JeffT

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Posts by JeffT

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  164

  California Supreme Court Case - S226656

  by Gayle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/maincasescreen.cfm?dist=0&doc_id=2109889&doc_no=s226656&search=party&start=1&query_partylastnameororg=watchtower bible and tract.

  started 5/27/2015.

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  JeffT

  The Supreme Court is asked to hear about seven thousand cases a year. It takes about a hundred of them. Generally, it is looking for cases that have a major impact on Constitutional issues, or major Federal policy. I don't think this case will rise to that level.

  In any event it would have to go through the Ninth Circuit first, and they would have to render a decision that the USSC didn't like. All that gets expensive, at some point the lawyers would cut a deal, which may be what the WTBS is hoping will happen.
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  164

  California Supreme Court Case - S226656

  by Gayle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/maincasescreen.cfm?dist=0&doc_id=2109889&doc_no=s226656&search=party&start=1&query_partylastnameororg=watchtower bible and tract.

  started 5/27/2015.

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  JeffT

  I imagine the lawyers are hoping to pressure Candace's lawyers into accepting a lower settlement.

  I doubt they could appeal to the US Supreme Court.
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  28

  Could you ever really relax in a self-driving car?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  i love science and technology and we are living in a golden age right now.

  the world has changed in so many incredible ways just in the time i've been alive.. my first car was a vauxhall viva.

  it was brilliant because it was my first car and represented freedom.

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  JeffT

  Put it this way: do you trust the people that gave us Windows 8 to design computer software that will drive a car?
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  14

  Why I haven't been on here for a while, and why am in the fight of my life right now

  by avishai in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my younger brother, the one who sued the wts, had his girls kidnapped parentally by their mother.

  it took several years to get them back, and they're finally back with him and safe, and recovering from all of the trauma.

  i was working on this case nonstop for a very long time.. now, unfortunately i have a custody case my very own.

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  JeffT

  Wow, tough situation. Given that there's physical abuse, drugs and a sex offender involved I think you might be able to find a lawyer that will at least get you an emergency custody order, pro bono. Call legal aid in Oregon and see what might be available.

  I feel for you, that has to be hard going through that with your child.
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  27

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

  by Hold Me-Thrill Me in

  1. jw
  2. 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.

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  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.
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  65

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

  by PhilsWager2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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!

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  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.
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  5

  Simplified Suggestion-- The Generation of 1914

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  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.
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  55

  Should I Make My Wife Watch the May Broadcast?

  by TTATTelder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for some background, i am still in.

  still an elder.

  very much awake.

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  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.
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  15

  Does Tithing at Church Count as a Charitable Donation?

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  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.
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  15

  Does Tithing at Church Count as a Charitable Donation?

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  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?