careful

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Posts by careful

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  29

  Was There An Occasion Where An Entire Congregation Broke Away?

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i remember reading somewhere (perhaps on here?

  ) than an entire congregation disassociated and started their own congregation after decided that the gb were apostate.. was this an urban myth or is there any evidence of this?.

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  careful

  Thanks SBF for that ref. I read it and although it mentions the problems in Taiwan, I remember reading something else that had much more honest detail. i wonder if that source has to be found in print form since it has been sanitized in the electronic version (?). Anyway, somewhere I read statistics that showed how the majority of Taiwanese Witnesses went off after some local bro who disagreed with Knorr and his reps, and that it took years for the org to recover in Taiwan. Perhaps it was in the stats on average publishers there in individual yearbooks, and/or in the ybs following the schism when each country had a small blurb on it.
  
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  29

  Was There An Occasion Where An Entire Congregation Broke Away?

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i remember reading somewhere (perhaps on here?

  ) than an entire congregation disassociated and started their own congregation after decided that the gb were apostate.. was this an urban myth or is there any evidence of this?.

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  careful

  Pretty much an entire country once broke away: it was Taiwan, I think. This was reported in the WTS literature. I remember reading about it in a yearbook, back when the yearbooks, for a particular year, focused on the history of the org in just a few countries. The incident occurred years ago, back in the days of one branch servant. The guy had some falling out with Knorr and Franz, or maybe it was JFR? They "removed" him but most of the country went with the guy, not with the org. For years afterward, "growth was very slow there," to quote the official line. The guy had poisoned the well for the org. Eventually the org recovered, of course, but it took many years to do so.

  If someone here has the yearbooks in their library, perhaps they can find the story by finding out which year has the history of Taiwan in it. Today they would never relate the story (or likely put the ybs online or on a CD), but I remember reading it in a old yb. That yb dates to sometime after the late 50s or early 60s. Back then they gave a short blurb on each country. If I remember correctly, it was a yb from the 1970s (but I might be wrong here). I think it was in the late 60s or early 70s when they began the yb format of focusing on the history of just a few countries each year. They used to give quite a history. I imagine when they came out with Proclaimers book, those ybs were a major source of info for it. The Proclaimers book, however, nowhere mentions the Taiwan break-away like the older yb did.
  

  If someone could find this yb, I'd appreciate knowing the year.
  
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  2

  2 Class Action Lawsuits in Canada

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  another class action from canada.. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/jehovahs-witness-sexual-abuse-1.4532041.

  zing.

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  careful

  Thanks again. Is it likely that the two provincial lawsuits can be combined into one federal one?
  
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  4

  Lawsuits In Canada N WBTS

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  the lawsuit saga continues to pursue wbts in canada, montreal now.. https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/superior-court-green-lights-suit-regarding-alleged-sexual-abuse-among-jehovah-s-witnesses-1.4323076.

  quebec superior court has authorized a class action lawsuit against two jehovah's witnesses entities alleging a culture of silence within the group led to the covering up of sexual abuse.. zing.

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  careful

  Thanks for the update, Zing.
  
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  5

  A film on the Amish and those that leave

  by days of future passed in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's a simple but telling film of two families that leave the amish.

  they experience what jw's do when leaving.

  the film maker has a slow but interesting view of what goes on in the amish religion as well as the challenges that the two families have.

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  careful

  I know one ex-Amish chap who left that faith along with 4 of his 10 siblings. 5 stayed and 5 left. Those who leave are completely cut off, like JWs. The 5 who left are very tight. They provide support for one another. The one I know is very bitter about his past religion and the family who cut him off. He tells me his siblings who left are too. Sound familiar?
  
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  10

  No Religion is growing

  by Giordano in

  1. social
  2. current

  (cnn)for the first time "no religion" has topped a survey of americans' religious identity, according to a new analysis by a political scientist.

  the non-religious edged out catholics and evangelicals in the long-running general social survey.. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/13/us/no-religion-largest-group-first-time-usa-trnd/index.html.

  ryan burge, a political scientist at eastern illinois university and a baptist pastor, found that 23.1% of americans now claim no religion.. .

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  careful

  Ask SBF. He studies this sort of thing.
  
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  12

  No fun debating "imperfect" JWs

  by Tantalon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  well that was no fun at all, just got a visit to invite me to the last supper memorial.

  haven't had a call for a long long time.

  i tried to engage them about following bible not watchtower, they just kept changing the subject as they have always done but this time every challenge was met with "we are not perfect,the slave is not perfect" and "we don't want to have a debate".

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  careful

  They love to say that about the org and/or the GB being imperfect. But when you ask for some specific modern-day examples of such imperfections they clam up. Press the issue and they run off.
  

  How different the Bible is where numerous leaders' specific imperfections are highlighted: Moses, David, Solomon, Peter, James and John, Paul. Must be how close the org is to the Bible, eh?
  
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  4

  The Catholic Church and the Scandal of sexual abuse

  by TexWiller in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  my dear friend machislopp gas passed me this information .

  taken from the well noted italian newspaper “il corriere della sera “.

  only 24 hours ago.. just the main title and the link for the complete article article.. benedict xvi: the church and the scandal of sexual abuse.

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  careful

  mikeflood,

  Your idea may be the GB's latest thinking. The turning of the wild beast (governments) on Babylon the Great (false religion) is taking place now over the child sexual abuse issue. Then when the governments finally turn their full attention on moving against the org (maybe by arresting the GB?), Jehovah, Jesus, and the angels will intervene and save them. It might help explain their "bunker video" and similar depictions in other videos and artwork. Who knows how these guys think, especially when it comes to interpreting prophecy in advance? But if one looks at the batting average they have doing that in the past, they wouldn't even make the minor leagues.

  Their statements in the publications about prophecy best being understood after it has been fulfilled, clearly out of harmony with their trying to do the opposite, namely, trying to figure it out in advance, has never struck them as grossly contradictory. They do such conflicting things pretty regularly.

  As for Benedict's strange article, some experts are saying that it's a quiet move by the retired pope against Pope Francis. Who knows? These religious leaders, the GB or the RC hierarchy, have never been big on transparency, and there has been long history of intrigue in both camps.

  Thanks TexWiller, for the post.
  
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  25

  Can This be Verified?

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can this be verified?

  just speculation so far, so i was just wondering.. .

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/bawoeu/getting_rid_of_the_literature_counter_all_together/ .

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  careful

  blondie,

  My questions too. What FedUp relates cannot be the case everywhere (though I can certainly picture that!)...
  
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  17

  The time periods of Daniel

  by Leolaia in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  one of the most perplexing puzzles of daniel is the differing way the author referred to the length of time the rebuilt temple would be defiled during the persecution of antiochus epiphanes iv (175-163 bc).

  historically, the period is known with some precision; the heathen altar (the "abomination of desolation" of daniel and 1 maccabees) was installed on 15 chislev 167 bc and the temple was rededicated on 25 chislev 164 bc -- a period of almost exactly 3 years (1 maccabees 1:57, 4:52).

  the desolation of jerusalem however began some several months prior to this (cf.

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  careful

  Wow, resurrecting one of Leoaia's old posts. A blast from the past of the good old days at JWD/JWN. Thx, smiddy!