"I doubt it. They are, after all a non-prophet organization."
I noticed this commment above. It may be a typo or a concise and ironic comment.
It works either way!
Joe Grundy
JoinedPosts by Joe Grundy
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21
WTBTS and Taxes in the UK.
by Gill in.
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?
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16
Do You Ever Look Back? Should We?
by Joe Grundy ini'm a bit unusual here, never was a jw, don't suffer from the ex- or leaving jw stuff, but i surely can sympathise with those who do.. .
tomorrow ( 2 august) my divorce decree absolute is issued, disolving the marriage with my filipina princess.
i'm not sad about that, per se, it will be good to get the whole sorry episode over and done with.
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Joe Grundy
James: "How long were you married to her, Joe Grundy?"
Just two years, James, May 2009 until now. It wasn't the best or clearest decision I ever made in my life, but I had hopes.
My previous (first) marriage lasted 23 years. We have two children, three grandchildren, and are, probably, closer as a divorced couple than many still-marrried couples are.
This is a time for me to look back and to be honest, it comes a little hard. I have tried my best all of my professional life and have always tried to do my best. I don't suppose that I'm alone in thinking 'was it worth it?'. Well, I suppose, all we can do is to do our best, try and make a difference when and where we can and not spend too much time looking back.
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Do You Ever Look Back? Should We?
by Joe Grundy ini'm a bit unusual here, never was a jw, don't suffer from the ex- or leaving jw stuff, but i surely can sympathise with those who do.. .
tomorrow ( 2 august) my divorce decree absolute is issued, disolving the marriage with my filipina princess.
i'm not sad about that, per se, it will be good to get the whole sorry episode over and done with.
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Joe Grundy
I'm a bit unusual here, never was a JW, don't suffer from the ex- or leaving JW stuff, but I surely can sympathise with those who do.
Tomorrow ( 2 August) my divorce decree absolute is issued, disolving the marriage with my Filipina Princess. I'm not sad about that, per se, it will be good to get the whole sorry episode over and done with. Yet, when I married this lady (in far too much haste, as many told me) I had high hopes for our future.
I still have hopes for my future and wear an optimistic smile (even if I don't feel like it sometimes). I am, in the great scheme of things, lucky. I try to look back, draw on the happy memories, learn from mistakes, and move on.
Not always easy, though, is it?
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126
Who On This Site Would You Like To Meet?
by minimus inthere are a lot of interesting people that frequent this site.. sometimes, we get an idea of what the posters are really like in "real life".
and i'm sure i could be easily surprised by some that you think might be strong personalities because of their board presence, and in reality, they might be shy in a face to face setting.. i would enjoy meeting simon.
simon used to be terribly annoyed by my posting and now i think he's accepted with tolerance my being here.. farkel seems like a grouchy cantankerous fellow but i think he'd be very interesting company!.
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Joe Grundy
Mrs Jones: I'm in the UK. Sorry you weren't picked for baseball. If you want to PM me - or if anyone else does, for that matter - I'd be more than happy to have a skype or a phone chat.
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126
Who On This Site Would You Like To Meet?
by minimus inthere are a lot of interesting people that frequent this site.. sometimes, we get an idea of what the posters are really like in "real life".
and i'm sure i could be easily surprised by some that you think might be strong personalities because of their board presence, and in reality, they might be shy in a face to face setting.. i would enjoy meeting simon.
simon used to be terribly annoyed by my posting and now i think he's accepted with tolerance my being here.. farkel seems like a grouchy cantankerous fellow but i think he'd be very interesting company!.
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Joe Grundy
Well, I met a lady from this site several years ago from the US who visited the UK. Charming and interesting.
Some years ago we had a 'phone call' thing and I spoke to a lady in Phoenix Arizona. That was fascinating.
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44
How Christian thinking was corrupted by Paul's clever explanations
by Terry inwhen modern writers, thinkers, believers in christianity talk about their religion they are almost always depending on saul of tarsus (paul) rather than.
jesus.. there is a good reason for this.
paul wrote letters.
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Joe Grundy
My previous post disappeared into the ether, so apologies if it turns up later and this is a duplicate.
In a simplistic way, I have always tended to compare Paul with Joseph Smith. Both claimed 'vsions and revelations', both started new religions incorporating previous religions, their 'facts' and 'experiences' were uncheckable and unverifiable.
Both new religions, aided by time, distance and space (and obscuration of origins) have become - to one degree or another - 'acceptable, even 'mainstream' to many.
I have always been intrigued by 'Paul' and there are all sorts of theories. Was he the 'wicked deceiver' mentioned in the Dead Sea writings? Who knows. I lived in Cyprus for five years until recently and visited (probably) the spot where he met with Roman governor Sergius Paulinus (that's where he changed his name to Paul) and the curious incident where he blinded the son of Jesus (see Acts). All very strange, but to me it was just a place on my morning walk by the sea to have a beer in the harbour. (may not have been THE 'Jesus' of course).
What does seem to be beyond doubt is that Saul/Paul went off on his travels, spreading his religion. The guys back in Jerusalem, the remnants of the 'Jesus' group, felt compelled to send out their own envoys after him to correct his teachings, brought him back, where he apologised and said he wouldn't do it again.
And - this should never be understated - to understand what was happening, look at the context, what was happening at the time (NT is very sketchy on this).
Always remember, history is written by the victors.
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52
The Field Service will end someday, maybe?
by Quarterback inlast month i heard a talk from a c.o.
he mentioned that the door to door service will come to an end.
he said that jehovah will tell us to stop it, eventually.
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Joe Grundy
The reality - here in the real world - is that nobody cares about the strange people who are JWs, nor their strange beliefs.
THAT, I believe, is what will finish them gradually. Nobody even cares enough to argue with them. Those people with good manners will smile, accept the the publications and put them straight in the bin. The less well-mannered will laugh in their faces. And the (as I see it) reducing number of dubs will circle their wagons, consider it to be the 'last days', congratulate themselves and study their mags for all sorts of confirmation that they (and only they) are right.
All very sad, really, for the poor saps who have given their life to this crazy and controlling cult.
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101
Help with Mathematical Concepts, Not Arithmetic
by Band on the Run inmy math background is embarassing.
my public education was very sad.
although i received good grades in college track math courses, i never understood the underlying ideas or motivations.
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Joe Grundy
Good post, Cliff, and reinforces what I was saying.
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52
The Field Service will end someday, maybe?
by Quarterback inlast month i heard a talk from a c.o.
he mentioned that the door to door service will come to an end.
he said that jehovah will tell us to stop it, eventually.
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Joe Grundy
I never was a dub.
As far as I can see, all 'field service' achieves is pissing off the dubs who have to do it, and, more importantly, exposing dubs to things that may (just may) question their faith.
Two examples : a few months ago a young dub (about 18?) and a younger companion (about 12?) called on my son's house whilst he and I were in the garage fiddling with my motorbike. I'd just read (here on JWN, of course!) a recent mag which re-inforced JW teaching that Adam (aka mankind) was created 6,000 years ago. So, we had a discussion (there had been a recent BBC programme about an excavated house, at least 10,000 years old, on the NW coast of England). I gave him a note of the link to the programme. Will he check it? Who knows.
Second, I had a 'panic' phone call' from my daughter a couple of weeks ago. Dubs were on her estate. She (knowing and sharing my views) wanted a quick question to ask them. There were four, two late middle-age ladies, an old guy and a young aggressive man. They gave the usual crap, the young guy in the lead, and the introductory question about the 'sad state of the world today'. She asked the young guy if he had access to the internet. He said he did, so she told him to google 'Candace Conti' - then come back and try to explain that. (She had my young grandchild in her arms but warned him that if he tried to take a step over the threshold she'd lay him out (which she would)).
If (and I realise that's this a big 'if') the dubs who are going door-to-door report back their true experiences, how long can the WTBTS let this continue?
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101
Help with Mathematical Concepts, Not Arithmetic
by Band on the Run inmy math background is embarassing.
my public education was very sad.
although i received good grades in college track math courses, i never understood the underlying ideas or motivations.
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Joe Grundy
This is just an observation, but when I put up my last post I had forgotten (I never was a dub) that by definition on an ex-dub site we don't count many current teachers or lecturers amongst our number, do we? Unless, of course, they were lucky enough to get out in time. Sad.