Posts by GLTirebiter

In most US states "alienation of affection" laws have been repealed. As with "no fault divorce", the law treats marriage breakups as contract disputes.

15

A question for the economist, roll back the gas prices.

by jam in

jw
friends

the goverment mandate a freeze on oil prices and.

roll the price back to $2.

a gallon for two years.. how would it help the economy.

GLTirebiter

Gasoline is already about $2.00 gal. The rest is taxes.

I understand your sentiment, but the numbers are exaggerated. State gas taxes (including sales tax, where applicable) range from a low of 8.0 cents cents/gallon in Alaska to a high of 47.7 cents/gallon in California. With the 18.4 cent/gallon federal tax, the total is 28.4 cents to 66.1 cents. So the present price of gas itself is around $3/gallon (more or less, depending where you live) rather than $2, with the rest being taxes.

74

NAME ONE USEFUL THING done by Russell, Rutherford, F.Franz

by Terry in

simple question: pastor russell must have accomplished as least on practical thing in his life.

pyramidology?

divine plan of the ages chart?

GLTirebiter

If Fred Franz hadn't been such a witch-hunter, Ray Franz may have stayed on the GB and Crisis of Conscience may never have been written. By driving Ray out of the organization, Fred saved thousands from the clutches of the Watchtower.

20

Church Extends Authority to Absolve Sin of Abortion for Papal Visit

by leavingwt in

jw
friends

church extends authority to absolve sin of abortion for papal visit.

the vatican has given authority to priests who are in madrid during the popes visit there to give absolution to women who confess to having had an abortion - and has empowered priests to lift excommunications for such women.. typically, only certain priests have the power to grant absolution for the sin of abortion and to lift excommunications that have resulted from terminated pregnancies, according to a vatican spokesman.. .

all the priests that are administering the sacrament of confession during world youth day have the general authority to give absolution from the penalty of excommunication for abortion if someone comes to confession... if someone has this need, vatican spokesman rev.

GLTirebiter

I do dislike the fact that the "rules" are being toyed with.

The only rule involved is Exodus 20:13. That has not been changed. The only difference is an administrative adjustment to accommodate the expected surge of penitents, nothing more.

How come a woman who had an abortion in say, Argentina, but never went to the World day, would not get the same treatment?

She could get the same treatment at home: confession at any Catholic church she chooses for forgiveness of the sin, and lifting of the automatic excommunication for securing an abortion from the local bishop or from any priest to whom the bishop delegated that authority. The only "news" in Madrid is that hundreds of visiting priests have received that delegation for the duration of the event, to accommodate the great crowd present at the event.

74

NAME ONE USEFUL THING done by Russell, Rutherford, F.Franz

by Terry in

simple question: pastor russell must have accomplished as least on practical thing in his life.

pyramidology?

divine plan of the ages chart?

GLTirebiter

I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but Rutherford being such an absolute prick did force some issues of religious freedom to be heard by the US Supreme Court, the decsions of which have benefited more than just JWs over the decades.

Sometimes this happened when they lost. In Prince v. Massachusetts the Supreme Court held that religion did not exempt Witnesses from child labor laws (the labor of selling Watchtower and Consolation magazines on public streets). In the court's words:

It is the interest of youth itself, and of the whole community, that children be both safeguarded from abuses and given opportunities for growth into free and independent well developed men and citizens..

48

Matt 19:6 - WTB$ preaches the sanctity of marriage but see what happens when one partner leaves the bOrg!

by punkofnice in

mrs punk was not a happy bunny when i announced i was leaving the wtb$ as it was all a big farce.. she has been quite rude to me, she walked out one weekend and came back 2 days later from staying with a relative.

she told me about all the negative reasons i left (attributing the 'evil' to me and none to the holy 7 headed beast the gb).

she has told the teenage kids they are not to listen to me.. she refuses to talk bible and gives me the 'talk to the hand sign' on the basis she refuses to listen to my 'spiritual pornography' (now there's an appealing thought!!).

GLTirebiter

Although the WTB$ pay lip service to the sanctity of marriage and will boldly declare they do not break up families, the 'mind cleansing' the JWs are under causes the opposite.

There is plenty of subversive pressure and nagging advertizing wives of unbelieving mates can do to hound their husbands to have their 'minds cleansed' to WTB$ specification.

AMEN , brother Punk! That pressure is a powerful force that refuse to be contained: if the UBM doesn't crack, the marriage usually will.

Funny how as an apostate, I know more about the drivel they teach than when I went.

@Mary: Yes, that seems odd--but there is an explanation. When things start falling apart, either losing faith in the organization or when a marriage starts falling apart, you want to understand why that's happening. It's human nature; you want to find the problem and hope that leads to fixing a cherished relationship. You keep trying, thus losing more and more of your blissful ignorance, until you finally admit the situation is beyond salvation.

That isn't unique to apostates, we UBMs go through the same awakening.

20

Church Extends Authority to Absolve Sin of Abortion for Papal Visit

by leavingwt in

jw
friends

church extends authority to absolve sin of abortion for papal visit.

the vatican has given authority to priests who are in madrid during the popes visit there to give absolution to women who confess to having had an abortion - and has empowered priests to lift excommunications for such women.. typically, only certain priests have the power to grant absolution for the sin of abortion and to lift excommunications that have resulted from terminated pregnancies, according to a vatican spokesman.. .

all the priests that are administering the sacrament of confession during world youth day have the general authority to give absolution from the penalty of excommunication for abortion if someone comes to confession... if someone has this need, vatican spokesman rev.

GLTirebiter

From the linked article: "... the Vatican often extends authority to absolve certain sins and to lift excommunications at big papal events." There is no "new light" involved, only procedural adjustment to meet a temporary need.

Lifting excommunication is normally the purview of the local bishop, but they are empowered to delegate that function to other priests of their diocese. The special situation in Madrid is that other clergy, who are not under authority of the Madrid diocese, will be on duty during World Youth Day. Considering the size of the crowds at that event, the local bishop and priests couldn't possibly meet the demand so they're having visiting clergy help out. That's a very brief summary; read more about this on Fr. Z's blog (about one page down) if you're interested.

16

Where is Snowbird?

by leavingwt in

jw
friends

.

sylvia, i hope you're doing well.

if the weather will ever cool off, down here, we should organize another fish fry.. .

GLTirebiter

Missing you, Sylvia. You bring much wit, warmth and friendship to the board. If you're lurking, please take good care of yourself!