Posts by Earnest

26

Is there a new rule regarding disfellowshipped people?

by HOTB in

does anyone have any information about a relaxing of the rules regarding family reaching out to disfellowshipped members?.

i've heard of an elder being openly in touch with a long time disfellowshipped family member.

apparently the term 'compassionate view' had been bandied about.. i can't find anything relating to this.. i'd be interested what the new rule is in when came into play.. hotb .

Earnest

jhine : So you can only be " removed" for 90 days?

In the 2024 Governing Body Update #2 changes in the disfellowshipping arrangement were outlined. Amongst those changes it was said (@ 10:00) that when someone is disfellowshipped/removed it would be explained to them that the committee would like to meet with the individual "after a few months" to see if s/he has had a change of heart. This is repeated in the August 2024 Watchtower study article, para.6. However, in the March 2024 document "Adjustments to Handling Serious Wrongdoing" it was more specific. It said (para.15) :

If the individual is not an apostate or actively promoting wrongdoing, [the elders] will also inform him that they would like to meet with him again in three months to determine if he has had a change of heart. In some cases, but not all, the committee may determine that there is a basis for reinstating the individual at that time. On the other hand, if he has not had a change of heart or if additional time is needed (see the special caution in paragraph 16), the elders will endeavor to reach out to him every six months if he is agreeable, unless he requests reinstatement before that time.

So, essentially, you are removed from the congregation until such time as you are repentant. It can be as short as three months, it can be a lifetime.

Paragraph 16 : Although a repentant individual should be reinstated without delay, such sins as child abuse, apostasy, and scheming to end a marriage require special caution. (2 Pet. 2:9, 10).

57

Why do they want to kill all the White People?

by liam in

the hatred against whites is escalating to an unprecedented degree.

in south africa, they are calling for complete genocide of white people.

for some reason they are targeting all the white farmers.. i’m so glad trump noticed.

Earnest

Anony Mous : since the early 1960s to 1993 about 19,000 cases of human rights abuses have been documented.

After the end of apartheid, Nelson Mandela set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Desmond Tutu. They found that there were more than 19,000 people who had been victims of human rights violations. But the great majority of these violations had been committed by the state, including 73 deaths in detention by the security police.

Anony Mous : Since Mandela rose to power ... more than 82,000 white farmers have been dispossessed of their property under communist laws against property holdings.

That is simply not true. There has been an attempt to restore land that was illegally seized under apartheid laws, but it is necessary for the claimants to prove that the land was originally theirs, and the state has to pay compensation for improvements made to the land in the interim. There is a recent law which allows for a small number of exceptions where compensation is not paid and that is usually when a farm or piece of land is not being used. Even so, any seizure of land has to go through the courts. Your emotional use of words like "dispossessed" and "communist laws" do not reflect reality. You say your claims are well-documented but provide no documentation.

And as for your stock photo of someone with a sign "Kill All Whites", while I don't know the circumstances when that was taken I do know that today he would be charged with a hate crime.

57

Why do they want to kill all the White People?

by liam in

the hatred against whites is escalating to an unprecedented degree.

in south africa, they are calling for complete genocide of white people.

for some reason they are targeting all the white farmers.. i’m so glad trump noticed.

Earnest

hoser : The violence is real but possibly not politically motivated

Yes. I have friends who moved to New Zealand for the same reason. I wouldn't describe South Africa as a safe place to live, and when there was a civil war going on the attacks on farms were political. But apartheid ended more than thirty years ago. By and large, South Africans of all hues get along well together. The rainbow nation. But violent crime and corruption remain a problem with no easy solution in sight.

57

Why do they want to kill all the White People?

by liam in

the hatred against whites is escalating to an unprecedented degree.

in south africa, they are calling for complete genocide of white people.

for some reason they are targeting all the white farmers.. i’m so glad trump noticed.

Earnest

Anony Mous : From a pure historical perspective the whites are the natives,

The whites were never the native population. They primarily came from Holland and Britain, but there were others living there when they arrived who are commonly known as the San and the Khoisan.

Anony Mous : the ANC is a party of tribes that started invading about 200 years ago, after the white population had already settled.

There are whites in the ANC as well as blacks. It is a political party, not a race. Further, certain black tribes had already moved into areas east of the Kei river when the whites arrived, and so it was the whites invading areas east of the Kei river after the black population had settled there.

Anony Mous : People seem to forget that Mandela went to prison for killing white and black farmers,

Mandela went to prison for treason, not for killing white and black farmers.

hoser : Seems like it’s just a violent place to be.

It has had a violent history with a lot of wrongs committed by both black and white. But what attacks there have been on farmers have been crime-based rather than political. They are easy targets because they are isolated and have property. The notion that there is a politically motivated genocide of white farmers is something no South African believes except those who want a ticket to the United States.

19

Is the Governing Body hunting down PIMOs? LEAKED survey for select congregations in Canada

by liam in

it seems like the organization is hunting down pimos.

maybe the mark o donnell lawsuit is just the beginning.. this leaked survey in canada is asking some very weird questions from select publishers.

all i can say is that this will help wake up some pimi straddling the fence.

Earnest

This survey seems to be quite extensive as a number of congregations have been invited to take part in South Africa as well.

45

The pope's cousin is a JW

by loosie in

.

sorry i can't get the file attachment to work

Earnest

+ : Wobei die Cousine die Zeugin Jehovas war, 2013 verstarb (siehe das Foto mit dem Grabstein).

Good point. So it was not referring to Steffie Brzakovic .

45

The pope's cousin is a JW

by loosie in

.

sorry i can't get the file attachment to work

Earnest

Thanks for these references, +. It does put a slightly different complexion on things.

An English translation of the Zeit Online report of 1 June 2023 reads :

Cousin of Benedict XVI apparently rejects inheritance because of lawsuit

Not much is known about Benedict XVI's estate – only that a civil lawsuit is part of it. According to a report, a cousin therefore does not want to accept the inheritance.

According to media reports, a cousin of the late Pope Benedict XVI will not accept the inheritance because of a claim for damages against the former head of the church. This is reported by Correctiv and Bayerischer Rundfunk, citing the cousin's daughter, who represents her mother because of her advanced age.

According to the daughter, the former private secretary of the late Pope, Georg Gänswein, had written to her mother in April and introduced himself as Ratzinger's "executor". Gänswein had written in the letter, which BR and Correctiv have obtained, that Ratzinger had "not named a personal heir". Therefore, according to the "Vatican-Italian succession regulation, the closest relatives" would come into question as heirs.

The clergyman wrote to the cousin that she would co-inherit the pending civil lawsuit against Ratzinger if she accepted the inheritance. How high Ratzinger's inheritance is and how many heirs share it, Gänswein reportedly did not write.

Lawsuit against four defendants

The background is a civil lawsuit by an abuse victim against the alleged perpetrator and representatives of the Catholic Church. This so-called declaratory action is directed against four defendants: the repeat offender Priest H., the archdiocese and the former archbishops Cardinal Friedrich Wetter and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

After the death of the Pope Emeritus, however, the proceedings against him are suspended until it is clear who will succeed him. The Traunstein Regional Court had postponed a first hearing date in March because no heirs of Ratzinger had been identified by then.

9

bomb for jehova italy

by andr in

italy meets another bomb in front of the kingdom hall, after having caused a scandal on tv, now it is also dangerous to go to the hall.

here is the image of the press release.

Earnest

Balaamsass2 : What was the scandal?

A journalist of the Italian Mediaset program, Zona Bianca, had visited the same Kingdom Hall with a hidden camera and included her report on national television during one of six episodes of their "Investigation into the World of Jehovah's Witnesses" in February and March this year. It may have been the program of 16 March to which the branch office refers. There was a thread on these programs in February.

127

What does the Catholic church think of JW?

by Halcon in

on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

Earnest

Habemus Papam!

12

Christians and War and the Role of Conscience (a work in progress)

by Terry in

christians and war and the role of conscience ______________ christian integrity vs duty to superior authority from the federal government’s povthe u.s. government saw jw’s as one group within a larger group of men refusing military service within existing law - for reasons of deeply held convictions.

we jw brothers weren’t the only ones affected, as evidenced by this list.. quakers.

jehovah’s witnesses.

Earnest

Sea Breeze : I think any man who "categorically" refuses to protect his family (and his neighbors) from harm is a coward.

The man who you gave as an example of courage was neither defending his family or his neighbours. He was fighting against those his government had declared were the enemy. You are confusing cowardice with conscience, and murder with courage.