Posts by freddo

24

JC letter of invitation. Do they always get signed?

by StarTrekAngel in

i was just shown a jc letter from a friend and i noticed that the bottom of it was signed by tree elders.

the letter specifically stated that it was an invitation to a "judicial committee" due to the brother having a marital relationship that was not aligned with bible principles.. i am asking because i remember reading experiences of brothers who demanded their jc be arranged over certified mail with signed letters to which elders refused to do.

since they could not get this done the matter was dropped and no dfing ever happened.

freddo

Well duh! "Tree elders" are sent by the "Branch" - obviously.

@Closer

There is a difference between legally married (in jw land) and scripturally married.

You can get a legal divorce but if you remarry (legally) without "scriptural" grounds for a divorce then you have entered into an "adulterous marriage" and if they can get their ducks in a row (proof - admission by you or two witnesses or it is known you are living with your new marriage mate) they will hold a JC and DF you.

"Scriptural" grounds means that either...

A) Your ex had definitely done "jiggy-jiggy" with someone - or an animal! (porneia is the word they use which means penetrative or oral sex or mutual masturbation) and you have chosen not to "forgive". ("Forgiving" means you have resumed jiggy-jiggy with him or her)

B) You have done the dirty and your ex chose to "not forgive you" and scripturally and legally divorce you first.

Oh and with modern technology- phone sex, sexting, robot sex (!) etc. this will have them spending hours or days consulting with the branch to decide what or if you have "grounds" or not! Probably not.

But no Pharisees at work here. No Sir!

28

New World Translation Vs. Kingdom Interlinear Translation ... your thoughts

by Ianone in

8: 58 footnote 1985 ed kit blue (01).

8: 58 footnote 1969 ed kit purple (02).

jesus, himself tells us just how important it is.

freddo

I cannot throw more light on the post but I knew there were two interlinears. Not hugely different although I'm sure someone can highlight anything significant.

I have the blue one (later) but not the earlier. As far as I recall the purple one was based on the complete (old green 1961 nwt bible) in style and came out in 1969.

The blue one of 1985 came out with the revision of the 1984 nwt (you know where Heb 1 v 6 is changed from "worship" to "obeisance" of Jesus in the main text) and at the time of the big reference bible.

I guess there would have been tiny subtle differences to support their doctrine plus some extra charts and such to make it more sellable (financially) to the JW's who would have been the main source of income.

50

JW Broadcasting: Russian Convention Travel Report w/Mark Sanderson

by pale.emperor in

https://tv.jw.org/#en/mediaitems/latestvideos/pub-jwb_201709_12_video.

a few things about this video:.

it's very nice that they managed to host a convention for the russian brothers and sisters, and that they all got fed.

freddo

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fs.newsweek.com%2Fsites%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Ffiles%2F2015%2F04%2F17%2F0417namfall01.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Flast-helicopter-evacuating-saigon-321254&docid=29m57VxOBa061M&tbnid=F_t2leqa8TJ7xM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwj0tObz0onXAhWPDRoKHaiPC-YQMwgmKAAwAA..i&w=3678&h=2638&bih=584&biw=1120&q=vietnam%20last%20helicopter&ved=0ahUKEwj0tObz0onXAhWPDRoKHaiPC-YQMwgmKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8

20

Classic situation at Circuit Assembly Day

by freddo in

jw
friends

so i've just skived off to the car park half way through our assembly day - what a classic morning.. i'm sat right behind an early-teen kid with some sort of special needs (autistic?

) who's sat with what looks like his late-30's harassed single parent mother.

(or married to an unbelieving mate?

freddo

Just escaped early to the car park. And no I'd rather not say on open forum which venue ... paranoia and all that.

However SNK and Mum weren't there in the afternoon (or were sat elsewhere.) Hopefully he didn't have to get the whole day.

20

Classic situation at Circuit Assembly Day

by freddo in

jw
friends

so i've just skived off to the car park half way through our assembly day - what a classic morning.. i'm sat right behind an early-teen kid with some sort of special needs (autistic?

) who's sat with what looks like his late-30's harassed single parent mother.

(or married to an unbelieving mate?

freddo

So I've just skived off to the car park half way through our assembly day - what a classic morning.

I'm sat right behind an early-teen kid with some sort of special needs (autistic?) who's sat with what looks like his late-30's harassed single parent mother. (or married to an unbelieving mate?)

Every so often he makes an audible comment which can be heard by me and a few around us. He also has a big A4 size photocopy of those dumb questions they print in the program nowadays to keep us on message.

So ... first item finishes and the chairman gets up and thanks the speaker and asks rhetorically ...

Chairman "So we're all looking forward to the rest of the assembly aren't we brothers and sisters?"

SNK (Special Needs Kid) "I'm not!"

Kid's mother "Shhhhh!"

SNK "Well I'm not! It's wrong to lie!"

Kid's mother goes blood red.

.....

Later there's an item about how we behave when alone (except Jehovah of course ) and a lot of it is about pornography.

SNK writes in his notes in massive handwriting "Do not watch PORN!!!" and shows it to his mother who goes blood red again.

All goes relatively quiet until the baptism questions (4 baptised out of 940 in attendance) and the first one goes by with no comment from SNK but the second goes like this ...

Guy giving talk: "Blah blah - do you identify yourself with Jehovah's organisation etc"

SNK "NO!!"

You guessed it - mother goes blood red again!

I thought this kid is smarter than everyone thinks.

17

13th Dec 2017

by zeb in

i have a 'financial advisor' email tell of massive changes coming to us (and thereby world currencies) on the above date.. does 13-dec 2017 mean anything to anyone.?.

he is talking about the removal of cash etc now if this is half way correct where does it leave the money machine of the wt?.

positive responses welcome..

freddo

Useful response ...?

I reckon it's a phishing email and the first part of a scam.

20

Normal things you missed out on as a kid (besides holidays)

by Are you serious in

since me and my siblings had to go to service every saturday, and i mean every saturday, i missed out on something so normal as watching good ole saturday morning cartoons from the 70's and 80's.

i remember wishing i could stay home just one saturday so i could watch cartoons.

but noooo we had to go save lives!

freddo

I was virtually a born-in. Not quite but almost. One parent became a jw when I was 1 year old and the other when I was 11 years old.

The highlights of my youth were the extremely rare non-jw things my parents allowed me to do. School camping trips (each one week long) at ages 10 and 11 and 14.

Even then there was no Xmas or birthdays and I remember vividly dreading whether I might be asked to salute a flag. Here's why.

In England no one outside the armed forces or at remembrance day salutes in the presence of the national flag.

But ... I was brought up on a diet of Watchtowers screaming that JW kids should not be forced to salute the American flag and so when I went to school camp we used a Scouts' (also forbidden for jw's to join because of its links with the Church of England) camp site on the south coast of England. Right in the middle was the Union Flag on a pole.

So come evening when 100 normal kids get their hot chocolate and sit round the fire and the flag is "struck down for the evening" I am dreading being the only one not standing and saluting.

Except of course, being laconic Brits the flag was dropped with no ceremony whatsoever and put away to be raised the next morning, again with no ceremony whatsoever.

Phew! Another jw test passed with flying colours! (Just not flying colours being saluted)

46

This week's "Give Us Your Money" meeting item.

by freddo in

jw
friends

if you went to it, (or go later this week) how was it handled?

just the video or some commentary too?.

i have heard of a few negative comments from some that attended - one jw even openly said to me "not very encouraging, all they go on about is money lately" and another (a serving elder, no less) said "someone's got to pay for all those lawsuits".

freddo

That 1973 Awake article is also noteworthy for a basic error ...

"Admission is now being charged visitors to London’s thirteenth-century Salisbury Cathedral."

Salisbury Cathedral is in the City of Salisbury - a small city in it's own right - and which is 90 miles south west of London. It certainly cannot be described as London's cathedral.

Perhaps they meant England's, not London's ...

14

Listening to the meetings from the perspective of a "newly interested" person?

by stuckinarut2 in

just wondering how many others (when you were still in the org) would try and listen to the meeting programmes from the perspective of a newly interested person visiting for the first time?.

i know that i did this, and most times i did, i found it disturbing!

it was not just the "in-house" language and terminology that was odd, but also the actual doctrines, and method of 'teaching' that was odd!.

freddo

You might ask why they are newly interested?

Nowadays "round my way" it's generally because they are vulnerable, lonely and miserable at best - or cuckoo, vulnerable, lonely and miserable at worst.

What appeals to these people is the interest shown in them, along with the "certainty" and the "love" from outwardly normal people.

So they sit through crap and soak it up. Some see through it, some leave and some surface at every crisis only to disappear again later.

46

This week's "Give Us Your Money" meeting item.

by freddo in

jw
friends

if you went to it, (or go later this week) how was it handled?

just the video or some commentary too?.

i have heard of a few negative comments from some that attended - one jw even openly said to me "not very encouraging, all they go on about is money lately" and another (a serving elder, no less) said "someone's got to pay for all those lawsuits".

freddo

K99: Firstly the premise of the video was that there a new way of donating via the website and this had raised some questions.

Hilarious and good final point in your post - what questions could it possibly raise?

Ageing Dub "Hmmm. These people told me and my generation I could live forever without dying. Now I'm gonna die and they want my estate so they can live in comfort and tell the next overlapping generation they won't die either?"