found this website this weekend by jws who recognize there are issues within the organization and are calling for change.
this is the type of forum moderate jws needs, imho.
glad to see moderate jws are out there and are doing something.. http://www.jwreform.org/.
Actually I do remember something where LDS members did change church policy.
Within the old temple ceremony one of the acted out penalties for betraying the secret nature of the rite was to draw your hand across your throat as a symbol of slitting your throat. A lot of members complained and then it was dropped. The temple ceremony has changed in many ways (also for example there was a lot of nekkid touching in the temple that has now been droped ;) )
found this website this weekend by jws who recognize there are issues within the organization and are calling for change.
this is the type of forum moderate jws needs, imho.
glad to see moderate jws are out there and are doing something.. http://www.jwreform.org/.
There is a concept that is growing within Mormonism of 'cafeteria mormons' or 'new order mormons' - those who for whatever reason accept some of the churches teachings but not all. They seek to reform mormonism from within in various ways. I suspect the church views them as wolves in sheeps clothing.
peace, and love to you.
we are all in this together,to some, we're birds of a featherhowever, no matter what they say,we'll continue to watch, fight, and pray.
sylvia.
I am now using those pink flowers - top right - as my screen saver, I liked them so much.
i've been giving some thought to the recent development in which the judge has ruled that the society is barred from completing any property transactions until the appeal is over, which could take up to two years or even more.. i've submitted an article to randy at freeminds in which i basically argue that it is no longer in the society's interests to appeal this case.
if i correctly understand the restrictions placed on the society by the judge, then the governing body has far more to lose by appealing than they could conceivably gain.. think about it.... by appealing, they buy themselves time in which to formulate a long-term strategy for dealing with the fallout of this case, but will be barred from liquidating $1 billion in property assets at a time of global economic uncertainty when their donations are dwindling.
there is also no guarantee that their appeal will be upheld.by dropping their appeal, they take a hit and pay $23.8 million but retain the freedom to see through their real estate projects; retain their financial flexibility to respond to dwindling donations, and get to pretend to their followers (as with the un scandal) that it never happened.of course, i am only saying that dropping the appeal would be the only intelligent option for the society, assuming they are aware of how legally precarious their child abuse policies are.
Expect the cost of conventions to increase...
i thought it might be interesting and fun to have a "predictions thread", where we set out our predictions for events to unfold concerning the watch tower society (or jehovah's witnesses in general) over the coming years/decades.. it strikes me that so much has happened in the last ten years, most of which has defied expectations.
here's just a few of the developments that i can think of:.
the abolishment of group book studies in favor of a "family worship evening"the creation of a "study edition" watchtowerthe halving of monthly magazine printing commitmentsthe unprecedented closure/merging of branches (16% reduction in branches last year)the menlo park scandal, a body of elders removed for resisting a refurb of their kingdom hallthe lawsuits in victoria, australia - the society taken to court concerning child protection lawscourtroom admissions about the faithful & discreet slave and similarities with the catholic churchincreased hate speech against "mentally diseased" apostatesastonishing lapses of judgment, such as the "selma and steve" study articlethe ditching of gilead as a school for missionariesambitious construction plans for a new world hq (with or without jehovah's blessing!
I predict that the WT will destroy all records containing references to paedophile behaviour and will explain to the Elders as theocratic warfare. No records will be maintained thereafter so that no-one can prove a confession was made.
In the meantime they will modify their rules and will get new light regarding the two witness rule such that only the witness of a single man will be required.
The WT will modify its structure to move assets further from the reaches of the courts.
on a lighter note, several of us were talking about a family that had moved into our congregation and that the wife was a 4th generation dub.. i made the comment that i used to refer to myself as a 3rd generation dub but i can't do that anymore since my life over-lapped with my grandparents so i am really a 1st generation dub.. it was funny to see the strange look on several of their faces.
one even said, "wow, i have to think about that.
" another said, "well, i never really looked at it that way.".
Awesome :D
i've been giving some thought to the recent development in which the judge has ruled that the society is barred from completing any property transactions until the appeal is over, which could take up to two years or even more.. i've submitted an article to randy at freeminds in which i basically argue that it is no longer in the society's interests to appeal this case.
if i correctly understand the restrictions placed on the society by the judge, then the governing body has far more to lose by appealing than they could conceivably gain.. think about it.... by appealing, they buy themselves time in which to formulate a long-term strategy for dealing with the fallout of this case, but will be barred from liquidating $1 billion in property assets at a time of global economic uncertainty when their donations are dwindling.
there is also no guarantee that their appeal will be upheld.by dropping their appeal, they take a hit and pay $23.8 million but retain the freedom to see through their real estate projects; retain their financial flexibility to respond to dwindling donations, and get to pretend to their followers (as with the un scandal) that it never happened.of course, i am only saying that dropping the appeal would be the only intelligent option for the society, assuming they are aware of how legally precarious their child abuse policies are.
Is it all their assets or just the Brooklyn ones?
If they are really smart they will appeal to the congregations and institute tithing..
i've been giving some thought to the recent development in which the judge has ruled that the society is barred from completing any property transactions until the appeal is over, which could take up to two years or even more.. i've submitted an article to randy at freeminds in which i basically argue that it is no longer in the society's interests to appeal this case.
if i correctly understand the restrictions placed on the society by the judge, then the governing body has far more to lose by appealing than they could conceivably gain.. think about it.... by appealing, they buy themselves time in which to formulate a long-term strategy for dealing with the fallout of this case, but will be barred from liquidating $1 billion in property assets at a time of global economic uncertainty when their donations are dwindling.
there is also no guarantee that their appeal will be upheld.by dropping their appeal, they take a hit and pay $23.8 million but retain the freedom to see through their real estate projects; retain their financial flexibility to respond to dwindling donations, and get to pretend to their followers (as with the un scandal) that it never happened.of course, i am only saying that dropping the appeal would be the only intelligent option for the society, assuming they are aware of how legally precarious their child abuse policies are.
If they fight it and lose they save face with the congregations - if they give up and pay they lose internal consistency. If the JWs honestly feel that they should not be held accountable as an organisation then they should fight it. If they don't they lose far more than a mere 20 million dollars in my mind.
i was bitterly disappointed that the times only ran a dinky ap article rather than a nyt staff reporting article.
the difference is night and day.
ap articles appear to be cobbled together press releases with no context or history from a neutral source.
Is there a facebook group about this? Seems like it would be good if anyone searching for 'Jehovah's Witnesses' on facebook should be greeted with this group as an option. As long as it was simply an information page for the ongoing trial findings rather than an open group then I can imagine people woul dclick in to see what the news is?
when 'this' means 'that', 'you' means 'someone else' and 'shortly' means 'so far in the future you will be long buried and forgotten'.
"so he groaned deeply with his spirit, and said: 'why does this generation seek a sign?
truly i say, no sign will be given to this generation.
Excellent op.
