We can pray for the GB publicly, but not individual jws who are having challenges such as severe illness. If it is done, the COBOE has to approve it first.
Posts by blondie
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30We pray for the governing body
by StephaneLaliberte insince when has it become cool to pray for the gb?
i noticed that at the begining of my fade back in 2015, it had already been there for a good while and was already getting on my nerves.
i means, i grew up in it, but can't remember much further than the 90s and i don't remember this being always in the payers.
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question about KH finance
by peacefulpete ini've been free of the jws for many years now and have a question about kh finance.. 1. is it true that all khs belong to the wt now?
2. when remodeling is done who pays for it?.
3. how are utilities paid?
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blondie
As to who "owns" the KHs, assembly halls, etc., in the US, a religious non-profit does not "own" property but administers the funds and property. No individual owns it either, whether in the head organization or the local organization. Trustees (3 elders) from the congregation in which the KH and property is in, administer local requirements as to title and taxes. The WTS as the parent non-profit only can at their discretion dissolve any congregation and dispose of funds and properties putting it back into the main funds.
As far as the utilities, I have never know the WTS to pay them then reimburse the congregation. The congregation is responsible for paying these bills in a timely fashion. If 2 or more share the same building, a maintenance committee is formed with an elder from each congregation serving as the "maintenace" overseer and coordinating how the utility bills will be paid. Using split evenly, but sometimes a smaller congregation (Spanish for example) may pay less or not at all at the discretion of the other congregation(s).
The WTS still has to approve all remodeling and building of new KHs. Of course, basic maintenance does not fall under that.
I only know what my husband says he knows from his years as an accounts servant.
Hopefully, someone else will simplify the info in the documents Atlantis has provided. The legalese is so complicated I wonder how any elder could decipher it.
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The urgent, lifesaving work of Jehovah's witnesses......hardly!!
by RayoFlight2014 insince june 2016 i have kept a journal of my encounters with jehovah's witnesses at my door or in my street.
i'm a a nosey bastard and a bit of a home body when i'm not at work so i don't miss much of who comes past my home or knocks at the door.. will and dill.. they came to my door on a wednesday morning around 10:30am mid june 2016, i was on afternoon shift and had been reading bart ehrman "misquoting jesus".. what follows is the conversation as best i could recount after they left;.
of the two young gentlemen, dillon, the younger in appearance introduced will and himself, he then proceeded to present me with a brochure about world conditions supposedly getting worse.. me: i could stand at the door nodding in agreement if you like?
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blondie
A motto that defines jw reaction when confronted with facts that don't fit their world view from the WTS.:
Don't confuse me with the facts.
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Caleb and Sophia with different names
by neat blue dog inin one country they're david and sophie.
in another they're petra and olena.
i just chanced across this recently.
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How do you get Leah Remini Show on Jehovah Witnesses?
by The Bethelite ini've gone to the a&e channel with no luck.
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32
District convention to be held in assembly hall instead of stadium
by NikL inlast night they announced that this summers district convention will be held at an assembly hall.. this is the first time i've seen this happen.
there are a couple of congregations in the same hall here and they aren't going to the same ones.
they are having multiple dates.. the hall they are going to use can only hold 1500 people max.. just wondering if maybe they just couldnt get anything bigger this year or if the falling numbers are playing a part in this decision.
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blondie
I was expecting this. It is cheaper to use your own facility, handle smaller crowds, plus not so many speakers are needed with the videos. Also, the admins/workers in a circuit or a couple of circuits are used to the routine, plus jws don't have to travel as far or use hotels/motels.
And the assembly halls to stand empty when circuit assemblies/special days are being held.
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Caleb and Sophia with different names
by neat blue dog inin one country they're david and sophie.
in another they're petra and olena.
i just chanced across this recently.
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blondie
I know that the WTS has and probably still does use different pictures on the cover reflecting the skin color of the local people. Not wanting to offend anyone at the door with a person of different background than the seemingly prevailing one in their area.
I learned this through 2 behind the scene tours of the writing/publishing area.
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Psychological Changes in the Vocabulary of the WTS
by blondie inpsychological changes in the vocabulary of the wts.
i have been reading the publications of the wts since i was 6, 60 years now.
we were too poor to have more than one subscription for each magazine so i had to wait until my mother had read it (she let them pile up).
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blondie
@Diogenesister
Yes, that was my thinking on the day I quietly left the circuit assembly mid morning on a Sunday. I told my husband I was going to sit in the car waiting until he was ready to go home.
He waited until the break, gathered up our stuff, and then we went home.
He still had to make a quiet fade, but 6 weeks later he came home and told me that was that last jw event he would ever attend.
Twenty years later, that is still true, and will be until each of us passes on to whatever lies beyond if it exists.
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51
FAKE-NEWS.JW.ORG
by lastmanstanding inthe current “news” on jw.borg.
https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/.
look closely at he picture of “russian” police breaking in to what appears to be a utility shed.. first, you’d have to be a complete moron to believe anything you see.. the “police” are shown using a garden pic to open a door.
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blondie
When I was still attending assemblies/conventions, I noticed a change in vocabulary:
re-enactments
rather than
demonstrations
I asked the CO, what was the difference
"Reenactments of faithful servants observing the Memorial in the first-century congregation; in the late 1800’s; in a Nazi concentration camp; and in our day in a modest, open-sided Kingdom Hall in a South American country with a warm climate."
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2019245?q=reenactments&p=par
He said that the people in the re-enactment were not the original people in the account or even were a real family or situation.
For example: An example of a family bible study might be shown on stage; The father and mother might be married to each other, but the children were not their own children, in fact the parents might not even have children of their own. The children would have to be exemplary in the congregation, and fit the cast required for what was being shown as an example of how to conduct a family study. Evidently, there was no family group that was exemplary that fit the cast required by the WTS for the convention. So it was re-enacted.
Perhaps the example wasn't even one found in any congregation, just what an ideal situation could be.
But...except for the jws familiar with the background of the people in the re-enactment, other jws would think it was a real family showing how they handled their family bible study.
Why would I be surprised that the WTS devises re-enactments and takes photos and forgets to mention that this is just a staged situation.
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Motivations for Watchtower leadership
by GetMeOutofHere ini’ve struggled for some time with this question.
why would the elders, cos, branch committee, helpers to gb and the gb themselves devote their lives to progressing in the organization, if the whole thing is one big sham?
i have 3 ideas so far.. 1) money.
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blondie
I would for those who have not read Ray Franz' books in their entirety, that he did not choose to leave the WTS. First, he was a true believer when was asked to leave NYC Bethel. He and his wife, Cynthia, re-established in a congregation near Gadsen, AL through the assist from an elder he was close friends with, housing and a job. Ray left at 60 and had to work to put in the 40 credits required by the US government to apply for Social Security and Medicare.
You qualify for Social Security by compiling credits when you pay Social Security tax on your earnings. You can earn up to four credits per year. Workers qualify for Social Security retirement benefits when they reach 40 lifetime credits. ... You become eligible to collect Social Security retirement benefits at age 62. Ray would have been eligible for Medicare at 65.
Ray and Cynthia had neither been reproved privately or disfellowshipped but had a good standing in that congregation. Some jws after learning the details about the incidents at Bethel at that time, (that's a another story that can't be told briefly here), and decided that the WTS did not have the truth. The elder that had helped Ray and Cynthia, disassociated himself. At that time, it was not a disfellowshipping offense to associate with jws who did that. But it gave the WTS a way to make Ray radioactive to other jws. Ray and Cynthia still associated with that brother and his wife (who had not disassociated and was not disfellowshipped). The WTS made a ruling retroactively making association with a disassociated jw was grounds for disfellowshipping. Thus Ray was disfellowshipped. But not Cynthia, Ray's wife (in fact she never was down to the day she died.)
Ray never formed or thought of forming a religious group about himself. But he did study the Bible with a small group of ex-jws, jws in good standing (some elders), and jws who left to join other religions. Those that attended varied, some came every time, some occasionally; it was a rotating group, none considered "members." He did not present his personal choices as those to be followed by others. They merely read from various translations of the Bible, one chapter at a time by each person in the group. Everyone had a chance to express what they learned from that scripture, not presenting it as the only possible viewpoint. No arguments or presentation of any religious doctrines. Ray was a "hang-them-by-their own words" kind of guy. In his books,he would present the facts he knew and the supporting information about WTS history and policies and how he saw that they contradicted the Bible, especially the Gospels contain Jesus' words as recorded by others.
Now I am sure not all agree with Ray's personal choices, but his books give jws and ex-jws a closer look at the inner workings of the WTS. He told me once that he read other non-jw books about religious history by other people who come to the conclusion that the religion they had associated with for many years and had a responsible position could no longer be an organization that could be part of, that worshipping God in an organized/organizational manner corrupted Jesus' intent for his followers. Ray saw the wisdom in that.
The book, A Question of Conscience, by Charles Davis.
https://www.amazon.com/question-conscience-Charles-Davis/dp/B0007JKMHU
While this tends to be quite a scholarly book, the basic idea is that when a religious group gets large and starts "organizing" they lose the basic teachings of Christ.
Now I understand that many ex-jws no longer self-identify as Christians, but I am discussing how Ray and Cynthia felt, and how Charles Davis felt. Was that an individual could read the Bible and be able to come to conclusions how to live their lives.
So, do I believe that many if not all on the GB are true believers, based on what I learned directly from Ray and other GB members I have met and talked with over the past 50 years.
They have too much of their lives, time, and energy invested in this. They may feel cognitive dissonance, but like many other jws push that aside and are also reconditioned at the meetings, conventions, and other occasions.
Perhaps some of you have elderly jw parents that are still true believers despite what you have shared with them or they might have seen and pushed aside.
As some on here have said over and over, it is a cult.
Blondie