Posts by Athanasius

6

Positive comments about JW's today, have your heard any recently?

by James Mixon in

in the 60's and 70's you would hear these comments from non- believers,.

my neighbor is a jw and they are good people, my sister is a jw and i admire their.

dedication.

Athanasius

I remember back in the 1970s co-workers would ask me: "Why do your people come by so early on Saturday morning?" I always sympathized with them because I also liked to sleep in on Saturday and hated going out in field circus.

Other than that most of their comments were neutral. After I left the JWs and changed professions the subject has never came up and I've never had reason to discuss my past religious affiliation with co-workers.

79

The really cool feeling of community within JWs

by Phaedra in

i remember going out with other jws after the memorial.. small gatherings.. picnics at some local landmark.. the feeling of closeness, camaraderie, friendship with like minded people you could trust.. haven't experienced it since i left.. really miss that..

Athanasius

My question was regarding governmental structure, and the way you phrased your post, I thought that you were referring to a particular government or nation. This aroused my curiosity as I'm interested in comparative government. It appears that you meant people and their belief or non-belief.

My mistake.

79

The really cool feeling of community within JWs

by Phaedra in

i remember going out with other jws after the memorial.. small gatherings.. picnics at some local landmark.. the feeling of closeness, camaraderie, friendship with like minded people you could trust.. haven't experienced it since i left.. really miss that..

Athanasius

Sorry, DJS, but your links still don't answer my question. I wasn't asking about what people believe or not believe and how they treat others. Or whether believers are better people than non-believers.

My question was about the secular-atheist government that you referred to. The USA is secular, but not atheist. Most western European governments are secular but hardly atheist, as some still have state churches.

So which country today has a government that you consider secular-atheist with happy people?

79

The really cool feeling of community within JWs

by Phaedra in

i remember going out with other jws after the memorial.. small gatherings.. picnics at some local landmark.. the feeling of closeness, camaraderie, friendship with like minded people you could trust.. haven't experienced it since i left.. really miss that..

Athanasius

I'll check it

79

The really cool feeling of community within JWs

by Phaedra in

i remember going out with other jws after the memorial.. small gatherings.. picnics at some local landmark.. the feeling of closeness, camaraderie, friendship with like minded people you could trust.. haven't experienced it since i left.. really miss that..

Athanasius

Hi DJS,

Interesting that you agree with the JWs that worship of the state is a religion. I know several Marxists who would take issue with you on that.

However, out of curiosity, which country today do you consider most secular and atheist in which the population is the most happy?

38

Re: New Songs for Memorial

by pixel in

to all congregations.

re: new songs for memorial.

dear brothers:.

Athanasius

I remember the old days when there was live music in the KHs. One of the sisters who played the piano at our KH was a retired night club performer. She played Honky Tonk piano, so she always jazzed up the songs a bit and made them more lively.

79

The really cool feeling of community within JWs

by Phaedra in

i remember going out with other jws after the memorial.. small gatherings.. picnics at some local landmark.. the feeling of closeness, camaraderie, friendship with like minded people you could trust.. haven't experienced it since i left.. really miss that..

Athanasius

I take it that you meant "more secular state" rather than "atheistic state," DJS.

The People's Republic of North Korea is an atheistic state, but I wouldn't want to live there and doubt that you would.

19

"Freeness of speech"

by Wonderment in

this was posted on another thread (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6040010839031808/christmas-tree-word-appreciation), but wondered about how others here would see this with one experience i had as an elder now as ex-jws.. when we were jw's we had to be extremely careful with what we said around the brotherhood.

if someone said anything out of the ordinary, relationships among the involved were halted immediately, or were never the same afterwards.

in this place, one can say almost anything without the fear of having a truck run over us.

Athanasius

Hi Wonderment,

I resigned as an elder and faded in 1984, so I don't know how they handle the public talks these days. But in the 1970s and until I resigned, I used a number of different Bible Translations in my talks, even though the NWT was supposed to be used. as I hated using the NWT. I also quoted ancient Christian sources, Josephus, and modern secular historians during the talks.

Surprisingly the elders in the different congregations I visited, never counseled me, nor was I eliminated as a traveling speaker. In fact the rank and file JWs gave me lots of compliments. But things have obviously changed since then.

14

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses Closing & Sale in Boonville, MO

by Brokeback Watchtower in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydbkxynecic

Athanasius

It's a surprise to hear that the GB is selling the Boonville KH. Back in 02 and 03 when I was doing research on Joe Rutherford I visited this congregation several times. The local JWs were very friendly and helpful. I didn't tell them that I'd left the JWs in 1984, so they thought I was just another worldly writer.

Anyway there was this elderly JW lady who told me where Rutherford's house was located, his legal office, and other interesting items. Yes, Rutherford's house and law office are still there. This lady's daughter-in-law gave me some leads as to the academy that Rutherford attended after graduating from High School.

Since this was Rutherford's old congregation, and he was the founder of the JWs, one would think that his religious heirs would keep this KH, even if it was justfor the historical and sentimental value.

12

Prediction: jw.org sign up with monthly subscription fee

by bohm in

jw
friends

the wtbs is changing media from print to online.

if we look at other companies doing the same the obvious buissness model is subscription with a monthly fee people can choose themselves.

the wtbs can continue to offer everything for free, however subscribers might earn a button for social media or somesuch ("wtbs donor").

Athanasius

Hi Jeff,

For 25 years I was the controller of a California corporation that owned a chain of bookstores. Every month I had to fill out the State sales tax report and pay California the sales tax due. The report called for total gross sales plus a breakout of the types of sales (Taxable, and non-taxable), location of sales, etc.

The Watchtower likes to keep it's financial data secret. But if they were required to pay sales taxes, they would have to report their book and magazine sales to the different States, provinces, and localities. There would be a public record of that Watchtower was making money off the sale of their publications, something the JW leaders don't want the public or the membership to know.

You are right that the Watchtower would have been wiser to have kept the fixed price for their publications and paid the sales tax like any legitimate business. Something the Watchtower is not. So to keep their financials a secret they bit the bullet and lost money.

I should mention that the prices the Watchtower was charging the JWs for their books and magazines prior to 1990, was what a for-profit printer that used union labor, would charge a secular book publisher for similar items. Plus the Watchtower had a captive audience for their publications. A secular publisher takes a risk with publishing a book. Not all books published become best sellers and many lose money.