Posts by castthefirststone

39

Yearbook is late this year

by factfinder in

jw
friends

usually i recieve an advanced yb but have not this year.

i also notice they have not posted it yet on jw.org.. i wonder if this is due to problems at the printery at wallkill or they decided to produce the yb later from now on?.

or perhaps they decided not to publish it any more.. anyone have any info on this?.

castthefirststone

The yearbook of 2014 will be published invisibly to commemorate the invisible event that happened in 1914.

223

Comprehensive NWT Comparison Project (calling all technically skilled members)

by Apognophos in

is anyone aware if this project is already being done by someone?

if not, perhaps we can brainstorm how to go about this, now that the pdf for the revised nwt is out.

a couple initial impressions:.

castthefirststone

Wow MeanMrMustard, thank you for figuring this out even though in the end you didn't need it.

I was in the process of injecting my own code into the jwlibrary apk (BibleDef.smali) to write the chapters to file and then importing that into a db but glad that that is no longer necessary.

As you said it makes no sense that these clowns encrypted and then zipped the data. It was all futile because the key has to be in the app somewhere.

Anyway I'm very happy that due to your efforts we finally we have the ability to compare exactly what was changed and then try to figure out which changes are significant and also speculate on the reasons behind the changes. Fun apostate days ahead

223

Comprehensive NWT Comparison Project (calling all technically skilled members)

by Apognophos in

is anyone aware if this project is already being done by someone?

if not, perhaps we can brainstorm how to go about this, now that the pdf for the revised nwt is out.

a couple initial impressions:.

castthefirststone

You have a PM MeanMRMustard.

Here are the first few lines of the table def:

CREATE TABLE bible_verse ( id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, label TEXT,content BLOB );
PRAGMA foreign_keys=OFF;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
CREATE TABLE bible_verse ( id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, label TEXT,content BLOB );
INSERT INTO "bible_verse" VALUES(0,'1',X'F24BE36C0A668F8AFF3A76BACB40E612ED1E7BEFC5BDC3C04133FA424568A2A5AF6DC3DF1465C064A3B01E473A65AC3DFE09C541B734C65CE3C732CE467B5CFEA4BF8F443272C5AEAB2526F862FE57830ACB62E2E86B4BD2A565F0533F92888A');
INSERT INTO "bible_verse" VALUES(1,'2',X'5F4B2966493DDAFCAE578A54E7495F74368DFA89E366C74AE2484F8FDB9BBA50D8F55CF0F6282A2E5518F67D55191DB7850C0EDF7828435DE1C52BA43E10F191CBFBB833CC6151C3E0E39F7783330CC2442BD106348EB8D8E234C410EE419B0782780A81F3CFB496B82BFB8156E9A4EE4DDB561E74617294F4E0A13A37F933E4A276253A45CF42B06A4CA946824027CCCBD5B94618E8F1ED9C20DFA494785844');
INSERT INTO "bible_verse" VALUES(2,'3',X'C7A211EDE177A30E4317AD65BFFD9139871073CCEDAE5B852D00B59D4BB7BB4B5EA3FD65FA40AB2CD30B8CC624A90CEEB85EAD617BB831878AA074EA105ECA0EF66F2596A0C3FA42EF758282A03BFB13EFCCBC7E9AD386D3DB806605EB1FCA64');

223

Comprehensive NWT Comparison Project (calling all technically skilled members)

by Apognophos in

is anyone aware if this project is already being done by someone?

if not, perhaps we can brainstorm how to go about this, now that the pdf for the revised nwt is out.

a couple initial impressions:.

castthefirststone

Let me ask you this: I noticed the code you pasted above is an INSERT statment. Can you just do a select on the bible_verse table and paste the hex string for one of those verses? I wonder if I can send it through some functions to see if it comes out with actual text.

I will send the hex as soon as I can but the hex I sent was the last verse of the Bible (Rev 22:21) but I think without the key it's difficult to decipher. Most of my work is stored on another computer so I need to copy it over when I get a chance and then I'll send more text.

I believe I'm getting closer (I didn't stop looking at it) as I believe the key is stored somewhere in a table (found some code that reference it). The app needs to decrypt it, so the key must be stored somewhere either in the xml files, the code or the database. I don't understand why they tried to encrypt it as it's not worth the effort, eventually someone with enough perseverance will figure it out.

Oh and about phoning the bethel boys club, they will just tell me to chat to the elders again. Sorry but I'd rather run around in the decipher hamster wheel than the circular logic wheel, thank you very much.

223

Comprehensive NWT Comparison Project (calling all technically skilled members)

by Apognophos in

is anyone aware if this project is already being done by someone?

if not, perhaps we can brainstorm how to go about this, now that the pdf for the revised nwt is out.

a couple initial impressions:.

castthefirststone

It turns out that the actual contents of the table (nwt_E.db) is an encrypted hex as an example:

INSERT INTO "bible_verse" VALUES(31193,'21',X'36D76E4B872B0901D1368D804B7E76CCC3B503BFF0D297F24466FA6CB4279EADBE5609D0BAAB3EA1EACED053947E91DD3E20F327F3BA6FC935A7ADEEF3C003DE53C3A11F600FEE1859D8D91512E6AF320AE7617215B53863E2B9BBB76D2CA754171073EFC730D65353DAC83079D79E29');

Haven't figured out where the key for it is stored as yet.

So PDF seems to be the only viable option so far, sorry for the false alarm.

223

Comprehensive NWT Comparison Project (calling all technically skilled members)

by Apognophos in

is anyone aware if this project is already being done by someone?

if not, perhaps we can brainstorm how to go about this, now that the pdf for the revised nwt is out.

a couple initial impressions:.

castthefirststone

Hi MeanMrMustard,

I admire your dedication to this. If you don't get it with the PDF (it seems problematic) there is another way to access the text of the NNWT...

Instructions:

Install the JWLibrary on an Adroid device.

If you don't have a rooted device, use APK Extractor (a Play Store app) to move the APK file to a folder on the phone that has user access.

Copy jwlibrary.APK to a folder on a computer using a usb cable.

Download apktool from https://code.google.com/p/android-apktool/

Use apktool on JWLibrary.APK (cmd prompt, go to the directory that contains JWLibrary.apk and issue "apktool d jwlibrary.apk jwlibrary" without the quotes) It takes a few minutes depending on the speed of your computer (the baskmaling process takes a while)

Go to the newly created directory that apktool was so kind for you to create (jwlibrary if you used the above apktool parameters) and navigate to the assests directory.

In the assets directory there's nwt_E.jwpub file. Rename it to nwt_E.zip (it's as easy as that, no encryption).

Extract the "contents" file out of nwt_E.zip into the assests folder. (You can copy it to any folder).

Rename the contents file to "contents.zip" (again no encryption).

Open contents.zip and extract nwt_E.db (we have a database :) into a folder.

The database is a sqlite database so you'll need http://www.sqlite.org/download.html to extract the contents.

I'm pretty sure my instructions can be followed by someone that can post nwt_E.db to a filesharing/hosting site if you don't have access to an Android device.

11

Now that Gays can legally get married, if one of the gay couple want to become a JW would he or she have to get a divorce?

by booker-t in

i remember years ago maybe 20 years ago an elder or co was giving a talk on armaggeddon and he said that we know we are close to the end when homosexuals get the same rights as straight people.

he said jehovah would never allow gay people to marry because it would be an abomination and he would do the same as sodom and gommorrah.

what if a member of a gay couple decides to become a jws would he or she have to get a divorce?.

castthefirststone

A more pertinent question would be, if the same sex marriage dissolves via a divorce would they be free to remarry? The Elders Super-Secret Special Manual seems mute on this point. Perhaps a letter will be published soon from mother with instructions.

91

Open letter Re: Mr. Bowen, Mrs. Anderson

by Prime in

"jws leaders need to mandate elder bodies to uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction; prohibit elders from being involved in any investigative process to decide guilt or innocence in place of the authorities; do away with the two-witness rule to determine, as if they were magistrates, guilt or innocence of someone accused; prohibit so-called repentant molesters from engaging in the door-to-door ministry, and always inform the congregation if a convicted or confessed molester is meeting with them.

" -barbara anderson .

this is another reason why the watchtower society doesn't require that the elders uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction.

castthefirststone

Why is it okay for the elders to phone the branch office and discuss private confidential information yet they can only phone the authorities once permission has been obtained from that office?

74

NAME ONE USEFUL THING done by Russell, Rutherford, F.Franz

by Terry in

simple question: pastor russell must have accomplished as least on practical thing in his life.

pyramidology?

divine plan of the ages chart?

castthefirststone

The Bible laid the foundation, Russell started the construction and Rutherford completed the construction while making huge changes to create the beast know as the Watchtower. Today it provides employment, housing and purpose to thousands of members albeit to the detriment of others.

10

No doubt Noah took the lead in family worship...

by tootired2care in

"no doubt".

wasn't family worship night invented in 2010?

the writers at bethel really are getting more stupid, this was taken from the latest august 1st watchtower.

castthefirststone

I think Noah's wife is holding more than Noah's hand there while praying, didn't she read the latest council in her Watchtower? From the look of things it seems like that holding will soon escalate from the look Noah has on his O-face.

Noah also looks fairly young for a guy that's over a 100 years old and so does his wife.

Why is Ham/Jephtah/Shem elbowing his wife in the face? Does this also form part of "family worship"?