For example, they might try to spread false stories about our brothers or raise doubts about Jehovah’s organization. Such misinformation could undermine our faith.
Faith in what? God or a bunch of men?
Posts by JeffT
-
9Fear > Facts (WT Study Article 12/6/2020
by Jofi_Wofo ina doozy in today's study article brought me to post here for the first time in a while.
once again, watchtower leadership is doing its level best to make their adherents as fearful of inconvenient facts as they, themselves, are.. "like timothy, we must also discern the danger of false information spread by apostates.
(1 tim.
-
-
JeffT
-
33
The problem with Capitalism!---Billionaires
by pistolpete inas imperfect and flawed capitalism is, it has worked better than other forms of economic and political systems-so far.
it’s very simple in “theory.” capitalism is an economic and-or, political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
in other words, keep government out of it as much as possible.
-
-
JeffT
you have a bunch of people with just under $190k in the bank, barely enough to buy a nice house
I live a few miles from Amazon's headquarters. $190,000 won't buy you a shack around here. I'm pretty sure it won't even buy an undeveloped lot (undeveloped = no water, no sewer, no electricity). The same thing is happening around San Francisco. A while back the Seattle city council raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Many people (myself included) thought it would hurt small businesses, especially restaurants. I recently saw an interview with a restaurant owner, he said it hasn't effected him at all - he has to pay about $18 an hour just to get somebody to show up.
-
9
2020-December, Announcements And Reminders/Audio-Video Guidelines!
by Atlantis in2020-december--announcements and reminders.2020-december--audio/video guidelines for those giving public talks via videoconference.zipped folder.https://www.filemail.com/d/rjoukferwsimwqoatlantis!
-
-
JeffT
If I'm reading that first letter right, they're loosening field service requirements again. There's no need to determine if a published qualifies to report in 15 minute increments, nor ask how many minutes they put in. This means you could put in a minute and tell the elders you "participated." Congratulations, your a publisher.
I've thought for awhile that when the pandemic is under control they're going to have a hard time getting the toothpaste back in the tube. If they continue this model post Covid we're going to see a big increase in publishers, and the R&F may heave a sigh of relief. That could solve some problems for them.
-
28
How much do Elders actually get along with each other?
by Davros ini was reading in the shepherding book that elders should “ cultivate and maintain friendships with one another.”, and thought to myself “bulls$it!” i remember that most of the elders in my old congregation were nothing but nasty asses.
i know it may vary from congregation to congregation, but do elders generally get along with each other behind closed doors in elders meetings?
or, are they often in conflict with each other?
-
-
JeffT
Jeezus, sounds like fucking high school.
High School student are more mature than this. Sounds like Junior High school to me.
-
104
2020-Articles Of Association--Bylaws--Notice Of Special Meeting! (as of 2020-11-25)
by Atlantis in2020--articles of association and bylaws--3 pages.. .
2020--notice of special meeting in december--8 pages.
if you are a jw read carefully before you sign.. .
-
-
JeffT
Unless you work with it, you can't appreciated how complex and convoluted U S tax law is. As I mentioned, I'm an accountant. I worked in commercial and multi-family residential (apartments) real estate. When tax time rolled around I got the financials cleaned up and turned them over to a CPA firm that specialized in tax returns. This is extra complex for nonprofits. With something the size of the Watchtower it would take years to unwind. If nothing else you can't just sell it all. In all probability they'd file bankruptcy and the court would appoint a receiver to manage the liquidation.
I doubt very much that the WT is ready to distribute all of its Billions in assets to another non-profit organization. They will always adapt and restructure TO STAY IN BUSINESS. None of the GB can run away with the monies. There are strict laws in the United States that govern non profit organization. (They are just Restructuring as they have always done since the beginning. This might include selling tons of KHs)
They can't sell it to themselves under a new name, either. That is one of the specifics of tax law regarding non-profits.
-
104
2020-Articles Of Association--Bylaws--Notice Of Special Meeting! (as of 2020-11-25)
by Atlantis in2020--articles of association and bylaws--3 pages.. .
2020--notice of special meeting in december--8 pages.
if you are a jw read carefully before you sign.. .
-
-
JeffT
John, can you shoot me a link to your comment? I couldn't find it. -
52
YOU ARE HER EVERYTHING!
by Atlantis inyou are what she wanted to be!please, let us remove any blame to anyone right up front.
what happened to petra was not the fault of mark o'donnell, listener, corney, mike and kim, or anyone else.. constant rejection and shunning even at an early age, the depression was storing up inside of her.
she was shunned inside the hall and outside the hall.
-
-
JeffT
Ditto on the hug. You two are awesome!
-
104
2020-Articles Of Association--Bylaws--Notice Of Special Meeting! (as of 2020-11-25)
by Atlantis in2020--articles of association and bylaws--3 pages.. .
2020--notice of special meeting in december--8 pages.
if you are a jw read carefully before you sign.. .
-
-
JeffT
I can't get the translate to work. Is he just reading the same documents? Did this go out to the whole world (I can't imagine why they would send a doc based on US tax law - but let's face it we don't understand a lot of what they do). Is this possibly going to a Spanish congregation using the same Hall? I'm very curious about why they doing this, whether with one Hall or all of them.
In any event this is boiler plate language for forming a corporation. It's all dictated by the IRS and your state legislature. See here for an example http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/articles-incorporation-nonprofits
Regarding "not then in existence" This is more boiler plate. IF (yes I meant to put that in caps) the nonprofit goes out of business any assets remaining after all debts are settled MUST be turned over to another nonprofit. You can designate where you want it to go, or the State can do it for you, but it has to go to another nonprofit. Think of this like an insurance policy. You name your spouse as the beneficiary, but if they're gone the kids get it.
In this case the any remaining assets go to the WTBS, or IF they're gone some other worthy nonprofit group.
That's all that means.
-
104
2020-Articles Of Association--Bylaws--Notice Of Special Meeting! (as of 2020-11-25)
by Atlantis in2020--articles of association and bylaws--3 pages.. .
2020--notice of special meeting in december--8 pages.
if you are a jw read carefully before you sign.. .
-
-
JeffT
The wording seems to be more crafted around ensuring that moneys go to an entity with tax-exempt status
The IRS requires this of all nonprofit organizations.
-
104
2020-Articles Of Association--Bylaws--Notice Of Special Meeting! (as of 2020-11-25)
by Atlantis in2020--articles of association and bylaws--3 pages.. .
2020--notice of special meeting in december--8 pages.
if you are a jw read carefully before you sign.. .
-
-
JeffT
I believe these documents are addressed to one specific congregation
The main issue shows up in the Articles of Association and Bylaws, Article 2 Existence and Duration.
"Since 1989 the Congregation has been an unincorporated nonprofit association."
Legally an Unincorporated Association is a group of people who get together to do something for the common good. Legally it doesn't exist so it can't do things like own property.
https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/unincorporated-nonprofit-association-vs-nonprofit-corporation
So for the last thirty-one years this congregation has operated without any legal authority to do so. It can't open a bank account, collect money, own property etc. I can think of at least two ways they got into what is probably a fair sized legal mess. They may never have filed the appropriate paper work when the congregation formed in 1989, or that may have been the year somebody forgot to file a renewal, and it fell off the radar at that time.
I can think of several ways the water rights may fit into this, but lacking evidence I won't speculate.
I do not believe this is part of some big conspiracy, but it does speak to the incompetence of the WTBS in running their business. Thirty-one years is a long time to overlook something this important. How important? Again I won't speculate, but I've seen property lost in foreclosure and/or bankruptcy because some paperwork was missing. How would you like to be on the body of elders that gets to explain that to the head office?