Posts by dozy

21

WTBTS and Taxes in the UK.

by Gill in

jw
friends

.

the wtbts, at least here in the uk, makes loans to congregations of jws for mortgages to build kh's at a 'reasonable rate of interest'.. does the wtbts pay tax on the interest it is making, since this is clearly not a charitable earning or donation?

dozy

"See, this is what I could never accept. They collect all this money in donations for the Kingdom Hall Building fund and then they "loan" it to the congregations. What a scam. " Nonsense - the donations act as "seed capital" for loans. Most loans are interest only. Any capital repayments are then reloaned. The KH fund is ringfenced and used only for building projects. Our interest-only Kingdom Hall loan is at (base rate - 1.5%) = 3% at the moment (with BR @ 4.5%). Try asking the Halifax for the same rate on your home mortgage!

As with all lending institutions , tax is paid on the margin between cost of capital & return. Probably NIL or negative in this instance. The WTS could get more by putting the money in the building society.

13

Lot's of messages from Scottish Witnesses

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

i am amazed how many of these names i recognise.

other scottish apostates recognise names too?.

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:yil6gs3k5pgj:www.dixsystems.co.uk/kingdomhall/messages.htm+%22jehovah%27s+witnesses%22+greenock&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=26.

dozy

I worked on this quick build - it was a fantastic experience (apart from the horizontal rain - unbelievable). The brothers were marvellously hospitable especially bearing in mind that there are only 14 publishers in Lerwick. (One of the elders died recently in a freak car accident , so there are only 2 elders now.)

"SBF, JWs are a group that focuses on appearance not substance. Words but few deeds." (Blondie - I suggest you look at a map of Scotland, find out where Lerwick is , consult a timetable regarding boat & plane schedules , find out how much it costs , multiply by 1.7 to get the dollar equivalent and think again).

I'm sorry some of you (in fairness , not the Scottish ex-witnesses) can't even grudgingly acknowledge the dedication , effort & love of the brothers here and those who sent messages of support (including my family , I see!). Shame on you. Most of the workers gave up their time and travelled at great personal expense to a remote island to help a tiny congregation build a place of worship. The build was very challenging because virtually all of the equipment & materials had to come by ferry with the brothers - we ran into a few problems onsite because we couldn't get some crucial last minute materials from the 2 rather limited builders merchants on Shetland.

Blondie was right - the web page message board had to be closed because it got overrun with abusive messages - apostates were posting (the usual "You are a Cult" stuff - apostates tend to use the same pet phrases as well , by the way.).The Dix family didn't have time to keep moderating & deleting because they were busy on the build. One particular message was very upsetting to the children in the congregation - we had a PC onsite. It was a shame because it was a good idea and kept the brothers informed on the progress of the build & that their loved ones were interested.

22

Reputations

by Honesty in

jw
friends

do the jw's in your community have an overall good reputation?.

are they generally known for helping their neighbors in times of need?.

are they known as people who contribute and give back to the local community?.

dozy

It sounds a bit unlikely that they would be banned from witnessing in a particular town - JWs fought numerous battles through the courts for freedom of religion in the 50's & 60's to stop this sort of action.

20

Zealous JW`s having children......

by jambon1 in

when we had our children we planned them.

we made this known to any in the cong who asked if we 'got a surprise' when we found out we were pregnant.

we basically said, 'no, we wanted children'.

dozy

Never heard of this.

20

Matthew 24;14--any thoughts?

by Hannah in

first of all, i would like to introduce myself to all of you.

i am new to this board--so hello everyone!

jws are always quoting matthew 24:14 to support their preaching efforts and push their member for more hours (where in the bible is that anyway?).

dozy

"When I went to get my mail, 2 'tracts' about Jesus and being saved were on my porch. This is the 2nd or 3rd group of people who have come through my neighborhood in a year. The message they carry is pretty simple: Jesus."

Therefore they weren't preaching the Good News of God's Kingdom (Mt 24:14 , Mk 13:10) - no mention of God , no mention of His Kingdom.

They were simply preaching a message of "Religion Lite" - accept Jesus as your saviour - no effort required - & you'll be OK. Put a few tracts through letterboxes (but please don't actually engage anybody in conversation).

40

Relationship with God

by dozy in

jw
friends

just a general question , really.. i'm an active witness who is questioning & researching - unsure of any conclusions yet.

i've spoken to a couple of former apostates who have been reinstated as to why they returned (as i know that very few do) and the summary of their conclusions is given below.

i would appreciate your comments.. ...essentially they had a strong relationship with god and felt that this was the paramount purpose in life.

dozy

I can only speak from my experience in talking to Christians who found it very difficult to establish what their views were concerning the Father. The average "born again" or church-going Christian is very vague about the Father. My experience is backed up by numerous conversations , both in the door-to-door ministry , chats with workmates and debates with several church ministers.

It would seem that some ex-JWs have carried over a healthy fear and love of the Almighty from their JW beliefs into a "Jesus -centered" belief structure , although they may balk at calling him Jehovah. If so , this is simply a residue of their former beliefs , in the same way as many Catholics who become JWs still have a fascination with Mary.

I haven't spoken to many Eclectic Pagans with Native American beliefs recently so I can't really comment there!

40

Relationship with God

by dozy in

jw
friends

just a general question , really.. i'm an active witness who is questioning & researching - unsure of any conclusions yet.

i've spoken to a couple of former apostates who have been reinstated as to why they returned (as i know that very few do) and the summary of their conclusions is given below.

i would appreciate your comments.. ...essentially they had a strong relationship with god and felt that this was the paramount purpose in life.

dozy

Thanks for your replies.

I am aware that "associating with apostates" is frowned upon but I am researching & interested in your views. As far as JWD is concerned , is basically a case of "cutting through a lot of c**p" and trying to piece together some lines of thought and ideas.

128

listing of authorities and their date for the fall of Jerusalem

by M.J. in

sorry if this has been posted before.

i came across it and thought it was worth pointing out: http://members.tripod.com/sosoutreach/wts/607.html.

(edited) the annoying popup caused me to cut and paste the table from the page, rather than embed it: the narrative before and after is good too so you might want to check it out the original page.

dozy

Opinion poll on views of ex-witnesses (as tabulated from JWD discussions)

Absolute belief in bible as inspired .....25%

Absolute belief in God or similar supreme-being concept......40%

Absolute belief that scriptural prohibition of blood does not apply to transfusions ....100%

Absolute belief in 586 / 587 ( delete as required ) date of Jerusalem's destruction .....100%

Analysis: The only certainties for many ex-witnesses is that JWs are pretty much wrong about everything. A "critique" is published every week on the Watchtower which contains 100% criticism despite the average WT article containing perhaps 80 supporting scriptural references. They will argue strongly about the "wrongness" of 607 , yet they are much hazier on far more important issues of belief , conduct and purpose.

40

Relationship with God

by dozy in

jw
friends

just a general question , really.. i'm an active witness who is questioning & researching - unsure of any conclusions yet.

i've spoken to a couple of former apostates who have been reinstated as to why they returned (as i know that very few do) and the summary of their conclusions is given below.

i would appreciate your comments.. ...essentially they had a strong relationship with god and felt that this was the paramount purpose in life.

dozy

40

Relationship with God

by dozy in

jw
friends

just a general question , really.. i'm an active witness who is questioning & researching - unsure of any conclusions yet.

i've spoken to a couple of former apostates who have been reinstated as to why they returned (as i know that very few do) and the summary of their conclusions is given below.

i would appreciate your comments.. ...essentially they had a strong relationship with god and felt that this was the paramount purpose in life.

dozy

I don't genuinely feel that I go through the motions - I give talks every week , take the TMS , give a public talk every month as well as all the other activities - it is simply a survival instinct to stay in the Truth and lead a reasonably happy stable family life as well. I just don't see any point joining the sour burnt-out ex-elders at the back of the hall who contribute nothing.

The organisation does produce vast numbers of books , bibles etc in dozens of languages - hence the turnover. I don't buy into the conspiracy theory that this is all a means of restricting our spare time , although it would be great if there were some "Higher ups" who had experience of juggling family & work commitments - I suspect the organisation would be far different if this was the case.