did anyone see oprah's show today?
it was awesome!!!
all about the catholic church and pedophiles.
99.9% of witnesses will just brush it off as satan's doings or apostate lies. It just won't have an effect on the rank and file.
LB, it's my understanding it's the protection of children and the compensation for those taken advantage of within a 'closed' social society that is important.
Whether current Jehovah's Witnesses agree or disagree with the WTBTS' current policies of Corporate protectionism is beside the point.
Flip
the watchtower has all kinds of new propaganda about lies, manipulation of information, etc.
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2000/6/22/article_02.htm.
looks like we've all been lied to by apostates, they are really the true religion after all!!.
WOW!!! How they can say this with a straight face, all the while this is what they do in their literature!
Could it be…because the intended audience is the uninitiated public and governments who have absolutely no idea how to interpret WTBTS definitions and to a lesser degree the harmless, intimidated Jehovah’s Witness who have been successfully taught not to recognize the hypocrisy but who's membership is the ‘ticket’ to maintaining the status of ‘charitable’, tax free revenue?
Flip
if you could start a religion what would it be?
how would you go about setting it up?
what agenda would you have?
If you could start a religion …How would you go about setting it up?
The very first thing I would do is apply for the Government Tax Exempt status and milk it for all it’s worth by producing millions of so called 'charitable' religious tracts every month and convince my followers they must donate, for the production, free labor and cash then distribute the 'rags' world-wide on their own dime or suffer the consequences.
Flip
additional new stories with more information about the bryant tragity can be found on this link to the news register of mcminnville oregon.. http://www.newsregister.com.
published: march 23, 2002. jeb bladine.
whatchamacolumn - a tale of two freedoms.
Do any here believe that God can right all wrongs?
If One won’t stop ‘wrongs’ during a lifetime and act a little more progressive towards living things on Earth today, what good is Its little games.
Flip
what was the dumbest counsel you ever received?
once an elder was at my house and saw the video beauty and the beast, he said you should throw that away, because it promotes bestiality.
he got upset with me, because i just could not stop laughing.
My sibling brother and I, during the Beatles era (after Ed Sullivan), were counseled about our hair and were told, in so many words, the length of our hair may not be pleasing to Jehovah.
The Elder that approached us gave my brother and I a way out and said he knew someone who could provide us each with a free haircut.
We both arrived the next Saturday at the local hair school academy and his, inexperienced, non-JW nephew gave both of us an embarrassing hack job.
Since then, I’ve learned, ‘the value of a service is usually equal to what you pay for it.’ … leads me to question just why are the Watchtower and Awake! are so ‘inexpensive’ or is it a volume marketing thing.
Although, over the years, I must admit during my tenure as a Jehovah’s Witness some Elders have given me some very good counsel. However, I suspect, if still alive, most of them are disfellowshiped by now.
Flip
i reeceived an email today that said:.
we visited my parents in fl last weekend, and though they're still .
technically witnesses, they consider themselves double agents.
WT & Awake are going to be turned over to commercial printers.
If true, commercial printers operated by elite Jehovah’s Witnesses, most likely.
The rumour of this state of affairs may support the theory (yeah, I know it’s a stretch) that printing religious tracts and selling them to your adherents, is no longer where the money is and it’s time to take corporate profits and turn to other ventures less risky in the hopes of holding and building onto what they’ve (WTBTS Corporation) got.
My guess is more of a leaning towards more real estate development, JW education-like services, convention revenues, hotels, donation investment into stocks and bonds or all of the above.
God I bet a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses wished the WTBTS would go 'public'. Of course, I wouldn't buy their stock...I try to practice ethical investing.
Flip
i have frequented this site quite a bit, but i now have finally joined.
since i seen many other people's posts i will tell.
i grew up with my mother in the "truth" but my father was not.
Welcome DH!
Currently I am working on a letter to the society.
No doubt the Society will reflect long and hard on what you have to tell them.
...Just kidding.
Flip
http://oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/front_page/101671540232151251.xml.
shunning in spotlight .
wendy y. lawton .
Once again the loosely informed journalist tries to mentally grasp the shifting world of what the WTBTS is all about. Although the writer gives it a go, their emotional and sensationalist diatribe falls short of truly understanding the twisted and nebulous Theocratic ‘doublespeak’ that wraps the corporate object from outsiders prying eyes like some brain numbing protective shield.
For example, although the following quotes technically resemble the religious idealism as taught by the WTBTS Corporate elite, the journalists words completely miss the nuance of a deeper and arguably sinister understanding the rank and file Jehovah’s Witness has of these statements:
They (Jehovah’s Witnesses) believe in Armaggedon: The world will end, the wicked will die, and God will create a paradise on Earth for the righteous. The name refers to members' watchful return of Jehovah, or God.
The Bible is their bedrock. Witnesses live their lives in strict accordance to its teachings and follow a rigid moral code. Stealing, drinking, smoking, premarital sex -- all are forbidden.Those who’ve once lived and believed as Jehovah’s Witnesses but who are now sufficiently quarantined from affecting the current crop of Jehovah’s Witnesses that remain, can quickly recognize the above apparently innocuous doublespeak; hidden definition and application, that means either absolutely nothing or completely different things to anyone, unless you have been taught and lived as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Current Jehovah’s Witnesses in ‘good standing’ or otherwise, who’ve trained their conscience to disconnect and mastered the art of yielding Theocratic Corporate ‘doublespeak’, will easily, mentally and argumentatively deflect troublesome information the journalist attempts to reveal to the undiscerning reader who most likely makes up the majority of readership.
In the case of the journalists article in question, regardless of how serious the nature of a subject that affects the lives of a few million adherents and not always in a good way, the article still misses hitting the mark of explaining the vision of a New York corporation that has usurped a lucrative yet complex paradox of having to market millions of dollars worth of ‘religious’ Tracts each month while maintaining a ‘smoke-screen’ of corporate anonymity for its own sake.
larc's thread on coupons gave me this idea.. we all know coupons can save you a few dollars or more.
but how do you save real money???.
do y'all have any tips that you wanna share?
Most likely any one reading here already has a computer.
In that case, install Quicken and then get a PDA and install pocket Quicken on both so you can synchronize the data.
Record all purchases...errr...umm...religiously.
By tracking your purchasing habits and bill payments, it shouldn't take long before you realize where your finances are hemorrhaging money and how to plug the holes.
Or simply run your household like the WTBTS does theirs.
Some folks will personally find you obnoxious and heartless. However, you’ll save like a bandit.
i found this while surfing around this morning:.
http://www.canada.com/calgary/story.asp?id={fde11d22-c569-45a5-a315-f8620681162b}.
gives a pretty good sense of what can happen if you go against the society.. comment
Thanks for taking the time and posting the link 'comment'.
Flip
