Regardless of why they stocked up on the cash, if they blow the money (on lawsuits, settlements, Faberge' eggs) it will run out. The arrangement with the congregations will not sustain itself for decades. While it it true that each congregation should be able to keep sending some money, the amounts will drop as members die off and are not replaced. Congregations will slowly dissolve. Many JW's don't give that much, as they feel they give so much time and effort, and that will continue, no matter the pressure to give more.
OnTheWayOut
JoinedPosts by OnTheWayOut
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35
Kingdom Hall Money Grab Was for Child Abuse Its Completely Clear
by thedepressedsoul inif youve followed the news lately there are more and more child abuse cases popping up.
one lawyer said he has over 28 cases in the pipeline that are going to be coming out soon.
on december 1 st a new one just popped up.
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63
HELP - A Guide to Fade
by cognitivedizzy inhey everybody, been here lurking for years now... i tired of all the gb 2.0 shit and need to fade successfullydo we have a guide, i am very tempted to go out with a bang, but i want my wife with me, she aint a strong witness and would happily trust me ... i love her a lot.
status as of now,,, read coc isocf, been through jw facts and am convinced this religion is bs, also a ms now :( damn.
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OnTheWayOut
I was going to post the thread that Blondie already posted: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/34518/on-art-fading?page=1&size=20
I want to add that you have to quit as an MS. I haven't read any details, but the easiest way to quit is to move to another congregation, then don't accept the title if asked. The next way is to be too busy to do your MS job and miss meetings, turn in a string of 1-hour months or no-hours if you are really brave. When asked about it, tell them it bothers you that you did so bad and don't see yourself doing better soon with your "depression" or "overwhelming work" or whatever, and you want to resign. DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.
What even helps- if you have seen a doctor, any doctor- even one on television, and you take any medication- even vitamins, you can say you have been depressed and have been seeing a doctor and are on medication. You feel it's best to stop being an MS. DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.
Then just fade out from meetings. -
130
Atheist Miracles
by Perry ini 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
It is much easier for Perry to believe he understands who he is and that he has a purpose, to feel stable because his core belief system is stable. For liberals and progressives this is not really possible because our core beliefs are less rigid and more willing to adapt as new information and understanding presents itself. Which means that we are reshaping our understanding of who we are and how we relate to society, even if in small ways.The protective walls around Perry's core beliefs are tall and rigid. They are his identity. He believes that salvation is dependent upon being correct on issues of faith. When confronted on a particular belief, he is not only confronted on an idea held to rigidly but he is feeling an attack on the very core of who he understands himself to be. Our questioning him causes him to be jolted about his beliefs just as questioning a Jehovah's Witness does. (I know, I know- I had to go there. Because, Perry, you may have left the dangerous mind-control cult but your thinking process is the same as it ever was.) -
13
Will they jump of the building?
by John Aquila induring the depression people committed suicide because everything they had invested in was gone overnight in an instant.
many people are very fragile creatures.
if by some freaking chance, (like enron, tiger woods, or the morning of august 1945 in hiroshima) the wts gets caught in a humongous scandal, say like links to human sex trafficking, (i can fantasize right) and the government steps in to investigate and finds them guilty and legally shuts them down permanently, will there be tons of suicides?
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OnTheWayOut
It will burn out slowly, not suddenly be discovered in the midst of a crime like Enron. If something comes to shut it down suddenly, it will get a loyal underground following.
If I am wrong, and it is suddenly "not there" due to scandal or government, there will possibly be many suicides.
I think with the instant communications network, we can help them. Df'ed/DA'ed/Faded ones will be ready to help those that need to face reality.
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130
Atheist Miracles
by Perry ini 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
The answer is always "God did it." And he accuses us of escaping one prison to get into another.
Perry, you can find quacks who will say anything as an expert in a courtroom trial and you can find those same types if you search the internet to bolster your absolute refusal to even consider rejecting the young earth (or the life upon it) and the Bible.
Your thoughts, boiled down to the basics, are nothing new. In your mind, you cannot fathom that life got the way it is without a god, and you cannot fathom the universe itself being this way without a god. But the limitations are yours. Science is willing to ask the questions you are afraid to ask, like "Does it need a god? If it does, then who or what made the god? If it doesn't, let's see how that happened." Just because science cannot answer all the questions right now, you default to "God did it" and stop asking.
I know you want us to snap you out of this thinking and that is why you continue to offer junk science to this forum. You know it's junk science, but you just don't have the guts to admit it. You were wrong once and got out of that, and you are just afraid to find out you are wrong again. So many started down that road you are on. I dabbled in "Christianity just might be right" and "Maybe all religion is wrong, but God must be there." But the god of the Bible says to test him, and that is what I did. And he isn't there.
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Luxury Apartments
by freemindfade inthis 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. -
62
Hello, just introducing myself
by Miss Behaving ini'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.
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62
Hello, just introducing myself
by Miss Behaving ini'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 ini 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 inafter 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.