OzGirl

Joined

• started 3 topics
• posted 114 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by OzGirl

• 
  46

  What comforts you when you no longer believe in a ressurrection ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  our family just lost someone dear and very close, a faithful jw.

  as we went through the entire funeral services and meeting long time brothers and sisters, who in general have been very kind and warm towards us, we realize that the hope of resurrection is a meaningless utopia for us, like a fairytale for little children.

  we don't have faith in it anymore, and serves us of no comfort.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Hi EdenOne

  Just wanted to say that I am sorry to hear about your loss. I keep a memorial garden in my yard for those whom I've lost in death. As each family member dies, I add a new flower to remember them (as Scully described in her post)
• 
  34

  Quick introduction

  by OzGirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  only have a few minutes to spare so thought i would throw this together.. been in for about 30 years.

  questions and doubts gathered over that time.

  i have a keen interest in the legal and financial matters of the watchtower.. came across this site about 5 years ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Have to post a correction here - I made a blooper with the figures about the 1914 "equation." Sorry. Oops!

  
  

  5 days x 2520 = 12600 days. If I worked that out correctly, that comes to 34 years and 190 days.
• 
  34

  Quick introduction

  by OzGirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  only have a few minutes to spare so thought i would throw this together.. been in for about 30 years.

  questions and doubts gathered over that time.

  i have a keen interest in the legal and financial matters of the watchtower.. came across this site about 5 years ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Continuing to address Magnum's request for more information on questions and doubts. I've already covered the financial questions in the previous posts so I'll write about the non-financial ones now. These points aren't in chronological order. 
  
  Changing the meaning of the word "generation" in 1995. That to me, is an admission that the 1914 teaching is wrong. And it is a point that was buried in a Watchtower study and covered in a couple of paragraphs. Like they slipped it in there and hoped that we wouldn't notice.
  
  I worked out that the 1914 chronology was wrong when we were studying the Revelation Climax book for the second time through. The book study conductor was droning on one night - I had a huge day at work, that day - (deep sigh) So I started working on the "7 times = 2520 years" chronology "equation." The years are calculated on the idea of 360 days making up a prophetic year. However, a calendar year makes up 365 days. Yet the prophetic years are counted from 607 BCE as if they are calendar years. 5 days difference doesn't sound like very much. But 5 days x 2520 = 9600 days. If my calculations are right, that means that 9600 days works out to be 26 years and 110 days. So the 1914 chronology is short by 26 years and 110 days.
  
  Also Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607 BCE, but around 586/587 BCE, according to scholars. Haven't seen any historian ever put the date at 607 BCE.

   
  "Overlapping generation" - where is the Biblical evidence to support this? If Jesus thought that there were going to be 2 "generations" wouldn't he have made that clear in the Bible? The GB are just making things up as they go along. Whatever sounds good at the time.  

  
  How could the Bible Students be appointed in 1919 as the faithful and discreet slave when they were still celebrating Christmas and other practices that they now frown upon? (Although "new light" has since come out on this point as their appointment and reward is now considered to be a future event.)
  
  Why did it take over 90 years for the faithful and discreet slave class to figure out who they were and what their status was before Jehovah?
  
  What purpose did it serve, to preach for over 90 years that the slave class had received its reward, when this event hadn't happened?
  
  The Watchtower Society bases its "new light" concept on the scripture at Proverbs 4:18 ("The path of the righteous one gets brighter....") Where is the scriptural precedent to show that Jehovah gave false information as a temporary, stop-gap solution until the true and accurate information was made available?
  
  The context of Proverbs chapter 4 is a comparison between the path of the righteous one and the path of the wicked one. It isn't about prophecy.
  
  How many versions of the Mosaic Law are there? One. And the Mosaic Law is thousands of years old. It doesn't seem to get "new light"
  
  The scripture about the "two witness" rule and the child abuse policies don't seem to get "new light" either.
  
  Will post more doubts and questions later, in response to Magnum's request. 
• 
  34

  Quick introduction

  by OzGirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  only have a few minutes to spare so thought i would throw this together.. been in for about 30 years.

  questions and doubts gathered over that time.

  i have a keen interest in the legal and financial matters of the watchtower.. came across this site about 5 years ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Following on from the previous post.
  
  I also think that the Watchtower Society does not have a viable business model. It is worth a lot of money in terms of assets but is short on "operational cash." (This is to be expected from an organisation that doesn't encourage its members to get higher education and find lucrative employment.) Branch buildings and property need to be sold to try and generate cash. But the funds obtained from these sales is only going to go so far. 
  Other corporations have to use such measures to survive financially also. But they are short-term or stop-gap solutions that keep a corporation afloat while it recovers from financial shortfalls.
  
  The hedge fund investment, the sales of building and property as well as the "special monthly contribution" (one of the posters here called it "the everlasting loan" but I can't remember who they were) - all of these factors combined tell me that the Watchtower Society needs to generate vast amounts of money and they need to generate it in a short space of time.
• 
  34

  Quick introduction

  by OzGirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  only have a few minutes to spare so thought i would throw this together.. been in for about 30 years.

  questions and doubts gathered over that time.

  i have a keen interest in the legal and financial matters of the watchtower.. came across this site about 5 years ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Thank you for the warm welcome.
  
  Yes, I am Aussie. Not related to "Dorothy."   
  
  I am a convert and still attending meetings at this point in time (depending upon how my week is going.)
  
  I agree with what SAHS wrote - I don't think I could have written that any better.
  
  I'm just going to write about some of the financial issues for now. I'll write about other questions and doubts in a separate post.
  
  When I first started attending assemblies, our congregation used to hold these in rented school halls. So I figured that some of the contributions would go to paying for the use of the rented hall for the weekend. So I would make a small contribution on these occasions.
  
  Later on, the Assembly Hall was built. I continued to make small contributions whenever I attended. Then the Assembly Hall was paid off. I felt then that the amount needed for donations should go down, technically speaking from a financial point of view. Instead, the opposite happened and the amount required to cover the cost of each assembly went up. No explanation was given. From that point on, I stopped donating.
  
  I also wondered why it was that each assembly started off with a deficit. So I started to track the finances for the circuit as I went to each assembly. There seemed to be a pattern and I wondered if our circuit was struggling financially. To test out this theory, I started attending assemblies in a different part of the circuit and tracking their finances. But I noticed the same pattern, each assembly started off with a deficit.
  
  Another point that I wondered about was the Annual General Meeting report from the Watchtower Society. Whenever I read an Annual General Meeting report from any other corporation, it always contains the financial status and a breakdown of their figures. The first time I read the Annual General Meeting information in the Watchtower magazine, I wondered how they would forget to include the financial information. So I asked one of the brothers about the matter, and was told that "I don't need to worry about such things because the faithful and discreet slave handle important matters like that." (Is that so?)
  
  When I learnt that the Watchtower Society was getting involved in hedge fund investment, the thought that went through my mind was: "Skating on thin ice here. Dangerous game - hedge fund investing." There are high returns in investment BUT there are high risks involved as well. There isn't very much margin for error. I also do not understand how it is possible for an organisation to retain a non-profit, tax-exempt status and yet at the same time, be involved in hedge fund investment.
  
  I'll write about other doubts and questions as time permits. 
• 
  34

  Quick introduction

  by OzGirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  only have a few minutes to spare so thought i would throw this together.. been in for about 30 years.

  questions and doubts gathered over that time.

  i have a keen interest in the legal and financial matters of the watchtower.. came across this site about 5 years ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Only have a few minutes to spare so thought I would throw this together.

  
  Been in for about 30 years. Questions and doubts gathered over that time. I have a keen interest in the legal and financial matters of the Watchtower.

  
  Came across this site about 5 years ago. Since I had never participated on a forum before, I was feeling hesitant about joining up so I went elsewhere. The threads that focused on the legal and financial matters drew my attention, though, and I've continued to return to read them.

  
  I don't have any new information to add. More of a reader than a poster. I'm busy with work and other projects so I don't always have time to be at the computer. 
  
• 
  68

  What I Saw & Heard in the Oral Argument Hearing on January 14, 2015

  by ABibleStudent in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  im not an attorney and i could not record the hearing, so please forgive me if i make mistakes in relating what i remember of the oral argument hearing for jane doe (i.e., candace conti) versus the watchtower bible & tract society on january 14, 2015 and the length of this post.. i arrived at the civic center/union plaza in san francisco, ca about 7:30. the area is very nice with a few homeless people sleeping in the park across from the courthouse.

  it took me about 10 minutes to find the clerks office for the court on the first floor, which opened at 8:00.. once the clerks office opened, the two clerks who i talked with were very polite and helpful.

  the arguments for jane doe (i.e., candace conti) versus the watchtower bible & tract society were scheduled 5th out of (i think) 8. while i was in the office a cameraman and another person for nbc arrived asking about the hearing for candace contis case.. the courtroom for the 1st appellate court is on the 4th floor and takes up most of that floor.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Thank you for the information.
• 
  111

  Conti Appeal Preview - Oral Argument Jan 14

  by Chaserious in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  with hopefully a good deal of interest here in the conti appeal tomorrow (or later today, depending on where you are), i thought that on my ride home from work tonight i'd preview what to expect and what i think the key issues are for any who are interested.

  i have had a busy few weeks and haven't had time to read everything, but i had some time to look at the appeal briefs during my work commute the past couple days.

  it'll be interesting to see what develops out of the network news coverage of this case.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Thanks for explaining this information, Chaserious.
• 
  18

  When elders approach you.....how do you/did you respond?

  by Blackfalcon98 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, back when you were still in, or even now (for those still in), how do you respond when the elders ask to speak with you in the back room?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  I use the skills I got from the Theocratic Ministry School. Instead of evading questions from the "householders" I now use those skills to evade questions from the elders. They stopped asking after a while. 
• 
  35

  Looks like ABC New York got the okay.

  by truthseekeriam in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/dockets.cfm?dist=1&doc_id=2025979&doc_no=a136641.

  12/19/2014order filed.

  upon due consideration, the media request of applicant abc news to make a video recording of oral argument in the above-referenced appeal is granted.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OzGirl

  Following this case with much interest.