you think you know things, then you come across something that makes you do a double-take.
how was it kept so qiet?.
for instance, how many were killed in the jones-town massacre?
They sent bombs in balloon via the jet-stream and caused almost no damage whatsoever.
Not entirely true. They killed a housewife and five kids. I think I read somewhere they were church members going on a picnic. Link below has some details about it.
I'm a history buff, military history is a focus for me. My family will tell you I'm a fountain of useless trivia.
Edited to add, we also dropped an H-Bomb on Spain.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/h-bomb-lost-in-spain
original reddit post (removed).
When I was working as an accountant I did some work in both restaurants and hotels. Must of my work involved apartment buildings but all three (restaurants, hotels, and apartments) are similar in what it takes to run one. You think you're running the business, but the reality is they run your life.
Evans clearly has no idea what it takes to own a hotel/cafe.
it was the summer of '72.
i was 24 but had been the presiding overseer or congregation servant of a small congregation in the county seat of an arkansas county for about 3 years.. my regular pioneer wife of nearly four years was big and pregnant, with our attempts at birth control unsuccessful.. one of my wife's several bible studies was with a young woman named brenda whom my wife had encountered in door to door work.. brenda had two young children she could barely handle and was married to a very countryfied arkie named henry who worked as a chicken catcher, one of the most difficult jobs at the local chicken plant.. brenda eventually revealed that she'd been raised as a jw, but was never baptized, having left home to marry henry at age 14. she spoke of her family in texas, mentioning her mother and two older sisters, all jws she said.. one morning, just before the meeting for field service, we noticed a small car in kingdom hall parking lot.
my wife and i were parked to one side of the hall in our aluminum nashua house trailer.. two young women got out of the car and soon joined us for the meeting for service, identifying themselves as brenda's sisters from texas.. the two girls, ages 17 and 20, were distractingly beautiful, with the eldest decked out like a magnificent southern belle including hat and heels, her high-end clothing accentuating her very obvious curves.. with no one else showing up for field service, it ended up just the four of us in the car group with the two texas girls in the back seat.. starting our time at a not-at-home, the 20 year old asked if she could accompany me to "hear my presentation.
I had been in contact with a witness friend through my senior year in college. By late summer, 1973, I was well on my way to getting baptized (which happened in November). There was a young sister from another nearby congregation, I think she dropped out of school to pioneer. So she was about 16 or 17, I was 23. She decided I was the one for her and started finding all kinds of reasons to be around me. She told at least two other sisters that I was "the one."
She had a car, I didn't (what was I going to buy one with? I was working in a gas station owned by a brother as nobody wanted to hire a guy with a degree in English). So on a Friday afternoon she stopped by the station and asked me if I wanted to go to a drive in movie that night? Frankly, that kind of aggression scared the shit out of me, and would have done so even if I wasn't in the process of becoming a JW.
I said no, rather emphatically and managed to get her away from the station. I made sure I didn't get anywhere near alone with her. A few months later she moved back to her original congregation and I didn't see her again for about a year. When I did see her she was disfellowshipped, unmarried and was carrying an infant around the circuit assembly.
To this day I'm certain I dodged a bullet when I told her NO.
original reddit post (removed).
Putting on my accounting hat.
Assets and Liabilities are not the same thing as Income and Expense. You need an income statement to determine those numbers. The numbers we have indicate a VERY small business. The only thing I can think of that makes sense is that he bought about 20,000 pounds of video equipment and borrowed about 20k to pay for it.
Changing your business name like that looks odd. Usually you want to do business under one name so people see easily that you've been around for a while.
the wt calls itself christian while at the same time insisting that its witnesses don't mix with other christian groups but remain separate.. to be no part of the world.. i was mulling this over recently in my personal bible reading.
in the first century that demarcation would have made sense because apart from your fellow worshippers the rest of mankind were going to be jewish, roman, polytheistic, pagan, or (i guess much like today) didn't really care.. christians had no worries about meeting up with other people who believed in jesus the same as they did even if there were minor differences depending on who had first taught the gospel message to them.
but nowadays there's not just one christian group against the world, there's lots of "christians" out there.
As I came out of the Watchtower it was a real revelation to discover that "Christendom" was not nearly as divided as the WTBS would have us believe. The vast majority of Christians regard each other as fellow believers. They accept a number of core beliefs and consider everything else as a matter of personal choice. Even Catholics are regarded as faithful and well-meaning, even if a bit mislead.
I once read that most American Protestants picked the church they attend based on one of two things: 1) it was their parents church or 2) the building is easy to get to and they like the music. Doctrine simply isn't a major source of disagreement.
it's been years since i posted here.
my jw mother died july 5th.
it was quite honestly not that emotional for me.
Hi Noni, I remember you. My condolences on the loss of your mother.
i was channel surfing to find something to watch while working on a book.
i came in on the middle of an hour and half documentary on the vice network about jw's and child sex abuse.
it looks very well done with several experts and a number of xjw's, including barbara anderson.
I was channel surfing to find something to watch while working on a book. I came in on the middle of an hour and half documentary on the Vice Network about JW's and child sex abuse. It looks very well done with several experts and a number of XJW's, including Barbara Anderson. I'm trying to figure out when it might be on again, I'll post a note if I find it. I want to watch the whole thing.
original reddit post (removed).
"beer tits"
I don't drink anymore, but this raised an interesting mental image.
original reddit post (removed).
This is just my personal observation and opinion. I am not a doctor or psychologist. However I think many members here know I'm a recovering alcoholic, and I worked in a residential treatment facility for five years.
That long rant (it is always a long rant, never a short one) sounds very much like many of the patients I worked with (and myself 17 years ago). It is very typical to blame addiction on some one else: it is always some parent/sibling/friend/lover/boss etc that "makes me" drink or do drugs.
No, those people are not making you do anything. The first step is recognizing that your life is out of control, and your problems are of your own making. Progress can only happen when you are willing to engage the idea that you were present when all this stuff happened to you.
Lloyd you may not be an addict now, or perhaps you already are. I don't know. But I've traveled down the road you are on, it does not go anywhere you want to be.
i am posting a link as to being legally bound to jw rules at time of baptism.
i only did a quick skim, but what i gathered is interesting, and what it says about 1985 may be of use to some hoping to just fade and not be bothered.
in 1985, the questions were changed at baptism for legal purposes so they could have causation to defend themselves should you decide to sue for whatever reason.
As an accountant I've handled lots of contracts. I do not think those questions constitute a legally enforceable contract, no matter what the watchtower's lawyers say.
Problems
1) Mutual consent. Witnesses could make a good case they entered into the contract under duress. Certainly a child cannot enter a contract.
2) Consideration. There needs to be a mutual exchange of value between the two parties. You agree to sell me your car for a hundred dollars. I get a car you get $100. What does the R&F Witness get for selling his soul to the publishing company?
3) Capacity. A person has to understand what they are entering into. See my comment about duress. They also ensnare people who are in the midst of some sort of crisis. This can void a contract.
4) Legality. You can't contract to do something illegal, like say withhold information about CSA in you congregation.
Obviously the WTBS uses this talk about a contract to flog their membership into compliance. Where is a copy of this contract, with signatures and all that? A contract doesn't have to be in writing, but if it isn't how do you prove what it says?
