Posts by JeffT

This guy has always had an ego as big as a barn door and didn't listen to anybody else even before he started studying. He's also violating both company policy and AA principals by talking about it the way he does. If we ever see each other when we're not at an AA meeting or on the clock at work I'll take it up with him. There were at least four other people in the room who were pissed off at him for preaching at work, they didn't need me to start a fight over it.

23

Does the Watchtower have an official position on Alcoholics Anonymous?

by JeffT in

jw
friends

i ask because i'm working in a 28 day residential addiction treatment center and one of my co-workers is studying with the jw's.

he does not know i'm an xjw.

i suspect that at some point they're going to tell him he can't go to aa meetings anymore.

JeffT

I ask because I'm working in a 28 day residential addiction treatment center and one of my co-workers is studying with the JW's. He does not know I'm an XJW. I suspect that at some point they're going to tell him he can't go to AA meetings anymore. Could get interesting.

32

Best Life Gifts - New Bethel Giftshop

by jamesmarsh in

jw
friends

has anybody heard anything about this new store?

[link removed].

JeffT

I'm an accountant. A non profit can make money, it just has to pay the tax on income generating activities not related to its primary purpose.

https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/unrelated-business-income-tax

32

Best Life Gifts - New Bethel Giftshop

by jamesmarsh in

jw
friends

has anybody heard anything about this new store?

[link removed].

JeffT

There are ways to do hostile takeovers over private business, but they aren't called hostile takeovers. If somebody loaned the previous owners money, and they used the business as collateral, they could have lost it through bankruptcy or foreclosure. That would still count as "more to the story" in my book.

I'm pretty sure the WTBS could collect licensing fees on its logo without jeopardizing their tax free status. It's possible they leaned on the owners and forced a sale to the new owners. In fact, I suspect they are called fees or royalties or something from all of these businesses selling JW related stuff. If they aren't, they're even stupider than we think.

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

JeffT

My wife and I went to an independent Christian church for a number of years after we left the JW's. My wife worked there for almost twenty years as teacher in, and director of, their preschool. We left that in 2009 after new managment did a bunch of things we didn't like, eventually culminating in my wife losing her job. Neither one of us has been to church since then. I still consider myself a Christian but see no need to belong to, or attend, any church.

14

Jehovah`s Witnesses / Parasites On Christendom ,they need to thank them for the membership they have today.

by smiddy3 in

jehovah`s witnesses claim that all their beliefs are based on the bible.the bible clearly states early on in deut.4:2 not to add to the word....and rev.22:18 re-iterates much the same thing in not to make additions to the word of god.. i think we could agree on that the organization has raised the bar on that one with their "weasel" words on so many issues that have already been thrashed out on this forum.. so a few other things that come to my mind are : with regards to j.w`s being parasites on christendom.. 1. they claim christendom apostatized itself from true christianity by the 3rd century , yet they accept apostate christendoms determination of what books are to be included in the bible as gods word as if they were governed by holy spirit to do so.?.

2.jehovah`s witnesses have only ever followed in christendoms missionaries footsteps where they have gone preaching and poaching off of the work these missionaries that have laid the groundwork before them .. 3.jehovah`s witnesses have never opened up virgin territory and gone where no other christian missionary has ever gone before .

{ not to my knowledge anyway i stand to be corrected if i am wrong on this point}.

JeffT

When I was leaving I read a book called "Apostles of Denial" by Edmund Gruss. Is basic theme is that JW's define themselves, not by what they believe, but by what they don't believe. They don't believe in hell, they don't believe in the trinity, they don't vote, they don't celebrate Christmas, etc. He pointed out that absent those things to be against, they can't explain their religion to anybody.

39

If the Watchtower corporation went bust

by Fred Franztone in

jw
friends

what do you think would happen to jehovah's witnesses as a religion and as a people?.

JeffT

It seems to me, that for some time the GB has emphasized itself as the head of the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the distinction between the religion and the corporation. In times past it spoke of "Jehovah's Witnesses using the WTBS to publish its literature." The Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is a separate legal entity, responsible for administration of the religion.

What this means (in my view) is that the Watchtower Society could go bankrupt, and the GB could survive like a snake shedding its skin. The Christian Congregation would need to establish a new legal entity to handle some matters, but it could be done. It happens all the time in the business world.

34

Growing a beard

by Coded Logic in

i've always been currious as to how i would look with a beard so i've finally committed to doing it.

over the next 30 days i'm going to grow out a full chin to ear beard.. .

ps: any suggestions or advice on how to grow a beard would be much appreciated!.

JeffT

I grew my beard out the summer of 1968 - because, well, it was 1968. That was the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. I shaved it of in 1973 because I became a JW. I grew it back out in 1988 when I left the JW's. I trim it and shampoo it when I shower. It seems to be just fine and the wife likes it.

15

TRUE SCRIPTURE EXISTS, A LIVING ONE

by venus in

i find three categories of people according to the way they display their human qualities—(1) more than humans, (2) less than humans and (3) mixed in those qualities in varying degrees.. when i observe how they are all faring with their choices, it tells me what i should do and what i should not do.

hence my scripture is the mankind and letters are living human beings—present and past.

though it is not possible to see beyond an individual’s birth, i can see the history of nations (collective individuals) beyond their present generation into their past, through many generations which shows how their past deeds contributed to their present reality.

JeffT

I find three categories of people according to the way they display their human qualities—(1) more than humans, (2) less than humans and (3) mixed in those qualities in varying degrees.

Actually, there are only two kinds of people:

1) those who can extrapolate from incomplete data