Mad Sweeney

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Posts by Mad Sweeney

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  19

  Let's Review: How the Watchtower Society Uses Quickbuilds to Make More $$$

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted something similar to this in another thread, but i decided that this is an important subject, and something that a lot of people don't realize, so i expanded it into its own post.

  and we can always use a review now and then, so that lurkers, active witnesses, and newly ex-witnesses can catch up.

  according to the watchtower society, one of the best examples of god's holy spirit operating on the organization is the building program.

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  Mad Sweeney

  A lot of this info is only partly correct and up to date.

  In the USA, the Borg no longer charges interest on its loans. That part of the money-making scheme has been transformed. Because the congregations do not pay interest, their loans are often paid off fairly quickly. Then what? Then many times the congregation will pass a resolution to KEEP PAYING the Borg some sort of regular monthly "donation" since there is no good reason for the rank and file to stop donating and start saving money for their own family. One congregation I was in (and these numbers are guesstimates from memory) paid off its loan, which had been something like $850 a month, then agreed to keep paying the society $500 a month as a donation to the work and sold it to the congregation as doing the right thing and saving $350 a month off what they used to pay.

  Also, the part on the Watchtower holding the deed is a bit confusing maybe, but it really is pretty simple. The congregation owns the Kingdom Hall as long as they exist as a JW congregation wanting to use it as a Kingdom Hall. If the congregation dissolves, then the Watchtower Society owns the Kingdom Hall and all other congregation assets. So how does this benefit the WTS? Example.

  A decent-sized town has, for example, five congregations in it with two Kingdom Halls (call the congs North, South, East, West, and Spanish). Thanks to JWN, jwfacts.com, and Combating Cult Mind Control there are fewer than 20 elders and 12 MS left to handle all those congregations. Also, neither of the Kingdom Halls are very new and one of them was built back in the 1980s.

  So the CO decides the area needs a Borg revitalization project. He forms a plan. Find a relatively central location and build a double-hall on it. Take the four English congregations and merge them into three, and split the Spanish into two congs.

  What does this accomplish? Well, if in this restructuring the congregation that owned one of the previous KHs dissolves, what happens to their property? That's right, the Watchtower owns it, sells it, and pockets the money, often loaning it back to the congregation(s) for the building of their new KH.

  And the cycle continues...
• 
  24

  The pedophile database

  by JRK in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i know that years ago there were 23,700+ pedophiles listed in a database in brooklyn by the society.

  it has to be many more by now.. do you think there will ever be a defector in the watchtower it department that will release it to the media?

  do you think that someone will hack it and release the information?

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  Mad Sweeney

  I doubt the list exists anymore. My guess is it was destroyed some time around 10 years ago. It is more dangerous to the Borg to keep it than it is not to. If it is not gone, they can claim it never existed except in the satanic minds of apostates.

  If they kept such a list after Bill Bowen and Barbara Anderson blew the whistle on the pedophile scandal, the question has to be: Why? What does it do for them?
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  38

  I was counselled regarding my prayer-ridiculous,

  by iclone in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

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  Mad Sweeney

  LMAO at Undercover. @Jehovah on Twitter. Awesome.
• 
  22

  The Governing Body and the Sept 15, 2010 WT

  by Ultimate Reality in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  there have been a few threads on this magazine already.

  but i cannot recall a wt that has so many references to the gb and its authority throughout the articles as this one.

  the grip of authority and control is tightening.

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  Mad Sweeney

  They're trying to convince everyone, themselves included, because they KNOW it isn't true.

  Are they still studying "Bearing Thorough Witness..." at the book study? That entire book is about how the current GB was established in the first century and so the current Borg is God's Christian arrangement.
• 
  66

  Was The Internet The Clincher For You To Mentally Leave The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think it was for me.. i knew a lot of the history of the bible students, russell, rutherford and the "old light".

  .

  once i could see all of the overwhelming evidence right in front of my eyes, there was no ignoring the reality..

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  Mad Sweeney

  I got all my evidence via the Internet except for Combatting Cult Mind Control, which I got from the library.
• 
  128

  Mickey Mouse thinks religious belief is.............

  by wobble in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  mickey mouse, our very own treasured poster, not the cartoon character, thinks that religious belief is both rational and intelligent.. do you ?.

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  Mad Sweeney

  There is a teapot orbiting the sun, just like the planets do.
• 
  21

  Costs of Circuit Assembley

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recent we had a circuit assembley.

  we used the jw assembley facility.

  it's (the building) totaly payed off without any mortage.

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  Mad Sweeney

  I like that in some countries religions have to report income. Wish they had to in the USA.
• 
  18

  Family Worship Night percentages

  by JRK in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am curious how many families actually do this, and how many lie and say they do.

  i would guess it is less than 50%.

  i would say it is a good night for tv.. jk.

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  Mad Sweeney

  I did it. It helped get my wife and daughter OUT of the Borg.
• 
  10

  The 50 Most Brilliant Atheists Of All Time

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the 50 most brilliant atheists of all time.. http://brainz.org/50-most-brilliant-atheists-all-time/.

  bangalore.

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  Mad Sweeney

  I would add Ruben Ortiz and Tim Kilgore and Bohm to the list. (apologies to our other JWN non-believers but I just can't list everyone, can I?)

  Also, Mark Zuckerberg? Really? Dude simply got lucky with Facebook. Right place, right time.
• 
  21

  Costs of Circuit Assembley

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recent we had a circuit assembley.

  we used the jw assembley facility.

  it's (the building) totaly payed off without any mortage.

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• 

  Mad Sweeney

  I would be intrigued to know if there is any evidence of assembly halls being used as a scam.

  What kind of evidence are you looking for? There have been several posters who used to work in accounts explaining the scam. The "expenses" are NOT expenses. The Borg estimates how many people are going to attend (say 2000) and 'estimates expenses' on a per-attendee basis (say, $5 per attendee per day).

  That's $20,000 for a 2-day assembly. Actual expenses *might* be 10% of that on the high end. (remember, there are no salaries, no taxes, no mortgage - only water and electricity).

  They're vacant a couple weekends a year, so say $20K x 50 weekends and you've got a million dollars a year gross and maybe $900K net.

  There is no way this is NOT a scam.

  That said, there is no evidence in writing that any known apostate has made available to the public. It is all word of mouth stuff. But sitting there at the assembly and listening to the "accounts report" it should be obvious what they're doing. There is just NO WAY their costs are as high as they claim. And like I said, there have been posters here who confirmed it with their own personal eyewitness accounts.