(rns) convicted ponzi schemer bernard madoff bilked billions of dollars out of thousands of fellow jews, including charities like the elie wiesel foundation and steven spielberg wunderkinder foundation.
other major frauds exposed by federal investigators in recent years have targeted jehovah's witnesses, baptists, black churches and other denominations, from $190 million lost in a three-year scam promoted by a christian radio host in minnesota to an estimated $1.4 billion conned from thousands of utah mormons.
now three pakistani immigrants -- two believed to have fled the u.s. -- are accused of swindling $30 million from hundreds of chicago-area muslims with an investment plan they promised complied with islamic law.
There are 7 millions people out there right now getting scammed by the WT$.
On a more serious note if anyone wants to sponsor a "new system zoo" which encourages lions to eat grass and cheetahs to eat miracle wheat. Send me $1000 and you can adopt your very own vegetarian carnivor. You'll get a certificate in the post.
mmxiv
howdy,.
i recently watched the jurassic park trilogy (give the third one a miss if you haven't watched it) and memories of an awake!
or watchtower magazine of dinosaurs being vegetarian flashed before my eyes.
They are sticking to the beliefs on an ancient civilisation - could we really have been part of an organisation in the 20th/21st century that taught this? Were we really that indoctrinated? A child wouldn't believe this. Next time I see a JW I'll ask if they actually believe this, if they truly think this is fact. Cult cult cult cult...
mmxiv
bank holiday for those in the uk is confirmed:.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/livingintheuk/dg_073741not for those in bethel though.
mmxiv.
Bank holiday for those in the UK is confirmed:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/LivingintheUK/DG_073741
not for those in Bethel though
mmxiv
the weekly tms bible reading assignment is not read, or not carefully read, by most of the sheeples.
it doesn't really matter, because the consideration of the bible reading material is one of the shortest parts on the meeting with a limited number of comments, and those comments are restricted to less than 30 seconds or you will get counselled.
over and over, the dubs are told to read the bible, yet the organization gives no real encouragement to read the bible by keeping everyone busy in the recruiting work and using relatively few scriptures in their "talks".. why?
Wasn't this impressive growth rate partially due to them being still so close to perfection back then? Must be why we keep needing new light cos the GB are a long way from perfection now
mmxiv
i just got a call from jamie this afternoon, saying she found her husband in the bathroom, not breathing.
i've not had the chance to speak to her, she left me a voice mail.
but i'm very worried.
Thanks for lettings us know SD-7. Jamie - really hope everything goes well in the coming hours/days. We're thinking of you.
mmxiv
18 if you face a similar situation, please remember that jehovah sympathizes with you.
by cutting off contact with the disfellowshipped or disassociated one, you are showing that you hate the attitudes and actions that led to that outcome.
however, you are also showing that you love the wrongdoer enough to do what is best for him or her.
Shunning is not loving it is a punishment. I understand that they do want to keep the congregation clean....so that the paedo's can roam more freely.
mmxiv
you wanna talk about a section in the office floor becoming as quiet as a vacant building in the middle of nowhere.
so she put her hand on her chin and said in more words or less, "if you fall in love, and get married, do you have to marry a jw?
i couldn't imagine people looking at me poorly because i didn't marry a jw!
At school a girl asked me in front of lots of kids if I could have a girlfriend. I must have been about 13. She wasn't asking me out (was a complete stunner so I'm sure she wasn't). Somehow I must have said that I couldn't date anyone at some point previously. The spotlight was on me and I didn't want to sound like I was a monk so I said I could date (although didn't specify if she had to be a JW or not). She went ape at me. Saying that I'd lied previously.
I'd done everything possible to seem as normal as possible and keep a low profile. It never went any further but I felt like a leper through school where girls were concerned.
mmxiv
andre, who had served jehovah for years, had the bitter experience of being led astray.
by apostate thinking.
he felt that having a quick look at an apostate web site would not be dangerous.he recalls: initially, i was attracted to the so-called truths that the.
I'd wager Andre probably does exist and said some vaguely similar statements as a defence to get reinstated. He ate humble pie likely to see his family again. Wouldn't surprise me if he's busy netting away and will slowly fade.
Some JW's will swallow this experience the way the GB want them too. Anyone with half a brain will see it as a green light to have a closer look at what the apostates say. Normally the WTS tries to associate the internet with fear / danger / catastrophe. This experience is taking an alternative angle. They know that fear of getting caught doesn't stop a whole load of JW's from surfing porn on the internet so why not dabble in a bit of research too?
This is a poor attempt at control.
mmxiv
PS (come on guys - which one of you is Andre??)
been thinking about this and curious about what makes us all come to the decisions we came to in our fade/exiting the jw organization.. i think for myself having been born-in & raised a jw my doubts about the generation doctrine had simmered for years within me quietly and by the time i finally left in 2003 i had reached my breaking point.
also seeing unjust treatment of rank & file witness ( myself included ) just propelled me into my decision even quicker.
so - one day after meeting with 3 elders in a back room before a meeting and seeing their judgmental aggression towards me - i just told myself " enough is enough ".
I did a long slow fade. I needed to become independent. I started from a point of having no qualifications and living at home.
I went to college while working full time which meant I missed some meetings. I also couldn't do much FS. I withdrew socially from people at the KH and didn't talk much before or after the meetings. They assumed I was depressed and over the years newer ones thought I was weak. I worked on my career where I was very successful and became financially independent from my family.
I had built up friends at work so when the day came to tell my parents I wasn't going to meetings any more, they and no-one else had any power over me. I wasn't hounded too much either especially as just before I left I'd done some good deeds for the elderly at the kh - the elders couldn't work it out but there appeared to be no malice in my leaving.
My reasons for a slow fade were... getting my life set up. I wanted to minimise the pain for my parents by gradually reducing how active I was so it would be less of a surprise for them. There were other reasons too which I may talk about one day.
I didn't look on the internet about JW's until I found JWN less than a year ago. It has confirmed everything I thought and so much more. With the advice of JWN I would have left earlier and been far more confident about leaving.
I am on good terms with some of my family - mission accomplished.
mmxiv
she asked me if i am christian.
i told her that i was raised as a jw, but i do not go to the kingdom hall.
she says that she watch charles stanley and franklin graham on tv.
I told a girl on Saturday night that I'd grown up in a cult and offered limited support online for exiting members. I wasn't planning to until she mentioned she was teaching in Japan during the underground attacks and started to explain the phrase Kool Aid. She wanted to know more but I'm pretty guarded - I didn't reveal it was JW's and politely explained it was due to family still involved who would shun me if a negative word from me ever got back to them. I wasn't on the pull but if I had been it certainly wouldn't have harmed my chances.
Asilentone - your request for advice on women cracks me up - please keep us posted
mmxiv
