Posts by Terry

27

"Somebody" needs to do "Something!"

by Terry in

jw
friends

it's always unjustifiable for a country to attack another country without having first been attacked itself.. the nuremberg trials at the end of wwii made this clear.. more vividly too: following orders as a patriotic duty is never secondary to the pangs of your personal conscience.. .

worst of all, hypocrisy destroys credibility when you.

criticize other countries for doing what you have done.. .

Terry

JHine: Conscience only comes into play when it's other folks troops that we are talking about.

_______
When I was 20 years old my "conscience" was hijacked by Watchtower leaders working through local congregation leaders who took me aside in the Kingdom Hall library for a confidential conference concerning the proper strategy for dealing with Military conscription and Conscientious Objector deferral.
1. I could not / should not ever tell anyone in authority that I had been "advised" by Watchtower to comply or refuse to comply with the Universal Military Training and Service requirements as a citizen of the U.S.
2. I was to insist I was an individual whose personal conscience was directing my actions
The Irony of this is obvious.
Lying is righteous if you protect Watchtower leaders. Theocratic "strategy" is parroting what you are told and omitting the source of your instruction.

The worst part of this is as follows.
Jehovah's Witness boys were NOT required by law to serve in the Military because of a generous provision of ALTERNATE SERVICE available.
Romans 13: 1,2 set the Bible standard for compliance with Superior Authorities.
The insidiously hidden secret instructions defied Romans 13 by a SECONDARY REFUSAL of that Alternate Service as well.
I was sentenced in District Court to an Indeterminate sentence (up to 6 years) and I went to prison from 1967 to 1969 when the LAW only required that I serve the same amount of time working in a hospital on behalf of the community.
Double Refusal when compliance with the law only required singular refusal was NOT MY CONSCIENCE but the Watchtower's undue influence and coercion by hijack.
_____
After parole, I gave a Public Talk on a Sunday before the Watchtower Study.
The title was something like SHOULD YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE?
The outline for the talk reasoned this way:
1. Only a Bible-trained conscience is reliable
2. Only the FDS/GB is able to interpret what the Bible really teaches
3. Conscience = WT doctrine.

The United States leaders operate under a false idea of conscience and morality about themselves and Good and Evil concepts are invoked to control a narrative (backed up by Media) that we are Leaders of the Free World duty-bound to rush to the aid of any people with a democratic impulse
to self-govern.
That is surface propaganda.
In reality, we have subverted democratic elections all over the world and installed our own puppet leaders while hypocritically spouting Conscience nonsense (not unlike the Watchtower).

Sending our children to die for disguised political and economic interests is an open secret.
Who doesn't do that?
25% of the American Public answered poll questions saying they favor a NO FLY ZONE over Ukraine. Shooting down Russian jets, in other words.
Is this anything but madness leading to nuclear confrontation?
News outlets are pretty much bought off by $$ from Corporate interests. Advertising money has dried up and only Sugar Daddy money keeps Media alive.

So?
Our futures are in the hands of Oligarchs. What is profitable to THEM is what dictates policies.
Putin was installed by Oligarchs. U.S. sanctions have driven Putin into monetary alignment with China subverting the American petro dollar.
Oil and Gas prices are up up and away as Russian resources will now be sold to China. Europe will pay, pay, pay through the nose for energy.
Gas Prices everyplace may exceed our wildest imaginings.

Remember this: when we vote we always vote for the Lesser of Two Evils and logically speaking the result is incompetent evil runs the show.
Leaders in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. are truly clowns. Russia and China are run by
tyrant-o-saurs with an iron grip on vast populations.

I don't know about you, but I'm not at all worried. Why not? World happenings are all out of my hands.
Worry is a dividend paid to disaster before it ever occurs.

I have simplified my life down to bare essentials. That's about all I can do.

15

WATCHTOWER extracts 104 million from Trust in U.K. Plan to ditch Kingdom Halls at play??

by Terry in

{brother ?, a copy of this is being passed around here in bristol, kent, london, etc.

to “certain” elders by way of heads up.

feel free to ignore it or investigate it.

Terry

A thing that "must be done or else" is a test of competence, commitment, oversight (i.e. leadership).
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.
As far as Watchtower is concerned, there goes the ballgame right there!

Very poor leadership at the top means very poor performance at the bottom.
GREAT LEADERS produce more great leaders.
BAD LEADERS produce only followers.

15

WATCHTOWER extracts 104 million from Trust in U.K. Plan to ditch Kingdom Halls at play??

by Terry in

{brother ?, a copy of this is being passed around here in bristol, kent, london, etc.

to “certain” elders by way of heads up.

feel free to ignore it or investigate it.

Terry

{Brother ?, a copy of this is being passed around here in Bristol, Kent, London, etc. to “certain” Elders by way of Heads Up. Feel free to ignore it or investigate it.}
Do not pass it on to any of the Friends who might be stumbled.
Do NOT allow any suspected apostates to get hold of this, of course.
Let us hope this is all hysteria and things will be back to normal soon.
G.L. Bristol

In the United Kingdom England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all Kingdom Hall are individually registered as a separate “charity” with the Charity Commission.

Each year, registered Kingdom Halls must surrender an annual report of accounts as a non-profit in much the same manner as any for-profit business or corporation.

Reporting is not voluntary. Expenses and expenditures, etc. must appear for the entire year.
However -
If you go online and check with the local Charity Commission under the heading TRUSTEES and list the names/location of any/all Kingdom Halls you discover:
every last one of them has breached the deadline by {as of this date} 37 days and counting.

In this past year, the Watchtower Society has required every congregation to send ALL their money to a designated KINGDOM HALL TRUST (Charities Commission).
A quick check online of that Trust reveals that $104 million has been extracted leaving individual congregations in arrears and overdue for the last 395 days.

Several Local Elders who are Trustees(speaking on the agreement of anonymity) have frantically revealed that All the Kingdom Halls are being hung out to dry and left to their own devices by the Society {local Bethel}.
[The Kingdom Hall Trust on the other hand has not missed any deadlines for reporting financial activity to the Commission.]
When a Kingdom Hall loses its designated “charity” status it becomes subject to Taxation locally and at large. Elders will become responsible and the designation of “Trustee” will be meaningless. The Society in past years has taken ownership of all the Kingdom Halls even those built without the use of loans from Watchtower. The local autonomy in communities was signed over as well along with the bank accounts.
Scuttlebutt [take it for what it’s worth] is that Watchtower will sell off ALL Kingdom Halls for cash and permanently switch all meetings to ZOOM to eliminate the possibility of any continued liability for child molestation lawsuits springing from wrongful handling at local Kingdom Halls by bad actors.

Watchtower payouts for 13 Million, 28 Million, 35 Million in penalty awards plus a host of Non-Disclosure suits settled out of court added to $4k per day for failure to comply with Court ordered subpoenas for pedophiles records from Watchtower is said to be the cause of great financial drain.
[NYTimes, National Public Radio, NBC] have separately run high-profile stories of abuse in the States whidh were not reported to authorities over many decades because of a 2 Witness loophole resulting in offenders whose abuse was committed repeatedly in secret.

The rumored “return to Kingdom Hall” meetings have recently been suspended. Pilot programs reportedly “didn’t work out” it was officially stated and have been suspended. No new date for resuming physical interaction at the Halls has not been mentioned.

_______
For Your Eyes Only

Link Below

Type on your browser: Jehovah's witnesses+trustees+"your congregation's name" :

KINGDOM HALL TRUST:

https://register-of-charities.charity...

Jehovah’s Witnesses now participating in the National Redress Scheme

10 September 2021

Jehovah’s Witnesses has now joined the National Redress Scheme allowing survivors of this institution to have their applications progressed.

In addition to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a further 33 institutions are joining the Scheme including Tennis Australia, Ipswich Girl’s Grammar School, St John Ambulance Australia Queensland, Youth Off the Streets and Scripture Union Tasmania. This announcement means that, in total, 37 applications can be progressed.

Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston welcomed the commitment from the latest group of institutions to join the Scheme, many of which had not been named in an application.

"The Morrison Government has been absolutely clear that we expect institutions which have been named by a survivor in an application to join the National Redress Scheme,” Minister Ruston said.

“It is clear that the powerful financial, reputational and legislative levers the Commonwealth has used have been successful at ensuring institutions understand and recognise their moral obligation to survivors.

“We are also working hard to make sure that every institution with a history of working with young people joins the Scheme no matter when a survivor comes forward to access redress through the Scheme.”

Minister Ruston reminded institutions that when the Scheme received an application, that institution then has six months to join the Scheme.

“Any institution which fails to participate will be named and shamed, become ineligible for Commonwealth grants and risk being stripped of their charitable status and, therefore, lose associated tax concessions,” Minister Ruston said.

To date, the Commonwealth, all state and territory governments and 526 non-government institutions across Australia are participating in the Scheme.

As at 3 September 2021, the Scheme has received 11,835 applications. In total 6,208 payments have been made totalling more than $529.3 million.

Further information about the National Redress Scheme is available on the website: www.nationalredress.gov.au

27

"Somebody" needs to do "Something!"

by Terry in

jw
friends

it's always unjustifiable for a country to attack another country without having first been attacked itself.. the nuremberg trials at the end of wwii made this clear.. more vividly too: following orders as a patriotic duty is never secondary to the pangs of your personal conscience.. .

worst of all, hypocrisy destroys credibility when you.

criticize other countries for doing what you have done.. .

Terry

I have no special insight into Kuwait but this article raised a few "sucker punch" suspicions worth listening to.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2011/01/05/did-the-us-really-give-saddam-fake-ok-to-invade-kuwait/

27

"Somebody" needs to do "Something!"

by Terry in

jw
friends

it's always unjustifiable for a country to attack another country without having first been attacked itself.. the nuremberg trials at the end of wwii made this clear.. more vividly too: following orders as a patriotic duty is never secondary to the pangs of your personal conscience.. .

worst of all, hypocrisy destroys credibility when you.

criticize other countries for doing what you have done.. .

Terry

"Evil" is a problematic word with religious implications unnecessarily fraught with the loaded history of God vs Satan.
Strictly from real-world necessity and subsequent Policy standpoint, the deliberate ratcheting up of NATO encroachment - Putin has been clear about his intentions and redline tripwire.
None of what Russia has done is surprising because it follows its own template time and again.
Nicole Simpson told police officers who answered her frightened calls for help against O.J. that he would kill her one day. And yet - everybody was surprised.

1. NUCLEAR consequences must always take priority when contemplating pushback.
The "other" NATO members need their turn up at bat and the U.S. has earned a bench-warming bye.
Jibber-jabber isn't policy.

2. Oligarch vs Oligarch lurks behind every curtain.
Disruption of international banking, oil and gas flow, economic instability is EVERYTHING while human misery in Ukraine is nothing (to oligarchs).

3, The fact that Putin didn't immediately send rocket strikes into the Presidential estate demonstrates he is keeping lines open for a bullying demonstration of "Let's have that chat again."

4. Don't Tread on Me comes to mind. Give me Liberty or Give Me Death comes to mind. But those historic utterances were pre NATO. Putin is wisely (from his POV) taking advantage of weakness in leadership with Biden and the others. China is licking its lips and salivating over future action in Taiwan.

The grand stage on which this Kabuki theater is staging a "sorting out" of who gets what and for how much is now playing.

Biden cannot distract us from the fact he is the weakest President in memory. All mouth. How different is that from Putin? Well, Putin at least made a move. The old saying, "Don't ask permission; ask forgiveness" comes to mind. (Not that Putin knows how to apologize except to assent to an "adjustment" by Nato.

27

"Somebody" needs to do "Something!"

by Terry in

jw
friends

it's always unjustifiable for a country to attack another country without having first been attacked itself.. the nuremberg trials at the end of wwii made this clear.. more vividly too: following orders as a patriotic duty is never secondary to the pangs of your personal conscience.. .

worst of all, hypocrisy destroys credibility when you.

criticize other countries for doing what you have done.. .

Terry

ROME operated on the principle of NEVER STRIKE FIRST.
The Roman military sought pretext.
A vassal would cry out for protection and straightaway there was a World Power ready and able to kick ass and take names.
In modern times, the U.S. (usually with C.I.A. busy at work) creates false pretexts such as THE GULF OF TONKIN
in the days of JFK.

It is a game all "great" powers play.

27

"Somebody" needs to do "Something!"

by Terry in

jw
friends

it's always unjustifiable for a country to attack another country without having first been attacked itself.. the nuremberg trials at the end of wwii made this clear.. more vividly too: following orders as a patriotic duty is never secondary to the pangs of your personal conscience.. .

worst of all, hypocrisy destroys credibility when you.

criticize other countries for doing what you have done.. .

Terry

"SOMEBODY" needs to do something"!

IT'S ALWAYS unjustifiable for a country to attack another country without having first been attacked itself.

The Nuremberg Trials at the end of WWII made this clear.

More vividly too: following orders as a patriotic duty is never secondary to the pangs of your personal conscience.

Worst of all, HYPOCRISY destroys credibility when you

criticize other countries for doing what you have done.

Simply stated: If you've been doing "it"

you are in no moral position to condemn others for doing "it" too.

Moral Leadership?

Who is Moral Leader qualified to punish others for doing"it"?

Would a powerful hypocrite fill that role nicely?

"Let him without sin cast the first stone."

Oops. Guess not.

If a country cannot credibly invoke legal or moral principles

as justifications for military action - it should shut the hell up, hang its sorry head and step aside - so that morally fit non-hypocrites can take the lead. IF SUCH EXIST.

The United States over the last 20 years has attacked other countries that did NOT commit the first attack.

Before you shout: NINE ELEVEN! Stop.

No "country" performed that foul deed. The perpetrators died in the attack, and the mastermind was hunted down and executed.

MEDIA was used to LIE about "WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and we all know that now.

The United States invaded Afghanistan

The United States invaded Iraq

The United States engaged in drone attacks in Pakistan

The United States attacked Somalia and N. Kenya

The United States "intervened" in Libya

The United States "intervened" in Uganda

The United States "intervened" in Syria

The United States "intervened" in Yemen

Our Media is complicit in drumming up emotional consent

in the American Public for each act of moral hypocrisy in the name of Righteous Indignation.

Conclusion?

Here we go again.

The lessons we do not learn from our history have doomed us to repeat the consequences.

19

Any in-house word on Ukrainian Witnesses form HQ?

by careful in

has anyone heard any word on active witnesses inside the ukraine and what has been happening with them the last week or so?

i checked the official org website but there was just the expected "fulfilling bible prophecy" stuff.

perhaps someone here has bethel contacts who have leaked some info on what the gb is trying to do for these victims of putin's madness?.

Terry

**

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/putin-claims-russian-military-offered-safe-corridors-civilians-83229847

4

What year did the Governing Body make cannibalism acceptable?

by Terry in

yes - it is a kind of "trick" question!the subject in question is really organ transplants which the dec. 22, 1949 p.20 awake!

called"wonderful and useful" ...until ...by the magic of new light suddenly became "cannibalism" on nov. 15, 1967, watchtower pp.702-704consequently, the answer to the question" what year did the governing body make cannibalism acceptable?

"can rightly be answered as: "the year the governing body made their own definition of cannibalism acceptable was mar.

Terry

The longer you are inside this Organization the more dulled are your natural sympathies or empathy
for ordinary people. Even when a close friend in the JW community dies everybody goes about their day
confident they'll see them again.
Cold-hearted? No. Just empty-hearted.

4

What year did the Governing Body make cannibalism acceptable?

by Terry in

yes - it is a kind of "trick" question!the subject in question is really organ transplants which the dec. 22, 1949 p.20 awake!

called"wonderful and useful" ...until ...by the magic of new light suddenly became "cannibalism" on nov. 15, 1967, watchtower pp.702-704consequently, the answer to the question" what year did the governing body make cannibalism acceptable?

"can rightly be answered as: "the year the governing body made their own definition of cannibalism acceptable was mar.

Terry

What is "true" and from Jehovah (i.e. whatever the GB says) becomes no longer true when New Light appears.
Is there any better condemnation of the foundation of Watchtower's "guidance" by God?