I've seen JW parents take the same approach with their disfellowshipped children. They've updated their wills to dictate that the disfellowshipped child will receive "X" as an inheritance if they are an active JW, but will receive ZERO if they are not a JW at the time of the parents' death. And same goes for the disfellowshipped child's children. If they are active JWs upon their 18th birthday, they will receive their disfellowshipped parent's portion of the inheritance from a trust; if they are not an active JW, they will receive ZERO.
respectful_observer
JoinedPosts by respectful_observer
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26
Father denies children inheritance unless they quit Jehovah's Witnesses
by Tiktaalik inan article in the sydney morning herald:.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/father-denies-children-inheritance-unless-they-quit-jehovahs-witnesses-and-become-catholics-20140810-102egl.html#ixzz39yziuuvf.
"from beyond the grave, father-of-four patrick carroll continued a five-decade crusade to steer his children away from being active jehovah's witnesses and into catholicism.. mr carroll wrote into his will that his adult children were not to receive any inheritance unless they met two conditions: attend his funeral and become catholics within three months of his death.. mr carroll died in april 2012. his children attended the funeral but they did not become catholics and challenged the condition in the nsw supreme court in a bid to still receive their share of his estate.. but justice francois kunc last week ruled that mr carroll was entitled to place such conditions on his will.. the court heard that mr carroll's motivation was not so much about imposing his own beliefs but rather the fact he never approved of his children becoming jehovah's witness.. the court heard that mr carroll did not raise his children as catholics, neither he or they had attended church services when they were young and he did not enroll them in catholic schools.. but when he split from their mother lillian in 1959 she became a jehovah's witness and over the next decade the couple's four children, robyn, paulene, anthony and susan, were baptised as jehovah's witnesses.. mr carroll never approved of "their adherence to that faith", the court heard.. "[lillian's] conversion to that faith enraged mr carroll, who for the rest of his life continued to express his very strong objections to lillian's and the children's member of that faith," justice kunc said in his judgement.. the court was told that all four of his children remain active members of their congregation.. in his will, written in december 2011, four months before he died, mr carroll left more than a third of his estate to his four children "dependent upon them becoming baptised into the catholic church within a period of three months from the date of my death and such gifts are also subject to and dependent my children attending my funeral.".
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Please contact me if you're in the US and between 18 and 40 and want to be on TV telling your story.
by AndersonsInfo incontact me through my website at: http://watchtowerdocuments.org/contact-barbara/.
thank you,.
barbara.
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respectful_observer
Are they only talking to "officially out" ex-JWs, or are they also interested in speaking to those that are still in who would need their identities protected?
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respectful_observer
Here's another version....
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JW.Org Blitz
by Theredeemer ini've noticed, partilcularly on instagram, a advertising blitz for jw.org by the dubs.
primarily its the younger ones 35 and under vs older ones.
i dont know if its just my friends or everyone but they are obsessed with jw.org.
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respectful_observer
Here's a new one I hadn't seen yet...
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JW.Org Blitz
by Theredeemer ini've noticed, partilcularly on instagram, a advertising blitz for jw.org by the dubs.
primarily its the younger ones 35 and under vs older ones.
i dont know if its just my friends or everyone but they are obsessed with jw.org.
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respectful_observer
Of course it is idolatry.
Although it is nothing new, JWs have idolized the GB for decades.
This is just dialing it up a notch.
Of course it's NOT idolatry. Christendom practices idolaltry...
Jehovah's Witnesses do not....
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Stagnant JW growth at international convention
by kneehighmiah inso at the international convention 235 were baptized.
the attendance was 34k.
that's resents less than 1% its about .6%.
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respectful_observer
WT loves statistics
The WT loves SELECTIVE statistics.
Number baptised? Great.
Number disfellowshipped? No way.
Number of new congregations? Fantastic.
Number of congregations dissolved? Nope.
Publish the percentage of college graduates who hold a job in the field of their undergraduate degree? Sure!
Publish the percentage of those college graduates who hold jobs that require holding a 4-year degree? Um...let's leave that one out.
Current contribution deficit at the assembly? Definitely.
Donations made to the Worldwide Work TM or received by the the non-profit Watchtower Bible & Tract Society in some type of typical non-profit annual financial statement? Heck no. What are you, crazy??
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Is the number of JWs leaving increasing?
by dozy ini don't mean jws getting stumbled or bored or getting dfd for immorality- there always have been a certain number of those all the time.. i've been out for a few years now but am curious to know from "still ins" if there is any evidence of increasing numbers of people leaving for classic "apostate" reasons - ie either fading or getting dfd because they have done research & realise that this isn't "the truth".. when i was a jw occasionally i would hear of someone suddenly stopping going to meetings & hearing through the grapevine & jw gossip mill that the person no longer believed it was the truth or had expressed doubts in the "slave" etc.
but it didn't happen very often ( though it was increasing somewhat in the years before i left).. one would imagine with the internet & increased information available to all that this would be happening more often.
any evidence of this , anecdotally?
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respectful_observer
Because there are not a lot of useful metrics that allow it to be accurately calculated, it's hard to say.
On top of it, for those that decide to conciously "fade", having access to forums such as this one allow them to do so in a more discreet manner. Also, anecdotes that we all read seem to indicate that there may not be necessarily a greater percentage that are leaving, but there may be an ever growing number of "nominal JWs", who still attend meetings, report some service time (whether it's accurate or not), and have serious doubts about doctrine, but are not willing to turn their personal lives upside down over the issue.
One metric that can be accurately measured, is not whether more are leaving, but if fewer are responding to the JW message and joining. I don't mean in terms of net increase-- there is still low single digit point growth every year-- I mean of all the people JWs preach to, the percentage who actually respond continues to decrease. Somebody's got a graphic out there that tracks how many hours of preaching it takes to get 1 convert over the last few decades. That number has been steadily increasing and shows no signs of slowing down.
Is it because JWs are less effective teachers?
Is it because more and more JWs over-report (lie) on their monthly service reports?
Is it because fewer people are interested in religion?
Is it because people who are interested do some research on JWs on the internet and decide to stay away?
There are no clear answers, but if any or all of the above are true, it will only cast a longer and longer shadow over the Watchtower Society as time goes by.
R_O
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Praise For Witnesses On Welfare Who Full Time Pioneer!
by minimus inthe watchtower has always praised witnesses who are on welfare and decided to pioneer.
many in my congregation, including my mom, were given kudos, praise and assembly parts because they took advantage of jehovah's provision through the government....did you notice this, or was it obvious to me because i was raised in the inner city and many people recieved government help?.
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respectful_observer
It is, in simple terms, FRAUD.
There was a young single "holier-than-thou" sister that was in my circle of associates back in the day who was always telling us all that there was no excuse to not pioneer. When I pressed her on why that was the case, she explained to the group that all you need to do is find a doctor (she offered hers up) who will assist you in qualifying for disability benefits from the government. I asked, "what if you're not actually disabled?" Her response was that "If Satan's system can provide means for you to pioneer, you should take it." My response to the group was "If someone is claiming disablility benefits who is not actually disabled, that's the definition of fraud-- which is a felony." Let's just say she was not my biggest fan after that.
In seperate occassion (when I was unemployed for a short time) several people asked me: "Why aren't you pioneering right now? You're getting unemployment checks, which you can get for a year. You can be out in service every day!" My response was always the same: "Yes, I'm receiving unemployment benefits, but they're provided with the expectation that I'm looking for a new job during that time. So in reality, I still have a full time job-- it's called 'looking for a job.'"
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Convention Season-"Saving Good Seats" & Other Embarrassing Behavior
by Darth Fader The Sequel insince it is the convention season (and i am not attending this year or ever again), and i have been seeing other posts about some of the goings on at the various ic's and rc's, i am reminded of some of the truly embarrassing behavior i have "witnessed" (pun intended) over my lifetime of being a jdub at the various conventions and assemblies.
probably the most disillusioning experience at a convention that i have ever had was one year when i volunteered to be an attendant.
all of the volunteers were asked to attend a special meeting a few months beforehand to get instructions for our duties as attendants.
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respectful_observer
I would love to see the glares I would get if I decided to record this event on my phone/iPad. Imagine the looks as these people come sprinting/speed walking down the corridor with arms swinging wide with coolers and realize someone is recording their ridiculous behavior and laughing at them the whole time.
Man, if I were in charge of the Attendant Dept at for the Regional Convetion, I would instruct the brothers to use the technique used by Disney (who are experts at all things crowd-control related).
If you get to a Disney theme park before the gates open for the day, they have a very personable employee who chats up the crowd and instructs them that when the gates actually open s/he will begin walking slowly backwards into the park. No one is permitted to pass that employee as s/he walks backward with arms outstretched (I've also seen a variation where several employees walk backward holding an outstretched rope). When the "guide" finally passes that attraction/ride, you can go in. But no one is allowed to pass him/her during that opening walk.
I can only imagine the looks on the "friends'" faces as they came surging through the doors to encounter that type of approach. Those poor attendants would have to endure listening to all the friends grumbling and murmering as they glared at him during his walk. They would be beyond apoplectic!!! I have no doubt that the Chairman's Office would be overrun with complaints within a few short minutes with claims that their entire convention experienced was ruined because of this.
R_O
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VERY short day at the Arlington/Dallas International Convention-My Observations
by CaptainSchmideo inokay, some good takeaway:.
i have never been to a convention quite like this before.
a very friendly vibe all around, lots of banners and posters with sayings like "sending love to all our brothers", "see you in the paradise", "ecuador sends greetings", and "jehovahs-witness.net" (okay, i lied on that last one...).
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respectful_observer
Sounds like the wait to get back to your car was misery.
You need Uber!
