careful

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Posts by careful

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  10

  Former Jehovah's Witness sentenced for child sexual assault

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  6/3/2025 former jehovah's witness sentenced for child sexual assault shaun sheffer, 47, of harmony was found guilty in january of three counts each of rape and indecent assault, including assault of a person less than 13 who had a mental disability.

  he also was convicted of corruption of minors.... https://triblive.com/local/regional/former-jehovahs-witness-sentenced-for-child-sexual-assault/ .

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  careful

  Thanks for the report, blondie. I have to wonder about his current status in the org, whether he is DFed/removed for this or some other reason.
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  5

  Attack near St Catherine's Monastery

  by Earnest in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  following on from the bombings of coptic churches in egypt, there was an attack earlier this month on a checkpoint near st catherine's monastery.

  this monastery dates back to the time of justinian and has a number of early bible mss including part of codex sinaiticus of the fourth century.. i am surprised this hasn't happened before because isis is active in northern sinai and it would be a major event were they to gain access and wreak havoc at st catherine's monastery.

  although the isolation of the monastery has contributed to its survival over 1400 years, it is in the forefront of digitising its manuscript collection.

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  careful

  Thanks, Earnest, for sharing this latest development.
  
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  5

  The Prophetic Days in Daniel Fulfilled

  by EisMe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  “this will be the final topic i post.

  the structured fulfillment of prophecy has now been made undeniably clear, and after completing one final task—the letter to the governing body of jehovah’s witnesses—i will take my rest.

  the truth has been presented, the timeline confirmed, and all that remains is the culmination of prophecy itself.” estephan leuese.

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  careful

  This will be the final topic I post.
  

  If only this were true!!!
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  51

  You Could Be Stuck in a University When Your Parent Dies. Convention Day 2 Video

  by liam in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the governing body is going all out at this years convention.

  they are still discouraging university education.

  i guess the end must be real close .

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  careful

  It's still not clear to me just what "stuck in a university" means. Does it mean students can't leave campus when the need arises? That's absurd. Does it mean that there's a distance between the campus and the parents' home? That's what airline and/or automobile travel is/are for.

  Furthermore, about half of university students attend a local campus in a city environment and many live with their parents or in nearby housing while doing so. Just how is "stuck in a university" to be understood here? Was that phrase used in the assembly program?
  
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  26

  Things Rutherford got wrong that Fred Franz had to clear up

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was interested by the suggestion in a recent discussion that rutherford was in some way preferable to fred franz, because i’ve not come across this view before.

  it made me rethink my assumptions and try to work out why i hold the opposite view and prefer fred franz to rutherford.

  i haven’t done any additional research, so i’m only drawing on what i can remember off the top of my head, but i thought i’d list a few things where i reckon fred franz’s approach was preferable to rutherford.

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  careful

  I’ve read that it was Gene Smalley who came up with the blood ban and maintained it over the decades.
  

  Wasn't blood transfusion banned back in the 1950s? Was Smalley at Bethel then? Was he even an adult then? Since when have underlings set policy/doctrine? The organizational model has, since JFR, always been from the top down, from the anointed rulers to the non-anointed other sheep flunkies, not any other way. What uninformed source were you reading?

  Smalley has, however, been the point man in defending the issue, apparently supposing that Jehovah would never have guided his people into such an egregious doctrinal/practical error that has caused the death of so many.

  Franz was preferable to Rutherford
  

  Isn't that a bit like preferring simple imprisonment over imprisonment with daily floggings?
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  3

  Our (JW) genetic mutation

  by Jalisco in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the spiritual dna of our faith was "protestant" for over 100 years, until 1985, after which it changed to a catholic sense.

  for example, for decades we were presented with the example of the bereans who "were more noble-minded than those of thessalonica" because they went to see in the scriptures if what paul preached to them was really like that.

  and then a second to the bereans?

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  careful

  when divisions on matters of doctrine and policy begin to take hold among a faith group it can become chronic, debilitating, and exhausting for all involved.

  Precisely why the GB will never give up their absolute control.
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  15

  The Big Secret

  by finishedmystery in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  when the gb brought a formal end to all the type/antitypes in so many ways it could be said that they brought the religion to an end.

  the other sheep/anointed teaching that leads to a two class religion was originally based on two antitypes--the jehu/jehonadab relationship and something about the cities of refuge.

  in that 2014 annual meeting talk david splane even specifically stated that the cities of refuge has no antitype.

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  careful

  I wouldn’t expect too much deep thinking from Dubs. It’s an organization where grown men needed permission to grow a beard.

  DD

  Especially given the fact that God put facial hair on male humans for a reason—and it wasn't to save it off!!!

  Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh. In other words, the clean shaven policy was at odds with Jehovah's purpose all along. Indeed, the clean shaven cultures in antiquity were the Egyptians and the Romans, enemies to Israel. These facts, of course, have long been missed by GB I and GB II. Again, duhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
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  23

  3 Changes The Watchtower Made on Babylon The Great in the Last 6 Months

  by raymond frantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  https://youtu.be/vpws6ncqpla?si=dqnf7-hupfr4pdta.

  for decades, jehovah’s witnesses have been banging on about babylon the great—the so-called world empire of false religion—being on the brink of collapse.

  any day now, they assured us, churches would empty out, priests would be left twiddling their thumbs, and humanity would collectively bin organised religion.

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  careful

  Supposedly figuring out biblical prophecy ahead of time? YAWN.
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  99

  What the new JW light position really is 👍

  by ElderBerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.

  as my fellow elders are.

  we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.

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  careful

  ElderBerry, do any of your fellow elders know you are PIMA?
  
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  5

  WA bill mandating clergy report abuse clears Senate floor

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://columbiabasinherald.com/news/2025/mar/24/wa-bill-mandating-clergy-report-abuse-clears-senate-floor/ .

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  careful

  Religious groups, not just JWs, but Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Mormons, and various Protestant ones, would soon challenge such a new law, if the bill passes, on the basis of the long-established clergy-penitent privilege. This is what happened in Montana and why the WTS won. State legislatures and other law-making bodies can pass all the laws they want, but once they're challenged in court, it's up to the courts to decide how the legal conflict between two opposing principles would be handled.

  The only way all this can be ultimately settled in the USA is for SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) to take up the matter. Given the current make up of SCOTUS, full of conservatives as it is, such a change from the status quo does not look promising. From all indications they would simply declare the Washington law invalid upon the basis of the clergy-penitent privilege enshrined in federal jurisprudence.

  I've made this point before in similar threads. You can get all excited about these gestures politicians make to please their constituents, but it's the courts that matter. There is a much better chance of change on this issue in Westernized countries outside of the USA.