Posts by JeffT

27

To My Generation: Jehovah's Witnesses of the Vietnam War Era

by Hold Me-Thrill Me in

jw
friends

to my generation: jehovah's witnesses of the vietnam war era .

if you were a young brother in the late 60's you then remember the burden of the draft and the prospect of going to jail for refusing on religious grounds to be called up.

in those days we were taught that to do community service was conscientiously the same as joining the military and so we were told to refuse such exemptions.

JeffT

Then in the 1990's all of sudden we are told Jehovah had made a change.

Interesting. The US draft ended in 1973, and for years the WTBS had allowed young men in some countries (notably Mexico) to dodge the draft by other means.

I didn't become a dub until after I got out of college, but my four years in school were dominated by the need to keep my II-S deferment going. Just about everybody in the country between 18 and 25 was finding some way to avoid service. Dubs were alone in this craziness, I knew guys that were faking insanity when they took their draft physicals. My brother had a friend (another college student) that tried to pretend he couldn't read. Toward the end of my college days I went on a starvation diet, I was already skinny. When I took my physical I was 5' 11" and weighed 115 lbs. That got me a 4-F, I might have skipped college if I'd known about that dodge three years earlier.

65

Armageddon in 1975 'probability' or 'possibility'? Irrefutable Proof the Watchtower Said 1975 Was "Game Over!"

by PhilsWager2 in

it's hard to know where to put this link to a polish book some of you older members probably read, while our newer members are seeking answers to questions the watchtower vehemently deny's!

do i put this under "jw scandals" or "jw beliefs"?

for decades without the internet many of us did not have access to all the publications written by early watchtower writers because access was hard, only men like raymond franz jr(god rest his brave soul) had the golden key for entering the library of all publications jws made.. can some of the older members remember people who sold their homes and others who bought things in the summer or fall of 1974 knowing they won't be paying for their purchases because jehovah will destroy all the creditors records when he kills them!

JeffT

I remember a family man in our congregation, wife two or three young kids, really nice guy. He sold his farm and moved to where the need was greater. The farm had been in his family for at least two or three generations, I'm sure he made some good money on the sale. He planned to live on that until the Big A. I know he had a nervous breakdown about 1980 when the money ran out, I didn't hear what happened to him, or the family, after that.

5

Simplified Suggestion-- The Generation of 1914

by FusionTheism in

the governing body has recently placed a large priority on simplicity and clarity in their teachings and publications.

the watchtower study edition, march 15, 2015, pages 8-10:.

in recent years, the spiritual instruction provided by jehovahs organization has reflected an increased emphasis on simplicity and clarity.

JeffT

Even simpler suggestion: drop the whole thing, admit you don't know and let everybody make up their own minds about what, if anything, it means.

55

Should I Make My Wife Watch the May Broadcast?

by TTATTelder in

jw
friends

for some background, i am still in.

still an elder.

very much awake.

JeffT

The Watchtower's own words are what convicts them. At the time my wife and I decided to start our research, knowing it would probably lead us out of the organization, we had no outside information at all. (This was well before the internet). All we knew was that what we were hearing from the organization did not match reality.

I think a gentle "Hey, look at this, I found a video of a GB member let's watch it" sort of invitation will not raise the shields into anti-apostate mode. Then you can make some "gee, I didn't think that's what they've said in the past" comments and go look up (as suggested above) previous comments about soliciting funds.

It might add up to a real eye-opener.

15

Does Tithing at Church Count as a Charitable Donation?

by OrphanCrow in

it has been interesting to see the shift in financial strategies that the wts is implementing recently.

from reading recent threads, it appears like 'they' are adopting a tithing donation system, similar to what is practised in "those wicked churches of christendoom".

i am curious as to who it is that stands to benefit the most tax wise in this recent shift.

JeffT

They can't issue a receipt if they don't know who to give it to. I can throw $500 onto a plate when they pass it, and I won't get a receipt. But I can still deduct it. Proving that I gave it is a different problem.

15

Does Tithing at Church Count as a Charitable Donation?

by OrphanCrow in

it has been interesting to see the shift in financial strategies that the wts is implementing recently.

from reading recent threads, it appears like 'they' are adopting a tithing donation system, similar to what is practised in "those wicked churches of christendoom".

i am curious as to who it is that stands to benefit the most tax wise in this recent shift.

JeffT

Although not an income tax expert, I am an accountant, and have dealt with other tax issues.

Generally, anything you give a charity counts is a tax deductible contribution. The church is not obligated to give out receipts, it is the obligation of the giver to keep track of the donations and have available proof of the donation. Unless they have good reason not to accept it, the IRS will treat any written record as proof, in other words a handwritten notation on a calendar that you gave $15 last Sunday will do.

Interesting sidebar: those green handshakes to the CO are not deductible by the giver and ARE taxable income to the recipient. Of course, who's going to prove that?

38

Types and anti types

by Deltawave in

according the watchtower study of may 10th, it has been made clear no prophetic meaning should be given to a a scripture or passage unless the bible itself gives clear interpretation of it.

therefore daniel 7 especially gives it's fulfillment to nebuchadnezzar only.

no future kingdom or 2520year wait til 1914. no gentile times or "this generation".

JeffT

I just put a new post about this on my blog, "The Governing Body Saws Off the Branch It's Sitting On."

http://pathologicallyintellectual.blogspot.com/

16

WT cash flow speculation

by campaign of hate in

jw
friends

so it was reported that the wt made $60,000,000 in canada last year (?).

working on the assumption that this figure is from not only donations, but from property revenues and other ventures from the branch, we get a figure of $528 per publisher, per year.

the calculation: 60,000,000 / 113,617 (2014 av pubs) = $528 a year per publisher.

JeffT

Maybe they're anticipating loss of tax-exempt status.

Extremely unlikely. The IRS has made it clear that they don't want to be in the business of deciding what is an exempt religion. They have been very tolerant of churches that engage in political activity. I think they'd go after those before they tried to revoke the WTBS' status.

As I've said, if they sell off a bunch of kingdom halls and invest the money, they could be set financially forever.

I agree with John Aquila, they're doing something else with the money. I'm going to put my accountant hat back on and see what I can think of.

16

WT cash flow speculation

by campaign of hate in

jw
friends

so it was reported that the wt made $60,000,000 in canada last year (?).

working on the assumption that this figure is from not only donations, but from property revenues and other ventures from the branch, we get a figure of $528 per publisher, per year.

the calculation: 60,000,000 / 113,617 (2014 av pubs) = $528 a year per publisher.

JeffT

Your $100K is low. I did some research awhile back, the Halls I could find records for on line were valued at 200-400K. I estimated that their holdings in Kingdom Halls alone are worth one to two billion dollars.

They've sold a ton of real estate in NYC over the last few years, producing something close to a billion dollars. Properly invested that alone should produce about four million dollars a month in income.

As noted above, their expenses are minimal. I can't see why they would have a cash flow problem.

7

Freedom of speech can only guarantee an audience of one

by Brokeback Watchtower in

in my house i feel that freedom of speech is important but it can only guarantee an audience of one.

i know women need to vent and i try to give them as much space as possible without interjecting any judgement on the validity of what is been vented in other words i give space for these events as best i could and try to listen with an open mind because there truely is a message there some where but i admit i'm a dense male to the female of our species.

but i tend to shy away from over venting and cringe at being subjected to them and so while a person has the right to free speech in my house they don't have the right to an audience of more than one.

JeffT

In my opinion, free speech doesn't come with any audience (unless you count talking to yourself). Anybody is free to say anything, and all the rest of us are free to ignore it if we want to.