The penalty really isn't in full effect until 2016, so it won't have its full effect until many who are affected file their tax returns in spring 2017. So it should be a while until we can tell. It's an interesting point you raise, however. A married couple with no kids and no health insurance would pay about $1400, and about $2100 if they have kids. That would be a pretty hard sock to a lot of pioneers. (In 2014, the maximum penalty for a family will be under $300, which is why I say it will be a few years before we can tell). I suspect that an increasing number of pioneers of working age will begin working full-time jobs, now that you can "place" literature virtually. They can write a bunch of emails on their lunch hour and after work and count time that way. Or maybe they will reduce the pioneer hours again.
Chaserious
JoinedPosts by Chaserious
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Obamacare and how it affects JWs
by Rattigan350 inwhile i think that obamacare is bad for forcing people to get health insurance by penalizing them for not having it; it is going to hit jws hard.. so many brag on the assembly parts that they quit corporate jobs to pioneer, but they don't get insurance after that.. there are many that are pioneer couples or single pioneers that are just doing small jobs like cleaning that can't afford insurance, so they don't get it.
they will want to be obedient to caesar and have to get it next year, straining their budgets.
or if they don't get it, they will have to pay the penalty.. we will see how that plays out next year..
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Interesting District Convention News.....
by Pyramid Scheme ini wanted to share some news from a family friend (he is my wt mole - still an elder, hates the shenanigans, but is still hanging on for all the reasons often discussed on this site) i know the various rumors have been discussed on here, and unfortunately the rumor about the conventions being eliminated weren't true!
(what a burden on the jw community - financial hardship for a good portion of them, guilting people into actually quitting their job to attend, physically exhausting for many, etc...etc......).
anyway, he told me that the district convention is being moved to 11 weekends at the jw-owned circuit assembly hall, and they are no longer planning on renting stadiums/large facilities in our area (northern ohio/southern michigan).
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Chaserious
Also, this is old, but it's about the same convention city as above. I found it interesting that "the group [WTS] requested that the city provide between $3,000 and $5,000 to underwrite the cost of renting the Sun Bank Center." Seems pretty cheap considering that a non-JW in this article estimated that the conventions would bring $6 Million in revenue to the city of Trenton. Maybe they aren't getting kickbacks from the municipalities like they used to.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/02/jehovas_witnesses_to_hold_conv.html
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Interesting District Convention News.....
by Pyramid Scheme ini wanted to share some news from a family friend (he is my wt mole - still an elder, hates the shenanigans, but is still hanging on for all the reasons often discussed on this site) i know the various rumors have been discussed on here, and unfortunately the rumor about the conventions being eliminated weren't true!
(what a burden on the jw community - financial hardship for a good portion of them, guilting people into actually quitting their job to attend, physically exhausting for many, etc...etc......).
anyway, he told me that the district convention is being moved to 11 weekends at the jw-owned circuit assembly hall, and they are no longer planning on renting stadiums/large facilities in our area (northern ohio/southern michigan).
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Chaserious
They still manage to get their "cleaning up the dirty sports arena" stories in the news from time to time, like this one:
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/07/jehovahs_witnesses_to_give_sun.html
In my area, it seems that they still locate them in large arenas, except they are on their third different rented arena in this region in the last 8 years. I wonder if they wear out their welcome, or if they are just trying to get better deals. Also curious if in the next few years, they will all eventually end up in CA halls.
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AWAKE! misquote concerning Higher Education
by DATA-DOG incheck it out.
first, the article...... awake!
where can you get the best education?.
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Chaserious
I noticed that when they trotted this quote out many years ago, they actually gave the context:
The American educator William Lyon Phelps once said: “I thoroughly believe in a university education for men and women, but I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible.” And ex-President Herbert Hoover stated: “The study of the Bible is a post-graduate course in the richest library of human experience.”
wt 6/15/56
However, since then they have used some variation of this quote at least 5 other times in the literature, never including the part about "I thoroughly believe in a university education for men and women." Perhaps they are getting worse over the years with the misquotes. -
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2013 District Convention Headquarters Addresses, Dates, List!
by Atlantis in2013 district convention headquarters, addresses-united states and canada..this list is 10 pages long containing the addresses and above some of the locations you will see dates, such as, (june 15-18) or something like that.
i think those dates indicate when the convention will be held at that location.
help me out if i am wrong on that.
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Chaserious
What's the deal with the DC overseers who are using their employer e-mail addresses for company business? I wonder how their employers would feel about not only using company e-mail for religious business, but providing their e-mail addresses to a controversial organization that is so careless with this information?
For example:
xxx @unitedtesting.com
xxx@federal-insurance.com
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Interesting District Convention News.....
by Pyramid Scheme ini wanted to share some news from a family friend (he is my wt mole - still an elder, hates the shenanigans, but is still hanging on for all the reasons often discussed on this site) i know the various rumors have been discussed on here, and unfortunately the rumor about the conventions being eliminated weren't true!
(what a burden on the jw community - financial hardship for a good portion of them, guilting people into actually quitting their job to attend, physically exhausting for many, etc...etc......).
anyway, he told me that the district convention is being moved to 11 weekends at the jw-owned circuit assembly hall, and they are no longer planning on renting stadiums/large facilities in our area (northern ohio/southern michigan).
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Chaserious
forcing people to marry across . . . races
This is rather offensive and reflects poorly on you.
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Jehovah's Witness elder clears his conscious
by BlindersOff1 inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be2ltdktyhe.
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Chaserious
My experience is the same as ArbolesdeArabia, although I understand the message was different in the leadup to 1975. I certainly empathize with the ex-elder in the video. In my congregation in the 90's/early 2000's I can't think of anyone who dropped out of high school. They also changed their tune in the literature:
"You need to be able to think clearly, speak logically, and read and write well—skills that are taught in school. So take your school courses seriously, as did Tracy, a youth in Florida, U.S.A., who graduated from high school with scholastic honors. She expressed her hope: 'I have always had as my goal to be a full-time servant of my God Jehovah, and I hope my education will help me achieve this goal.'"
-wt 12/1/96 p.18
Even as far back as 1980 they were discouraging dropping out of high school. From Watching the World: "'Nearly one out of every two students dropped out of New York City’s public high schools over a four year period ending in 1978,' reports the New York Times. The information was provided by School Chancellor Frank J. Macchiarola, who said of the 45-percent dropout rate that 'there is no question that our responsibilities to these young people have been grievously unfulfilled.' The New York public school system is the largest in the U.S., with 950,000 students." -Awake 1/8/80 p.29-30
"Christians have often found it advisable to take advantage of standard secular training available where they live. In America a high-school education is frequently of practical value." -wt 4/1/79 p.10I note the irony in including a piece about half of NYC high school students dropping out in the four years ending in 1978, when they might have contributed to that statistic by encouraging pioneering in "the remaining months" during 1974-75, which was part of the survey period!
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2013 District Convention Headquarters Addresses, Dates, List!
by Atlantis in2013 district convention headquarters, addresses-united states and canada..this list is 10 pages long containing the addresses and above some of the locations you will see dates, such as, (june 15-18) or something like that.
i think those dates indicate when the convention will be held at that location.
help me out if i am wrong on that.
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Chaserious
Looks like WT broke one of its own cardinal rules
Now whatever schlub sent that out will be bloodguilty when the UN takes over the world, bans all religion and rounds up these elders and persecutes them because their information is on the nterwebz.
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"They (WT) took me out of context", Gail Bethea-Jackson video
by Fatfreek inthis is too important to bury within an old thread.
that thread hashed over several items of interest which you may want to read by way of a refresher: .
is gail bethea-jackson truly a doctor as the watchtower site claims?
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Chaserious
Thanks for providing the links, Blondie! I was able to watch it. Also to Data Dog for the summary.
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Watchtower misleads the Florida Supreme Court
by Marvin Shilmer inwatchtower misrepresents santinelli on transfusion.
today i added a new article to my blog revealing a documented instance of watchtower lying to the supreme court of florida about a doctors view on blood transfusion.
for more than one reason this is a particularly bad instance of watchtower dishonesty at work.
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Chaserious
It was a pleasure, of course, to discuss this topic with you, Marvin. I know I said my previous post was the last, but as I thought about this today, I realized something else. However one might characterize the quote, I think I understand why they used it, and in a broader sense, included the commentary section of the brief.
As you are probably aware, when an appellate court hears a case, not only do the judges or justices vote on the result, but one of them is assigned to write an opinion explaining the reasoning for the result. In these opinions, some judges are inclined to include a lot of background information. This can vary from almost none to several pages. Some believe that judges are more inclined to include a lengthy background if there is a brief that contains a well-written, fair summary. So, I think this might have been a "hail mary" if you will, hoping that perhaps the judge might use some of this in the opinion, thus portraying the Watchtower's doctrine in a favorable light to consumers of judicial opinions. Ultimately the opinion contained none of this, but I think it's the most plausible explanation for including irrelevant information. The Watchtower has a long history, going back to the flag salute cases, of not only trying to win the case, but hoping to get the opinion written the way they want. (e.g., often in a way that benefits them and no one else.)