https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/politics/coronavirus-jehovahs-witnesses.html.
the pandemic has put a stop to the activities of one of the nation’s most visible religious groups, jehovah’s witnesses.. read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/politics/coronavirus-jehovahs-witnesses.html.
My Dad knew WT theology cold, and he did tell me once that the Org had indicated that the "preaching work" would end prior to - or as a result of - the start of the "Great Tribulation", so the contingency was always kinda there.
Whether they actually try and spin it that way now remains to be seen.
i had a patient admitted from a skilled nursing facility/rehab that is an active jw.
the patient had covid-19 as did most of the patients at that facility.
typically the local elders are all involved in these admissions but there is a strict no visitor policy which includes clergy.
"Don't ask, don't tell"... doesn't actually surprise me all that much.
According to anecdotal evidence, quite a few of Herb Armstrong's followers did the same thing with general medical care.
jws or mormons.
from a public point of view not from people within the religion as that would be obvious.. examples of extreme beliefs or behaviour would be useful..
I've said this before, but I've long viewed the LDS as the WTS's nicer but weirder older cousin.
...
BTW... Protestantism is the WTS's slightly out-of-touch but generally well-meaning mom...
...Catholicism is the WTS's old alcoholic uncle who's finally working his way through his 12 steps...
...
...and Scientology is the WTS's crazy-ass, mean-as-fuck neighbor from down the street.
the bible says this - acts 17:11 “...for they [the beroeans] accepted the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”.
km 9/07 p. 3 question box - does “the faithful and discreet slave” endorse independent groups of witnesses who meet together to engage in scriptural research...?.
and yet, in various parts of the world, a few associates of our organization have formed groups to do independent research on bible-related subjects... some have pursued an independent group study...so as to analyze the accuracy* of the new world translation... for those who wish to do extra bible study and research, we recommend that they explore insight on the scriptures, “all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial,” and our other publications...” .
Phizzy - "Just using the Bible, reading it without WT Org specs on, anyone can easily see that the JW interpretation is wrong."
Yup.
I remember the first time I realized that reading the Bible without WT-colored glasses actually gave the impression that quite a few of "Christendom"'s ideas were - gasp - more Biblically sound then the WT led its members to believe.
Ray Franz essentially came to a similar conclusion.
hi all.. just spotted this news item in melbourne:.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-19/vic-govt-threatens-cut-off-orgs-dont-sign-up-to-redress-scheme/12161886.
victoria to blacklist institutions that fail to sign up to national redress scheme for sexual abuseposted about 7 hours ago a black and white photo of girls in a boarding home.photo: the national redress scheme was a key recommendation of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
So, the what would be the (eventual) penalty for refusing join the redress thing? Loss of tax-exemption?
(I skimmed)
If so, good luck spinning that as "persecution".
i recall when it was released ,that's when i was a drone, how excited i felt at the prospect of reading it and formulating ways to sell it at the homes in my area.. i thought, finally a book to explain the last book in the bible and indeed one that the churches seemed to want to leave alone!.
i sold quite a few probably because of my enthusiasm and can still remember clearly the first day when i went knocking on doors with it ,and it's been decades since.. but over time it lost it's shine and my mind started to question the explanations in it due to the scene of other things being changed in the jw beliefs.. do you remember they flogged that book so many times in the book studies even when it was found to have "newer light " eclipsing it!.
who else remembers the printed pages with the official corrections to insert into the book ,so many that the book collapsed to be of no relevance anymore really.....what an embarrassment!.
EverApostate - "The Bible book of Revelation was written by a mentally disturbed person. Who else would write that beasts would come out of the sea, killer grasshoppers, blood filling the earth unto a horses height, Winged creatures in heaven, women being corrupted etc…"
Patmos was used as an insane asylum, after all. 
thank you everyone for helping make this happen.
https://www.facebook.com/awakefromwatchtower/posts/3656514984423553?__tn__=k-r. https://youtu.be/0uarajnt_mo.
So it's pretty even-steven, then? For each court-loss-slash-settlement, there's a roughly corresponding property sale (or two) soon after?
I realize that correlation does not necessarily equal causation...
...but I'm not a big believer in coincidence, either.
i recall when it was released ,that's when i was a drone, how excited i felt at the prospect of reading it and formulating ways to sell it at the homes in my area.. i thought, finally a book to explain the last book in the bible and indeed one that the churches seemed to want to leave alone!.
i sold quite a few probably because of my enthusiasm and can still remember clearly the first day when i went knocking on doors with it ,and it's been decades since.. but over time it lost it's shine and my mind started to question the explanations in it due to the scene of other things being changed in the jw beliefs.. do you remember they flogged that book so many times in the book studies even when it was found to have "newer light " eclipsing it!.
who else remembers the printed pages with the official corrections to insert into the book ,so many that the book collapsed to be of no relevance anymore really.....what an embarrassment!.
I particularly found that the further away from the end of the Cold War we got, the harder the stuff in that book was to swallow.
jehovah`s witnesses have taken it upon themselves that they have been chosen by god to be his witnesses in what they believe to be the last days ,the time of the end spoken of by the prophets of old.. they are on record as stating in their publications that it is their calling and duty to preach this message of announcing jehovah`s kingdom loud and clear publicly and from house to house even when under ban.. which they have done on many occasions in the past putting their trust in jehovah .. taking to heart acts ch.5 : 17- 32 which states in a nutshell ," we must obey god as ruler rather than men " .
they are also on record that the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one satan the devil to mislead all mankind.. this includes all governments ,religious leaders ,economic, and social systems ,they have even stated that the united nations was a counterfeit kingdom in opposition to the kingdom of god for the benefit of mankind.. so what do we see today ?
true , we have a pandemic with this covid-19 virus that is wreaking havoc in the worlds health systems causing death to many people on a scale not seen since the spanish flu pandemic a century ago.. now i`m just speaking from a jehovah`s witness mindset here,to put there money where their mouth is.
LongHairGal - "They have no choice but to comply with the secular authorities. If they did not, could you imagine the shitstorm that would come down on them??..They’d be accused of being harmful to the world around them and possibly spreading whatever..."
Agreed.
Ten bucks says that since they won't/can't budge on the pedo problem and the Rising Tide of related lawsuits, their lawyers have advised them that their tax exemption is in too precarious a position for them to risk jabbing "Satan's World" in the eye on this particular issue.
Which, once again, begs the real question...
...just how dependent on its tax-exemption IS the Org?
