OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  4

  Luxury Apartments

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this article is basically about how watchtower is going to put the kibosh on some taxes for this rural area of upstate new york, but to me that is not what i find most interesting.

  thinking of it from the psychology standpoint of north american witnesses far removed from ny, first, they hear lett "not" begging for money, then they see an article like this that calls them "luxury" apartments.

  now... i know they are probably not really the height of luxury in fishkill ny, however most witnesses in the country don't know that, they just hear "we need money" & "witnesses obtain luxury apartments".. http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2015/05/12/jehovahs-witnesses-fishkill-tax-exemption/27206609/.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Despite the assessment, the Watchtower apparently paid $57 million for it, based on calculations from the transfer tax on the deed.

  We must obey any orders that come from "mother" no matter how insane they may be. That must be why they paid $56,000,000 for a property assessed at $31,000,000.

  Here is an article that explains the difference between assessed, appraised, and market values:
  http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/realestate/your-home-market-vs-appraisal-what-s-the-real-value.html
  
  Assessed values are not always the same as market values or appraised values.
  Assessors may have their own reasons for valuing something lower than the buyer would pay in order to equalize the taxes for an area. Knowing that the property will lose it's tax-paying status, he may even have gone lower for political reasons. Or that's simply the way it's valued in that area in order to fit the tax structure enforced upon all home-owners.
  Yes, Watchtower is selling in one area and buying in another. They will get volunteers to resurface the parking, tuck point, clean up, repair, redecorate, garden, yadda yadda yadda at these apartments and increase the value. They will one day sell them for a greater price than they paid.
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  62

  Hello, just introducing myself

  by Miss Behaving in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've just signed up two days ago, but i've been lurking for about a year and a half.

  here's my story if you're interested:.

  my parents converted when they were in their first semester of college.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Oh, and I'm from California...

  Take a look, see if you can make it.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/73460001/8th-annual-south-lake-tahoe-apostafest-make-your-plans-soon-july-10th-12th
  
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  62

  Hello, just introducing myself

  by Miss Behaving in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've just signed up two days ago, but i've been lurking for about a year and a half.

  here's my story if you're interested:.

  my parents converted when they were in their first semester of college.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I assume from your chosen name that you are a "Miss." But it matters not.

  You helped us much to be reminded how we are only good to Watchtower for what we are doing today and tomorrow. They used you up and spit you out.

  Well, I guess that's all. Hope it was helpful for someone.

  I hope that's not all. I look forward to reading more from you.
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  130

  Atheist Miracles

  by Perry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i reworded a variation of a common critique of atheists to my own liking.

  no, i do not hate atheists, i love them!

  they keep me from getting bored.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Are we to understand that this professor took the words from Watchtower and morphed them into a disagreement with science?

  Your using your own description which is obviously sensationalize and presumptuously biased.

  No, I am not. These are his words, not mine.

  Okay then. What you did was backwards morph this professor's words to your version of what Watchtower's position is. You are not quoting Watchtower, you are speaking for them in a version of the quote from that professor.

  Perry, be careful. It's bad enough that you handpick quotes and misapply them, but then when you speak for Watchtower as if it's their words, you confuse the issues.

  Professor Lewontin uses the language of bondage to an ideology that could easily have come off the pages of the Watchtower. Words like "forced" and acceptance of "patent absurdity" are part of his doctrinal statement, not mine.

  I tend to believe that the professor gives fodder to controversy with his quote. Controversy is free advertising. But of course, you find one smart creationist online and run with everything he posts, and I am sure you have found one radical evolutionist who many others can disagree with but you will run with everything he says as if it represents all thoughts by all evolutionists.
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  36

  Something tells me 1914...

  by Monsieur in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after todays watchtower lesson, and the lessons coming, something tells me bigger and bigger new understandings are coming.

  and that it will culminate with 1914. notice how jesus is now coming, and no longer already here.

  the current understanding is both, he is here and hes also coming.

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  OnTheWayOut

  When Jesus didn't arrive in 1914, Watchtower could have changed the year or admitted they were wrong and don't know when Jesus would arrive.
  Instead, they said "But he did show up, INVISIBLY."
  
  They are changing/reinventing what they said ever since they started saying things.
  History suggests they will not abandon 1914, but will suggest that "the light is getting brighter" and isolate individual statements throughout their various claims to convolute their thoughts on what it means.
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  130

  Atheist Miracles

  by Perry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i reworded a variation of a common critique of atheists to my own liking.

  no, i do not hate atheists, i love them!

  they keep me from getting bored.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Are there any atheists here that would like to disagree with Professor Lewontins' position?

  Are we to understand that this professor took the words from Watchtower and morphed them into a disagreement with science?

  I would like to disagree with him then.

  If scientific claims are against someone's common sense or seem absurd, it is because that person's common sense cannot fathom physics and science properly. Common sense in the dark ages and before told men that the earth is the center of the universe and that stars were tiny.
  People would love for science to deliver health and better life, and despite the fact that "science" does not promise such, it has delivered better than "faith" has in that area.
  
  If a "Divine Foot" would actually show up in the door, we will gladly take a look. And before you insist that it has shown up, remember that for every unproven anecdote of your God's foot, I can find another anecdote of a God that is completely unlike your God.
  
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  13

  My "Leaving" Letter

  by lambsbottom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  through what i have learned from reading bro.

  russell's writings about the ransom for all, coupled with the blood issue, i feel the need to let my friends know that i am making a stand for truth.

  i could have lost my wife to the blood issue during pregnancy.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I tend to agree with Driving Force. Say what you need to your friends, but hesitate to put it in writing.

  I don't want to be the ultimate downer, but most who fade or leave any other way still wind up losing their JW friends.
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  30

  Did You Feel Bad For the JW Dishwasher-Cook Who Quit His Job (May JW Broadcasting)To Avoid Attending Later Meetings?  He Pioneered on Welfare or Unemployment!

  by RoyalFlushPhil in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  did you watch the story about the jw who was working as a burger boy at some diner and his boss wanted him to work on sunday during the time of his meeting?

  this faithful jw decided he could not attend a later meeting (6 pm sunday meeting) and soon quit his job(or got fired to attend his sunday meeting) so he could attend the sunday meeting he was assigned to.

  i think he was on welfare because this story states he won't work on sunday morning because that's when his meeting is!

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  OnTheWayOut

  I don't know about "this guy" but I do know that several single sisters had to stay under-employed in order to get state benefits and continue pioneering. They were the examples in the congregations.
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  16

  I need ideas for my hubby

  by monis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been out of the org for several years.

  i faded.

  my husband became inactive but still believes that the jws have the truth.

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  OnTheWayOut

  No one method works for all. If I had the answers, or if anyone here had the answers, I would get my wife out. But a member open to examining things could really do best in a couple of obvious ways. Encourage him to take a tour of jwfacts.com and read the two Ray Franz books.
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  37

  Seems very easy to leave now, why do people hesitate?

  by Xanthippe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i see people on here saying they've looked on several sites before this one, jwfacts, jwstruggle, youtube, etc., and then they make friends here, sometimes meeting up with ex-jws, it seems incredibly easy compared to leaving in 1989. .

  no internet, no amazon to find ex-jw books, no facebook to link up with ex-jw groups.

  still people find it so hard to leave.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I do believe we are at a point where most born-in's will leave and very few converts will join. While 7 or 8 million is a drop in the bucket with 7.3 billion people, it is massive enough to be self-sustaining for several decades.

  Plus, we don't really know how many are leaving and certainly how many are leaving mentally, but staying officially "in" for family.

  Personally, I think the money grabs of late are from an organization that sees a decline of membership and contributions in the future and wants to take the holdings now. People are already becoming secondary to money.

  There must be some power behind the powers that wants to maintain WTS for a long time, so they must be using the money to buy goods or services from their own companies or those of their families. I suspect that these same powers have moved their people over to construction and building materials now. They have to build build build while the people are still there. Then they can sell sell sell when the people are gone.

  It's almost wide open to view now. So I tend to agree with you. Most of what will be done now will piss off members and they will leave. But people in for a long time will only slowly cause a decline unless a huge event (scandal) gets them out.