here is why, even though i no longer agree with most of what the gb/wt/jw's teach, i still feel especially close to all of us who were apart of this group.
born in or converted.
we all have had the same life experience of being raised in a over bearing mind controlling cult.
Lola-rabbit: it's not that I can't feel the love, it's that I don't call all love "family". (I call some of it "affinity"!)
Greybeard: Thank you for your kindness. I looooove meatloaf!
My cup runneth over. Oh, sorry, it's the gravy. It spilled on your clothes, Diest? Awwwwww.
here is why, even though i no longer agree with most of what the gb/wt/jw's teach, i still feel especially close to all of us who were apart of this group.
born in or converted.
we all have had the same life experience of being raised in a over bearing mind controlling cult.
I say NO. Family is an overworked word, and it certainly doesn't pertain to being an xJW. WT, and, by extension, JW's, is a *group*. In my opinion they're just what they say they are, a nonprofit *corporation* (root word means "body" but not "family"). JW's are what WT says they are, non-members of the corporation, simply "publishers" for the WT nonprofit corporation.
I have a family. I was once associated with a nonprofit corporation known as Watchtower. Watchtower said I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. There were other JW's for whom I felt an "affinity" just as there are now a number of xJW's for whom I feel an affinity. At the same time there are a number in each group for whom I feel no affinity at all.
I find it best to keep my definitions straight, especially in light of my WT/JW experience.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
AB (speaking in friendly but very serious mode)
faith california city fines couple for holding bible study in their homeposted on september 19, 2011 at 1:36am by madeleine morgensternphoto via flickr user erwin vogelaar.
a southern california couple has been fined $300 dollars for holding christian bible study sessions in their home, and could face another $500 for each additional gathering.. city officials in san juan capistrano, calif. say chuck and stephanie fromm are in violation of municipal code 9-3.301, which prohibits religious, fraternal or non-profit organizations in residential neighborhoods without a permit.
stephanie hosts a wednesday bible study that draws about 20 attendees, and chuck holds a sunday service that gets about 50.. the fromms appealed their citations but were denied and warned future sessions would carry heftier penalties.
Diest, please take a look at my earlier post to this thread wherein I mention compelling governmental interest in not losing potential tax revenues. Thanks.
faith california city fines couple for holding bible study in their homeposted on september 19, 2011 at 1:36am by madeleine morgensternphoto via flickr user erwin vogelaar.
a southern california couple has been fined $300 dollars for holding christian bible study sessions in their home, and could face another $500 for each additional gathering.. city officials in san juan capistrano, calif. say chuck and stephanie fromm are in violation of municipal code 9-3.301, which prohibits religious, fraternal or non-profit organizations in residential neighborhoods without a permit.
stephanie hosts a wednesday bible study that draws about 20 attendees, and chuck holds a sunday service that gets about 50.. the fromms appealed their citations but were denied and warned future sessions would carry heftier penalties.
Diest, no one is taking away their right to assemble (for religious purposes), they're just saying "not on residential property".
faith california city fines couple for holding bible study in their homeposted on september 19, 2011 at 1:36am by madeleine morgensternphoto via flickr user erwin vogelaar.
a southern california couple has been fined $300 dollars for holding christian bible study sessions in their home, and could face another $500 for each additional gathering.. city officials in san juan capistrano, calif. say chuck and stephanie fromm are in violation of municipal code 9-3.301, which prohibits religious, fraternal or non-profit organizations in residential neighborhoods without a permit.
stephanie hosts a wednesday bible study that draws about 20 attendees, and chuck holds a sunday service that gets about 50.. the fromms appealed their citations but were denied and warned future sessions would carry heftier penalties.
From a purely financial perspective: It seems that the home and property are relatively costly. If the owners continue to "hold services" and "bible studies" on that property, they will qualify for ministerial exemptions on their personal income tax. At some point they may decide to form a nonprofit religious, educational, or charitable corporation and that means exemption from property tax. San Juan Capistrano is protecting whatever rights it has in relation to income or loss thereof. They might not want their city to lose money like Brooklyn Heights, Patterson, Walkill, etc., still having to protect the property against crimes, fires, emergency medical needs, but getting nothing in the way of compensation for it.
crime channel = a family of four were murdered at a tennasee rest stop.
one of the killers a teenager girl said.
"the man aproached me at the rest stop and asked me if i believed in god, he said he was a jehovah's witness..." the four youths are serving life in prison.
If you do a search here on the board for "Lillelid" (the family's surname) there are other threads about it.
i've googled with no success.
i need a date.
when did the watchtower discontinue food service at the district conventions?
They were still serving food in 1993. Beyond that I have no idea, wasn't there.
given the interest shown in today's wt study, i got to thinking that the society knows many of us still attend meetings.
the wording of today's lesson doesn't allude only to outsider's breaking in with their filthy apostate literature and tv interviews but also to satanic insider's working the faithful sheep in the pen.. we've discussed on other threads how jwn and like sites appear to be monitored.
of course, the society's literature never clues the reader in on what exactly apostates teach nor how we infiltrators do our clandestine work of sabotaging the sheep's faith.. any thoughts?.
WT was taking a shot in the dark, then leaving up to the individual "conscience" to "either accuse or excuse". Don't let 'em play with your mind.
AB
fyi: the following material that im providing comes from a source in australia, an xjw who is now monitoring the case and will provide feedback, comments, and opinions.
barbara.
the governing body of jehovah's witnesses was recently summoned to appear in the magistrates' court of victoria on september 13, 2011 in relation to a number of indictable criminal offences allegedly committed.
Barb, and others who were JW's back around 1990 or 1991: Think back to the District Convention(s); a whole Saturday was spent deliniating the difference between WT and the GB. There was a whole talk devoted to what would happen if the WT was taken down by court/legal action. Essentially, the difference is that WT is a legal entity and may, indeed, cease to function, but the GB would still be handling spiritual matters. That's an important distinction. If charges are filed against "the Governing Body" the action is doomed to failure, for they handle only spiritual things. If the charges are laid against WT, it's officers or agents, that's a whole 'nuther issue, but in that case there would have been no accusations made against individuals as members of the GB so they will still be beyond accusation in [their version] of the scriptural sense. I am aware that in many cases both legal and spiritual headship is maintained by the same individual. Still, a spiritual title (member of the GB) can't be prosecuted, so they're home free as far as JW's are concerned, it will be just another case of "framing trouble by decree", something for which they've been preparing the rank and file for decades.
AB
Same here, I logged on that morning (different user name than now), saw the thread, but didn't turn on the TV. I didn't want to see people actually dying.
I longed for my children, to tell them I loved them one more time in case the atrocity sparked a war, but they're JW's...
