Jourles

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Posts by Jourles

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  21

  JW's Banned In Tajikistan...

  by brinjen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  tajikistan bans jehovah's witnessesposted tue oct 23, 2007 8:22am aest.

  ex-soviet tajikistan outlawed the jehovah's witnesses religious organisation on monday, saying its missionary activities violated the laws of the predominantly muslim central asian state.. "door-to-door missionary activities, calls to refuse to serve in the armed forces and their intolerance of other religions contradict the law," tajik culture minister mirzoshohruh asrorov told a news conference.. jehovah's witnesses in tajikistan could not immediately be reached for comment.. according to official figures, more than 95 percent of the tajik population belong to the sunni branch of islam and another two percent are shiites.

  the tajik government though is strictly secular.

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  Jourles

  "Door-to-door missionary activities, calls to refuse to serve in the armed forces and their intolerance of other religions contradict the law,"

  I guess they better move elsewhere if they feel that the above beliefs are their God given right.
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  16

  2 Dubs split $756,000 bias award

  by Nathan Natas in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm sure they'll give most of it to help the world-wide work.... .

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  Jourles

  A little more background on this case:

  EEOC v. AT&T ARKANSAS is an ongoing 2006-7 employment discrimination lawsuit filed by EEOC on behalf of two Jehovah's Witnesses named Glenn Owen and Jose Gonzalez. Details are sketchy, but apparently Glenn Owen and Jose Gonzalez had been employed at AT&T's Jonesboro, Arkansas location for a number of years. In years past, AT&T had accomodated Owen's and Gonzalez's requests for time off so they could attend the Jehovah's Witnesses annual District Convention every July. However, in 2005, AT&T declined Owen's and Gonzalez's requests for time off. Apparently, Glenn Owen and Jose Gonzalez attended the District Convention anyway. They were later suspended by AT&T, and eventually terminated. Owen and Gonzalez are claiming religious discrimination, but AT&T claims that the denial of time off in 2005 had nothing to do with the employees' religion, but rather that granting their requests would have created an undue hardship that year. Outcome unknown, but AT&T will likely lose. Employers need to review all following cases, which basically show that when a Jehovah's Witness Employee states that they need time off for religious purposes, their Employer better give it to them, or suffer the consequences.
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  56

  Message board ranks...who cares?

  by Burger Time in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  not to be mean but why should i care that you have 3,000 posts?

  this yet again proves how useless even making stats like this public are.

  it just gives people ammo to say, "i have 25,000 posts so obviously i am more vested in this board then you".

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  Jourles

  Not to be mean but why should I care that you have 3,000 posts? So what?

  Well I'll be damned. You started this thread just for me didn't you? I appreciate the recognition that you have laid before the board in my honor.

  All hail Jourles -- the most useless prolific poster of our generation. Wait a sec, which generation should I refer to?
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  6

  If you're ever in Vegas...

  by exwitless in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i attended a medical conference this weekend at the wynn hotel in vegas.

  on saturday night, we saw monty python's "spamalot" in the live theater.

  i cannot tell you how hilarious that show was!

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  Jourles

  I bought front row tickets a couple months ago for one of the shows coming up in December here in East Lansing(at MSU). I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Is it really that good?
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  61

  O% Containment of Fires in SoCal

  by purplesofa in

  1. social
  2. current

  i don't think this is a hoax.. i have been watching this am the wildfires in socal.

  they have already lost some beautiful buildings.

  it does not look like things will let up soon.. i was in malibu a few yeares ago, horrible to see.. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303799,00.html.

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  Jourles

  Youch! The last big fire, my grandama and one of my uncles lost their homes in the Harbison Canyon area. Another uncle of mine lives right down the road from the Wild Animal Park - he can see the entrance from his backyard. I still haven't heard from any of them yet. I even heard that my parents are out there visiting right now. Perfect timing.

  Jeez, kind of makes me glad that I moved away from there(SD). I'll take snow and freezing weather any day over fire, earthquakes, and hurricanes. At least snow won't damage my house!
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  37

  To my friends that are not in the US: Do you get this kind of propaganda?

  by CaptainSchmideo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know a lot of brits, aussies, canadians, etc, always marvel at the arrogance, haughtiness, and cockiness of us tourists visiting their countries.

  or how mainstream us citizens just fall in line with anything that comes out of the government's mouth, accept any policy as "good", believe all that stuff about how "america is the greatest nation on earth!"..

  how it gets ingrained into the being of most us citizens?.

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  Jourles

  Dawg,

  You may change your mind about the list of presidential candidates if you were to look into Ron Paul. I would suggest starting at You Tube and look at the GOP debates, Google's HQ conference, and other general news interviews. You'll see why the media tries its best to subdue his influence in this race. Everything you said you believe in, RP fits you to a tee. Everything he wants to do is in direct opposition to what Bush is doing now. And they are supposedly on the same side of the aisle.

  And on another note about "hating America," it's not AMERICA itself or the people in America that some hate. It is the policies of the current government, more specifically - this administration, that makes people "hate America." There is a difference here. This administration is gradually phasing out our original rights under the guise of keeping America safe from terrorism. The WTS invokes the same fear in the r&f when it comes to keeping the flock safe from the world and other dangers(internet, apostates, etc). If the WTS says something is bad and we need to change our habits or personal routine to keep us safe from such dangers, what do you think the r&f will do? Ignore the WTS or blindly follow along? We need to view the government, and not just of our own country in which we live, as similar to how we view the WTS as exjw's. There is nothing wrong with critically examining the doctrines of our old religion or even our government. If we're told that it's wrong, well, then I hope you can see the problem in this.
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  19

  Annual Report no longer to be included in WT but Kingdom Ministry

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if any of you have not seen the scan of the jan 15, 2008 private wt edition this will interest you:.

  page 3. .

  the annual report will no longer appear in the watchtower.

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  Jourles

  They're not removing the report due to "apostates" getting hold of it. Hell, we see every pub before it becomes available to the average jdub! They know that no matter what, we'll always leak/copy/scan anything newsworthy to the web. Since the growth figures are primarily for the r&f's benefit only(how many householders would care about the amount of kh's located in Timbuktu?), they are merely switching it to the proper venue is all. I see it as a possible but *small* cost cutting measure. Why waste 4-6 pages in a "public version" WT when the people receiving it could care less? Put those pages where they will be read -- in a "private" publication which is printed in far fewer numbers.
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  140

  Share one or two interesting things about you we probably didn't know

  by Gopher in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have such an interesting group of people from around the world on this board.

  it might be interesting to have a thread where you discuss a hobby, something interesting that happened in the past, somewhere you've been, etc.. not deep, dark confessions - just interesting stuff.. .

  * i have travelled into all 48 american states that are not named alaska or hawaii.. * for the past few years, i have had a slight walking impairment due to a form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis.

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  Jourles

  Volleyball phreak. I play 4-5 days a week. Indoors, I'm not at the Olympic level or Div I collegiate, but I'd say one notch below. In sand, and depending on the partner I'm playing with, I'll enter as AA or sometimes Open. My indoor game is tighter than my outdoor game. I've been playing since high school.

  Skiboarder. I switched to skiboards from skis back in 1995 and never looked back. My latest selection consists of two sets of Line boards (99cm & 142cm) and Spruce 120's.

  Budding photog. I am more interested in learning the technical aspects of photography right now. I'm almost to the point where I can set up my dslr in full manual mode and hit the perfect "tack sharp" shot the first time - correctly choosing the right wb, exposure, aperture, etc. I think anyone can learn to take great pictures once they learn how to use their equipment properly. The "AUTOPICTURE" just doesn't do it for me.

  My job is also my hobby.
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  12

  When the rules don't suit you, change 'em

  by Jourles in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  anointed cutoff --- 1935.. |.

  you cannot become a gb member without being one of the anointed.. |.

  1995 comes and this generation now means the great crowd living during our time is part of it, no time cap.. |.

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  Jourles

  I still strongly feel 2014 will be a big phsycological barrier for many r&f

  Oh yeah, I'm out and it will hit me too. 1914 isn't going away. That 100 year mark will be talked about I'm sure. For those who were in prior to 1995, I'm sure this date will land a harder hit to the gut than those who came later. But then again, the new change on the generation will also help disolve this timeframe seeing that it has nothing to do with the r&f anymore. That could be another reason for this change - to help reinforce in the r&f's minds that it never had anything to do with them in the first place. If they believe that line of bs, then the blunt force of that 100 year mark will not mean as much.
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  12

  When the rules don't suit you, change 'em

  by Jourles in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  anointed cutoff --- 1935.. |.

  you cannot become a gb member without being one of the anointed.. |.

  1995 comes and this generation now means the great crowd living during our time is part of it, no time cap.. |.

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  Jourles

  But then the majority of the R&F never understood the post 1995 doctrine.

  Exactly. Which is why yet another change won't be all that much different than the first. If a r&f member questions an elder as to why members of the gb are getting younger and younger, the elder can point back to this new change and explain that the anointed will be around to see armageddon, which in turn means that there must still be anointed left on earth thereby eliminating anything to do with 1935. If the r&f find it hard to wrap their heads around this new doctrine, they will be given the usual "wait on Jehovah" or "trust Jehovah's representatives" line. It has worked for the past 100 years, why not now?

  As far as the 144k goes, there are two paths they can follow here. Symbolic or literal. Personally, if I were still a jw, I would find it nauseating to learn that the 144k was symbolic after being told my entire life(and which is also the basic foundation of the WTS) it was literal. I'm not sure they will change this one. If anything, the new generation interpretation simply enforces the symbolic view. If the 144k teaching became symbolic, then why would they need to change the generation thinking?? If it were symbolic, there would be no cap on who or how many could be of the anointed. This new generation idea is merely the foundation for supporting a continued literal 144k. They can easily say that there are a scattered few who will continue to live until the end - and that those few are eligible to become gb members(the real reason behind the change, imo). They'll refer primarily to the anointed ones, but in reality, they will use this reasoning as an excuse to keep a grip on power. Afterall, only the anointed get special messages from god. Combine all of this will bleeding coffers, you'll begin to see they are trying to hold on to their power as long as the money is there. A few decades at the most is what I'm guessing.