More bodies in KH seats, more contribution boxes in plain sight by attendees.
You got it!
i can confirm that the co during one of his service talks stated that zoom is a provision for elderly, infirmed, as well as people who might need it on occasion due to health reasons, otherwise you are expected to be in person at meetings and in the ministry.
this had to come down from the top.
maybe they do not want to put it in a gb update or broadcast since that would be too public i suppose.
More bodies in KH seats, more contribution boxes in plain sight by attendees.
You got it!
i'll start by stating the obvious... according to the watchtower, the catholic church is a huge part of babylon the great which is led by satan and his demons.
raymundus martini, a catholic monk (who "represents" babylon the great to some extent), woke up one day in the 13th century and decided to alter yhwh so it can be easily pronounced.
hence the spanish-ish version of yhwh was created... jehova... (sounds something like this in spanish: heh-o-va).
The Bible itself was copied and preserved by the "apostates" (as Witnesses view them) from Judaism and the church, all in Babylon the Great (as Witnesses view it). So what? What's the point? In Ray Franz's CofC he quotes past GB member Karl Klein as saying that using church works was "sucking at the tits of Babylon the Great," and as Franz notes, Klein himself used such sources, 4th ed. p. 23. So why should they not take over the name Jehovah from the same sources?
court to decide on clergy-penitent privilege.
don't know if this link will work.
hope it does.. https://www.lexblog.com/?s=watchtower+ .
Yeah, it works. Thanks for the info. It will be interesting to watch this decision.
https://i.redd.it/hd9p1g3ssr2b1.jpg.
1290 jw congregations have been deleted since 4th dec 2022. i have a full map so you can explore active/deleted congs, and also orphaned halls https://analytics.jws-library.one/viewmap.html.
many of the deletions in the usa appear to be foreign language groups.
Two acres outside of Chicago, near Joliet, Illinois—yes, they will be selling that one for the money!
what are the reasons given from the Society
New KHs in poor countries in Africa—if you want to believe that one! Really: paying off more CSA victims, if, of course, they accept a non-disclosure agreement.
it only took 23 years but on 9th of may 2023 echr came to conclusion that forbidding the "namelists" was not an action against religious freedom.
echr's judgments are binding in all eu states.. jehovah's witnesses v. finland (coe.int).
the news made headlines in finland as well.. finland did not violate jehovah's witnesses freedom of religion, european court rules | news | yle uutiset.
Thx Festus for the info. No one on the court dissented.
https://youtu.be/suigllm2h8g.
this is the second tv report on may 3rd at fox 43 news.
there will be another report on may 4th.
Thanks for the posts and keeping the folks here updated.
geoffrey hinton, major inventor of artificial intelligence: .
“if you take the existential risk seriously, as i now do—i used to think it was way off, but now i think it’s serious, and fairly close—it might be quite sensible to just stop developing these things any further, but i think it’s completely naïve to think that would happen.
there’s no way to make that happen.
SBF, what verb did you intend to put in the last clause?
"the governing body of jehovah’s witnesses are like the pope is to the catholic church.
they too claim to be god’s mouthpiece or the voice of jesus.
they also demand unquestioning obedience for their members salvation.
One similarity is that both religions are made for, and often attract, R&F members who are incapable of thinking, or do not want to think, very deeply re: theology.
That said, Vidiot's comment
Easier and quicker to make a list of how they’re not similar
has considerable merit. For example, many Catholic priests, especially genuine scholars, express disagreement with the Church's official line on various doctrinal matters but retain their positions. A Witness elder could never get away with that.
R&F Catholics do so too. One Catholic language instructor I know used to do that in the classroom about required celibacy for priests and openly say that it was a cause for sexual immorality among the priests. He hated Vatican II and openly criticized it. Yet every Sunday he attended mass and received communion. The RC Church has far more tolerance among its membership than does the WTB&S, even if we leave out obvious areas like accepted fornication and mafia membership.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds3q289vwok.
the link is to the tv report - may 3, 2023. .
below is a transcript of the tv report.. a pennsylvania grand jury has recently brought child sexual abuse charges against nine men—all jehovah’s witnesses—in what some are calling the most extensive investigation into the group in history.
I add my thanks for the update too. It may prove tough for the org to play this one down.
background: https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5684019822854144/vicarious-liability-court-appeal-dismisses-appeal-from-religious-organisation-following-sexual-assault.
the judgment (unanimous): https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2021-0089-judgment.pdf.
press summary: https://www.supremecourt.uk/press-summary/uksc-2021-0089.html.
As always, Corney, thank you for the update.