Posts by OrphanCrow

8

Celebrating China's Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year).

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

late yesterday there was a phone call from an old friend who i had not seen for some 5 years.

let's go out to dinner to celebrate the spring festival.

i should explain that my friend had just arrived that morning from china, had slept for a few hours and then called me.

OrphanCrow

Thanks for sharing FTS. That Wushu performance was spectacular. My daughter has a black belt in Wushu. It takes tremendous physical discipline.

Happy New Year!

40

Is Russia "right" about presecuting Jehovah's Witnesses?

by iliketreasure in

jw
friends

jehovah's witnesses are presecuted in russia.

on par with the is and other terroristic groups.

it happened when the anti-extremism laws were extended to non-violent groups.. i don't believe that russia actually cares for the well-being of their citizens with this move and probably merely a law to stop other political forces (and the jws are one in a way, since their gather authority over large groups of people and also have their own political and judicial institutiona), but are they right about it anyway?.

OrphanCrow

I just gotta say...for a "politically neutral" organization, the WT/org sure knows how to make their existence into a political one. And the response to their behavior doesn't promote religious conversations - it promotes political conversations.

And Corney...the pamphlet distribution is only a small part of the WT's behavior. I only mentioned it to show the WT's ignorance towards their members. Just like in the past, they will hang out the innocents to dry while the org reaps the rewards.

The org was taxed in Russia ( they claim that they paid tax on the Admin Center) and they, along with every other religion in Russia, was restricted on evangelizing. Which they ignored. Putting restrictions on the JWs just doesn't work. They ignore everything and anything that they want to and then cry foul when things don't go the way they want it to. And what the org wanted in Russia was real estate. They have lost that now.

40

Is Russia "right" about presecuting Jehovah's Witnesses?

by iliketreasure in

jw
friends

jehovah's witnesses are presecuted in russia.

on par with the is and other terroristic groups.

it happened when the anti-extremism laws were extended to non-violent groups.. i don't believe that russia actually cares for the well-being of their citizens with this move and probably merely a law to stop other political forces (and the jws are one in a way, since their gather authority over large groups of people and also have their own political and judicial institutiona), but are they right about it anyway?.

OrphanCrow

Steel: Freedom of speech isn't freedom to yell fire in a crowded theatre. The WTS is built on insulting, annoying and slandering every other Christian denomination and destroying lives and families in the process.

The org has been poking the bear for a long time now. Sometime back in the late 90s, leading up to the Moscow hearings in 2000 or so, the Russian JWs were directed to engage in a blitz distributing pamphlets that were highly critical of the Russian government.

They poke the bear, the bear swipes back, and they scream "persecution!"

*I can't find a link to the pamphlet that was distributed...it was the same old stuff..

"We are the special ones who God likes and all who oppose us are going to get killed"

9

The Photo-drama of Creation.

by Lost in the fog in

if anyone is interested in russell's the photo-drama of creation here's a link to the text and picture slides.

.

http://www.thestudiesinthescriptures.com/pages/english/eng%20pd/eng%20pd%2001-9/engpd%201.htm .

OrphanCrow

Huh...no wonder Russell was accused of plagiarism by his critics.

This is the image from the Photodrama of Jesus in the garden:

This is the painting that Heinrich Hofmann painted circa 1890:

Related image

And....just for fun, this is the same painting in a paint-by-number format that I found years ago at a thrift store. I added the dinosaur to the top of the frame and called it "Who's My Daddy?"

9

The Photo-drama of Creation.

by Lost in the fog in

if anyone is interested in russell's the photo-drama of creation here's a link to the text and picture slides.

.

http://www.thestudiesinthescriptures.com/pages/english/eng%20pd/eng%20pd%2001-9/engpd%201.htm .

OrphanCrow

LostintheFog, Russell's Photodrama of Creation is also available for download at archive.org:

Postcards: https://archive.org/details/PhotodramaOfCreationPostcards/page/n1

Booklet: https://archive.org/details/ThePhotodramaOfCreation/page/n1

Film: https://archive.org/details/PhotodramaOfCreation (96 videos)

In April 1917, the Society/org lost its licence to show moving pictures in Ontario Canada, and thus became the very first instance of provincial movie censorship in Canada. By this time, Russell was an unpopular person with Canadian authorities - who had not allowed Russell to enter Canada in April, 1916 - and after Russell's death in 1916, the Photodrama was still shown in Canada but only for a short time.

For an account of how and why the Photodrama was censored in Canada, Gary Botting gives more detail in his book Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses (from Chapter 2, page 17):

Many of the objections voiced against the Bible Students were, like Scott’s letter, directed specifically against Russell himself, and therefore when Russell died in October 1916, much of the ammunition with which the Chief Press Censor and others had been arming themselves was effectively neutralized. Nonetheless, the charisma of Russell outlasted him, for he appeared in film in the popular Photo-Drama of Creation to audiences that were not used to seeing motion pictures: The quality of the Photo-Drama photography and sound was so good that some viewers thought C.T. Ruscell was present in person when he appeared on the screen in the opening scene to introduce the presentation. The mixed media production, released initially in 1914, was one of the most prescient and effective preaching techniques used by the Bible Students at the time-an eight-hour event combining cinematography, slides and cartoons, in colour, with a parallel sound-track incorporating music and narration on separate phonograph records. The Photo-Drama was shown from coast to coast, from Halifax to Victoria. In Hamilton, it was presented for three weeks to full houses at the Grand Opera House. Thousands of Canadians saw it. Yet at the local level, there were rumblings of discontent that the Bible Students could show moving pictures on a Sunday. The clergy in particular complained that the Bible Students, by showing the Photo-Drama on Sundays, often drew curious parishioners away from their regular church services. The Guelph Town Council passed a by-law specifically aimed at the PhotoDrama which stated that “no moving pictures be allowed to be shown on Sunday, except for war purposes.” But the theatre manager had a provincial licence that allowed him to show film on Sunday, and the mayor and Town Council were forced to back down. Russell had been replaced as president of the Watch Tower Society by an equally dynamic leader, J.F. Rutherford, who in April 1917 gave a stirring speech in the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto urging Christians not to take up arms. In response, the Provincial Treasurer of Ontario, T.W. McGarry, cancelled the organization’s moving-picture licence, thereby curtailing the Bible Student presentations of the PhotoDrama in Ontario. It was the first example of provincial censorship of movies to be experienced in Canada.

27

Infiltrated Elders?

by john.prestor in

so i'm watching john cedars commentary on the annual meeting from this last october, and at one point he shows a clip of garrett loesch talking about the struggles jehovah's witnesses faced decades before in the soviet union.

he claimed that police officers, maybe the kgb, infiltrated congregations which met in secret by studying with jehovah's witnesses, getting baptized, and then working their way up to becoming elders.

ceders jokes that this shows what kind of role holy spirit actually plays within body of elders, but another interpretation came to my mind just now.

OrphanCrow

DoC: they were easily seen as a threat or "subversive" to the interests of the Nation. I would imagine J Edgar would have a curiosity about the "Inside" workings of the rebel group.

Oh yes. The CIA has documents that attest to how they use(d?) Jehovah's Witness affiliation as a basis for background investigation:

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP87B00858R000500800008-5.pdf

27

Infiltrated Elders?

by john.prestor in

so i'm watching john cedars commentary on the annual meeting from this last october, and at one point he shows a clip of garrett loesch talking about the struggles jehovah's witnesses faced decades before in the soviet union.

he claimed that police officers, maybe the kgb, infiltrated congregations which met in secret by studying with jehovah's witnesses, getting baptized, and then working their way up to becoming elders.

ceders jokes that this shows what kind of role holy spirit actually plays within body of elders, but another interpretation came to my mind just now.

OrphanCrow

You are welcome, DoC.

For more, this book has quite a bit about infiltration in the JW communities in the Soviet era:

Dissent on the Margins: How Soviet Jehovah's Witnesses Defied Communism

Starting on page 91, A Schism Among the Faithful documents much of that activity

27

Infiltrated Elders?

by john.prestor in

so i'm watching john cedars commentary on the annual meeting from this last october, and at one point he shows a clip of garrett loesch talking about the struggles jehovah's witnesses faced decades before in the soviet union.

he claimed that police officers, maybe the kgb, infiltrated congregations which met in secret by studying with jehovah's witnesses, getting baptized, and then working their way up to becoming elders.

ceders jokes that this shows what kind of role holy spirit actually plays within body of elders, but another interpretation came to my mind just now.

OrphanCrow

john.prestor: Does anyone know of any proof whatsoever that something like this happened anywhere in the world within this organization?

For what it is worth, a released document from the CIA claims that the JWs in Greece were infiltrated by members of the KKE (Communist Party of Greece). Apparently the document was released in 1978 and it concerns events that happened post-WW2 in 1948:

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R002100830008-3.pdf

46

May 2019 Watchtower doubles down on the "Two Witness Rule" !

by stuckinarut2 in

this is simply disturbing and infuriating!.

the may 2019 wt has defiantly and arrogantly been released by the gb, and it is full of their disgusting excuses for not complying with authorities!.

(i have seen and read all the articles, but cant work out how to upload a link here - perhaps someone can assist?).

OrphanCrow

What I noticed about this latest offering by the great ones is that the advice they offer on how to "help" the victims is woefully inadequate.

"Offer comfort" by reading bible verses and "listening" and...well...just doing things that are condescending in nature reveals how little the GB/org knows about psychological counselling and the dynamics of how to help a victim. A victim doesn't need to be told to "put their tears in a skin bag" at the same time that somebody drops off cookies for them.

A victim needs to be given the tools that will allow them to gain their power back and there is nothing within the cult that empowers anyone, let alone the victim of sexual abuse.

85

''Special Letter'' to be Read In Canada Week of Feb 3,2019

by Beth Sarim in

i have just been informed that there is a 'special letter' to be read at the meetings week of feb 3,2019 in canada.

anybody heard of this!!

just a heads-up!

OrphanCrow

Rubadub: congregations in Saskatchewan will be reassigned to Alberta

Hahahaha!

And they will call it the Wall merger. (That's Brad ...not the wall)

* Oh... I forgot...all meetings will now be conducted in Chinese