Posts by OrphanCrow

36

Go Bags, Safe houses and cartoon of two kids.

by scruffmcbuff in

i have been out a good 10+ years and until recently didnt pay much attention to what the jehovahs are up to.. why have they taken this turn with the bunker videos and making all the brainwashed people like my parents pack a go bag.

now let me just clarify.

im a military man i believe everyone should have an element of preparedness canned goods,bottled water and a bug out bag is a great addition ( ill stop waffling on about that now).. but what concerns me is the fact they are advising elderly people to bug out.

OrphanCrow

Dio: Go bags are a relatively New thing

Yes, "go bags" were introduced post 9/11

The WT/org became involved in disaster preparedness as part of a government initiative

14

Pregnant JW has "come to Jesus" moment

by Lee Elder in

a pregnant jehovah's witness rethinks watchtower's transfusion policy .

after one simple question from her hematologist.

read her story in this .

OrphanCrow

Dio: ...they were so close to reversing Rutherford's nutty idea at one point...

It wasn't Rutherford's idea to implement a blood transfusion phobia. Da Judge died in January 1942. He was dead when Knorr and Franz came out with the blood transfusion ban in 1945...right on the heels of WW2 ending and right on the heels of great advancements in blood transfusion technology.

24

New Store called Best Life Gifts

by Franklin30 in

jw
friends

i noticed a recent post where it was suggested the store was taken over by hostile means!.

the person who posted it pretended to have knowledge of why the store changed names but clearly was operating with an agenda!

one filled with lies, misinformation and deceit!.

OrphanCrow

Update on Ministry Ideaz/BestLifeGifts:

https://westfaironline.com/105235/partners-fighting-over-gift-shop-for-jehovahs-witnesses/

It sounds like there has been some trouble in paradise:

A Jehovah’s Witness who partnered with a couple he trusted based on their shared faith is suing them over ownership of a religion-themed gift shop in Orange County.
Greg Holland of Victoria, British Columbia, claims in a federal lawsuit that Thomas and Nanci Matos of Pine Bush, New York, coerced him into relinquishing his property.
“Through deceit and intimidation, the Matoses stole Holland’s investment and interest in Ministry Ideaz LLC,” the complaint states. “The Matoses then used Ministry Ideaz’s inventory and cash to establish their own competing business.”
The Matoses did not respond to telephone and email messages asking for their side of the story.
Holland started Ministry Ideaz in 2002 as an online business from his home in Ecuador. The company makes and sells leather and paper products – such as Bible covers, notebooks and calendars – for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Last year, he decided to open a store in the U.S. He met the Matoses through a mutual friend and, “based on his trust of fellow members of the Jehovah’s Witness faith, agreed to partner with them.”
Holland held 90 percent of the New York company, and the Matoses owned the rest.
Holland claims he wired more than $40,000 to the Matoses to set up the store and then another $190,000 to cover expenses for nine months. He shipped $250,000 in inventory from Ecuador that he hoped would sell at retail for $750,000.
In May 2017, they opened a storefront in Valley Supreme Plaza in Pine Bush, 25 miles from the Jehovah’s Witnesses headquarters.
Business was good. The store sold $38,837 in goods in the first month and another $250,000 in credit card transactions over the following four months.
But Holland became estranged from his wife in late 2017, having engaged in an extramarital affair. His wife moved to Canada with their two children.
Holland describes the Matoses as his “surrogate parents.” They offered emotional support during his marital troubles and assured him that he need not worry about the business because it was in their good hands.
At the same time, Holland alleges, the Matoses were trying to persuade his wife to divorce him, seek sole custody of their children and “extract a financial settlement.”
The Matoses, the complaint states, were already “secretly scheming to steal Holland’s entire investment.”
They registered BestLife Gifts LLC in February, using the Ministry Ideaz address.
On March 2, the Matoses held a “special meeting” at their home and decided to dissolve the company. Holland, the majority owner, claims he was not notified.
Thomas Matos emailed him on the same day, stating, “We are severing ties!”
“The store sign has been removed, the lease has ended, utilities, phones and internet cancelled,” the message said.
“There has been far to (sic) much pressure on Nanci and I being in business with you,” the message stated. “Being associated with Ministry Ideaz has become a liability that has already damaged us.”
To this day, according to the July 25 lawsuit, BestLife operates from the same storefront as Ministry Ideaz, uses the same telephone numbers and sells the same inventory.
On March 5, the complaint states, Thomas Matos threatened to reveal Holland’s marital problems to the customers he had cultivated for 16 years and to stop processing about 1,000 online orders.
Matos allegedly offered a deal. He would not follow through on the threats if Holland signed over his entire interest in Ministry Ideaz, agreed to dissolve the company and relinquished the equipment and inventory.
Holland says he signed the one-page agreement, “fearing that the Matoses would ruin his livelihood and his relationship with his family and his church.”
Holland reconciled with his wife, moved to Canada and “began to grasp the extent of the Matoses’ deceit.”
He is demanding $300,000 in damages, and he wants the court to declare the dissolution deal null and void and to bar the Matoses and BestLife from selling inventory and assets.
Holland is represented by Jack A. Gordon, Joshua B. Katz and Luis F. Calvo of Kent, Beatty & Gordon LLP in Manhattan.

40

Revised NWT in French released yesterday

by careful in

https://www.jw.org/en/whats-new/revised-nwt-released-french/ .

it looks like it may only be available electronically, that is, no printed version(?)..

is the german next?.

OrphanCrow

sfb: Do you know how much it would cost to supply everyone wanting a new Spanish Bible?

I dunno. Do you know? How much would it really cost?

The translation is done by volunteers, the printing is done by volunteers and the money comes from donations.

How many Spanish Bibbles would it take to supply all Spanish speaking JWs with one? Doesn't that fall under the "World Wide Work"? Doesn't the WT/org collect donations for "spreading the word"? What does the WT/org spend all those donations on?

How much really is a "fortune" for an organization that is worth billions? A few million or so? What is that? A drop in the bucket?

13

"We're involved in a life saving work"?

by eyeuse2badub in

as my wife left for fs this morning (aka gossip and coffee time with her friends) she mentioned to me that one of the parts in the clam meeting this week was:.

to remind the 'faithful' that, "we are involved in a life saving work!".

so i just calmly mentioned to her that if he really wanted to, jehoober could save thousands of lives every day just by controlling the weather or providing just clean water or just a just a few loaves and fishes!.

OrphanCrow

Yup

It's all about saving lives

Their own lives

Nothing at all to do with anyone other than themselves

8

GDPR Warning for the Org?

by The Fall Guy in

a uk organization has been fined £200,000 for accidentally breaching the data protection of numerous individuals.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44872880.

how will jw branches/elders fare in the eyes of the law if they deliberately breach someone's privacy?.

uk elders/trustees, it may be time to take out liability insurance for yourselves!.

OrphanCrow

The org will use this as justification for not revealing their pedo/files

Gotta keep those private

43

Be Couragous! - (Like The Governing Body?)

by pale.emperor in

i was watching lloyd evans rebuttal to the saturday program of the be courageous convention.

lloyd pointed out something that had occurred to me as well:.

all this talk and examples of courage, whether it be standing up in class defending intelligent design, putting up with being imprisoned, not running away from bullies, always having a reply to someone who tries to ridicule your faith... the young ones are encourages - nay, commanded - to stand their ground and be courageous.

OrphanCrow

Sparky: he can claim that Watchtower has no authority over him

Yeah

That's cause he views himself as having authority over the Watchtower

51

Without god what is the basis of morality?

by OneEyedJoe in

i'm sure most here who've questioned or left behind their belief in god have encountered this question - without god, what basis can there be for morality?

my exwife, when i admitted that i was an atheist, once asked me "if you don't believe in god, what's to stop you from going out and raping and murdering?

" previously, whenever i got this objection, i would tend to turn it around on the other person with a response along the lines of "if fear of god is the only thing that stops you from murdering, that makes me rather nervous to be around you.

OrphanCrow

venus: I would even say atheism is the arrangement of God whether they are aware of this or not.

Wow

That's quite the trick

Amazing

20

"One drop of poison in a glass of water"

by stuckinarut2 in

time to revive this well known, and often used jw illustration!.

"if you are in desperate need of a drink of water, and the glass in front of you is 99% clean, but contains just 1% poison, would you drink it??".

how often we heard this trotted out from the platform.. recently though, i have heard many examples of still-in jws sharing their observations about things that don't seem quite right with the current activities, direction and culture of the organization.

OrphanCrow

stuckinarut: I am simply thinking that it may be helpful to use on JWs who try and justify the many "corrupting" elements that the Society is and has been involved with.

You are right. It would be.

Lol! I got sidetracked by stupidity.

The org has far more than just a "drop" of poison inside it - it is toxic to the core

20

"One drop of poison in a glass of water"

by stuckinarut2 in

time to revive this well known, and often used jw illustration!.

"if you are in desperate need of a drink of water, and the glass in front of you is 99% clean, but contains just 1% poison, would you drink it??".

how often we heard this trotted out from the platform.. recently though, i have heard many examples of still-in jws sharing their observations about things that don't seem quite right with the current activities, direction and culture of the organization.

OrphanCrow

"If you are in desperate need of a drink of water, and the glass in front of you is 99% clean, but contains just 1% poison, would you drink it??"

*sigh* Yet another one of those silly JW "illustrations" that has no grounding in reality.

The Story of Coumadin
By: Jeff Guillory, RN, MSN, CFNP

Coumadin is one of those drugs which are frequently considered poisons more than
medicines. It is common to hear the word Coumadin in the same sentence with “rat
poison.” This is because, it’s true. Coumadin is the brand name for the drug “warfarin.”
This is the story of warfarin and how it came from killing cows to becoming the most
widely used rat killer in the world, to being one of our greatest drugs used in certain
patients for the prevention of strokes.

If there are JWs who are prescribed Warfarin (and there is likely lots - it is a fairly common drug now), they already consume "a drop of poison" every day.

*a little piece of trivia...Dwight Eisenhower, the American president with Bible Student/JW background, was instrumental in bringing this drug to market (from the above link):

Coumadin (warfarin) was not used frequently until 1955 when President Dwight D.
Eisenhower had a heart attack while on vacation at his in-laws' house in Denver.
Coumadin was used to prevent clots from forming in President Eisenhower’s damaged
and weakened heart. Eisenhower's long term treatment included Coumadin 35 mg per
week. Since then, it has been one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the United
States.

And then there is arsenic:

Arsenic is a trace element. It is found in several foods including seafood, poultry, grains (especially rice), bread, cereal products, mushrooms, and dairy products. Some forms of arsenic are used as medicine.
Despite serious safety concerns, arsenic is often used as a part of extremely diluted homeopathic remedies that are used for digestive disorders, food poisoning, sleep problems (insomnia), allergies, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Arsenic is also contained in traditional Chinese medicine formulas and used for psoriasis; syphilis; asthma; joint pain (rheumatism); hemorrhoids; cough; itchiness; cancer; to reduce swelling (as an anti-inflammatory agent); and as a general tonic and pain-killer.
Healthcare providers sometimes give arsenic trioxide intravenously (by IV) to treat a type of bloodcancer called acute promyelocytic leukemia. This arsenic product is available by prescription only.
Natural medicines can be contaminated with arsenic and may produce symptoms of poisoning when consumed in large amounts or for extended periods of time. Cases of arsenic poisoning have been reported with homeopathic arsenic products and with kelp supplements. High arsenic levels have been reported in people who consume raw opium for long periods of time. Measurable levels of arsenic may be found in some calciumsupplements made from algae or shells. A study of 251 herbal products sold in the US detected arsenic in 36 (14%) of them.

I think it was an arsenic preparation that was used to try to treat Bethany Hughes, the young JW girl from Canada who made the news several years ago. That treatment was arranged by the illustrious HLC crew. And she died.

So, to answer that stupid question from a JW if you would drink a drop of poison, I guess the answer would be "Oh yeah. It will be okay if the HLC arranges it."