Posts by JWdaughter

60

Is The WTS Building Beth Sarim 2 ?

by metatron in

jw
friends

i continue to puzzle over the future direction the watchtower is taking.

it seems very strange.. let's review: they are selling everything off in brooklyn, raking in huge sums from that real estate and building heavily in a fairly isolated part of upstate ny.. why?.

it may be classified as a country club (legally).

JWdaughter

I was reading an article about the sell off and the fact that really, the 3000 people who are headed out of Bethel will barely be missed if indeed, missed at all. I knew they were downsizing, but I am reading that they will have 800-1000 at the new site. That is a LOT of downsizing. $200 million for the new place vs the billion+ that they are getting for Brooklyn. . . well, it does beg some inquiry about what they are doing with the rest.

I see them consolidating halls and selling a lot of them. The one I grew up with had one cong, then split when I was 8 or so and later on had 3 congregations. Now they are down to 2 again.My aunt goes to a nearby one(that could be given as a reason that they are now only 2) that had grown to have 5 congregations in it-and will be down to 3 soon with consolidations.

I know they are not growing, and I know they are putting as many cong. as they can in a building,but it seems that they are contracting faster than the uterus of a woman who just gave birth. Like a deflated balloon-so, they can keep selling halls and building newer,nicer ones in the states and making them more inconvenient as to time and location. Further decreasing the reasons to go,no matter how pretty it is. Then they empty, get sold. . . .do they even NEED the congregations to grow anymore? They have so much money, they could run an increasingly small organization on the income from the present congregations (and sales of KH's) without ever touching their capital! They could say any kind of crap (and clearly are doing so) and STILL the sheep follow them loyally. They could do this until literally the end of time, have basically NO JWs left but the ones at Warwick/Tuxedo and they could just live however they pleased and do what they pleased as the org just dwindles into further obscurity. Think "Shakers". There'sabout 3 of them left. It will take longer for the WT movement to die off entirely, but I think it is headed in the same direction as the Shakers, only with much uglier furniture.

27

Not on JW.ORG : Another Watchtower Society property closed and sold.

by Balaamsass2 in

jul 22, 2014, 2:09pm hstlongs drugs to open new store in east honolulu near aina haina shopping center enlarge photopbn filelongs drugs, which opened this store in the davies pacific center in downtown honolulu last summer, plans to open another location in east honolulu near the aina haina shopping center.. duane shimogawareporter-pacific business newsemail | google+ | twitter | linkedinlongs drugs has purchased property for $7.6 million from the jehovahs witnesses for a new store and pharmacy in east honolulu near the aina haina shopping center, the broker who represented the seller told pbn.. rhode island-based cvs caremark corp.(nyse: cvs), which owns the longs drugs chain in hawaii, and kz devco, the california-based company that serves as the drugstore chain's exclusive developer in the state of hawaii, recently pulled building permits for the 1.4-acre property at 5156 kalanianaole highway, which was at one time was home to the popular ranch house restaurant.. a cvs/longs spokesman did not immediately return a message left by pbn.. the fee-simple property, which includes a two-story, 24,200-square-foot building, the former current home to the jehovahs witnesses, and a 2,279-square-foot building, the former home to a veterinarian clinic, had been on the market since the summer of 2012.. mark bratton, vice president of investment properties for colliers international hawaii, who represented the seller, told pbn that the jehovahs witnesses sold the property because they need a smaller location closer to where their members live.. the property was one of the few fee-simple commercially-zoned properties located within the aina haina and hawaii kai neighborhoods, which has about 150,000 square feet of office space and approximately 783,000 square feet of retail space in the trade area, colliers said.. with this limited inventory of commercial-zoned properties in the area, property sales are few and far between, according to colliers, which noted that the nearby aina haina shopping center was sold in 2007, making it the last commercial property sale within that area.. cvs opened its newest hawaii longs drugs store in may in makiki, which was its first new full-service store in urban honolulu in years.. longs drugs, which has operated in hawaii since 1954, currently has 54 locations in the state.

the aina haina neighborhood has longed for a drugstore chain to open in the area.

both walgreens and longs have stores in hawaii kai about four miles away.. duane shimogawa covers energy, real estate and economic development for pacific business news.

JWdaughter

Good news! The JWs need a "smaller location". Wonder what happened to all the folks that built the property that was too big?

17

Six y.o. Indian girl raped at school by her teachers.

by fulltimestudent in

JWdaughter

Rape is underreported in India-that is a given in any country, I think. I bet that 24,000 reported is not even close to reality.

In the US, I found that these statistics are reported in Wiki (forgive me!)

90,000 rapes in 2008 and over 200,000 were victims of rape or sexual assault.

We have about 1/4 the population of India. Are we a bit too casual about the rapes reports in our own country? Just as heinous things happen here every day! What's wrong with us? What is wrong with the world that we live in? How is is that our little children, women and even men can be so victimized (in any country?)?

12

Is there a copy of any of the current GB's passports, vowing allegiance to the constitution of the USA?

by LogCon in

does the usa still require the oath of allegiance?.

have any of the current gb made such an oath?.

where or how would i find a copy?.

JWdaughter

Just filled out the papers recently, andthere is no oath of any allegience.Its moreof a disclaimer that you're not obligated to any other country, have not done anything against this one. Rather than an affirmation of loyalty to this country, it is more of a declaration that one has no conflicts involving any other government. Which I guess one could say was an issue, but. . . .not really the way it was worded. I was paying attention for just this reason. sorry, folks.

FYI, even if you don't think you travel much, get the bigger(more pages) passport as it doesn't cost a bit more than the regular, but if you suddenly become a world traveler (like I did), it is expensive to get extra pges put in a current passport. Like 100 bucks after all the fees. Especialy if you are in a hurry.

41

Speculation Fall AGM

by Poztate in

jw
friends

a lot of comments have been made about possible big changes at the agm in the fall.. comments range from changes to the blood doctrine or who compose the one hundred and forty four thousand.. my speculation is.... (and if someone else had this kind of thread i am not stealing from you..just never read it).

the door to door as we know it will cease to exist.

the publishing of a monthly public wt and awake will end.. instead each month a tract with different subjects and a redirect to jw.org will come out.

JWdaughter

I want to show up at the AGM meeting. Ya'all got me curious! I am hijab wearing Muslim, but they should not object to a modest woman in their midst, right? How do I know when they are doing here in the Clearlake/Sagemont area of Houston without getting "into" it with a local JW? I don't know any locally and can't count on a JW to stop by, much less to inform me of something like that.

Anyone with local info for me?

53

Commenting At The Meetings---Did You Enjoy It?

by minimus in

jw
friends

was that important for you?

most people, i believe, forced themselves to give an answer.

i knew many elders and servants over the years being counseled because they rarely answered.. funny thing....my mom who is 88 cries if she doesn't give a comment.

JWdaughter

That would all make more sense (answers as worship) if the answers required (or even ALLOWED)any independent though, research or inquiry. In fact, if answering the question without using the WT paragraph was encouraged or researching questions was encouraged. I got counseled once for using an appropriate scripture that wasnt referenced in the paragraph. That is messed up.

22

Visit from JW relatives..

by NVR2L8 in

jw
friends

JWdaughter

Men! Just go dutch and stop wagging your willies over the stupid breakfast check!

(BTW, let him pay next time-maybe he will get DF'd and then see the hypocrisy of it all!)

100

What's the most dumbest/petty thing you've heard of someone being "stumbled" over?

by Reality79 in

- some loser once took offense that i hugged a sister goodbye at a leaving do and ran back to the elders like a little child telling on me.

i was 15, this sister was in her 40s at the time.. - this elder said someone told him they saw me with a copy of the sun newspaper.

yes, this paper is known for its 'page 3' topless girls but far from pornagraphic and i wasn't even thinking along those lines.. - one brother who had a good job was 'counselled' because he was actually able to buy himself nice things including a new car (shock, horror!!

JWdaughter

Mmmm. I was once counseled in a baptist church that my son who was 3 and his little 4 year old (girl) friend holding hands encouraged early dating. I know this is picking on JWs forum, but a couple of the above posts just reminded me of that. They also danced at my wedding (later, because I and her parents thought that the old busy body was just being a biddy)and totally MADE the wedding videos (the rest of the wedding was dead boring, but they were adorable slow dancing).

100

What's the most dumbest/petty thing you've heard of someone being "stumbled" over?

by Reality79 in

- some loser once took offense that i hugged a sister goodbye at a leaving do and ran back to the elders like a little child telling on me.

i was 15, this sister was in her 40s at the time.. - this elder said someone told him they saw me with a copy of the sun newspaper.

yes, this paper is known for its 'page 3' topless girls but far from pornagraphic and i wasn't even thinking along those lines.. - one brother who had a good job was 'counselled' because he was actually able to buy himself nice things including a new car (shock, horror!!

JWdaughter

My mom (and then I, by her) got counseled for asking questions about what we were studying in one of the nuttier prophetic novels studybooks in the 1970's. I was about 9 or 10 at the time and I asked some logical and provocative questions. To my childlike mind, we were in someone's home among friends. . . why should I not ask when I had a question? My mom was still not baptised, and her pat answer has always been that she has studied for so many years and compared it to all the other religions, so she knows it is right. I was like 9-no one would LET me study anything else. So, I tried to get some answers.

Well, that is not acceptable to ask an elder or MS to explain something in a study book in public because it casts doubt. If a 9 year old can ask questions that bring up doubts, then they got deeper issues than a curious 9 year old!!

16

Did you see the news?

by mouthy in

jw
friends

rick ferron is to marry!!!!!!!!!!

!.

JWdaughter

Take care of yourself. You are in our prayers and so is your grandson.