Posts by jabberwock

94

Watchtower Sends Legal Notice To Website Regarding Coyright Infringement

by Bangalore in

the watchtower has sent a legal notice to the owners of the eds blog for posting copyrighted material without permission.

here is the link to the trancript.

the site owners response is also there.. .

jabberwock

"Jehovah’s Witnesses have copyrighted the Bible."

No, they haven't. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is copyrighted. Copyrighting a translation of the Bible is not uncommon.

"you can not even post quotes from the New World Translation of the Bible..."

I wouldn't go that far. Briefly quoting and commenting on Watchtower publications would probably be considered fair use.

The blog mentioned above, posted scriptures (from the NWT) and commentary (from the Watchtower magazine) that was printed in Examining the Scriptures Daily. By posting each day's scripture and commentary, the entire publication would be posted in the course of a year.

I don't think this would be considered fair use.

94

Watchtower Sends Legal Notice To Website Regarding Coyright Infringement

by Bangalore in

the watchtower has sent a legal notice to the owners of the eds blog for posting copyrighted material without permission.

here is the link to the trancript.

the site owners response is also there.. .

jabberwock

I don't think this particular use would be considered fair use.

From what I have seen, the websites that have been challenged by the WTBTS on copyright issues contain all, or nearly all, of Watchtower publications and add very little or no commentary. It seems that these would be hard to defend on fair use grounds.

Still, I can't understand why Examining the Scriptures Daily is not available through the watchtower.org website.

13

Judicial Committees - "Works Beffitting Repentance"

by xelder in

a couple years ago the cos and dos were pushing a letter at elders meetings about being more critical of so-called repentant wrongdoers and being tougher on such claims.

do their recent works prove it.

don't just believe tears.

jabberwock

Posts about how the Governing Body or the Legal Department affects the decisions of judicial committees seem to fall into two categories.

Some discuss how the elders are constantly being told not to mention the Legal Department in judicial committee proceedings or records.

Others, such as the original post here, discuss efforts of the organization to further exert it's authority over local congregations and BOE.

So, which is it? How can they possibly do both?

If they are seriously concerned about liability issues wouldn't issuing explicit instructions through letters, COs or DOs, or even special schools be very risky? These methods might keep the information from non-elder Witnesses, but anyone who actually wants to find out about them can.

If people here can find this stuff and make the connection wouldn't it be rather simple for a lawyer to do so?

27

No need for science, just read the Watchtower

by jabberwock in

i often hear scientists and others complain that some religious people are satisfied with "god did it" as an explanation for everything and are uninterested in what science has to say.. i never felt this way as a witness; i always felt that witnesses were very interested in scientific discoveries.. apparently, i was wrong.. r.stuart marshall is a witness with a doctorate from stanford whose life story appeared in the wt 08 12/01.

consider this telling anecdote from that article:.

the university of california wanted funds to compete with other states to win a six-billion-dollar federal project.

jabberwock

Both Rudolph Stuart Marshall and his wife Patricia received Ph.Ds from Stanford's Department of Education.
Neither is a scientist.
Here are the details

Thanks for posting these details VM44. I don't think the article implies that they are scientists. Still, I think that he was at least somewhat serious about the WT's answers being better than anything that could be found from a supercollider.

I think that what really annoys me is that they implicitly praise someone for injecting their beliefs into a professional discussion about how to spend state funds.

And do the magazines really answer the questions that physicists are asking? Only if you think that "Jehovah did it" is an answer to all scientific questions.

I doubt that the supercollider project was trying to find out why God permits suffering.

27

No need for science, just read the Watchtower

by jabberwock in

i often hear scientists and others complain that some religious people are satisfied with "god did it" as an explanation for everything and are uninterested in what science has to say.. i never felt this way as a witness; i always felt that witnesses were very interested in scientific discoveries.. apparently, i was wrong.. r.stuart marshall is a witness with a doctorate from stanford whose life story appeared in the wt 08 12/01.

consider this telling anecdote from that article:.

the university of california wanted funds to compete with other states to win a six-billion-dollar federal project.

jabberwock

The article does not actually say that he was a scientist. In fact, it seems that he may have actually been an economist working for the state and that the committee was asking for his opinion of the worth of the project from an economic standpoint. Sorry, if I confused anyone in my original post.

He does describe his wife as having a "mathematical mind" and the article does mention that she gave up teaching at a university to pioneer.

Some have mentioned that they think his comment was a joke or that it was tongue in cheek. It certainly is possible, but I seriously doubt it. And he does say "no one refuted my point".

His experience also contains a lot of references to his efforts to find flaws in Bible prophecy and the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses. What do you think he found?

As I studied the Bible with the Witnesses, what impressed me most was Bible prophecy [describes some of Daniel's prophecies]...Through personal research in reference works, I established for myself that these books of the Bible were in fact written before the events they foretold.

Reference works? Probably, the Insight book or some other WTBTS publication.

A new budget analyst at the LAO turned out to be a Witness who was no longer actively practicing what she believed. Doubts about the Bible had weakened her faith. I had the joy of helping her spiritually.

I'm sure he shared some of his previous "personal research in reference works" and then her doubts just evaporated.

"I honestly feel that education from Jehovah is the most rewarding of all my higher education. It is unlike any other educational program on earth in its breadth and comprehensiveness."

I like how education from Jehovah is higher education. And emphasizing its breadth and comprehensiveness sounds like a fancier way of saying, "Reading the Awake! magazine is equivalent to a college education,". By the way, I seem to remember hearing that the same thing was said of the Photo-Drama of Creation in its day.

To me an article like this is trying to tell your average Witness, "Don't be troubled by your doubts, just ignore them. Smart people who went to college tried to prove us wrong and did the research just to find that we were right all along."

27

No need for science, just read the Watchtower

by jabberwock in

i often hear scientists and others complain that some religious people are satisfied with "god did it" as an explanation for everything and are uninterested in what science has to say.. i never felt this way as a witness; i always felt that witnesses were very interested in scientific discoveries.. apparently, i was wrong.. r.stuart marshall is a witness with a doctorate from stanford whose life story appeared in the wt 08 12/01.

consider this telling anecdote from that article:.

the university of california wanted funds to compete with other states to win a six-billion-dollar federal project.

jabberwock

I often hear scientists and others complain that some religious people are satisfied with "God did it" as an explanation for everything and are uninterested in what science has to say.

I never felt this way as a Witness; I always felt that Witnesses were very interested in scientific discoveries.

Apparently, I was wrong.

R.Stuart Marshall is a Witness with a doctorate from Stanford whose life story appeared in the wt 08 12/01. Consider this telling anecdote from that article:

The University of California wanted funds to compete with other states to win a six-billion-dollar federal project. The project was to build a superconducting supercollider for research on subatomic particles. I had recommended against the funding, stating that in the long run, it would provide little for the state economy. The university countered by bringing in two Nobel laureates in physics to testify before the legislature. Each of them described the knowledge that the project could provide. One said that it could answer questions on the origin of the universe. The other said that it could shed light on the beginning of life on our planet.
The chairman of the committee turned to me.
“Do you think six billion dollars is too much to pay for answers to these questions?” he asked.
“I agree that these are important questions,” I answered. “However, Jehovah’s Witnesses come to my door on Saturday mornings and offer a magazine on a 25-cent donation that will answer the same questions. And I’m not sure that their 25-cent answer isn’t better than the six-billion-dollar answers we might get from this project.”
Everyone in the room roared with laughter, including the Nobel laureates. Even though the legislature granted funding to pursue the project, no one refuted my point.

13

The Gospel is in the fifth chapter of Genesis :)

by Chalam in

i make no claim to discovering this.

i heard chuck missler mention it (i recommend his "the bible in 24 hours" book or dvd by the way).. .

anyhow, the gospel of salvation is within the meaning of the hebrew names which make up the family tree of noah.. .

jabberwock

The Gospel has also been found in the signs of the Zodiac

Witness of the Stars

Gospel in the Stars

17

Jehovahs Witnesses and mental illness

by missellie in

jw
friends

hi, i was wondering if any of you have any statistics when it comes to the percentage of jws or ex witnesses reporting to suffer from mental illnesses?

i have tried to google this but not got very far..

jabberwock

...and according to her going to a psychologist, therapist and medicate today is just totally fine and totally accepted by the WT

Witnesses are allowed, and sometimes encouraged, to seek professional help for mental and emotional problems. In fact, for some time now Watchtower articles have made it clear that Witnesses are permitted to see a mental health professional when facing a serious issue.

In my experience though, there is still a bit of distrust and prejudice toward psychologists and psychiatrists among many Witnesses. Most Witnesses wouldn't think twice about seeing a doctor if they broke a bone or came down with the flu, but I think very few consider, or are even aware of, what is available to help deal with their mental and emotional problems.

The Watchtower literature also seems to emphasize a medical approach rather than "talk therapy".

The July 2009 Awake featured a cover article on depression. Notice this quote:

"Many may be helped by their family physician, but some need more specialized treatment. The doctor might prescribe antidepressant medication or recommend some other form of assistance. Some people have experienced good results with herbal medications, dietary adjustments, or a controlled exercise program."

It seems that this article is careful not to mention seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist, but it also doesn't rule it out. To me the focus is on seeing your non-specialist family doctor who can write you a prescription rather than a qualified specialist.

21

wHAT THINGS HAVE JWS TAKEN AS SIGNS OF ARMEGEDDON IMMIENCE?

by badboy in

jw
friends

jabberwock

I've heard many Witnesses say that the economic meltdown is a sign that Armageddon must be near. When things get better they'll say that Armageddon will come when things are good and we least expect it.

The steam engine! (well, that was back in 1918)

Really? Where did they say that?

16

Claws, venom, sharp teeth and other defensive things.....

by Vachi 8 He Is in

another thing i don't get is how all these animals have these destructive body parts, yet i'm to believe they were going to all be herbivores had a&e not sinned?

i pose this question to my dub aunt and she goes "animals weren't eating each other before the flood but they the ones outside of the ark had to survive some kinda way so they took to eating each other.".

now, this begs a series of questions: if the animals could survive the flood, what was the point of noah collecting all of them in the first place?

jabberwock

Has anyone ever heard or read of a Witness explanation for claws, venom, sharp teeth, etc.? I would really be interested in seeing if this has ever been discussed in a Watchtower magazine or one of the other publications.