Depression can kill, same as cancer.
Glad to hear Petra's getting the medicine she needs.
you are what she wanted to be!please, let us remove any blame to anyone right up front.
what happened to petra was not the fault of mark o'donnell, listener, corney, mike and kim, or anyone else.. constant rejection and shunning even at an early age, the depression was storing up inside of her.
she was shunned inside the hall and outside the hall.
Depression can kill, same as cancer.
Glad to hear Petra's getting the medicine she needs.
4/1/1967 wt.
for years, modern civilization has used the commercially available product known as toilet paper to cleanse one's rear posterior.
it is a common practice that has permeated almost all** of the inhabited earth.
Too funny.
in talking to jw's, it is apparent that they believe they are the only ones who believe in a paradise earth.
in reality most bible-believing christians believe in a paradise earth, they just don't call it that, they call it the millennium reign.
i created the chart below in an attempt to highlight areas of agreement between christians and a watchtower view, while at the same time isolating the key difference - the rejection of the new covenant.
Anna Marina - "A few years back older brothers were encouraged to step down as elders and make way for younger ones."
Ugh.
Considering the Org's lousy-ass retention rate and the increasing dearth of "qualified brothers" willing to "reach out", this would pretty much guarantee scraping the bottom of the barrel even deeper for grassroots administration.
Which can't help but trickle upward as these dumbasses get promoted.
when confronted with angus stewart’s blunt question “do you see yourselves as jehovah god’s spokespeople on earth?” the answer that came from jackson’s lips was astounding.. “that i think would seem to be quite presumptuous to say that we are the only spokesperson that god is using.
the scriptures clearly show that someone can act in harmony with god’s spirit in giving comfort and help in the congregations, but if i could just clarify a little, going back to matthew 24, clearly, jesus said that in the last days ‐ and jehovah’s witnesses believe these are the last days ‐ there would be a slave, a group of persons who would have responsibility to care for the spiritual food.
so inthat respect, we view ourselves as trying to fulfill that role.”.
All kidding aside, I was really glad the ARC asked that specific question...
...on account of the fact that they had been briefed on just what "theocratic warfare" actually was, and what the actual beliefs of the WT leadership really are.
They gave Jackson a chance to be genuinely honest, and he showed his and the Org's true colors.
Not to mention that it also revealed just how far they've fallen, considering how willing WT reps were to publicly declare how they really felt, back in the day...
...say what you will about Fred Franz and Haydon Covington, but when questioned during the Walsh trial, at least they had the balls to own that shit.
when confronted with angus stewart’s blunt question “do you see yourselves as jehovah god’s spokespeople on earth?” the answer that came from jackson’s lips was astounding.. “that i think would seem to be quite presumptuous to say that we are the only spokesperson that god is using.
the scriptures clearly show that someone can act in harmony with god’s spirit in giving comfort and help in the congregations, but if i could just clarify a little, going back to matthew 24, clearly, jesus said that in the last days ‐ and jehovah’s witnesses believe these are the last days ‐ there would be a slave, a group of persons who would have responsibility to care for the spiritual food.
so inthat respect, we view ourselves as trying to fulfill that role.”.
Ironic that, in his attempt at "theocratic warfare", he was unintentially truthful.
Because it IS presumptuous.
hello all interested persons,.
whilst driving to work this morning listening to the radio, my ears pricked when the presenter began talking about jws.
it was on a programme which airs between 8.00 and 8.30 entitled am, and broadcast on the abc national radio.
WingCommander - "...Once the above happens and the Australian government revokes their charitable status, they can immediately start claiming, 'Persecution!!!!!'..."
You sure?
When Russia started cracking back down on the Org in the past few years, the loss of tax exemption wasn't even mentioned, to my recollection... the Org leadership only focused on raids, arrests, and police brutality.
Know why?
'Cause how the fuck do you spin "paying back Caesar's things to Caesar" as "persecution"?
Ten bucks says the rank-and-file never even hear a peep from the WT leadership about loss of "charity status".
Sure, the WTS's lawyers fight like demons in the courts to keep the Org's tax-exemption when they can*, but when have the ever touted that specific accomplishment to the membership when they've achieved it?
...
*I suspect the Org's business model is dependent on it... otherwise why fight so hard to keep it in the first place?
unbelievable.
okay actually it's very believable.
check out the latest video on jwdotorg:.
slimboyfat - "I don’t think they care what opponents say. They do care if it results in lower donations and lower income. I think that’s what prompted the outburst. Are Watchtower experiencing financial difficulty so bad that they see no way out?"
Agreed.
At this point, they don't give a hairy blue fuck what "The World" thinks of them... they're in the Endgame Last Days of the Last Days of the Last Days, now.
What matters is the line in the sand, not budging, and - more than anything else - maintaining the fiction of "God's Exclusive Earthly Organization".
Money is an integral component of that, but reinforcing the ideology - and thusly maintaining a minimum level of membership loyalty and cohesion is - arguably - just as important.
That being said, I do think that financial difficulty is a thing.
After all (and I've said this before), in what crazy-ass, fucked-up mirror universe are constant legal troubles, steady asset and staff liquidation, and demonstrable reduction of product output (in both quality and quantity) signs of robust financial health?
Not to mention that I suspect their lawyers have told them that the Org's tax-exemption is inching towards the chopping block, and I'd bet cash money that the WTS's business model is way more dependent on it than we'd ever imagined.
i was reading in the shepherding book that elders should “ cultivate and maintain friendships with one another.”, and thought to myself “bulls$it!” i remember that most of the elders in my old congregation were nothing but nasty asses.
i know it may vary from congregation to congregation, but do elders generally get along with each other behind closed doors in elders meetings?
or, are they often in conflict with each other?
Jeezus, sounds like fucking high school.
will it ever end??
will a vaccine end this pandemic?
will it suddenly dissipate if joe biden becomes president?
DesirousOfChange - "I heard an old kook suggest it was 'designed' to kill off those that are a drain on society -- the old, infirm, and sick."
Meh; there's too many people anyway.
Seriously, though, when I'm in a suspicious-borderline-paranoid mood, there's a part of me that's tempted to wonder if the world's elites wouldn't actually mind thinning the herd in some manner like that.
My old man said on more than one occasion that he thought the government would love to euthanize all the senior citizens so they wouldn't have to pay their federal pensions.
That being said, he was a loyal Witness (whilst still being an exemplary husband and father), and in my observation, the less informed R&F can be somewhat susceptible to actual conspiracy theories (MLMs, too, for that matter), simply because of how easily said theories seem to confirm the JW worldview and/or can be retconned into WT eschatology.
when i say; “socialist” i don’t mean everyone is equal.
instead i am referring to “leaders” being rich and powerful, whereas the ordinary citizen being poor, and powerless.. i was surprise that the majority of the world is run by socialist government.
the last few countries that are not socialist are the united states and parts of europe.
Nope.
As flawed as capitalism is, it still works better.