i always hated suit, shirt and tie and wondered why men of all walks of life should be forced to wear these uncomfortable clothes and spend the money on them.
it should be remembered some of the worst people wear them, like creepy joe, putin, dirty corrupt frauds in business, law etc.
and of course al capone.
I own two very nice, but not extravagant, suits I bought a few years ago at Men's Wearhouse. One I wore when my sweetheart and I committed matrimony, and the other I wore when I was my son's Best Man at his wedding last year. Other than those occasions and a couple of funerals, they've remained unworn and hanging in suit bags in my closet.
I'm retired, so suits and ties are brought out only when a special occasion demands it.
original reddit post (removed).
First, I feel deeply sorry for the hurt and humiliation this debacle has caused Lloyd's wife and children and other family. They did nothing to deserve this, but they will suffer just the same. It's entirely his fault, and trying to lessen his guilt by defaming his wife and blaming the Borg just makes him look worse. What a pitiful excuse for a man...
That said, I also viscerally resent the damage he has done to the ex-JW movement. No matter how factual and truthful his prior arguments were against the Watchtower's authoritarian mind-control and money grubbing ways, he will be pointed at for years as an example of what happens to someone "who leaves the Truth™." The damage he has done to the reputation and efforts of all ex-JWs combined may exceed the good he did by exposing Watchtower's dishonest and self-serving policies about child abuse. I wonder how many more will now refuse to listen to anything an ex-JW may say. His immorality and hypocrisy will be used to discredit and undermine us all. Irrefutable facts won't matter if presented by someone even tenuously connected with him, regardless of how strenuously they disavow his actions.
And that's a damn shame.
2022-01-16 covid test kits.
click image to make it larger.. .
https://postimg.cc/f1fddpry.
I can hear it now...
"Jehovah's organization has lovingly arranged to provide these kits to help you and your family stay healthy and active in serving Kingdom interests. There is a suggested donation of what you would have paid for these kits if you bought them yourself. May we count on you to honor Jehovah with your unrighteous riches?"
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/20/us/california-earthquake/index.html.
Is Flipper himself on Facebook? I’d love to reestablish contact with him. I always enjoyed his posts. Maybe one day this covid thing will blow over and my wife and I can join the gang at one of his famous Apostafests. 😎
brianna bolden-hardge, a mother of two, a devout jw and a career california civil servant, sues the office of the state controller which revoked a job offer after she objected to swearing a loyalty oath, even though three other state agencies she worked for "either did not insist on the oath or provided her a religious accommodation to it" (by allowing to submit a clarifying statement).
she sued, and the case was dismissed by a district court.
now it's heard by the ninth circuit.
brianna bolden-hardge, a mother of two, a devout jw and a career california civil servant, sues the office of the state controller which revoked a job offer after she objected to swearing a loyalty oath, even though three other state agencies she worked for "either did not insist on the oath or provided her a religious accommodation to it" (by allowing to submit a clarifying statement).
she sued, and the case was dismissed by a district court.
now it's heard by the ninth circuit.
There is also this, from the July 22, 1975 Awake!
"A citizen of the United States of America who desires to travel abroad will find the following oath on a passport application: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations, or purpose of evasion: So help me God.” If an applicant finds this objectionable, he is permitted to strike this oath from the passport application, and he will not be denied the document on that basis.
A godly person also appropriately weighs matters from the standpoint of Jesus Christ’s statement: “Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” (Luke 20:25) If anything conflicts with God’s law, the Christian cannot conscientiously swear to it. Yet he might take an oath to ‘support and defend’ the provisions of the law of the land that are not out of harmony with the law of God. Enlightened nations that grant citizens freedom of worship do not require Christians to do things contrary to their Biblical beliefs and obligations to Almighty God.
But how might a Christian ‘support and defend’ the law or the Constitution of a land granting religious liberty? By engaging only in proper and legal conduct that also harmonizes with the law of God. He can also do this by his spoken word, including the giving of truthful testimony in a court of law. No one can reasonably object to a Christian’s swearing to do something that God expects him to do, and relative subjection to governmental authorities is required of Christ’s followers.—Rom. 13:1."
Marvin Shilmer used to have an excellent blog, but I can't find it online now. Does anyone know if he's still around? One of his blog posts had an article on this very subject, and included a pic of Knorr's signature on the passport application oath page. So there's that.
I think the lady in California, as sincere and well-meaning as she may be, made a big deal out of nothing. According to the Society's written material, and the example of its leaders, she could have signed the oath without violating the official tenets of her faith.
brianna bolden-hardge, a mother of two, a devout jw and a career california civil servant, sues the office of the state controller which revoked a job offer after she objected to swearing a loyalty oath, even though three other state agencies she worked for "either did not insist on the oath or provided her a religious accommodation to it" (by allowing to submit a clarifying statement).
she sued, and the case was dismissed by a district court.
now it's heard by the ninth circuit.
In other news, it is a known fact that Judge Rutherford and Nathan Knorr, and probably many other Bethel heavies, signed a very similar oath in order to get a passport. I believe I've even seen photocopies of those documents posted here on JWN. If anyone can find and repost them, I think lots of people would be interested in seeing them.
as many probably remember, in 2018-2020, multiple kingdom and assembly halls were set on fire in the state of washington, so fbi, atf, local sheriff and arson alarm foundation offered $61,000 in rewards for information leading to arrest of the arsonist.
the attacks (seven arsons and one shooting) included:.
march 19, 2018: two arson attacks - one at a tumwater kingdom hall and the second at a kingdom hall on cain road in olympia.
Actually, I'm glad the accused perpetuator is not a disgruntled, crazed apostate. Man, the Society would have made hay with that!
This person is obviously unbalanced and needs psychiatric help. While the public must be protected, and he must be prevented from burning any more buildings, I hope he gets the help he needs.
All that said, I can certainly sympathize with his disgust and hatred for the cult that the WT has become.
I seldom give the WT credit for anything they do, but I will admit this website was very well done and will probably get their point across. My adult son, who is in the custom web services business, says they probably paid "a pretty penny" for that level of quality. It is possible that they have someone at Bethel who can do this level of work, but it's not unheard of for them to outsource particularly important jobs to "worldly" businesses. Who knows, and more importantly, who cares?
All that said, It is a good example of what a polished website can be. Too bad it will ultimately be used to lure unsuspecting people into an authoritarian cult that divides families and ruins people’s lives. They don’t tell their prospects that there is no honorable way to leave, and that you’ll lose any family who are still in if you do. Fork 'em!
tricky words .
perfectly good words go unused in writing and speaking.
their meaning isn't clear and the eye is 'tricked' by similarity to other words or sounds.. .
Pedantry is a fine pastime. It has nothing to do with kiddies.
