Posts by Juan Viejo2

15

Did anyone catch the change on jw.org point number 4 who is babylon the great

by poopie in

jw
friends

jw.org changed point number 4 excluding the idea of child molesting.

coments please.

Juan Viejo2

Can you be more specific where you saw this?

579

Won't get fooled again ...Moon Landing.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

so i was fooled by the witnesses.

what can i learn from that?

not to accept things at face value but to seek out opinion and different view points.. hence my question " do you believe man landed on the moon?.

My half-brother worked for TRW Space Technologies in the years prior to and after the moon landings. I actually visited him in his lab in El Segundo, California one time when they were testing the gold drop down curtains that are visible in the moon landing photos and movies. While much of what he was doing was top-secret, some things were not and the lab I visited was not off-limits to related persons or contractors. They were also testing a lot of switches and rotors and other hardware that had to last through a very rough space flight.

He had all sorts of ovens that they would test various materials in to see what level of heat and cold they could stand and also not tear under any expected stress during the flight. I believe that he also tested the clear face-plates on the helmets they wore and the windows. The windows had to be able to handle certain pressures and decompression and also resist fogging up from both sides.

On the night of the first moon landing my wife, 3 little girls and I went to his home in Torrance, CA to watch the moon landing together. We cheered and cried and cheered and cried during the whole thing. Every so often my brother would jump up and go over to the TV and point out something on the moonlander that he had personally been involved in testing. The gold protective/reflective sheeting was one of those things. He mentioned even before they planted it - that the flag they were planting was also something very special. While he did not personally work on that, he had knowledge of some of the materials used and what the specifications had been.

My brother died 14 years ago, but chatting with my nephew I learned that my brother would often bring that whole event up and want to share stories about his small involvement in that project. He retired from TRW after 25 years working there. He was very Republican politically and was an early fan of Rush Limbaugh, so if there was any chance that he would have been involved in a hoax I'm sure he would have given me some clue. When he was buried in a military cemetery, his family buried his medals from his service during WW2 and also a special commemorative pin that he got from TRW in recognition of his personal contributions to the space program and the moon-lander project.

A hoax? Very, very doubtful. If it was, then the whole moon program was a hoax from the very beginning to the very end. Too many other events have happened since then that built off of the moon-lander program. You'd pretty much have to discount everything including the space station and all the landings on Mars as well.

JV

5

Wealth of Documents at Royal Commission Site

by StayedAliveAfter75 in

although i will continue to provide those of you who have subscribed to my distribution list with pertinent documents as they become available, there is a wealth of material just sitting there for you to pick over if you will just take the time and clear some space on your computer.

i suggest that you go to costco, amazon.com, or a local office supply store and pick up a couple of usb plugin storage drives.

i just bought a set of two 128gb 3.0 sandisk dongles for $19 usd at costco.

Juan Viejo2

These are flash drives and on a brief sale. Costco is a heavy discounter store and sells many things in bulk sizes. Most of the time their prices are about 20-30% under list prices elsewhere. I recently purchase a sealed pack of 8 or 10 16GB flash drives for around $30 at Costco.

Full sized 1-3 TB standard USB 3.0 desk drives can be had for around $120-150 USD in many places. A 5-TB drive is now available on Amazon for $129 USD. I can remember buying my a 20GB hard drive for well over $100 just a couple of years ago.

Nice thing about Flash drives is that they write almost instantaneously unless the files are very, very big. Stick it in, save, pull it out. Done. Standard drives have to wind up and get the mechanics moving, but then can do a lot of complicated work quickly. But I have a ton of dead mechanical hard drives around here, and I keep using the Flash drives again and again and again. Amazing little creatures they are.

JV

5

Wealth of Documents at Royal Commission Site

by StayedAliveAfter75 in

although i will continue to provide those of you who have subscribed to my distribution list with pertinent documents as they become available, there is a wealth of material just sitting there for you to pick over if you will just take the time and clear some space on your computer.

i suggest that you go to costco, amazon.com, or a local office supply store and pick up a couple of usb plugin storage drives.

i just bought a set of two 128gb 3.0 sandisk dongles for $19 usd at costco.

Juan Viejo2

Good one, wifibandit! How cool is that?!!

JV

25

Did you know that President Jimmy Carter used to be a Jehovah's Witness?

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

http://www.christianpost.com/news/jimmy-carter-says-jesus-would-not-support-abortion-revealing-only-conflict-between-his-politics-and-christian-faith-141881/.

carter said that as a young man he used to be a jehovah's witness before he was a baptist christian.. .

"it's hard to grow up with such a foundational system and just let it go.

Juan Viejo2

According to several sources, however, Eisenhower did take the oath of office as President on a Bible given to him by his mother that was printed by the Watchtower Society.

JV

24

Who oversees the money for the WT?

by John Aquila in

when the wt sells property for a billion dollars profit, who decides what that money is going to be used for?.

when all the money comes in from all the kingdom halls bank accounts worldwide, did all that money go into one big account and who has authority to spend it and cut some checks to whoever?

when all the monthly donations come in to the watchtower headquarters, who decides distribution, and to who?

Juan Viejo2

After the Menlo Park federal lawsuit / debacle, it was made pretty clear that all Kingdom Halls, including those bought and paid for by members of local congregations (as was typical prior to 1990), now belong to the Watchtower (Pennsylvania Corp, I believe). The elders are required to add a clause in their deeds and corporate paperwork, that upon dissolution of any congregation, the property and all buildings transfer to the WT. Nothing is retained or controlled locally.

So that explains why the WTB&TS has been merging congregations. Once everyone has moved into a new location and abandoned the old - the Watchtower takes it over and sells it - and keeps all the money. This has been the general track in the past ten years:

1. Kingdom Hall A built and paid for by local congregation in 1950-1970s.

2. Kingdom Hall B built and paid for by local congregation in 1960-1980.

3. Kingdom Hall C built and paid for by local congregation with some WT financing in 1980-2000.

4. 2005 - Kingdom Hall A undergoes a major refresh. 2008 - congregation relocated and merged with KH B.

5. 2008 - Kingdom Hall A sold to a commercial buyer, any remaining loans paid off. Net goes to WT HQ.

6. 2009 - New Assembly Hall and Kingdom Hall built in the area. All members of Kingdom Hall A/B moved to new location. Kingdom Hall B sold off and all proceeds go to the WT HQ.

7. 2011 - New quick-build Kingdom Hall built (D). A large number of former KH A and B members are reassigned to (D) leaving KH co-located with Assembly Hall underutilized. Relatively new KH C is abandoned and members are moved to KH at Assembly Hall location.

8. 2012 - KH C is sold and all funds go to WTBTS.

9. 2014 - New Kingdom Hall built (E). A majority of members of old KH C and some from surrounding communities are reassigned to KH E.

10. 2014 - KH and Assembly Hall site repurposed or sold. Proceeds go to WTBTS. Circuit assemblies held in rented convention facilities.

This has been the pattern all over North America over the past 15 years. The real estate crash of 2008, set some of these projects back until property values began to increase substantially in 2012.

This constant relocation and reassignment of members has created hardship for older JWs. Some who could call a cab or get a ride to the local KH, must now arrange transportation to towns and locations that are more distant and in busier neighborhoods. Many KHs now have up to 4 congregations (some foreign language groups) made up from the base of original fully packed KHs.

It must be hard for some JWs to have to jam into 80 seat KHs with growing membership, while others share a 120-seat Kingdom Hall with a moderate number of English speaking JWs and 2-4 smaller foreign language congregations spreading their meetings across the whole weekend and three nights a week.

What your rank and file JWs don't realize is that they are just pawns in a big Monopoly style real estate game being played by the WT Penn and WT NY. Similar situations exist in the UK. Some JWs have never moved their personal residence but have attended up to 5 or 6 different KH locations in the past 15 years.

JV

25

"Crisis of Conscience" and "In Search of Christian Freedom" in stock at Amazon.

by ScenicViewer in

- crisis of conscience (hardcover), $29.95 here.. - in search of christian freedom (hardcover), $29.95 here.. - in search of christian freedom (paperback), $29.95 here.. all sold by cynthia franz..

Juan Viejo2

Most of the ones now available are used. Even so, well worth the investment. I've never had a problem ordering used books from Amazon.com - doesn't show up, just complain. If the ad says good condition and it comes to you in pieces, just let Amazon know and they will fix it for you.

Funny story: My first copy was an original version. A few years later, Ray put out a new edition with some corrections and minor additions. The facts and tone of the book did not change at all, but just time for an update. So I ordered a new edition from Amazon (about $21-29) at the time. The one I got had an insert in it with a list of about 100 minor changes from the early version.

I go to a meetup with some recently out JWs. I took the old book and long with and old copy another famous book, "Apocalype Delayed." I was going to just give them away. The meetup group was mostly gay and newbie JWs that had recently left. Not a single request from any of them. Blew me away. Here I was giving away copies of probably the two most famous critical JW related books - and no one wanted them.

JV

60

BREAKING NEWS!!!

by DATA-DOG in

breaking news from co!!

according to a reliable source, the co in my area says that jws may have been hearing the phrase, "final push" being used.

what sage advice did this shepherd, duke, and "star" of revelation have to say?

Juan Viejo2

I am really beginning to believe that the Watchtower can make these pronouncements at every assembly knowing full well that most of the audience is napping, reading their emails, taking their kids to the bathroom, and hoping to get home in time to see Game of Thrones or Ray Donovan. Yes, they do awake and take notice when its time to "sing" along with the recorded song that no one can really understand or stay in tun with and then get into position for the quick exit as soon as the final prayer is mumbled and bumbled. No biggie - Jehovah heard that very same prayer a week ago at several other cities and will hear it again several more times that very day.

All in praise to Jehovah.. Sure He really appreciates the attention...

JV

59

A difficult yet necessary decision

by Brother Jeramy in

the past five weeks have been perhaps the most painful in my life as a witness.. some months ago a young man (i'd say in his late thirties or early forties) began attending meetings at my kingdom hall.

he had just moved to my area from another state.

he had disassociated himself from his home congregation many years back, when he was 20 years old and going through many of the typical trials and temptations most young men experience.. two of the elders met with him initially, and they later shared the details with the body of elders.

Juan Viejo2

One of the very best ways to leave is to move out of the area, preferably out of the circuit and district. Just say goodbye to everyone and go. Don't DA. Don't make a ruckus. Just go. They will tell you to have the new KH request your publisher card. Just say OK - and then never do it. Be sure to change your phone number and get an unlisted number. They will try for a few weeks and then just give up. Try to move far enough away that you won't bump into any of them very often. If you do, just assure them that you are doing fine, but have been very busy and haven't had time to deal with everything.

Remember that the old congregation really didn't give a damn while you were there. So after you've been gone a while, they will give even less of a damn.

JV

9

Shunning... the thing jdubs don't speak of

by freemindfade in

standing in the back now during the wt study.

looking ahead i find it comical paragraph 14.

"...you know how disfellowshipped ones are to be treated.

Juan Viejo2

Excellent article, Marvin Shilmer.

While they haven't stopped at my house in a very long time (they don't even drop off hand bills and Memorial invitations anymore and when I do see them in the neighborhood they avoid my house - but they are very rare in this neighborhood anymore) - back when they did I tried to have a little polite fun with them one time.

Two sisters knocked on the door. I gave them a polite greeting and let them say their prepared spiel. In those days they were still "placing" the 32-page versions of the magazines. I accepted them and then asked if they took "contributions" [JW buzz-word for donations]. "Of course," they said that they did and would be grateful for anything I would be willing to contribute.

So I rummaged through my pockets acting like I was looking for some paper money to give them. Even if I had one hundred single bills in my pocket, I made sure that I didn't find any. So I'd told them to hold on and then walked back to the kitchen. While waving at her with hand gestures and mouthing "Say 'No, but I'll look in my purse!' " I made her understand that she was supposed to take some time "looking for money." In the meantime, I grabbed my little Maltese and returned to the front door to make more small talk with them. Finally, after they had waited there for a few minutes, I asked, "Oh, by the way. Do you actually shun former members of your religion?"

Their first response was a quizzical look and an immediate denial. "No, we don't. We only avoid contact with those known to violate Jehovah's rules and laws like murder and stealing."

"Would you shun your own relatives if they were thieves and murderers?"

"Well, yes, of course. Those are serious crimes and anyone doing that kind of thing should be avoided."

"Would you shun someone who didn't commit any serious crimes and never hurt anyone, but disagreed with some of your beliefs? Would you shun your own relatives if they no longer believed but never committed any other sins?" They returned blank stares at me and then each other.

They hemmed and coughed and mumbled a few words to each other as they began moving backward. I asked the question again this way: "If someone was a JW and believed in Jehovah and Jesus and tried to do good, but simply did not believe that only 144,000 would go to heaven and that Armageddon won't happen in their lifetime - and disagreed with some, not all, just some of what the Governing Body teaches - would you shun them?"

By now they have backed down the steps and are distancing themselves from my porch. Finally, I hollered at them, "Hey! I used to be a Jehovah's Witness.... ... ... ... don't you want my donation?"

JV