blondie

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Posts by blondie

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  38

  Would You Stop Buying A Product Because of Political Differences?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  would you stop buying nike products because you didn’t like their politics?

  conversely, would you give business to a company because you liked their political stand on a matter?

  would you stop watching an entertainer because you disagree with their political perspectives?

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  blondie

  Not much, otherwise I would probably not have anywhere to shop. I try to buy from US companies when I can. I pay taxes that are used to support government ventures I don't personally support. Instead, I vote for people who support my ideas.
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  19

  Publisher numbers versus baptised witnesses.

  by amandm in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i grew up as a witness, and left about 10 years ago, i'm currently researching witness numbers for a project i'm working on, and i can't seem to get an accurate number of baptised witnesses - hardly a surprise!

  from their website it looks like they list the number of publishers instead of the number of baptised witnesses, so it totally works to obscure how many actual witnesses there are, apart from the fact it's morally dubious to class a publisher as a minister of god as they refer to publishers on their uk section of the site.

  i also am trying to work out how many leave every year, even approximate figures would be great, from their own website it just looks like they try to massage figures to make them look as favourable as possible.

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  blondie

  Also regarding the use of the word publisher: I will add that there are quite a few words used by the WTS that are awkward in today's English and can be traced back to the vocabulary of the first years of Russell/Rutherford and the bibles commonly used then. (The first volume of the NWT was printed and available for use in 1950, additional volumes coming about until 1961 when the whole NWT was available).
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  9

  14 kids from the same old congregation

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this week, while talking with some old friends, i realized that there were at least 14 kids from a congregation in which i grew up that all left the jws.

  that is, 30 to 35 years ago, there were at least 14 kids going to the hall that were of the same “generation” (5 to 13 years old).

  in the last 30 years, they have all left “the truth”.

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  blondie

  In my 60's, it is amazing how many jws only ten years younger have died. The generation above me is almost all gone. I am part of the 1975 generation and those born in that year are approaching 40. If we assume they had to be 10 to understand any of 1975, they would be approaching 50. Soon few will be alive to remember the old doctrines that have changed and a time when a date was set. The last real date before 1975 was 1925 and I had never heard about it until I started researching and reading old books prior to 1945.

  So many of my generation are living their lives out in a bottle. Many are divorced or would be if it weren't so expensive, disappointing the kids, etc.

  I get a little feedback on some of my closer circle. Divorces, early deaths, children not jws, grandchildren not jws, inactive due to cruelty in the congregation, etc. Whereas, jws I knew that have gotten out, are happier, living their present lives not putting them on hold for a non-existent future.

  I hope some of the others wake up. But I am not responsible for them, just my own decisions.
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  18

  1914 Was Originally Just 40 Years Past the End Date of 1874, That's All it Was!

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you don't need to understand complicated ways to go from 607bce to 1914ce.

  you don't have to go back to the late 1700's to understand the founding of jehovah's witnesses on the back of william miller's teachings.

  you just need to know that watchtower math and past doctrines along with changes in teachings are all based on lies.

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  blondie

  The WT Proclaimers book said the following which brought out new dates I knew nothing about.

  https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101993039#h=67:0-67:669
  

  Using Bible chronology that had first been laid out by Christopher Bowen of England, they thought that 6,000 years of human history had ended in 1873, that thereafter they were in the seventh thousand-year period of human history, and that they had surely approached the dawn of the foretold Millennium. The series of books known as Millennial Dawn (and later called Studies in the Scriptures), which were penned by C. T. Russell, drew attention to the implications of this according to what the Bible Students understood from the Scriptures.

  Something else that was seen as a possible time indicator involved the arrangement that God instituted in ancient Israel for a Jubilee, a year of release, every 50th year. This came after a series of seven 7-year periods, each of which ended with a sabbath year. During the Jubilee year, Hebrew slaves were freed and hereditary land possessions that had been sold were restored. (Lev. 25:8-10) Calculations based on this cycle of years led to the conclusion that perhaps a greater Jubilee for all the earth had begun in the autumn of 1874, that evidently the Lord had returned in that year and was invisibly present, and that “the times of restitution of all things” had arrived.—Acts 3:19-21, KJ.

  Based on the premise that events of the first century might find parallels in related events later, they also concluded that if Jesus’ baptism and anointing in the autumn of 29 C.E. paralleled the beginning of an invisible presence in 1874, then his riding into Jerusalem as King in the spring of 33 C.E. would point to the spring of 1878 as the time when he would assume his power as heavenly King.* They also thought they would be given their heavenly reward at that time. When that did not occur, they concluded that since Jesus’ anointed followers were to share with him in the Kingdom, the resurrection to spirit life of those already sleeping in death began then. It was also reasoned that the end of God’s special favor to natural Israel down to 36 C.E. might point to 1881 as the time when the special opportunity to become part of spiritual Israel would close.*
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  19

  Publisher numbers versus baptised witnesses.

  by amandm in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i grew up as a witness, and left about 10 years ago, i'm currently researching witness numbers for a project i'm working on, and i can't seem to get an accurate number of baptised witnesses - hardly a surprise!

  from their website it looks like they list the number of publishers instead of the number of baptised witnesses, so it totally works to obscure how many actual witnesses there are, apart from the fact it's morally dubious to class a publisher as a minister of god as they refer to publishers on their uk section of the site.

  i also am trying to work out how many leave every year, even approximate figures would be great, from their own website it just looks like they try to massage figures to make them look as favourable as possible.

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  blondie

  If you look at the KJV which is probably what Russell used, see how the word "publish" is used, not about publishing something in printed form.

  https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=publish&qs_version=KJV

  for example:

  Mark 5:20 King James Version (KJV)

  20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.

  https://av1611.com/kjbp/kjv-dictionary/publish.html

  
  

  PUB'LISH, v.t. L.publico. See Public.

  1. To discover or make known to mankind or to people in general what before was private or unknown; to divulge, as a private transaction; to promulgate or proclaim, as a law or edict. We publish a secret, by telling it to people without reserve. Laws are published by printing or by proclamation. Christ and his apostles published the glad tidings of salvation.

  Th' unwearied sun, from day to day,

  Does his Creator's power display;

  And publishes to every land

  The work of an Almighty hand.
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  69

  Don't count on witnessing Watchtower's demise anytime soon.

  by Roger Kirkpatrick in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the fact that there are pomi ex-jws who have been disfellowshiped or inactive for years who still live in constant fear of armageddon indicates that watchtower will manage to exist in one way or another for years, if not decades, to come.

  watchtower, like all other religious cults, operate on the premise that "you can fool some of the people all of the time...and that's enough!

  ".

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  blondie

  Of course, now that President Trump seems to think he is the chosen one, he might be stiff competition for the GB.
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  19

  Publisher numbers versus baptised witnesses.

  by amandm in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i grew up as a witness, and left about 10 years ago, i'm currently researching witness numbers for a project i'm working on, and i can't seem to get an accurate number of baptised witnesses - hardly a surprise!

  from their website it looks like they list the number of publishers instead of the number of baptised witnesses, so it totally works to obscure how many actual witnesses there are, apart from the fact it's morally dubious to class a publisher as a minister of god as they refer to publishers on their uk section of the site.

  i also am trying to work out how many leave every year, even approximate figures would be great, from their own website it just looks like they try to massage figures to make them look as favourable as possible.

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  blondie

  @SlappySlap

  I believe a jw is considered inactive after not turning in a time report for 6 consecutive months.
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  13

  I genuinely burst out laughing.................

  by The Fall Guy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ...when i read a reply to an email which i sent to a devout couple of jw's, showing the luxurious accommodation which "vows of poverty" jw's have been living in.. https://ibsaproperty.com.

  the reply began by apologising for their "bad french.

  " brilliant!

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  blondie

  @careful

  "vow of poverty" is a legal term that the IRS requires for the WTS to qualify as a religious non-profit avoiding paying taxes.

  https://www.irs.gov/publications/p517#en_US_2018_publink100033528
  

  If you are a member of a religious order who hasn't taken a vow of poverty, your earnings for ministerial services you perform as a member of the order are subject to SE tax. See Ministerial Services , later. However, you can request that the IRS grant you an exemption as discussed under Exemption From Self-Employment (SE) Tax , later.

  Vow of poverty.

  If you are a member of a religious order and have taken a vow of poverty, you are already exempt from paying SE tax on your earnings for ministerial services you perform as an agent of your church or its agencies. You don't need to request a separate exemption. For income tax purposes, the earnings are tax free to you. Your earnings are considered the income of the religious order.

  Services covered under FICA at the election of the order.

  However, even if you have taken a vow of poverty, the services you perform for your church or its agencies may be covered under social security. Your services are covered if your order, or an autonomous subdivision of the order, elects social security coverage for its current and future vow-of-poverty members.

  The order or subdivision elects coverage by filing Form SS-16. The election may cover certain vow-of-poverty members for a retroactive period of up to 20 calendar quarters before the quarter in which it files the certificate. If the election is made, the order or subdivision pays both the employer's and employee's share of the tax. You don't pay any of the FICA tax.

  Services performed outside the order.

  Even if you are a member of a religious order who has taken a vow of poverty and the order requires you to turn over amounts you earn, your earnings are subject to federal income tax and either SE tax or FICA tax (including estimated tax payments and/or withholding) if you:

  • Are self-employed or an employee of an organization outside your religious community; and

  • Perform work not required by, or done on behalf of, the order.

  In these cases, your income from self-employment or as an employee of that outside organization is taxable to you directly. You may, however, be able to take a charitable deduction for the amount you turn over to the order. See Pub. 526, Charitable Contributions.

  Rulings.

  Organizations and individuals may request rulings from the IRS on whether they are religious orders, or members of a religious order, respectively, for FICA tax, SE tax, and federal income tax withholding purposes. To request a ruling, follow the procedures in Revenue Procedure 2019-1. To find the revenue procedure, go to IRS.gov and type "Revenue Procedure 2019-1" in the search box.
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  6

  I have a cousin who moved to 800 Red Mills Rd, Wallkill, NY, 12589

  by rickroll in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so i know this is a dubber property but what do they do there?.

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  blondie

  @fulano

  I don't know since it was some time ago. I was told by an active jw that WT Farms no longer exists, but that might just mean it was renamed or they could be wrong.

  I know that the ones I knew liked not having to be among the maddening crowd.

  The 65 were only connected to the farm activities, not the printing. The printing part was not referred to WT Farms to differentiate it from the printing activities. But that may have been something Bethelites said. At the time I lived in that area, there were just over 1,000 Bethelites at both locations (actually Pinebush was closest, Wallkill was the post office that the WTS used).
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  26

  Article: Window for Child Victims Act sex-abuse lawsuits opens Wednesday: What it means

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://www.silive.com/news/2019/08/window-for-child-victims-act-sex-abuse-lawsuits-opens-wednesday-what-it-means.html on friday, attorney irwin zalkin held a news conference in manhattan announcing that two alleged victims, heather steele and michael ewing, will file lawsuits in state supreme court in brooklyn on wednesday.

  the lawsuits will name as defendants eight members of the governing body of the jehovah’s witnesses (jws).

  now located in tuxedo park, n.y., the jws world headquarters occupied a building with a large watchtower sign in brooklyn.

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  blondie

  APOSNT, just remember that you may also be hoping the victims have to be there for the court proceedings. I don't feel it would good to hope that they would have to be there and go through this.