmation in the appeal case by the ministry of children and family affairs, three victories in the injunction case, a full victory in the district court, we now faced a loss in the court of appeal.
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Balaamsass2
Well out of the frying pan and into the fire?
Czech Culture Ministry Considers Deregistration of Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Czech Ministry of Culture is considering the possible cancellation of the religious registration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Religious Society, and has sent the organisation an appeal to desist from its illegal activities, ministry spokeswoman Jana Zechmeisterova told CTK today.
The ministry has received thousands of complaints from the Jehovah’s Witnesses about the proposal, which must be dealt with first. Administrative proceedings have not yet been initiated, Zechmeisterova said.
She said the ministry had begun to deal with the proposals it had received about the cancellation of the registration of the Religious Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses (NSSJ). They were mainly about damaging the social ties of society members and their families and preventing minors from receiving medical care appropriate to their health needs, according to reports from novinky.cz and iROZHLAS.cz.
The Culture Ministry, led by Martin Baxa (ODS), accuses the NSSJ of five offences, which they were supposed to address within three months. Both parties involved confirmed to iROZHLAS.cz that they had not been corrected.
“The ministry is looking into the issue, but no administrative proceedings are currently underway,” Zechmeisterova told CTK. “The ministry will decide on whether to initiate administrative proceedings after it studies the content of several thousand complaints from NSSJ members that we have received in recent weeks.”
The complaints against Jehovah’s Witnesses relate to alleged damage to people’s social ties and families. When members leave the religious society, other Witnesses have to severely limit, and often completely cease, social contact with them. The Ministry also stated that it respects the right to religious freedom and values the contribution of fellow believers to society.
“There is no legal or doctrinal reason for the cancellation of the registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” iROZHLAS.cz quoted David Kula, director of the NSSJ’s public relations department, as saying. “Such a move would be discriminatory, illegal and for thousands of peaceful citizens of the Czech Republic would mean a gross interference in their religious life.”
There are 13,298 NSSJ members in the Czech Republic, according to the latest census data, but the society itself claims 30,000 witnesses and sympathisers.
Jehovah’s Witnesses began operating in the territory of the present-day Czech Republic in 1912, and were registered in 1934. Two associations, the International Association of Bible Scholars and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, were active in Czechoslovakia at the time. They were persecuted during World War Two before resuming their activities after the war, but were forced underground again after the 1948 Communist coup.
They reapplied for registration after the collapse of the regime in January 1990, and registered as the 20th official church in the country in September 1993
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22
What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???
by Balaamsass2 ini was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".
third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?
could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?
-
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Balaamsass2
I was following a few threads in Reddit from current PIMO JWs complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments". Third Gen and I have been out POMO for a while...so how much is this charge now? Could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month? Just Extra revenue? Simply some extra beans for the New York bean counters to charge money for ?
"Pay us money every month and we will let your old "friends" and family talk to you again !"
