Posts by Chaserious

23

They want it both ways

by jeremiah18:5-10 in

several years ago the wts stopped announcing individuals who were df'd as, "so-and-so has been disfellowshipped" and instead began announcing, "so-and-so is no longer one of jehovah's witnesses".

this seems to be rather important to me.

undoubtedly this change was fueled by legal issues raised by someone who was df'd and impacted in some way perhaps financially.

It's in the Shepherd the Flock book , p. 112, par 4: "The announcement should be as follows: [Name of person] is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses." No scripture is cited. Of course it is for legal reasons, and of course they want to have it both ways.

This is one of the many cases of double speak that exists in the Watchtower. The announcement just says no longer a witness, but in the literature, especially the study literature designed for those who are already members, it will use "disfellowshipped" and "disassociated" all the time. They are programmed to know that the announcement equals one of those statuses. It also allows them to assert in court or in legal documents that they never announced that someone was "disfellowshipped" or even implied that they engaged in bad conduct, since you can't tell from the announcement if maybe the person just decided to pack up and leave. The juicy details will be saved for the congregation gossip.

Of course there is no scripture that merely says because someone decides to leave you have to shun them. This is no matter, however. They have been teaching that you have to shun DA's since the early 80's, even before the announcement change. So they didn't even have to try and back it up scripturally when they changed the announcement.

70

January 2013 warns parents to resist contact with df'd children again

by stuckinlimbo in

see page 15-16. full of "straw men" like:.

* do not blame yourself it is the child that jehovah blames - parents do not care whose fault it is they just want their child not to be killed by god.

* it is ok for parents to hope their df'd child returns - was anybody really asking if that was wrong?.

Chaserious

Problemaddict:

If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. -2 John 1:10.

Hope your kids see the light. Do you think they'll want to get baptized when of age?

44

Be Careful, Demons are in EVERYTHING!

by TeenageInsider in

my parents always says that demons are everywhere!

it's getting quite annoying!

they claims demons are in smurfs?

Chaserious

My mom was kind of like that. She thought that most wordly music was demonized. When I was a kid she made me destroy a Nirvana CD that she found in my room. She listened to some of it and concluded that it was demonic. Made me break it myself and throw it in the trash. I also had to break some other CDs at times. She also thought that there were a lot of underground demonic cults that used to get their messages from playing records backwards and hearing hidden messages. I think KISS and Black Sabbath were the ones that were supposed to be the main culprits. I guess Satan and his demons weren't smart enough to prevent the technology switch away from vinyl records that must have foiled their communication with followers.

81

Amway

by enigma1863 in

i was curious, how many jws end up getting caught up in pyramid scemes like amway.

i was caught up in there online program quixstar for a little while several years ago.

i noticed there are several similarities between amway and a cult..

Chaserious

Selling the product that way does not create more profitability for the manufacturers; it creates more profitability for people in the sales channel. Dateline (linked below) got an Amway higher up to admit that some of their elite distributors make over 75% of their income, not from selling these supposedly great products, but from the motivation business: " Seminars, rallies, functions, motivational tools, tapes, books, speaking engagements, appearances." They are basically making money selling the motivation product to their own salespeople. You demonize working for someone else, but with the rate of success that seems common from all accounts, if you have the killer work ethic you are describing and don't mind making no money for a few years, you might as well go work in the mailroom of some large corporation. Maybe you'll eventually get promoted to VP of something and make 7 figures. And at least in the early years you'll have health coverage and won't have to pay lot of money to your own company for them to train you.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4375477/ns/dateline_nbc-consumer_alert/t/pursuit-almighty-dollar/#.UN9FvY6Fbww

81

Amway

by enigma1863 in

i was curious, how many jws end up getting caught up in pyramid scemes like amway.

i was caught up in there online program quixstar for a little while several years ago.

i noticed there are several similarities between amway and a cult..

Chaserious

Since these are the best businesses on earth, CyberJesus, why can't the products compete with other products on the free market and be sold in stores and on the internet? That way, both the manufacturer and the customer would be better served. Neither would have to subsidize 6 different salespeople up the sales chain and the product could be less expensive for the consumer, yet still yield more profit for the manufacturer. And don't cite a car salesman example again. Most consumers want someone to help them pick out something that is going to cost 6 months salary or more. Vitamins and cleaning products are not comparable.

21

What are the WT Society's expenditures?

by Apognophos in

i'm hoping someone who has at least a little inside knowledge can help educate me here.

what sort of things does the wbts pay for, on a worldwide basis?.

- i understand that khs are owned and funded locally, at least where the locals can afford them, but what about in poor areas?.

Chaserious

Haha - yes jgnat, we seem to pride ourselves on going big or going home here in the U.S. of A. Even if we're going big with someone else's money!

21

What are the WT Society's expenditures?

by Apognophos in

i'm hoping someone who has at least a little inside knowledge can help educate me here.

what sort of things does the wbts pay for, on a worldwide basis?.

- i understand that khs are owned and funded locally, at least where the locals can afford them, but what about in poor areas?.

Chaserious

One other thing I thought of - There used to be an investment vehicle called Auction Rate Securities (ARS) that was promoted by investment banks and money managers to their clients as basically as safe as a money market account. It was seen as a short term investment vehicle that paid a little more than a money market. Huge investors in ARS included entities that you wouldn't think of as making risky investments, such as universities, pension funds, hospitals, and municipalities. At the beginning of 2008, there was $330 Billion in ARS in the US. And in February 2008, poof, the entire market collapsed. I would not be surprised at all (or even consider it irresponsible on their part) if they had tens or even hundreds of millions parked in ARS. They are a perfect investor for that kind of instrument.

21

What are the WT Society's expenditures?

by Apognophos in

i'm hoping someone who has at least a little inside knowledge can help educate me here.

what sort of things does the wbts pay for, on a worldwide basis?.

- i understand that khs are owned and funded locally, at least where the locals can afford them, but what about in poor areas?.

Chaserious

Jgnat, in the U.S., nonprofits can and do invest in riskier instruments than mutual funds. In the IRS link you provided, it says that in many states a "prudent man" test is used (Often called the "reasonable person" test). Guess what that prohibits? Almost nothing. Maybe investing in a Nigerian Prince or something, but not much beyond that. If the government wants to go after them (which is unlikely), they could definitely say that investing a portion of their assets in hedge funds, real estate investment trusts or mortgage backed securities was reasonable - after all, the smartest investment banks were doing it too. It does also say that certain types of especially risky investments are "closely scrutinized" (but not prohibited), most notably including margin purchases, commodity futures, and options. I doubt they invest in this latter group of securities, but I would almost be surprised if they didn't have some dough in MBS, REITs or hedge funds before the crisis.

21

What are the WT Society's expenditures?

by Apognophos in

i'm hoping someone who has at least a little inside knowledge can help educate me here.

what sort of things does the wbts pay for, on a worldwide basis?.

- i understand that khs are owned and funded locally, at least where the locals can afford them, but what about in poor areas?.

Chaserious

I'm sure this has been speculated on here before, but I would not be surprised if they had a lot of money tied up in risky investment vehicles during the financial crisis and lost some of their cushion. They were probably doing rather well in the early 2000's, as organizational growth was higher then (also I think a few were still hanging onto hope that the big A would come before the 1914-ers all died), the economy was doing well so publishers probably had more disposable money to donate, plus they sold 360 Furman for $205 Million in 2004. If they had hundreds of millions of surplus cash, I doubt they put it all in a money market account or 2% return CDs. As has been noted here before, they have been on the list at hedge fund conventions. Like many other large entities, they could have lost hundreds of millions during the financial crisis from 2007-2009. Just speculation, but maybe this is why they are trying to build a cushion back up.

3

The Results of an Atheist Sex Survey

by Most Noble in

what happens when 10,000 non-religious people take a survey about their sex lives including people who were raised in one religion but later left it?

well, you get a treasure trove of data thats never been analyzed before.. .

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2011/05/15/the-results-of-an-atheist-sex-survey/.

Chaserious

The Mormons are beating JWs in feeling the most guilty about sex. Seems like the WTBTS is doing its job of guilting the pubs rather poorly. Jah's people aren't #2 at anything.