Posts by teel

How did you come up with the idea of majority black? Maybe you mean in US? Because here in Europe there sure aren't many blacks. Worldwide I'm pretty sure caucasians are the majority (not that there's anything wrong with blacks of course, I can't even be racist if I barely met anyone of their race ).

20

Urban Myths - Watchtower Style

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

urban myths - watchtower style.

dear randy,.

i was raised a jw, baptised at fourteen, and left a few months before my eigtheenth birthday.

teel

"Why yes, I'll be happy to walk with you. You know, I used to be afraid of cemeteries too, when I was a part of the world."

This is not so much an urban legend, one JW (ex) friend of mine heard something similar from actually the "brothers" who did this. Not sure if they did it on purpose though, if yes, they must be a rather cool JW bunch.

The difference was that they were passing next to a cemetery, where a group of drunken youngsters asked for a light for their smoke. The "brother" said "Sorry, we don't smoke, we're not part of this world".

40

What will they say as to why they don't celebrate ThanksGiving??

by lavendar in

jw
friends

i plan on inviting a close family member ..(who has been a jw for several years).. to share thanksgiving with us this year.

my husband and i have never been jws.

what exactly is a jw's reason for not taking part in thanksgiving??.

teel

You should also love and respect your spouse every day, yet it is symbolized with your wedding anniversary celebration.

What gives?

Also don't forget that we should hold Jesus' sacrifice in our hearts every day, not just on one special "commemoration" day like some do .

22

PZ Myers mocks Latest Awake

by cofty in

jw
friends

biologist and science blogger pz myers has commented on the upcoming awake magazine in today's blog at pharyngula.. .

"unfortunately, i was only able to read as far as the second sentence before i was blinded by the irony.

" - pz.

teel

Lol one of the comments had this video (it gets more interresting in the middle):

Door To Door Atheist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dW-bt_1LzY

7

Internet Expiration Date

by cameo-d in

jw
friends

if you had advance notice that the internet would come to an end, a total end, in a short time from now....would you change any of your internet habits?

are there any subjects in particular you would want to explore before it goes down?

maybe instructions on a diy project?

teel

I think in my panic there wouldn't be any particular information that would come to my mind. I came to rely on the Internet as a huge repository of information too much, so there isn't any particular topic that I could highlight.

2

Baptism & Blood Cards

by losthusband in

jw
friends

hi all.. (unfortunately) my step-daughter will be getting baptised in a few weeks.. as she knows i am strongly against this she will not discuss any of the procedures etc.

with me.. could someone fill me in as to what the actual procedure is?.

also what happens about the "blood card" she has to carry, is this given once baptised or would she already have one....again this is a sore point between us........she is only 17..... is this card legally binding as she is officially a minor?.

teel

I am sorry to hear about your daughter.

Usually three elders meet with her to discuss what she has learned from the Bible Watchtower. There are a set of questions (I forgot how many) they ask of her. It's pure formality, not a test, if she knows the basic ones (and you can be sure she knows the most basic, probably even you know that much) she "passes". Of course the elders also judge if her life is according to the Bible Watchtower principles (she's not excessive drinker, gambler, she left her previous church, she's not fornicating, not smoking, not celebrating Christmas/birthday/Valentine's day etc.).

After this, usually on a convention, there is a special speech to the baptism candidates, at the end of which they are asked two questions:

On the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have you repented of your sins and dedicated yourself to Jehovah to do his will?

Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with God's spirit-directed organization?

They must answer Yes to both of these questions, after which they are taken to a pool and submerged fully in water. After that their personal data is collected (address, age and such), and they are fully members of the cult.

Edit: normally, preceding everything above there should be a "dedication of yourself to Jehovah", that is technically a prayer, but because it's not often discussed in detail what they should do/say, and it's a private thing, many people actually forget this step (I know I did and I think I've seen a thread here where others said they didn't do it either).

About the Blood Card: she is very likely to already have one. It's given once it's requested, but I am sure the lack of it would be a serious barrier to her baptism. I am not sure of its legality, especially in regards to UK law.

18

The H.M. Riley Trust

by alice.in.wonderland in

because someone, someone who misused their authority as financial information of such as is posted online relative to this trust is confidential communication between a financial planner, accountant, board of trustees and beneficiary of the trust; it's revealed the mutual funds owned by the riley trust have a "consumer staples/consumer goods" component, and one of the stocks in that component is phillip morris.. it's a completely immaterial amount of money and it's not generated by securities that are able to be traded, unless the entire mutual fund is sold off.

this is another fine example of people who have an axe to grind with jehovah's witnesses doing a whole lot of work to produce a "smoking gun" that really is nothing of the kind.. this stems from some financial information that was released related to a lady named henrietta riley.

apparently a wealthy jw that made the watchtower society the beneficiary of the income from her trust.

teel

Alice, here's a couple of things for you. First, something you're misinformed about: noone misused their authority, afaik funds must be transparent. Which is why 6 months ago when I was researching the HR fund I easily found their IRS 990 forms online on the site http://www2.guidestar.org. Go there, register for free, and you have access for the last 3 years.

Secondly: let's assume the whole Phillip Morris thing was an overlook on their part. It was found out, people were stumbled, etc. All well, they should go and do their best not to stumble further. True enough, while digging through the IRS forms, Phillip Morris is not on the list any more. So they did the right thing? Phah! Guess what is in there instead of a tobacco company: Armor Holdings Inc (http://www.armorholdings.com). Hurray for beating our swords into plows!