Posts by Listener

40

Russia - Who Will Get the Property of Jehovah's Witnesses?

by OrphanCrow in

jw
friends

http://www.interessant.ru/politics/komu-dostanietsia-imushchie.

who will get the property of jehovah's witnesses?.

the sect "jehovah's witnesses", recognized as an extremist organization and banned in russia, owned real estate worth 4 billion rubles.

Listener

Barbara Anderson posted some interesting information regarding Theodore Jaracz and the USSR

In the early 1990s, his sneakiness caused him to almost lose his position. It was after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which was characterized by many of the Soviet Socialist Republics declaring their independence, this taking place from the beginning of 1990 until the end of 1991. After the republics claimed their independence, the GB decided it was an appropriate time to hold a convention in St. Petersburg and dispatched Jaracz to the area to make the arrangements. However, he secretly directed that many conventions be held in countries previously under the control of the Soviet Union. When this came to light after many conventions actually took place unbeknownst to the rest of the GB, to placate a very angry Body, he contritely apologized and promised never to do such a thing again.

http://watchtowerdocuments.org/the-theocratic-life-and-times-of-theodore-jaracz/

Since it was reported that the JWs were given property for a token payment around the years that Jaracz was taking a personal interest in what was going on there and he was secretly planning conventions around this area, I wonder what was really going on.

37

Are Bethelites Buying and Preparing their own Food?

by TakeOffTheCrown in

jw
friends

samuel herd made the following statement at the 2015 annual meeting regarding the reduction of services at bethel.. we will be reducing personnel at bethel.

some bethel family members will be invited to serve in the field.

in addition to their regular work, bethel family members will be caring for many of the services that were previously provided by fellow bethelites.. .

Listener

Given the difficulty that gated communities have in stopping JWs from preaching within their grounds, I wonder what would happen if preachers wanted to knock on the doors of the Bethelites residents? Maybe the vast apostate army could test it out as part of their campaign.

Requesting visitors not to take photos of the outside of their residence is not surprising. They have balconies and at some time or another they are likely to be used. They wouldn't want outsiders to be able to identify who lives where. With the quality of cameras these days, it may also be possible to zoom into the units and see what is going on.

6

Wakos of Warwick

by Chook in

this is now the official title bestowed upon the priestly class.

Listener

W.O.W.

40

Some Good News About Me (Although Anthony Morris Will Be Furious)

by pale.emperor in

just wanted to share with you some good news i'm really excited about.

i have been accepted for university to study psychology and counseling.

my goal is to become a counselor and, in time, to specialize on treating those who have left high control relationships/groups like we all did.. it'll take a few years before im qualified but studying in university has been a dream of mine since i was 12, which was systematically dashed to pieces by watchtower.. .

Listener

Congratulations, such a worthwhile endeavour.

18

Has anyone noticed how Tony Morris is always referring to his notes ?

by Chook in

i honestly believe he has memory difficulties, him and mr letts iq is not much greater than a rabbit.

no the rabbit wins..

Listener

I always thought it was the aim of the speaker to give a talk without highly scripted notes, just an outline. These guys have had years of experience and either can't do it or cannot speak without themselves being under the limitations and control of dogmatic teachings.

They are simply proving themselves to be like actors in a scripted performance.

8

Is the Watchtower Organization in accordance with God's requirements?

by Listener in

beroean pickets has another excellant article presented on their website.

it is written by tadua.

in light of the russian ban there are many valid points made.

Listener

Beroean Pickets has another excellant article presented on their Website. It is written by Tadua. In light of the Russian ban there are many valid points made.

The organization has always fought fiercely for it's right to worship and have been able to establish those rights under various Governments. The article examines whether the rights they fight for are in fact requirement of true worship.
http://beroeans.net/2017/07/10/2017-july-10-july-16-our-christian-life-and-ministry/

Gods Kingdom Rules (kr chp. 15 par. 1-8) – Fighting for Freedom to Worship
It is true that worship involves more than what one believes. But does worship actually require the things that the organization has fought for. The area covered this week is the right to exist as an organization and to meet at kingdom halls and assembly halls, and distribute literature.
So we have to ask, are these things a necessary part of worship in the scriptures or is it again an organizational requirement?
One item that stood out in these paragraphs was the fight to be able to print and distribute Bible literature. Did the early Christians suffer bans on bible literature? This doesn’t seem to have been an issue. Indeed they did not use literature, they only relied on the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels and Letters of Paul and the other apostles as they became available.
So why the need today, especially when we have the whole Bible readily available? Could it be that either deliberately or not, more weight is being given to the teachings in the literature than those taken directly from God’s word? Also is the good news being made unnecessarily complicated as a result, so that the simple clarity that the early disciples preached so successfully has been lost? There are no scriptures to support the right to distribute Bible literature.
What about meeting at kingdom halls and assembly halls? Again there is no scriptural requirement for these. True, the Bible does talk about not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together. (Hebrews 10:24, 25) However, this scripture does not mandate the gathering together in meeting halls. The early Christians met in private homes.
Finally what about the right to exist as an organization? Again, there is no scriptural requirement for an organization, and as mentioned on previous occasions, the word ‘organization’ does not appear in the scriptures. Even the use of ‘association of brothers’ does not qualify as an organized official body. The normal use of the word association is ‘a connection or co-operative link between people or organizations.’ As they were brothers they had a co-operative link between them. To use the word association to prove existence of an organization is disingenuous at best. The Greek word used in 1 Peter 2:17 is adelphotes which means ‘brotherhood’, ‘band of brothers’, which implies an informal group of friends or brothers with the same interests.
So the brothers are fighting in the courts for things which are Organizational requirements, not Scriptural necessities.
Additionally, while these rights have been fought for and established in law in many countries, there has been no effort to fight for these rights in outright Muslim countries, and extreme Communist countries. Other arrangements have been made for these countries. So we ask, was the fight really necessary? Surely if it is necessary for ‘Western lands’ it is also necessary for Muslim and communist lands, and vice-versa. Is Jehovah’s hand short, or does he simply not require such things at all?
When we read paragraph 8, we can only ask how do the witnesses in Russia feel about being under ban yet again in the year of 2017? We would want to have empathy for the witnesses as individuals, but once again it appears that to some extent it has been either unnecessarily provoked or at least incurred, in part due to the unscriptural rules they enforce, such as the policy of complete shunning of disassociated and disfellowshipped ones until reinstatement takes place.

32

The big mistake of jw.org property management

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

today i read some news story's about the property deals of jw.org in brooklyn.

they made good money and good connections.. but i'm sure jw.org made a very, very big mistake in brooklyn.

they did.. they sold and are selling all the property for money.

Listener

We don't know what their financial situation is. We do know that they attended a number of seminars on futures investments and there is no reason to doubt that they invested in this, possibly losing many millions during the financial crash in 2008.

The big question is - did they mortgage the properties they had in Brooklyn? This is far from being considered an unwise financial tactic to take, especially amongst the big money makers, they've been doing it for decades. You mortgage the property you have to put that equity into buying new properties or invest it into futures. Your property portfolio increases substantially and after a number of years the value of the property increases so that the mortgages become relatively smaller in real terms.

Or maybe the organization has been functioning beyond it's means, spending more than it's making and requiring it to mortgage it's valuable properties to continue on, spending the equity in their current assets. Losing money on the futures market may have been the tipping stone where they were forced to sell their properties in order to meet mortgage payments. After all, Armageddon is imminent.

43

Cart Witnesses Today - I am not impressed

by pale.emperor in

just approached a cart then with two jw girls holding out mags.

they continued chatting to each other about car insurance when i took the watchtower from one of their hands.. ok, so it looks like i'll have to get the ball rolling.

i asked if they were jehovahs witness.

Listener

Why, it's almost as if they didn't want to do the ministry and it was a compulsion.

There doesn't appear to be any other explanation for it.

45

She's here and early! 27 weeks 1day.

by Darkknight757 in

so as of july 2nd my wife delivered by c-section our little one pound, three ounce daughter izabella.

it was a very scary night that started with a decel and turned into multiple decels that greatly concerned the doctors.

by early morning they felt the need to take her for her safety.

Listener

A big welcome to Izabella and congratulations to you both. I hope every day makes her stronger and stronger.

13

July Broadcast - Bible Teach book and Keep Yourselves In Gods Love book

by pale.emperor in

i didn't manage to last the whole broadcast.

it was so unbelievably boring that i only managed halfway before i switched it off.

in this broadcast anthony morris iii (who i affectionately call "the don") stresses to us the importance of studying - not one - but two of their publications in order to understand the bible.

Listener

He is also telling parents that they should study both books with their children, so that it can be etched in their mind and put deep in their hearts.

Surely parents know their own children better than the GB and know what to teach them to come to a better appreciation about God. I know my father did. But these two books aren't even suitable to be teaching younger children to keep them interested, especially since family worship is the only study that can be specifically directed to the young audience at hand.